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Al Qa'ida Around the Globe. Countering Terrorism in Russia
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Al Qa'ida Around the Globe
Authorities believe Al Qa'Ida worked on its own and with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and other alleged terrorist organizations in at least 60 countries, including the United States.
Al Qa'ida was established by Usama Bin Ladin in the late 1980s to bring together Arabs who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet invasion. It helped finance, recruit, transport, and train Sunni Islamic extremists for the Afghan resistance. The current goal of the organization is to establish a pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it considers " non-Islamic" and expelling Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries. It issued statement under the banner of " The World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders" 2 in February 1998, saying it was the duty of all Muslims to kill U. S. citizens - civilian or military - and their allies everywhere.
It plotted terrorist attacks against U. S. and Israeli tourists visiting Jordan for millennial celebrations. It conducted the bombings in August 1998 of the U. S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed at least 301 persons and injured more than 5000 others. Al-Qa'ida claims to have shot down U. S. helicopters and killed U. S. servicemen in Somalia in 1993 and to have conducted three bombings that targeted U. S. troops in Aden, Yemen, in December 1992. The following plans were not carried out: the assassination of Pope John Paul II during his visit to Manila in late 1994, simultaneous bombings of the U. S. and Israeli Embassies in Manila and other Asian capitals in late
1994, the bombing of a dozen U. S. trans-Pacific flights in 1995, and assassination of President Clinton during a visit to the Philippines in early
1995. The organization continues to train, finance and provide logistic support to terrorist groups in support of these goals.
It may have several hundred to several thousand members and serves as a focal point or umbrella organization for a worldwide network that includes many Sunni Islamic extremist groups such as al-Jihad3, some members of al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, 4 the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan5 and the Harakat ul-Mujahidin. 6
Al-Qaida has a worldwide reach, has cells in a number of countries, and is strengthened through its ties to Sunni extremist networks. Bin Ladin and his key lieutenants reside in Afghanistan, where the group maintains terrorist training camps there.
Bin Ladin, son of a billionaire Saudi family, is said to have inherited approximately $300 million that he uses to finance the group. Al-Qaida also maintains moneymaking front organizations, solicits donations from like-minded supporters, and illicitly siphons funds from donations to Muslim charitable organizations.
Kurt M. Campbell MicheleA. Flournoy " To Prevail"
Countering Terrorism in Russia
In Russia in the 1990s terrorism was transformed from a series of individual, very rare and almost entirely isolated instances of violent criminal acts into a systematic and large-scale threat to the security of the state and society Prior to that time the Soviet Union had had effective legislation providing for lather strict measures designed to deal with politically or socially motivated offenses In addition, the country had an efficient state system of measures to prevent extremist and terrorist acts
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By the beginning of the 1990s, however, the situation had changed radically
The causes and factors fostering the spread of terrorism in the Russian Federation in the early 1990s include
• the collapse of the political structure of society without the creation of a new and effective mechanism for social management,
• economic crises,
• loss of ideology m society, mass impoverishment of those who had previously worked in industry and agriculture,
• tension among nationalities, often to the point of armed conflicts,
• weakening of security systems,
• growth of illicit trafficking in firearms and of other instruments and means for perpetrating violent crimes,
• expansion of petty and organized crime accompanied by a sharp rise in corruption of officials,
• infiltration of political and religious extremism into social and economic life and the criminalization of society
Since the early 1990s the number of crimes of a terrorist nature committed in the Russian Federation has been growing steadily For example, while in 1994-1995 there were 64 cases of criminal explosions recorded in Russia, in 1996-2001 there were some 600-700 recorded annually There was a qualitative change in the nature of dimes committed with the use of explosive devices.
By the mid-1990s legislators had to respond to the increasing threat of terrorism the country
New articles where included in the criminal code of the t Russian Fedeiation
On August 4, 1998 the Federal Law " On Countering Terrorism, " entered into force It helped to relieve a number of previously existing problems related to anti-terrorist activities The legislation enhances the degree of legal and social protection provided to persons directly involved in counterterrorist operations The legislation presents a system of framework concepts associated with countering terrorism and introduces basic terms
The Federal Law " On Countering Terrorism" imposes significant constraints on possible concessions to terrorists that can be made by officials negotiating with criminals
Article 2 of the law (" Basic Principles for Countering Terrorism" ) using the principle of legality immediately proclaims the principle of the priority of preventive measures to combat terrorism. Other provisions of the law also detail the need for preventive measures in countering terrorism, designed to identify and eliminate the causes and factors facilitating implementation of terrorist acts and also to obtain timely preventive information on the preparation of such acts.
Russia continues to take important steps toward strengthening its participation in the global war on terrorism. Russia is a party to eleven of the twelve international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.
Although the Russian Federation maintains diplomatic relations with the seven states presently on the US Government's " State Sponsors of Terrorism" list, 1 the Russian Government firmly opposes state-sponsored terrorism and supports international initiatives to combat it. The Government of Russia believes that its relationships with such states may reduce the support these governments provide for terrorism.
Abridged from A. Fedorov " Megaterrorism: a New Challenge for a New Century"
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