Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in Al-Qa'ida from 1989-2006
Abstract
Key insights emerge from this analysis of documents declassified from the Harmony Database and made available to the Combating Terrorism Center by the DoD. The analysis charts the evolution of Al-Qa'ida and of the internal divisions between guerrilla strategists and brand managers that accompanied it. The Harmony documents shed light on cohesion problems that have been bedeviling Salafi jihadi organizations going back more than 30 years. This has been a constant challenge for al-Qa'ida as well. While the branding-versus-bureaucracy crux has consistently been the driving force, at different points in the development of al-Qa'ida the scope and consequences of this leadership struggle have changed. During the first phase, from the founding of the organization at the close of the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan to the return of the leadership to South Asia after its misadventures in Africa, al-Qa'ida had failed in both areas, creating neither an effective guerrilla organization nor a consistent jihadi message. In the second phase, from al-Qa'ida's re-establishment in Afghanistan to its dispersal from that refuge by American-led attacks, al-Qa'ida was able to exploit the relative security provided by its uneasy alliance with the Taliban to develop and begin to "market" its anti-American message. Though it was during this period that it was able to carry out the large-scale acts of terror for which it is famous -- the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa and the attacks of 9/11 -- internal divisions over the decision to target the United States severely degraded al-Qa'ida's organizational capacity. During the third and current phase, which began with the United States' response to 9/11, al-Qa'ida as a centrally-controlled bureaucracy all but disappeared, with most of its key military and strategic leaders dispersed, captured, or killed. In this period, al-Qa'ida Central has been largely reduced to a media organization. A 44-page Harmony document bibliography is included.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA473866
Entities
People
- Vahid Brown
Organizations
- United States Military Academy