“What’s in a Name?”
“…that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Juliet, in lines 43-44, Act-II, Scene-II of Romeo and Juliet. -William Shakespeare
“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” –William Barclay
There is a difference between ISIS and al Qaeda. The difference matters. There are similarities as well. This week we will discuss both along with a short history as to how each terrorist organization began and where they are going as movements.
Review.
You cannot understand ISIS without comprehending something about al-Qaeda, the history they share, how each began and their differences, which ultimately divided them. Al-Qaeda’s story begins with the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Soviet aggression shocked the Muslim world, galvanizing roughly 20,000 foreign fighters to help Afghans resist Soviet forces. That’s when Osama bin Laden met a number of other young radicals, who together formed the core of the al-Qaeda network.
The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988, but they left a puppet regime in place. The war continued. The following year, a Jordanian man named Ahmad Fadhil Nazzal al-Khalaylah joined al-Qaeda. Al-Khalaylah would, years later, achieve global infamy under his nom de guerre, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He would found the group that became what we today call, ISIS.
When Zarqawi first traveled to Afghanistan, in 1989, he wasn’t all that religious. He was, as Mary Anne Weaver writes in a definitive Atlantic profile, something of a petty thug. Once there, however he met a man named Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a leading proponent of violent, fundamentalist Islam. Maqdisi converted Zarqawi to his cause. Zarqawi would not meet bin Laden for years. The two men (Zarqawi and Maqdisi) built up allies and followers independently from each other — a dynamic that made Zarqawi’s network even more extreme than bin Laden’s. I attribute al-Maqdisi with the birth of what we now know as modern Islamist jihadism. His writings are influential and he has been a powerful voice in the call for the re-establishment of an Islamic caliphate.
There are several factors that differentiate ISIS from al Qaeda. Though ISIS steals the limelight for most of the terrorist actions in the world, it is still generally understood by experts that al Qaeda continues to be the greatest threat to the United States, more so than any other terrorist organization. One similarity between ISIS and al Qaeda is that they both call for “lone wolf” attacks against soft targets in the West. Both organizations continue to call for terrorist attacks in order to create fear and anxiety in the Western world. As an aside, it would be fair to ask why we don’t just leave them alone; then perhaps they will leave us alone. As I have mentioned in previous issues, it has to do with what I call the Muslim meta-narrative. They are not going to stop until all the world is under the reign of a calipha (an Allah appointed spiritual leader). Islamist jihadist narratives teach that all the world will live under Allah’s perfect Sharia law and his appointed leader. They will not stop until all are under their subjection.
So how do ISIS and al Qaeda differ? The first and primary difference is that ISIS has already established a caliphate. Albeit a fragile one, it is this notion of the Caliphate that has separated ISIS from al Qaeda. The al Qaeda leadership has been saying for years that their ultimate goal is a caliphate as well, but it simply is not the time for this yet. ISIS leadership, under the self-appointed calipha, Abu Baker al Baghdadi, has said that it is time and that the time is now. It was this decision that caused al Qaeda to disown ISIS all together. Of course, as the calipha, he requires everyone to fall under his authority and direction. Leaders of al Qaeda are not ready to do that.
Another way that ISIS and al Qaeda differ is in their organizational structure. ISIS is organized and fights more like a conventional army than al Qaeda ever did. This is necessitated because they now have something that no other terrorist organization has…territory. They not only have to run a military force; they have to administrate cities and territories. That means funding, taxation and administration. This significantly separates ISIS from all other terrorist organizations.
Brutality is a somewhat surprising difference between ISIS and al Qaeda. It may seem strange, but ISIS is even more brutal than al Qaeda. ISIS has carried out a sadistic campaign unlike any that al Qaeda has commited. Al Qaeda is an organization that is prepared to go to great lengths to accomplish their mission, including killing women, children and the infirm. Even in the cruelty of al Qaeda, they have had to publicly denounce ISIS and insist that they take it down a notch. ISIS has waged war, not only against the West, but against all who do not agree with them, especially Shi’ites. They actively attack and kill Shi’ites. Al Qaeda abhors Shi’ites and considers them as apostates.
Yet another significant difference between ISIS and al Qaeda is that ISIS is more popular with the younger generation. The extremities of ISIS are very popular with a bored youth, not only in the Middle East but in the West as well. ISIS has many more followers than al Qaeda because of the recruitment boom to Syria; also because of the focus that ISIS has put on state-of-the-art multi-media. They are huge into self-made movies and flashy visual stimulating websites. They actively recruit and target young people. This has yielded for them a large cache of new recruits from all around the world.
One final considerable difference in ISIS and al Qaeda is that Al Qaeda has attacked the U.S.; ISIS has not. ISIS has made it clear that it wants to attack the United States, whereas al Qaeda has already done so. Attacking the U.S. is the big kahuna of terrorist attacks. Giving the U.S. a black eye, so to speak in the 9/11 attack in New York city, gave al Qaeda enormous street credit among the terrorism world back in 2001. Many had never even heard of al Qaeda until then. ISIS is longing for that kind of significant action. There is a competition between ISIS and al Qaeda to capture the hearts and minds of many disenfranchised youth in the world. The next 9/11 size attack will reap huge benefits for the organization that is able to pull it off. Competition between the two doesn’t bode well for the United States. “Any time you have a competition between terrorist groups, there will be incentive to launch more high profile attacks to attract more attention,” McCants said. Al Qaeda especially will be seeking to attack the West, to stay relevant, Watts said. “If they can’t prove themselves, they will slip by the wayside.” What then is in a name? In the end…a rose would smell as sweet by any other.
Why.
The fact that al Qeuda has attacked the United States of America ought to cause all of us to re-consider the world in which we live and how we live in it. None of us needs to live in fear. If we do, the terrorists have already won. What we must do is put into effect some fundamental social practices that will significantly reduce the threats to ourselves and our families. These should not be practices or even attitudes focused only on Islamist jihadists. They are simple ways of thinking and acting that all of us should learn, teach our children and our communities. They will save our lives, protect others and allow us to live in harmony and peace.
Action.
Understand the reasons why your fear of a terrorist attack is out of proportion to the risk.
There are psychological reasons why we are more afraid of terrorist attacks than logic dictates. We are more afraid of risks that are new and unfamiliar than of those we’ve lived with for a long time (e.g., heart disease, which accounts for one in every four deaths in America each year). We’re more afraid of risks that kill us in particularly gruesome ways—say, a plane crash, a shark attack, or the Ebola virus—than in mundane ways. We’re less afraid of risks we feel we have some control over, such as skiing and driving, even if it’s only the illusion of control. (Most people think their driving is more safe than it is in actuality. We’re all one text message away from death on the road.) We’re more afraid of human-made dangers than of those with natural causes, such as solar radiation or earthquakes. We’re more afraid of risks that are highly publicized, especially on television, along with those that involve spectacular events. One incident with multiple deaths has a much greater impact than many incidents, each involving a single death. This is one reason that we fear airplane crashes more than automobile crashes, even though the latter are far more likely to occur.
Don’t focus so much on unlikely risks that it causes you to ignore the common ones that are exceedingly more likely to hurt you. Frightened people make dangerous choices. As an example, after 9/11 people chose to drive rather than to fly. As another example, cruise-goers may be so focused on washing their hands frequently in order to avoid norovirus that they forget to reapply their sunscreen.
Lessen the risks that you do have some control over when traveling. You can say to yourself, “What is the likelihood of this situation affecting my trip? -Pretty tiny.” And you can lessen those risks you do have some control over by driving very carefully on your way to the airport. You can begin to practice simple forms of situational awareness. Recently, in a consultation with a client, I was able to deduce with only a few questions what time this person went to work, what route they took daily, where they went to lunch, what gym they went to like clock work, when they came home and what route they took as they went along. They had made the situation extremely easy for anyone who wanted to do them harm. My point is that we must pay attention to what is happening around us. Be on the look out for the out of the ordinary. I believe, in so doing that being situationally aware will keep us safe from 90% of all possible terrorist actions.
I have been beating this drum since the very first issue and plan to continue giving this advice. Pray. Pray for safety; pray for your community. Pray that possible terrorists will see the destructiveness of their ways and change their plans of action. We either believe that prayer is effective or we do not. If we are not praying, my guess is that this is the greatest indicator of what we believe about prayer than all the theology we espouse to believe.
Resources.
Here are several references which will help you navigate the landscape of influential figures within both ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
ISIS, a history: how the world’s worst terror group came to be https://www.vox.com/2015/11/19/9760284/isis-histor…
The Soviet War in Afghanistan, 1979 – 1989… https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-sovi…
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic… https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/…
Dealing With The Dangers Of Fear: The Role Of Risk Communication… http://dropeik.com/dropeik/pdf/healthaffairs.pdf
Al Qaeda 3.0… https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-richard-chasdi/a…
US Cyber Bombs On ISIS Change The Nature Cyber War… https://www.cybersecurityintelligence.com/blog/us-…
The Jihadi Threat: ISIS, Al Qaeda and Beyond… https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/The-Jihad…
Five ways ISIS, al Qaeda differ… http://thehill.com/policy/defense/218387-five-ways…
Terror attacks are likely to increase in 2018, with ISIS and al-Qaeda both still dangerous
… https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/28/terror-isis-and-al…
ISIS and Al Qaeda have specifically called for the type of attack that just happened in New York City… http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-al-qaeda-car-t…
Al-Qaeda Leader Declares War Against ISIS, Accuses al-Baghdadi of ‘Sedition’… http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/09…
What ISIS Really Wants… https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/…
Al Qaeda… https://www.britannica.com/topic/al-Qaeda
Profile: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi… https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/profile-abu-musab…
Profile: Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi… https://ctc.usma.edu/abu-muhammad-al-maqdisi-a-cou…
Profile: Abu Baker al-Baghdadi… http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27801676
Deciphering Competition Between al-Qa`ida and the Islamic State… https://ctc.usma.edu/deciphering-competition-betwe…