Inside Al Qaeda by Rohan Gunaratna

Inside Al Qaeda by Rohan Gunaratna

Inside Al Qaeda examines the leadership, ideology, structure, strategies, and tactics of the most violent politico-religious organization the world has ever seen. The definitive work on Al Qaeda, this book is based on five years of research, including extensive interviews with its members; field research in Al Qaeda-supported conflict zones in Central, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East; and monitoring Al Qaeda infiltration of diaspora and migrant communities in North America and Europe.

Although founded in 1988, Al Qaeda merged with and still works with several other extremist groups. Hence Al Qaeda rank and file draw on nearly three decades of terrorist expertise. Moreover, it inherited a full-fledged training and operational infrastructure funded by the United States, European, Saudi Arabian and other governments for use in the anti-Soviet Jihad.

This book sheds light on Al Qaeda's financial infrastructure and how they train combat soldiers and vanguard fighters for multiple guerrilla, terrorist and semi-conventional campaigns in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, the Caucuses, and the Balkans. In addition, the author covers the clandestine Al Qaeda operational network in the West.

Gunaratna reveals:

how Osama bin Laden had his mentor and Al Qaeda founder, Azzam, assassinated in order to take over the organization and that other Al Qaeda officers who stood in his way were murdered,

Al Qaeda's long-range, deep-penetration agent handling system in Western Europe and North America for setting up safe houses, procuring weapons, and conducting operations,

how the O55 Brigade, Al Qaeda's guerrilla organization, integrated into the Taliban,

how the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui forced Al Qaeda to move forward on September 11,

how a plan to destroy British Parliament on 9/11 and to use nerve gas on the European Union Parliament were thwarted,

how the Iran--Hezbollah--Al Qaeda link provided the knowledge to conduct coordinated, simultaneous attacks on multiple targets, including failed plans to destroy Los Angeles International Airport, the US Sullivan, the Radisson Hotel in Jordan, and eleven US commercial airliners over the Pacific ocean,

that one-fifth of international Islamic charities and NGOs are infiltrated by Al Qaeda,

how the US response is effective militarily in the short term, but insufficient to counter Al Qaeda's ideology in the long-term.

Finally, to destroy Al Qaeda, Gunaratna shows there needs to be a multipronged, multiagency, and multidimensional response by the international community.

Rohan Gunaratna is Professor of Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technology University, and founder of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), Singapore. He received his Masters from the University of Notre Dame in the US where he was Hesburgh Scholar and his doctorate from the University of St Andrews in the UK where he was British Chevening Scholar. A former Senior Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Centre at the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Gunaratna was invited to testify on the structure of al Qaeda before the 9/11 Commission. The author of 17 books including Inside al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (University of Columbia Press), Gunaratna edits the Insurgency and Terrorism Series of the Imperial College Press, London. A trainer for national security agencies, law enforcement authorities, and military counter-terrorism units, he interviewed terrorists and insurgents in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Saudi Arabia and other conflict zones. For advancing international security cooperation, Gunaratna received the Major General Ralph H. Van Deman Award in June 2014.

Mohd Mizan Aslam is Professor of Security Studies at the Naif Arab University for Security Studies (NAUSS), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Mizan also a senior academician at Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), and founder & first director of Malaysian Research Institute of Strategic Studies (MyRISS). Mizan was conferred Honorary Major by Malaysian Armed Forces in 2016 due to his contribution in security and CVE initiatives. He is also a national expert panel in rehabilitation programs to terrorist inmates nationwide. He is a writer for numerous books, conference papers, journals, proceedings, newspapers, magazines, keynote speakers, and t.v & news columnist. Mizan actively involves in fellowship abroad as Executive Council of Benevolent Fund for Outstanding Students (BFOS), Hadramowt, Govt of Yemen and Executive Advisor QATAR Guest Centre, Doha Qatar. Mizan held a position as Adjunct Professor at School of Arts & Humanities, Universitas Ubudiyah Indonesia (UUI), Acheh, Indonesia. Mizan also appointed as Visiting Professor at the Centre for Civilization & Peace Study, Ibnu Haldun University, Besheksehir, Istanbul, Turkey in 2017. Mizan involved in developing a National Action Plan on CVE with Home Ministry of Malaysia and also appointed as Senior Fellow at Islamic and Strategic Studies Institute (ISSI-CONCAVE).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780425191149
ISBN 10	0425191141
Title	Inside Al Qaeda
Author	Rohan Gunaratna
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2003-06-03
Number of pages	362
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.