Every since 9/11, terrorism has not only become more scattered through out the world, but has gained more power. What does it mean when we say, “terrorism has become more scattered?” There word scattered is referencing to terrorism becoming more spread out across the world , which is leading terrorism to gain more power and control. In Frontline’s video, “Al Qaeda’s New Front”, the film discusses how a scattered and diffused Al Qaeda terrorist network has become more dangerous due to terrorism becoming more scattered over the years. That is because there have been no direct connections, which makes it difficult to detect and trace a certain terrorist group to a certain terrorist attack. How does this happen? Once a direct network has been established the source of supplies and instructions, will become easier to trace them out to other cells and detect and destroy them (Frontline.com). But what is a cell? A cell is the basic unit of traditional terrorist organizations. Groups of cells form columns and members in cells seldom known one another (White, 2009). This is how terrorism is becoming more scattered and more powerful for this reason. These cells are scattered all over the world where people from the same group do not know one another. This is allowing Al Qaeda to become more scattered and lead to increase in gaining power.
The new Al Qaeda networks do not look like the traditional cell, but it has become more in the form of looking like webs. In the frontline video, on man was interviewed in the film that described the networks as a mutating system that looks like a virus. They are sleeper cells where no one gives orders and they operate on their own program. Thus tracing supplies, instructions, money, or other support is virtually impossible to trace. Even if you are able to locate and destroy a cell or capture its leaders, others spouts replace it (Frontline.com). This is how Al Qaeda and terrorism is becoming more scattered and more powerful at the same time. Technology continues to advance leading terrorist groups like Al Qaeda to find other means to use the web to hide behind. If it is difficult to already trace supplies, instructions, money or other support, it is only going to become more difficult. This will allow Al Qaeda to continue to be more scattered as well as becoming more powerful.
Al Qaeda is a terrorist group known not to be a small terrorist organization, but a large terrorist group known through out the world where numerous groups are being formed.. Al Qaeda has groups in Algeria (Armed Islamic Group), the Philippines (Abu Sayyagf Group), Southeast Asia, Kashmir (Jemaah Islamiya), Iraq (Tawhid wal Jihad), Yemen(Islamic Army of Aden), and Egypt (Jihad). Having not only just one, but also multiple terrorist groups that share Al Qaeda’s view is causing Al Qaeda to become scattered and gaining power (www.cfrg.org/terrrosit-organizations). If Al Qaeda has multiple groups scattered through out the world then it will continue to be hard to trace which group is responsible for which terrorist attack. Thus allowing Al Qaeda to gain power by having multiple resources used from different organizations, which will make it difficult to trace the attack to a certain group
The purpose of terrorist attacks is to instill fear and to send out a message. Al Qaeda is known for their enormous and destructive terrorist attacks.. September 11, 2001 is a terrorist attack that is known through out the world. On this tragic day hijackers commandered four different commercial jet lines where two of them crashed into the World Trade Centers and another into the Pentagon where approximately 3,000 people died, (www.npr.org). This is a message that is revealing to the world that Al Qaeda is a powerful terrorist group that can cause enormous destructive attacks. September 11th is a perfect example of how powerful a terrorist group Al Qaeda is. Al Qaeda is also known for the Madrid bombing that had occurred in March of 2004 where nearly 200 people died and 1,800 people were injured (www.cfr.org).Evidence found from the Madrid bombing was also connected to the substances found in the London incident where telephone communication was connected to a known terrorist in Paris.. Thus revealing how scattered Al Qaeda is becoming. Al Qaeda continues to send message through destructive ways that is instilling fear and intimidation through out the world. This is how Al Qaeda is becoming powerful. Not only does Al Qaeda have numerous terrorist organizations scattered all over the world, but it is becoming hard to trace attacks to Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda is gaining more media coverage due to their terrorist attacks... Terrorists seek media attention to make their group known and if a group is getting multiple media coverage than that group is gaining power. This shows that terrorism will continue to become more scattered and more powerful until something is done to stop terrorism.
References:
Bruno, G (2009). Al-Qaeda. Retrieved on 18, March, 2011 from
Frontline: Al Qaeda's New Front (2005). Retrieved on February 6, 2011
page&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid.
Glendinning, M. (2005). Timeline: Al Qaeda Attacks on Western Targets. Retrieved on
18, March, 2001 from
White, J. (2009). Terrorism and Homeland Security (6th ed). Belmont, CA; Wadsworth
Cengage Learning.
I think focusing on Al Qaeda is extremely imnportant after 9/11. And even more so after killing Osama Bin Laden this week. It's too bad you wrote this before he died because I would have loved to see how that changed your blog if at all. The fact that this particular group has so much power suggests that there is still so much we don't know about how they operate and get their information. I was just listening to a lecture on spies in America yesterday and it makes me wonder how many we have here reporting to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda that we simply don't know about. It is absolutely amazing how groups this big are able to function right under our noses without us knowing even half of what is going on for the most part. I think the most important thing agencies can do to protect their countries from groups like this one is to work together. No matter what country it is, you only have something to gain by listening to intelligence provided by other agencies. Each one has their own way of gathering intel and they each look at it differently. If we had realized this before, perhaps we could have minimized the damage of 9/11 if not have stopped it alltogether. I think blogs like yours are important because they remind people just how much of a problem terrorism is and in order to have any hope of winning the war on terrorism we need to learn to work together both at the national and international levels.
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