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EARLY HISTORY OF AL-QA'IDA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2008

R. KIM CRAGIN
R. KIM CRAGIN
Affiliation:
Cambridge University
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Abstract

Although the broad outlines of al-Qa'ida's story are well known, less attention has been paid to its early development and evolution. How and why did al-Qa'ida leaders latch on to the United States as a primary adversary? What motivated Usama bin Laden to form al-Qa'ida in the first place? Did this motivation change over time? This article utilizes a series of recently discovered al-Qa'ida documents – such as al-Jihad magazine financed by Usama bin Laden during the 1980s, internal memos written in the early 1990s and captured by the US military in Afghanistan, and autobiographical accounts written since 2001 by former Afghan Arab fighters – to deepen our understanding of a clandestine organization that has caused havoc for the past two decades.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 1047 - 1067
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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References

1 For a short time, these captured al-Qa'ida documents were made available directly by the US Army on the following website, http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm. But at the time of publication, this website was no longer active. These documents also were reprinted by the US Army West Point Academy Combating Terrorism Center in the appendix of a report entitled, Harmony and disharmony: exploiting al-Qa'ida's organizational vulnerabilities (New York, NY, 2006) and published on the West Point Combating Terrorism Center website. Although the authors of this report provide an analysis of the al-Qa'ida documents to a certain extent, demonstrating internal organizational struggles, the primary purpose of Harmony and disharmony was the release of al-Qa'ida documents for further analysis. By examining the captured al-Qa'ida documents through a historical lens, this paper asks different questions on the strategic evolution of al-Qa'ida. Due to the removal of the US Army website, this paper refers to al-Qa'ida documents by the reference number provided by West Point as well as the translated title.

2 Yezid Sayigh, Armed struggle and the search for state: the Palestinian national movement (1949–1993) (Oxford, 2000).

3 Portions of Ayman al-Zawahiri's book, Knights under the Prophet's banner can be found in Laura Mansfield, In his own words: translation and analysis of the writings of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri (www.lulu.com, 2007); as well as Youssef H. Aboul-Enein, ‘Ayman Al-Zawahiri's Knights under the Prophet's Banner: the al-Qaeda Manifesto’, Military Review (Jan.–Feb. 2005).

4 Mustafa Hamid, Chat from the top of the world, written in al-Farouq Camp, Aug. 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-600087, available in Harmony and disharmony.

5 Abdullah Anas, The birth of the Afghani Arabs: a biography of Abdullah Anas with Mas'oud and Abdullah Azzam, trans. Nadia Masid (London, 2002).

6 Montasser al-Zayyat, The road to al-Qaeda: the story of bin Laden's right-hand man, trans. Ahmed Fekry (Sterling, VA, 2004).

7 Anonymous, Through our enemies's eyes (Washington, DC, 2002).

8 Abdel Bari Atwan, The secret history of al-Qa'ida (London, 2006).

9 Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know: an oral history of al-Qaeda's leader (New York, NY, 2006).

10 Steve Coll, Ghost wars: the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001 (New York, NY, 2004).

11 Fawaz A. Gerges, The far enemy: why jihad went global (Cambridge, 2005).

12 Rohan Gunaratna, Inside al-Qaeda: global network of terror (New York, NY, 2002).

13 Abdullah Azzam, ‘Defense of Muslim lands’, unpublished, 1984. Note: A defensive jihad being one undertaken in response to an invading force.

14 Ibid.

15 Anas, The birth of the Afghani Arabs.

16 Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 41.

17 Anas, Birth of the Afghani Arabs.

18 Al-Jihad, 1 (July 1985).

19 Al-Jihad, 1 (Mar. 1985).

20 Al-Jihad, 2 (Dec. 1985).

21 Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 28; and Gerges, The far enemy, p. 134.

22 Ayman al-Zawahiri, ‘The black book: the torture of Muslims in Egypt during the reign of Mubarak’, unpublished, 1994. See also, al-Zayyat, The road to al-Qaeda, pp. 29–32.

23 Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bitter harvest: the Muslim Brotherhood in sixty years, trans. Nadia Masid (Egypt, 1991).

24 Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 68.

25 al-Zayyat, The road to al-Qaeda, p. 70.

26 Anas, The birth of the Afghani Arabs, and Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, pp. 47–8.

27 Anas, The birth of the Afghani Arabs.

28 Anas, The birth of the Afghani Arabs.

29 Hamid, Chat from the top of the world.

30 Another fighter who distinguished himself on the battlefield, Abu Ubaidah drowned in a ferry accident on Lake Victoria in May 1996.

31 Abu Hafs succeeded Abu Ubaidah as al-Qa'ida's military commander. He was killed by a US air strike in Afghanistan in Nov. 2001.

32 Hamid, Chat from the top of the world.

33 Ibid.

34 Hamid, Chat from the top of the world; and Gunaratna, Inside al-Qaeda, pp. 181–2

35 Al-Jihad, 3 (May 1987).

36 Hamid, Chat from the top of the world.

37 Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 41.

38 Al-Jihad, 3 (June 1987).

39 Al-Jihad, 3 (Dec. 1987).

40 Jamal Ismail cited in Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 79. This information is confirmed by Hamid, Chat from the top of the world, and Al-Jihad, 3 (May 1987).

41 A native of Damascus, Abu Rida immigrated to the United States, settling in Kansas City, Missouri, before travelling to Afghanistan in 1985. He apparently recorded a meeting held on 11 Aug. 1988 when an organization called al-Qa'ida was first discussed.

42 Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 79.

43 Ibid., pp. 79.

44 Al-Irshad, 3 (Nov.–Dec. 1988), trans. Afzaal Mahmood.

45 Al-Irshad, 4 (June–July 1989), trans. Afzaal Mahmood.

46 Ayman al-Zawahiri, Revelation of falsehood and slander of the alliance of Kahana and the Sultan, trans. Nadia Masid (Cairo, 1989).

47 This conference could have been held previously, it was mentioned in Al-Irshad, 4 (Sept. 1989), trans. Afzaal Mahmood.

48 Al-Irshad indicates a shift in focus away from Afghanistan towards Kashmir in its September 1989 and May 1990 issues. The editor argues that clergy should prepare the Muslim community (in Pakistan) for jihad in Kashmir.

49 Coll, Ghost wars, pp. 221–2.

50 Azzam was assassinated in November 1989. Although it is a significant incident in the wider movement, al-Qa'ida had already separated itself from Azzam by the time of his assassination.

51 Official letters were released in 1991 to the chief mufti of Saudi Arabia and to the king in 1992. One wonders how much of an influence they had on Usama bin Laden, if they did not issue their statements until 1991. After all, he went to Prince Sultan in late 1990 to offer his assistance. The most likely chronology is that they voiced their disagreement earlier and published the disagreement subsequently. Clearly, these events took place in the context of a wider debate in Saudi Arabia.

52 Al-Irshad, 5 (Aug. 1990), trans. Afzaal Mahmood.

53 Al-Jihad, 6 (Aug. 1990).

54 Nusrat ul-Jihad, volume unknown (Feb. 1991), trans. Afzaal Mahmood.

55 Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 119.

56 Gunaratna, Inside al-Qaeda, pp. 181–2; Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl Testimony, United States vs. Osama bin Laden et al, trial transcript, Day 3, 7 Feb. 2001.

57 Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl Testimony, United States vs. Osama bin Laden et al., trial transcript, Day 3, 7 Feb. 2001.

58 For example, al-Qa'ida member, Omar al-Sumali, submitted a report to al-Qa'ida leadership in Sudan. In this report, he discusses al-Qa'ida objectives and ongoing operations. A short report on the trip from Nairobi, undated, US military document number AFGP-2002-600113, available in Harmony and disharmony.

59 Five letters to the Africa corps, Sept. 1993–May 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-600053, available in Harmony and disharmony.

60 Five letters to the Africa corps.

61 The entire interview with ABC News reporter John Miller can be accessed through the PBS website for ‘Frontline’, available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/interview.html (May 1998).

62 Five letters to the Africa corps.

63 Letters from bin Laden, al-Qa'ida Advice and Reform Committee, Statement 2, Apr. 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-003345, available in Harmony and disharmony.

64 Five letters to the Africa corps.

65 Letters from Bin Laden, al-Qa'ida Advice and Reform Committee, Statement 4, May 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-003345, available in Harmony and disharmony.

66 Letters from Bin Laden, al-Qa'ida Advice and Reform Committee, ‘Important Telegram to Our Brothers in the Armed Forces’, statement unnumbered, September 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-003345, available in Harmony and disharmony.

67 Letters from Bin Laden, al-Qa'ida Advice and Reform Committee, ‘Do not give inferiority to your religion’, statement unnumbered, Sept. 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-003345, available in Harmony and disharmony.

68 Letters from bin Laden, Al-Qa'ida Advice and Reform Committee, Statement 6, Sept. 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-003345, available in Harmony and disharmony.

69 Letters from Bin Laden, al-Qa'ida Advice and Reform Committee, ‘Important telegram to our brothers in the armed forces’, statement unnumbered, Sept. 1994, US military document number AFGP-2002-003345, available in Harmony and disharmony.

70 Gerges, The far enemy, pp. 122–5; and Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I know, p. 153.

71 Five letters to the Africa corps.

72 Gerges, The far enemy, p. 129.

73 al-Zayyat, The road to al-Qaeda, p. 73.

74 Anonymous, Through our enemies's eyes, p. 140.

75 An employment contract that describes al-Qaeda belief, objectives, and sphere of activity, including requirements for joining, regulations, and instructions, US military document number AFGP-2002-600045, available in Harmony and disharmony.

76 An employment contract.

77 Ibid.

78 See, for example, An employment contract; various administrative documents and questions, US military document number AFGP-2002-801136; and A memo to the honorable Sheikh Abdullah, US military document number AFGP-2002-003251, available in Harmony and disharmony.

79 Usama bin Laden, ‘Declaration of Jihad’, in Bruce Lawrence, ed., Messages to the world: the statements of Osama bin Laden (London, 2005), p. 25.