Key Players in Al Qaeda
Introduction
Al Qaeda has been the number one infamous terrorist group in the whole world. Most leaders associated with Al Qaeda stretch the limits and truth regarding Islam religion and have tarnished the religion. They have been responsible for many crimes most notably the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Despite their establishments worldwide their operation based has been mostly rumored to be in Pakistan. Thanks to the fight that has been forged against them by the greatest governments of the world, some have been held in prison while some leaders are still at large. Due to the world wide war against their leaders, their operations have been crippled and have become less effective. Even though the group was founded with a patriotic vision, they have become unruly and their activity aims at killing innocent lives worldwide.
Al Qaeda leaders
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden was known as the leader of Al Qaeda before his death in 2011 in Pakistan. Then, every al Qaeda member had to swear loyalty to him and was recognized as the undisputed leader of the organization. Numerous bounties and rewards were advertised but he remained at large for over ten years. He joined the war against the United States in the 1980s and did not stop till his death. He took responsibility of many terrorist activities like the US Embassy bombing in Kenya and Tanzania, the 9/11 attack and the United Kingdom transport system bombing (Vanderborg 2012). In the beginning of terrorism period he was immensely assisted by the Taliban and thus his links to the militia (Wander 2008).
He grew up in a very religious environment and his father led was known to lead pilgrimages during the holy month. He thus grew up very disciplined, never a liar, and constantly dedicated to Islam. This gave him the charismatic leadership qualities that were necessary to lead organization even in hiding for all those years. He was also very soft spoken and humbles enough to win the hearts of the thousands of his followers.
Osama had a lot of sympathizers who funded his activities from time to time. In addition, he inherited a lot wealth when his father died and invested wisely in Islam countries. However, running operations of al Qaeda was very cheap since bomb components are very cheap in some parts of the world and the training even cheaper (Bajoria and Bruno 2012). Finally, this man was the mastermind of the organization and the families continue to suffer due to terrorist activities even after his death.
Ayman al-Zawahiri
He was recognized as Osama’s right hand man. Apart from being a terrorist, he is also a theologian. He is known to have written a documentation giving two hundred reasons for jihad activity (Vanderborg 2012). As a firm believer of the cause, he has been known to spearhead terrorist activity in Africa and surrounding regions. He was the leader for a terrorist group in Egypt called al Jihad who was the real orchestrators of the 1998 US Embassy bombings (Wander 2008). They also took responsibility for assassination of a former Egypt prime minister. He took over leadership of al Qaeda after Osama’s death. He united the two terrorist groups to form a more united and stronger association.
Sayyid Imam Al Sharif
This man is behind the jihad way of thinking in this generation. His great intellectual capacity was relied upon by the organization for numerous years. Because of his activity, he was captured and imprisoned in Yemen but later escaped prison after a mysterious transfer to an Egyptian prison (Vanderborg 2012). However, his thinking changed in 2007 when he announced worldwide to criticize terrorism activity. He said the militant Islam activity had destroyed fellow Muslims compared to the west and therefore the actions unjustifiable. Hope of reduced terrorism activity has risen since then since the person behind jihad activity rejecting and regretting his own activity.
Anwar al Awlaki
A well-educated professor is among the most hunted al Qaeda leader today. He is very good with recent technology and made al Qaeda activities worldwide through the YouTube channel (Bajoria and Bruno 2012). This gave the organization a bigger audience and more unification after the leaders give personal messages via web. He also was known to communicate with suicide bombers and acknowledged them worldwide through this method (Wander 2008). As the top recruiter and motivator of new jihadist, he was associated with numerous terrorist activities in the past decade. He conducted lectures and sermons in the internet leading to many attacks thus giving him the name of the ‘Osama of the internet’.
He grew in ranks since he was an American and among the few English speaking jihadists. With these characteristics, he could reach Muslims in the United States and other English speaking nations. The United States governments hunted and severally failed but he was finally killed in a drone attack in 2011.
Omar Abdel Rahman
The mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks was captured not long after the said attacks. Popularly known as the ‘blind sheikh’, he is still a big threat to the United States of America. He ordered the killing of Americans and was also caught on tape issuing this and similar commands. Despite the fact that he is still in prison, if released or transferred to other countries may continue to terrorize innocent citizens due to his immense hatred of the nation (Vanderborg 2012).
Fazul Abdullah Muhammed
Fazul was the leader of al Qaeda in eastern Africa and is responsible for the al Shabaab militia group. Al Shabaab is a known affiliate of the al Qaeda and the group announced that it worked under al Qaeda in Eastern Africa (Bajoria and Bruno 2012). This man was therefore responsible for the smooth running of the embassy attacks. He was gunned down and shot by the Somali military. His death was a big blow to the East African al Qaeda operation but terrorist activity continues to run as an aggravated measure of revenge to the war against the association (Vanderborg 2012).
Abu Yahia al Libi
He was the second in command after Osama bin Laden. Despite the fact that he did not gain the leadership after the death of Osama, he was among the top of most sought after al Qaeda leaders by the United States. He was captured and imprisoned in an Afghanistan high security penitentiary but later escaped in 2005. He was a supporter of the ideology that islands had the right to die with dignity and thus the suicide performer. His influence grew with this ideology as well as many innocent and young lives lost (Vanderborg 2012).
Ibrahim Hassan al Asiri
He revolutionized terrorism. He helped al Qaeda graduate from the more obvious vest suicide bombs to the underwear bomb, and printer cartridge bombs. His inventions have led to the death of very many deaths and are in the most wanted terrorist lists. He is responsible for attacks of the jetliner in Detroit on Christmas and other attacks (Vanderborg 2012). He is also responsible for the invention of liquid bombs that are undetectable. He is rumored to have been killed but there was no physical evidence from the drone attack and might be out at large (Bajoria and Bruno 2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the al Qaeda activity has been the undoing of most Islam countries. The ideology that was started by Osama is guarantee of loss of life, loved ones, hope, and good lifestyle. This militia groups have also tarnished the name of innocent believers and ethnic societies. Discrimination against the people from the Islam countries has continued to grow and this has affected the self-esteem of numerous young people who go through it every day. This operation have not reaped any benefits for the decades that operations have been on going and the leaders should learn they continue to hurt their fellow countrymen the vow to be fighting for. Apart from the lives that are lost in the al Qaeda side, thousands of troops have died fighting these militias and families have been left devastated. It is my recommendation that the remaining alive leaders to weigh their actions and surrender for healthier happier and progressive nations.
Works cited
Vanderborg, Carey. September 11: Al Qaeda Leaders 11 Years After Attacks, Where Are They Now? International Business Times. 2012
Bajoria, Jashree., & Bruno, Greg. Al Qaeda. Backgrounder: Council on Foreign Relations. 2012
Wander, Andrew. What happened to the key players in Al Qaeda’s development? Where are they now? The Guardian. 13 June, 2008
