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Al Qaida's ideology The Al Qaida terrorist group operates on three foundations and is supported by a centrally planned ideological outreach program, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Chief ideologist Ayman al Zawahiri identified the three pillars of Al Qaida Islamism in a January 2005 audiotape. They were repeated last month in a video message from Al Zawahiri. The three foundations are meant to counter U.S. support for democracy and secular and religious reform ideologies of other Muslims, the report said. The identification of the three pillars "may signal an attempt by Al Qaida's leadership to renew and clearly define its goals as a basis for attracting new recruits and inspiring new affiliates." The three foundations as outlined by Al Zawahiri include: "The Koran-Based Authority to Govern." Al Qaida supports the creation of an Islamic state governed solely by sharia law. Secular government or "man-made" law is considered unacceptable and deemed contrary to Islamic faith. "The Liberation of the Homelands." Reforms and free elections will not be possible for Muslims without first establishing "the freedom of the Muslim lands and their liberation from every aggressor." Al Qaida seeks control over the Middle East's energy resources and describes the Muslim world as "impotent and exposed to the Israeli nuclear arsenal." "The Liberation of the Human Being." Al Qaida believes in a vision of a contractual social relationship between Muslims and their rulers that would allow people to choose and criticize their leaders but also demand that Muslims resist and overthrow those who violate Islamic laws and principles. It opposes hereditary government and identifies a need "to specify the power of the sharia-based judiciary, and insure that no one can dispose of the people's rights, except in accordance with this judiciary." Despite these goals, "Bin Laden's statements and Al Qaida's attacks largely have failed to effectively mobilize widespread Muslim support for their agenda thus far." However, since late 2001 public opinion polls and media monitoring in the Middle East and broader Islamic world indicate that dissatisfaction with the United States and its foreign policy has grown significantly within many Muslim societies. The trend of the ideological efforts is towards "economic effectiveness" that seems to be "harbingers of a renewed attempt by Al Qaida's central leadership to broaden the movement's appeal, solicit greater material support and possibly inspire new and more systematically devastating attacks," the report said. "Overall, Bin Laden's statements from the mid-1990s through the present indicate that he continues to see himself and his followers as the vanguard of an international Islamic movement primarily committed to ending U.S. 'interference' in the affairs of Islamic countries and supportive of efforts to overturn and recast Islamic societies according to narrow Salafist interpretations of Islam and Islamic law." -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
