The Al Qaeda Terrorist Organization
If we were to ask the average person to classify the operations of Al Qaeda, such a person would probably have no trouble in classifying Bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization as a "terrorist organization". In fact, Al Qaeda has been operating for many years as a terrorist organization. Nevertheless, before September 11, 2001, the general populous lacked a general consensus that Al Qaeda was a serious threat to the United States, Western Europe, and to Western Civilization as a whole. 9/11 changed this. Therefore, 9/11 was a turning point in the understanding of most people about the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.
Al Qaeda has never really been a single unified organization, with the kind of "top-down" management organizational style common to the Russian Mafia, the Mexican Mafia, and other similarly styled organized crime groups. Instead, Al Qaeda has usually been structured in a much more loose-knit fashion. The individual "cells" within Al Qaeda have generally had little or no contact with other cells or even with other parts of the Al Qaeda organization as a whole. Nevertheless, with the apparent disruption of much of Al Qaeda's leadership structure since 9/11, there has been a tendency within Al Qaeda to move toward an even more loosely-knit structure.
Although many in the West would like to think that Al Qaeda has now been "defeated" and will soon "go away", there is certainly a clear and present danger that Al Qaeda might soon commit even more deadly attacks than it did back in 2001. The idea that Al Qaeda is still very much a threat was made painfully clear by more recent events last year within the cities of Madrid and London. What was even more shocking than these attacks was their apparent "home grown" nature, at least with regards to the London attacks. An "Arab terrorist" from a Middle Eastern country such as Saudi Arabia could not be directly blamed for this London attack. Instead, actual citizens of Great Brittan led these London "suicide" attacks.
Still, Al Qaeda does seem to have taken a "beating" since 9/11 from the anti-terrorism efforts of many countries around the world. These efforts appear to have hindered, (to some degree) the movement of cash, personnel, and communications within Al Qaeda. The organization's ability to raise funds has therefore become somewhat restricted. As an example of this hindrance, many "non-profit religious organizations" which Al Qaeda had previously used as "fronts" for the collection of "donations" for Middle Eastern causes have had their financial assets "frozen" or otherwise disrupted by governmental intervention by the United States and other countries. (This money had apparently gone to finance Al Qaeda terrorism efforts).
Another hindrance to Al Qaeda's terrorist efforts has been the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq and the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's former government in particular had been used to harbor and train large numbers of potential terrorists. It also supported terrorist recruitment activity. The loss of Afghanistan for the Taliban, (apart from Bin Laden's personal loss of political power in Afghanistan), was a great blow to the whole Al Qaeda terrorist operational structure.
Another cause of trouble for Al Qaeda has been the recent sharing of intelligence data between the world's police and intelligence departments. This sharing of data has in turn helped many nations to locate and disrupt Al Qaeda terrorist cells which had previously remained hidden. Before 9/11, Muslims without a criminal record were often free to immigrate to other countries, which facilitated the creation of terrorist cells within those countries.
But perhaps the most pressing question is, "why is Al Qaeda still around? Why does Al Qaeda continue to function with at least some success as a terrorist organization? As previously mentioned, those terrorist acts in Madrid and London poked holes in much of the confidence felt by many in the Western world that Al Qaeda might in fact soon become a "thing of the past". Nevertheless, the primary reason that Al Qaeda is still around is that there are still Muslim men and women who are willing to die as "martyrs" for the cause of Islam.
Some have suggested that Islam is intrinsically a peaceful religion and that terrorists are "a small Muslim minority" who have "twisted" Islam to fit their own purposes. Those who say such things are usually ignorant of Islam, of its history, as well as being ignorant of the teachings of the Koran. Or perhaps they are striving to defend Islam from those who wish to speak the truth about it.
The fact is, Islam has never been intrinsically a peaceful religion. The Koran clearly and plainly instructs Muslims to violently murder all those who disagree with Mohammad's claims and precepts. The beheading of Christians, Jews, and others is actually directly commanded by the Koran: ("Strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them" - Sura 47:4) The leader of Islam, Mohammed, was a terrorist who took literally and with deadly earnest the violent commands which he wrote down in his book The Koran. In fact, on numerous occasions Mohammed personally ordered the murder of literally thousands of Christians, Jews, and others, (by beheading and other means). Mohammed therefore set the pattern for Islam's terrorist efforts through his long and bloody personal terrorist involvement as well as his violent teachings in the Koran instructing others how to also commit terrorist acts.
Bin Laden was not the first Islamic terrorist mastermind. Mohammed, Islam's founder, was the first such Muslim "mass murderer" of "infidels". The historical record plainly reveals Mohammed's habitual and frequent murders of hundreds and even thousands of innocent civilians. Therefore, the terrorists who slammed those jets into the World Trade Center under Bin Laden's orders, were literally following the murderous example and instructions of the so-called Prophet Mohammed himself.
(Mohammed made his living for many years as a notorious "highway pirate" who killed, pillaged, and sold into slavery large numbers of innocent people who traveled in caravans along the north-south and other trade routes in the desert of what is now Saudi Arabia. All of these facts are both well known and well documented historically.)
Mohammed taught that any man who committed the mass murder of Christians, Jews, or other such "infidels" in the name of Islam would go straight to "Heaven" as Allah's reward to them for their heinous deeds. Once in Heaven, (according to the Koran) these murderers would then enjoy the eternal bliss of fornication with scores of young virgins. In this way, Islam has taught terrorists that they will be fornicating forever in Heaven with young women as their reward for the murder of Christians, Jews, and others in the name of Allah.
This then is the basic problem: With Islam, you have young men being promised that they will go straight to Heaven if they will but commit the mass murder of Christians, Jews and other "infidels". Obviously, there will always be some young men who would take such a wild and wicked promise by the Koran very seriously. The Koran's teaching therefore directly produces potential terrorists willing to join Al Qaeda, who would then be willing to commit violent terrorist acts against Christians, Jews, and others.
Another factor helping Al Qaeda to survive as a terrorist organization, is that some of the Al Qaeda " sleeper cells" in existence around the world have been functioning in this hidden form for many years. Please remember that terrorists from Al Qaeda had tried to blow up the World Trade Center before 9/11. Therefore, this illustrates the fact that, if one terrorist cell fails in a terrorist attempt, then another hidden cell can be called into action to take its place and therefore attempt another such attack. This is one of Al Qaeda' strengths, in that it has developed a large number of hidden terrorist cells throughout the world - cells which can be "called up" by Al Qaeda to commit terrorist acts.
Despite the current continuing threat that Al Qaeda poses to non-Muslims throughout the world, most Westerners and others have chosen to ignore the "warning signs" of radical "Islamic Fundamentalism; instead going on with their daily lives. As Al Qaeda grew to worldwide strength during the late 1990's, the stock markets in many Western nations were experiencing a long period of strong stock market growth. Basically, most Westerners choose to "place their heads in the sand", rather than to deal with the growing problem of militant Islam.
It might seem strange, but even after the 9/11 attacks, this general attitude of "denial" regarding militant Islam has prevailed. Providing the plain truth about Islam is currently almost universally opposed by those within all ranks of Western society. "No, Islam is not the problem. It is just a few 'nuts' who misquote and misuse the Koran. Islam itself is a very peaceful religion. Let's extend the hand of friendship to them, as they will do to us!"
This general denial of the threat of Islam has therefore been tremendously helpful to Al Qaeda and to other Koran-believing Muslim terrorist groups. Such deceptions given in defense of Islam are now propagated and believed by many people in the West, and these deceptive teachings help Al Qaeda to survive and to continue to grow as a terrorist threat.
Nevertheless, Islam has remained for many centuries as a threat to the Western world. During the Middle Ages, Islam spread its "religion of the sword" all the way westward into Spain, beheading or otherwise murdering all "infidels" who would not convert to Islam. "Repent or Die" was the Muslim "evangelism" method of that day.
Nevertheless, nothing has really changed since the Middle Ages regarding Islamic proselytizing methods. The Koran still instructs to "strike of their heads". The Koran still teaches all "good Muslim" men to kill Christians, Jews, and others with "a great slaughter". These terrorist words are still written in Arabic in the "Holy Koran". Muslims are still following the Koran's explicit command to commit such murders. Western societies are still believing lies about Islam and are still persecuting those who dare to speak the truth about this dangerous Islamic religion of murder.
But you say, "What should we do?" The first thing to do, is to become a Fundamentalist Baptist Christian. Fundamentalist Baptists are the exact opposite of so-called Fundamentalist Muslims. Fundamentalist Baptists are Fundamental, Independent Baptists who teach others to follow the loving and peaceful Savior Jesus Christ and therefore to do good to those who do them evil. So-called Fundamentalist Muslims, in strong contrast, teach the doctrines of hate, violence, and murder. Fundamentalist Baptists teach life while so-called Fundamentalist Muslims teach death. The contrast between the two could not be stronger.
Many love to speak lies in defense of Islam. But such evil should be resisted. Speaking the truth about Islam will sound a strong warning against the march of militant Islam as it seeks to once again spread its bloody "religion of the sword", commanding people to "convert or die".
Jesus is not like that. Allah, (who is referred to as "Satan" in the Bible), wants to kill you and to otherwise destroy you. Jesus, however, loves you. Jesus wants to save you from your sins. Jesus will give you a place in Heaven when you die if you trust Him, (not a place to fornicate with dozens of virgins like Satan promised you in the Koran. Jesus promises you the Real Heaven with God.) Trust Jesus today.
[The Way To Go To Heaven]
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