Modern History of al-Qaeda and Terrorism against the USA

1. Modern History of al-Qaeda and Terrorism against the USA 1979-2008

2. What is al-Qaeda? • Al Qaeda is a stateless (meaning without a country) terrorist organization. • It is led and financed by Osama bin Laden, a radical Shi’a Muslim.

3. When did al-Qaeda form? • The beginnings of al-Qaeda go back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

4. 1979 was during the Cold War, a time when the USA was a rival to the Soviet Union. The USA wanted to help Afghans fight the Soviets. • The CIA sent stinger missiles to Afghans to shoot down Soviet helicopters.

5. Bin Laden in Afghanistan • Son of a wealthy Saudi Arabian family, Osama bin Laden made lots of like-minded friends. • He learned that scantily-armed Muslims could defeat a powerful Christian army • The Soviet army left in 1988.

6. Bin Laden moves to Sudan • Bin Laden and his friends, feeling powerful, wanted to set up a base for future jihads. A jihad is a Muslim word for holy war, usually against Christians. He stays in Sudan about 5 years. Note: Most Muslims don’t feel that jihads are about car bombs and plane hijackings.

7. In 1983, during the presidency of Ronald Regan, a terrorist group bombed a Marine barracks in Lebanon. Reagan did not retaliate. 283 killed.

8. Desert Storm (Gulf War I) • In 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny, oil-rich country of Kuwait. Kuwait owed Iraq money, so Hussein wanted to secure Kuwaiti oil fields.

9. Operation Desert Storm • The United States imports oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. If Saddam Hussein wanted to, he could take his army into Saudi Arabia and seize their oil fields too. Iraqi tanks

10. US and Saudi coalition • The United States asked the Saudis for permission to establish military bases in their country. The Saudis have a tough choice to make. Do they allow a Christian army into the holiest country of Islam? Can the Saudis themselves stop Saddam Hussein?

11. Saudi’s choice • Osama bin Laden was back home from Afghanistan. He offered the Saudis the use of his soldiers to fight the Iraqi army because once America establishes a base, they won’t leave. Christian armies have no place in the land of Islam.

12. Saudis chose the USA and snubbed bin Laden. • President George H.W. Bush liberates Kuwait and pushes the Iraqi army back into Iraq.

13. Bin Laden • Osama bin Laden overtly criticizes the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia banishes him; his family disowns him (officially). • Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia for Sudan to further build al Qaeda.

14. USA in Somalia • Dec. 4, 1992, George H.W. Bush sends 28,000 American troops to Somalia. • Bush wanted to help the Somali people since all attempts to send food to them were intercepted by war lords.

15. Black Hawk Down! • In 1993, 18 Americans died when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia.

16. al Qaeda? • We think al Qaeda operatives taught the Somalians how to shoot down helicopters just like they did in Afghanistan against the Soviets.

17. Iraqi terrorism • In 1993, agents working with the full support of Saddam Hussein tried to kill former President George H.W. Bush. • President Clinton responded by destroying their intelligence center.

18. World Trade Center bombing • 9-11 was not the first terrorist attack on the WTC. In 1993, a man rented a Ryder truck and detonated a large bomb in one of the towers hoping to knock it over onto the other tower.

19. Ramzi Yousef • He was a planner of the WTC bombing. He was a member/leader of al Qaeda. • Yousef stated, "Yes, I am a terrorist, and proud of it as long as it is against the U.S. government." • Speaks 7 languages and has college degrees in engineering and chemistry. • Currently serving a life sentence.

20. 1993 WTC bombing It killed 6 people and injured over 1000.

21. 1995 Oklahoma City bombing • Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols detonated a large truck bomb at the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City.

22. Oklahoma City • 168 people died and many more were injured, including children in the day care at the bottom.

23. Conspiracy theorists will love this! • Terry Nichols, Ramzi Yousef, and 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammad were in the Philippine city of Cebu on the same days. Is there a connection? • According to Richard Clarke, the main counter-terrorism czar for Clinton and GW Bush, Nichols’s bombs worked only after he returned from the Philippines Khalid Sheik Muhhamad Terry Nichols

24. 1996 car bombing of Khobar Towers • The Khobar Towers provided housing for American military stationed in Saudi Arabia. 19 Americans were killed and hundreds injured. Look familiar?

25. Fatwa • In August of 1998, Osama bin Laden and 4 of his close associates sign and distribute a statement declaring “it is the individual duty for every Muslim who can do it” to kill Americans.

26. Kenyan embassy bombings • Two American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed simultaneously in 1998. 220 people were killed.

27. Clinton responds. • President Clinton, risking “Wag the Dog” criticism during the Lewinsky scandal, decided to attack al Qaeda in response.

28. US attacks al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan with Tomahawk missiles. Camps were destroyed. Osama lives.

29. US responds. with Tomahawk missiles Tomahawk missile.

30. Millennium Attacks Foiled! • Jordanian police halted 4 bombings that were to happen January 1, 2000. 16 al Qaeda members were arrested. • Four al Qaeda terrorists were arrested after one tried to cross the Canadian border with nitroglycerin in his spare tire. They set out to bomb LA International Airport. • In Yemen, a boat with explosives tried to bomb a navy ship but sank due to being overloaded!

31. USS Cole attack Oct. 2000 • In Yemen, Al Qaeda operatives sent a suicide bomber aboard a small ship near the USS Cole and detonated its bomb, blowing a large hole in the US Navy ship. 17 sailors killed.

33. Where is Sudan and Yemen?

34. September 11, 2001 • Four airplanes were hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists. • Two crashed into the 2 World Trade Center towers. • One crashed into the Pentagon, the military building of the US armed forces. • One crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, likely because passengers forced the plane down.

37. 2819 people were killed 343 firefighters and paramedics were killed Khalid Sheik Muhhamad was the central Planner of the 9/11. Most terrorists (at right) were from Saudi Arabia.

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