Al-Qaeda/Terrorism

Terrorism can be defined as threatening use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. It is the act of terrorizing or the state of being terrorized. Most acts of terrorism are committed by terrorist organizations. Terrorist organizations use terror to accomplish their mission or objective. One of the most infamous terrorist organizations is Al-Qaeda. Established in 1988 by militant Islamist, Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda traces all the way back to the Soviet War in Afghanistan. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational and stateless army. It has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and various other countries. The overall mission of Al-Qaeda is to attempt to overthrow godless regimes and replace them with Islamic regimes. Furthermore, the terrorist organization desires to convert al-Qaeda into an ideology and set of operating principles that can be loosely franchised in other countries without requiring direct command and control. Al-Qaeda also states several other missions which include gathering information about the enemy, the land, the installations, and the neighbors, kidnapping enemy personnel documents, secrets, and arms, assassinating enemy personnel as well as foreign tourists, and freeing the brothers who are captured by the enemy. Other missions also include spreading rumors and writing statements that instigate people against the enemy, blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality, and sin; not a vital target, blasting and destroying the embassies and attacking vital economic centers, blasting and destroying bridges leading into and out of the cities. The headquarters of infamous terrorist organization are not known anymore. al-Qaeda has known contacts and

Cited: http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations/al-qaeda-k-al-qaida-al-qaida/p9126 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/734613/al-Qaeda