Sean Kleymann

English 9

Mr. Wennekamp

4-16-10

Al Qaeda

Terrorism affects us in many ways. Although you may not realize it you are at

risk everyday. For example you risk being blown up or shot every time you go on an

airplane or enter a building. Al Qaeda is one of the many terror groups in the world. They

have claimed responsibility for 9/11 and other major attacks around the globe. People

need to know more about Al Qaeda and terrorism, the history and what is being done in

the war on terror to help fight terrorism.

“Al Qaeda is an international terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden.

Established around 1988 by bin Laden, Al-Qaeda helped finance, recruit, transport and

train thousands of fighters from dozens of countries to be part of an Afghan resistance to

defeat the Soviet Union” (Al-Qaida). After the defeat of the soviets in February of 1989,

Osama bin Laden issued a statement that said it is the duty of Muslims to kill American

military, civilians, and our allies. Thus using his organization Al Qaeda Osama bin Laden

turned it into a terrorism group against the US.

Al Qaeda has made many attacks, attempts of assassinations, Kidnappings

bombings, hijacking and suicide attacks some of which fail and some of which

succeeded. Two examples are of attacks were on the World Trade Center, “Feb. 26, 1993:
A massive bomb explodes in a garage below the World Trade Center in New York City.

Six people are killed and more than 1,000 injured in the blast” (Glendinning). “Sept. 11,

2001: Hijackers commandeer four commercial jetliners, crashing two of them into the

twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and another into the Pentagon

outside Washington. The fourth airliner crashes in a field in Pennsylvania. Some 3,000

people die in the attacks” (Glendinning). Other attacks include a bombing on the USS

Cole in Oct. 2000, and many others like car bombs in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es

Salaam, Tanzania. Those have been a select few of attacks that have happened in the

history of Al Qaeda.

The War on Terror is a war against Al Qaeda and Terrorism following the

September 11th attacks. There have been few to no successful attacks on U.S. soil since

the war on terror began. “A nationally representative sample of approximately 2000 Iraqi

adults answered whether any members of their household (living under their roof) were

killed due to the Iraq War. 22% of the respondents had lost one or more household

members” (War on Terror). Of the 22% we do not know how many were terrorists, or if

any of them were terrorists. The war on terror has been going on since 2003 and

President Obama hopes to have the troops out of the Middle East in the near future.

Terrorism can strike you any where at any time, so it is important to know what is

going on in current events around you. Terrorism attacks by groups like Al Qaeda have a

big impact on our lives and history. Although President Obama hopes to have the

American troops out of the Middle East the war will go on. Unless Osama bin Laden

Gets tracked down and Al Qaeda with other Terrorist groups get shut down.
 Works Cited

"Al-Qaeda." DiscoverTheNetwork.org. 2003. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.

<http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6211>.
"Al-Qaeda Manual." Web. 5 Apr. 2010.

<http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/terrorism/alqaida_manual/manualpart1_1.

pdf>.

Glendinning, Mary. "Timeline: Al-Qaida Attacks on Western Targets : NPR." NPR :

National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. 7 July

2005. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?

storyId=4733944>.

Pike, John. "Al-Qaida." GlobalSecurity.org. 2000. Web. 4 Apr. 2010.

<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/al-qaida.htm>.

"War on Terror." Main Page - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror>.