Al Qaeda's Global Crisis

Al Qaeda's Global Crisis
Author: V. G. Julie Rajan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2015-01-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317645383

This book focuses on the crises facing Al Qaeda and how the mass killing of Muslims is challenging its credibility as a leader among Islamist jihadist organizations. The book argues that these crises are directly related to Al Qaeda’s affiliation with the extreme violence employed against Muslims in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the decade since 9/11. Al Qaeda’s public and private responses to this violence differ greatly. While in public Al Qaeda has justified those attacks declaring that, for the establishment of a state of ‘true believers’, they are a necessary evil, in private Al Qaeda has been advising its local affiliates to refrain from killing Muslims. To better understand the crises facing Al Qaeda, the book explores the development of Central Al Qaeda’s complex relationship with radical (mis)appropriations and manifestations of takfir, which allows one Muslim to declare another an unbeliever, and its unique relationship with each of its affiliates in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The author then goes on to consider how the prominence of takfir is contributing to the deteriorating security in those countries and how this is affecting Al Qaeda’s credibility as an Islamist terror organization. The book concludes by considering the long-term viability of Al Qaeda and how its demise could allow the rise of the even more radical, violent Islamic State and the implications this has for the future security of the Middle East, North Africa and Central/South Asia. This book will be of much interest to students of political violence and terrorism, Islamism, global security and IR.

An Enemy We Created

An Enemy We Created
Author: Alex Strick van Linschoten
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 549
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199927316

Originally published: [London]: C. Hurst & Co., 2011.

Violent Extremists

Violent Extremists
Author: Thomas R. Mockaitis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2019-06-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Written for general readers and professionals alike, this succinct but comprehensive work examines the hybrid nature of the two violent extremist movements threatening the United States: Islamist extremism and white nationalism. Scholarship as well as popular discourse on terrorism often focuses disproportionately on specific groups without paying sufficient attention to the ideology that motivates them. This book emphasizes understanding and countering the ideology that fuels extremism over preoccupation with specific organizations such as Al Qaeda or ISIS. It sets contemporary terrorist threats in perspective, avoiding fearmongering and political rhetoric. The book examines the nature of violent extremism today in all its forms, including lone wolves and cyber threats. Focusing on both international and domestic terrorism, it analyzes each threat in depth as a multidimensional hybrid phenomenon: as an ideology, as distinct groups espousing that ideology, and as a network of followers. Written in an accessible style by an author who has studied terrorism for more than 30 years and provided extensive media coverage on the subject, this book makes a valuable contribution to the literature on violent extremism.

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups
Author: Mark S. Hamm
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1437929591

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.

Joining the Caravan?

Joining the Caravan?
Author: Anthony Bubalo
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2005
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Join the Caravan

Join the Caravan
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release:
Genre:
ISBN:

Full text of the translated book written by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam about Jihad. It was the inspiration for many Muslims around the world to go and fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Afghanistan.

The Caravan

The Caravan
Author: Thomas Hegghammer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 721
Release: 2020-03-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108625274

Abdallah Azzam, the Palestinian cleric who led the mobilization of Arab fighters to Afghanistan in the 1980s, played a crucial role in the internationalization of the jihadi movement. Killed in mysterious circumstances in 1989 in Peshawar, Pakistan, he remains one of the most influential jihadi ideologues of all time. Here, in the first in-depth biography of Azzam, Thomas Hegghammer explains how Azzam came to play this role and why jihadism went global at this particular time. It traces Azzam's extraordinary life journey from a West Bank village to the battlefields of Afghanistan, telling the story of a man who knew all the leading Islamists of his time and frequented presidents, CIA agents, and Cat Stevens the pop star. It is, however, also a story of displacement, exclusion, and repression that suggests that jihadism went global for fundamentally local reasons.

The History of Terrorism

The History of Terrorism
Author: Gérard Chaliand
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 536
Release: 2016-08-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520292502

First published in English in 2007 under title: The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda.

Routledge Handbook of U.S. Counterterrorism and Irregular Warfare Operations

Routledge Handbook of U.S. Counterterrorism and Irregular Warfare Operations
Author: Michael A. Sheehan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 701
Release: 2021-07-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000423387

This handbook comprises essays by leading scholars and practitioners on the topic of U.S. counterterrorism and irregular warfare campaigns and operations around the globe. Terrorist groups have evolved substantially since 9/11, with the Islamic State often described as a pseudo-state, a terrorist group, and insurgency all at the same time. While researchers', analysts', and policymakers’ understanding of terrorism has grown immensely over the past two decades, similar advancements in the understanding of counterterrorism lag. As such, this handbook explains why it is necessary to take a broader view of counterterrorism which can, and often does, include irregular warfare. The volume is divided into three thematic sections: Part I examines modern terrorism in the Islamic world and gives an overview of the major terrorist groups from the past three decades; Part II provides a wide variety of case studies of counterterrorism and irregular warfare operations, spanning from the 1980s to the irregular warfare campaign against the Islamic State in northern Syria in 2018; Part III examines the government instruments used to combat terrorism and wage irregular warfare, such as drones, Theater Special Operations Commands, and Theater Commands. The handbook fills a gap in the traditional counterterrorism literature by its inclusion of irregular warfare and by providing analyses from academic experts as well as practitioners. It will be of much interest to students of counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, U.S. national security, military affairs, and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-US-Counterterrorism-and-Irregular-Warfare-Operations/Sheehan-Marquardt-Collins/p/book/9780367758363, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Imperial Hubris

Imperial Hubris
Author: Michael Scheuer
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2004-06-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1597973084

Though U.S. leaders try to convince the world of their success in fighting al Qaeda, one anonymous member of the U.S. intelligence community would like to inform the public that we are, in fact, losing the war on terror. Further, until U.S. leaders recognize the errant path they have irresponsibly chosen, he says, our enemies will only grow stronger. According to the author, the greatest danger for Americans confronting the Islamist threat is to believe-at the urging of U.S. leaders-that Muslims attack us for what we are and what we think rather than for what we do. Blustering political rhetor.