scholarly journals ‘Killing Your Way to Victory’: The Failure of the Kill/Capture Strategy Against al Qaeda

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Nicholas Smit-Keding
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
September 11Th ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
The World ◽  
Vast Network

The strategy of either killing or capturing al Qaeda cadres today stands as the dominant United States counter-terrorism strategy. This strategy, however, has failed to destroy al Qaeda, and has instead expanded the organization's political ideology into a major force being felt throughout the Middle East. Kill/Capture's appeal stems from assessments of al Qaeda as a vast network, articulated best by scholars such as Peter Bergan and Bruce Hoffman. The strategy also has appeal from several historical examples, and the early cost-effective successes found in Kill/Capture's implementation immediately after the September 11th attacks. Yet these advantages are outweighed by the strategy's strengthening of al Qaeda's brand among other groups, the indiscriminate nature of the strategy, and its inability to offer other political solutions versus al Qaeda's ideology within the context of violence and conflict. As a result, al Qaeda has endured, while expanding its ideology across the Middle East. Militant Takfirism today, is now largely defined by al Qaeda's ideology, and is best seen with the current situation in Iraq and Syria. Hence, while Kill/Capture offers some credible appeal, the strategy has failed overall to rid the world of al Qaeda.

AL QAEDA’S RADICAL IDEOLOGY

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ararat Kostanian
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Functional Method ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
The World ◽  
Radical Ideology ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Security Concerns ◽  
Specific Country

The purpose of the essay is to illustrate the Ideological aspect of al Qaeda that constitutes the pillar of the organisation based on distinct interpretation of Quran and biased understanding of the meaning of Jihad. The functional method of al Qaeda is not simplistic or unsystematic, aimed at particular target or focused or specific country or region. The creation of such transnational organisation couldn’t have been revealed without political Ideology with its manifesto and the mechanism to spread its messages all over the world. It will not be correct to put al Qaeda among the category of the classical terror groups as I have shown in the essay as a comparison. Moreover, it is not similar to any categories of political Islam movements; since the distinction between Jihad and waging war has always been differentiated in the context of Political Islam. Whereas al Qaeda declares enemies in the house of Islam as well to countries, people and Institutions differ with their own created ideology. This distorted ideology has spread all over the world and become an enemy to Islam itself, which harmed the reputation of Islam as a religion. Attention on the ideologic context of al Qaeda hasn’t been researched well, unknown to majority of the experts. Instead, the attention at most has been put on its ground actions, security concerns and counter terrorism.

scholarly journals AL QAEDA’S RADICAL IDEOLOGY

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ararat Kostanian
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Functional Method ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
The World ◽  
Radical Ideology ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Security Concerns ◽  
Specific Country

The purpose of the essay is to illustrate the Ideological aspect of al Qaeda that constitutes the pillar of the organisation based on distinct interpretation of Quran and biased understanding of the meaning of Jihad. The functional method of al Qaeda is not simplistic or unsystematic, aimed at particular target or focused or specific country or region. The creation of such transnational organisation couldn’t have been revealed without political Ideology with its manifesto and the mechanism to spread its messages all over the world. It will not be correct to put al Qaeda among the category of the classical terror groups as I have shown in the essay as a comparison. Moreover, it is not similar to any categories of political Islam movements; since the distinction between Jihad and waging war has always been differentiated in the context of Political Islam. Whereas al Qaeda declares enemies in the house of Islam as well to countries, people and Institutions differ with their own created ideology. This distorted ideology has spread all over the world and become an enemy to Islam itself, which harmed the reputation of Islam as a religion. Attention on the ideologic context of al Qaeda hasn’t been researched well, unknown to majority of the experts. Instead, the attention at most has been put on its ground actions, security concerns and counter terrorism.

Islamic State: Understanding the Nature of the Beast and Its Funding

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Martin ◽  
Hussein Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Annual Income ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Holy War ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security

The Islamic State (IS) took the global stage in June 2014 and since has become one of the greatest threats to international peace and security. While initially closely affiliated with Al-Qaeda, the IS has proved itself to be a distinct phenomenon of horror—more dangerous than Al-Qaeda. The group essentially established itself in the volatile Middle East, but has infiltrated many parts of the world with the aim of expanding Islam’s Holy War. What certainly makes the IS different from its predecessors is that the group has been labeled the wealthiest terrorist group in the world today. By the fall of 2015, IS generated an annual income of US$2.4 billion. The question for many analysts observing the situation in Syria is: where does the IS gets its money? The aim of this article is to critically observe the nature of IS and its funding requirements and the measures pursued in curtailing the group’s funding.

The American Perception of the Palestine-Israel Conflict

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Israa Daas ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Political Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Source Of Information

Abstract The Palestine-Israel conflict is probably one of the most pressing problems in the Middle East. Moreover, the United States has been involved in this conflict since the 1970s. Therefore, the present research aims to learn more about the American perception of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It was conducted using a survey that addressed Americans from different backgrounds, focusing on four variables: the American government’s position, solutions, the Israeli settlements, and Jerusalem. The research suggests a correlation between political party and the American perception of the conflict. It appears that Republicans seem to be against the withdrawal of the Israeli settlements, and they believe that the US government is not biased toward Israel. Nevertheless, Democrats tend to believe that the US government is biased in favor of Israel, and they support withdrawing the Israeli settlements. Moreover, there might be another correlation between the American perception and the source of information they use to learn about the conflict. Most of the surveyed Americans, whatever their resource of information that they use to learn about the conflict is, tend to believe that the US is biased in favor of Israel. It is crucial to know about the American perception when approaching to a solution to the conflict as the US is a mediator in this conflict, and a powerful country in the world. Especially because it has a permanent membership in the UN council. KEYWORDS: American Perception, Palestine-Israel Conflict, Jerusalem, Israeli settlements

Narrative Misdirection? UK Strategic Communication for Afghanistan and Beyond

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-392
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Cawkwell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Security ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Security Issue ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Defence Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
Communication Approach ◽  
The Uk

Britain’s war in Afghanistan – specifically its latter stages, where the UK’s role and casualties sustained in the conflict rose dramatically – coincided with the institutional emergence of Ministry of Defence-led ‘Strategic Communication’. This article examines the circumstances through which domestic strategic communication developed within the UK state and the manner in which the ‘narratives’ supporting Britain’s role in Afghanistan were altered, streamlined and ‘securitised’. I argue that securitising the Afghanistan narrative was undertaken with the intention of misdirecting an increasingly sceptical UK public from the failure of certain aspects of UK counter-insurgency strategy – specifically its counter-narcotics and stabilisation efforts – by focusing on counter-terrorism, and of avoiding difficult questions about the UK’s transnational foreign and defence policy outlook vis-à-vis the United States by asserting that Afghanistan was primarily a ‘national security’ issue. I conclude this article by arguing that the UK’s domestic strategic communication approach of emphasising ‘national security interests’ may have created the conditions for institutionalised confusion by reinforcing a narrow, self-interested narrative of Britain’s role in the world that runs counter to its ongoing, ‘transnationalised’ commitments to collective security through the United States and NATO.

scholarly journals United States Intervention Against Terrorism in Iraq

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ida Susilowati ◽  
Nur Rohim Yunus ◽  
Muhammad Sholeh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Trade ◽  
World Trade Center ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
The World ◽  
Trade Center ◽  
United States Intervention

Abstract: Terrorism is a crime committed by a group of people to frighten, terrorize, intimidate a country's government. In the case of the September 11, 2001 terror that occurred at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States accused the al-Qaeda group of being behind the attack. Furthermore, the United States attacked Afghanistan and Iraq. America considers the attacks carried out are legitimate because they are carried out to reduce world terrorism crimes. Whereas behind that there is another motive for controlling the oil in the country that it attacked.Keywords: Terrorism, Intervention, United States. Abstrak:Terorisme merupakan kejahatan yang dilakukan oleh sekelompok orang guna menakuti, meneror, mengintimidasi pemerintahan suatu negara. Dalam kasus teror 11 September 2001 yang terjadi pada World Trade Center dan Pentagon, Amerika Serikat menuduh kelompok al-qaidah di balik serangan tersebut. Selanjutnya Amerika Serikat melakukan penyerangan terhadap Afghanistan dan Iraq. Amerika menganggap serangan yang dilakukan adalah sah karena dilakukan untuk meredam kejahatan terorisme dunia. Padahal di balik itu ada motif lain untuk menguasai minyak yang ada di negara yang diserangnya.Kata Kunci: Terrorisme, Intervensi, Amerika Serikat

PRESENTING THE “TRUE FACE OF SYRIA” TO THE WORLD: URBAN DISORDER AND CIVILIZATIONAL ANXIETIES AT THE FIRST DAMASCUS INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION

2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin W. Martin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Identities ◽  
The World ◽  
International Exposition ◽  
Industrial Productivity ◽  
Urban Disorder

International fairs—the “folk-festivals of capitalism”—have long been a favorite topic of historians studying quintessential phenomena of modernity such as the celebration of industrial productivity, the construction of national identities, and the valorization of bourgeois leisure and consumption in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. To date, however, such spectacles occurring in the modern Middle East remain largely unexamined. This article, an analysis of the discourse surrounding the first Damascus International Exposition in 1954, is conceived in part as a preliminary effort to redress this historiographic imbalance.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Tamir Sorek ◽  
Danyel Reiche
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Abu Dhabi ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Fifa World Cup ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Affairs

Sports in the Middle East have become a major issue in global affairs: Qatar’s successful bid for the FIFA World Cup 2022 (won in a final vote against the United States), the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final in Turkey’s most populous city Istanbul, the European basketball championship EuroBasket in 2017 in Israel, and other major sporting events, such as the annually staged Formula 1 races in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, have put an international spotlight on the region. In particular, media around the world are discussing the question of whether the most prestigious sporting events should be staged in a predominantly authoritarian, socially conservative, and politically contentious part of the world....

The Limits of Shock and Awe: America in the Middle East

2005 ◽  
Vol 104 (678) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
Augustus Richard Norton ◽  
Farhad Kazemi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
The World ◽  
Major Region

Never before has a country committed itself to so fundamental and dramatic a transformation of a major region of the world as the United States has in the Middle East since 2001… . It remains to be seen how well the rhetoric of promoting reform will weather the experience of promoting reform.

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