6 - Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist group that is centralized in the Middle East. Currently, its leader is Osama bin Ladin. Al-Qaeda's key objective is to eliminate all western influences from Muslim countries and establish these countries, instead, as fundamentalist Islamic administrations. This particular terrorist group started as a group of "holy warriors" that wanted to expand the the "holy war" outside the borders of Afghanistan, and by 1988, the group acknowledged themselves as Al-Qaeda. Because of their extremist views, they are well known throughout the world for their radical behavior. They have been linked directly to multiple terrorist attacks across the globe since 1998. Their most significant attack occurred on September 11, 2001 in New York City and Washington D.C. It was this particular attack that caused the United States to begin its War on Terrorism. From about October 7, 2001 to the present, the War on Terrorism has been in effect. The first part of the War on Terror was the War in Afghanistan. This war has yet to be won or resolved. Along with that war, the United States has also entered into a military campaign in the Middle Eastern country of Iraq; this war's end is also pending. Al-Qaeda has one distinct characteristic that makes it so dangerous; it has no exact location where its members operate. Essentially, Al-Qaeda could be anywhere that it sees as a threat to its extremist Muslim religion, and because of its successes in past terrorist attacks, many smaller terrorist organizations follow Al-Qaeda's lead and listen to their directives. This primarily makes Al-Qaeda the most influential terrorist group in the world. For that reason, the United States is targeting this group and its leaders in its War on Terrorism the most. They believe that if the most influential group is stopped, then the rest should crumble as well.

Video of Al-Qaeda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2RokLUFusY