One of the worst attacks on the United States that no one will ever forget was on September 11, 2001. On this day, 19 extremists in the Al-Qaeda group took control of four United States airplanes, hijacked them and carried out a major suicide plan of attack against the United States. Two of the four airplanes flew head on into the World Trade Center Towers in New York, one flew into the Pentagon in Washington, and the last airplane crashed in Pennsylvania in a field when passengers tried to stop the hijackers. This resulted in massive destruction and death, and was the major trigger for the United States to begin fighting terrorism. Of the over 3,000 people who lost their lives during this event, 400 of those were firefighters and police
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One of the major strengths of Al-Qaeda is its simplicity. Al-Qaeda shares the simple idea that Islam is under attack with regards to their religion, their military and their economy. The next strength of Al-Qaeda is their powerful image. They are by far the world’s most threatening and fearful terrorist organizations, which happens to attract a lot of young people. In some countries, people consider it to be “popular” to be involved in the organization. A third strength of Al-Qaeda is their global character. Unlike many terror organizations today, just about anyone can join the membership of Al-Qaeda. Nationality and a person’s ethnicity do not matter when it becomes to being a member. They do well exploiting the Internet and they produce plenty of propaganda information. “From the communicative perspective, terrorism is often viewed as a form of psychological warfare, and al-Qa`ida has attempted to wage such a campaign through the internet. For instance, al-Qa`ida uses the internet to spread disinformation, deliver threats intended to cause fear and disseminate grisly images of recent actions” (Weimann 2008) …show more content…
Their first, and major, weakness is the killing of civilians. It is never easy to find a justification for killing innocent people. Next, is the political weakness they exhibit. Al-Qaeda remains unwilling to think about or prepare for a future in politics. They strive on appealing people by continuing their violent acts. Al-Qaeda has developed a brand of car bombings and suicide attackers as opposed to politics. In addition, peace talks is a major weakness. One of the problems Al-Qaeda faces today is that many of their Afghanistan and Iraqi partners are thinking of finding workable solutions with their current enemies. This is a huge problem for Al Qaeda. If a ceasefire is agreed upon with the Taliban and the Karzai government, the Taliban will not have any use for Al-Qaeda any longer. They might even see Al-Qaeda as a liability and look for ways to rid themselves of them
One of the major strengths of Al-Qaeda is its simplicity. Al-Qaeda shares the simple idea that Islam is under attack with regards to their religion, their military and their economy. The next strength of Al-Qaeda is their powerful image. They are by far the world’s most threatening and fearful terrorist organizations, which happens to attract a lot of young people. In some countries, people consider it to be “popular” to be involved in the organization. A third strength of Al-Qaeda is their global character. Unlike many terror organizations today, just about anyone can join the membership of Al-Qaeda. Nationality and a person’s ethnicity do not matter when it becomes to being a member. They do well exploiting the Internet and they produce plenty of propaganda information. “From the communicative perspective, terrorism is often viewed as a form of psychological warfare, and al-Qa`ida has attempted to wage such a campaign through the internet. For instance, al-Qa`ida uses the internet to spread disinformation, deliver threats intended to cause fear and disseminate grisly images of recent actions” (Weimann 2008) …show more content…
Their first, and major, weakness is the killing of civilians. It is never easy to find a justification for killing innocent people. Next, is the political weakness they exhibit. Al-Qaeda remains unwilling to think about or prepare for a future in politics. They strive on appealing people by continuing their violent acts. Al-Qaeda has developed a brand of car bombings and suicide attackers as opposed to politics. In addition, peace talks is a major weakness. One of the problems Al-Qaeda faces today is that many of their Afghanistan and Iraqi partners are thinking of finding workable solutions with their current enemies. This is a huge problem for Al Qaeda. If a ceasefire is agreed upon with the Taliban and the Karzai government, the Taliban will not have any use for Al-Qaeda any longer. They might even see Al-Qaeda as a liability and look for ways to rid themselves of them