Posted by
InchDeep on Monday, July 14, 2008 2:54:01 PM
They left out the U.S. Democrat lead congress and some members of the Obama campaign.
www.guardian.co.uk
AL-JIHAD was created out of a network of
underground cells that sprang up in Egypt in the late Sixties. Its
leaders, Dr Fadl and Ayman al-Zawahiri, shared the aim of overthrowing
the Egyptian government and replacing it with an Islamic state, but
they diff ered in their methods, with Fadl expressing doubts about the
eff ectiveness of violent attacks against a far more powerful enemy. In
1981 soldiers linked to the group assassinated the president of Egypt,
Anwar Sadat. In 2001, under the leadership of Zawahiri, al-Jihad merged
with al-Qaeda
AL-QAEDA was formed in the
summer of 1988 by Arab veterans of the war against the Russians in
Afghanistan. The organisation aimed to spread jihad to other parts of
the world where Muslims were suff ering. Osama bin Laden, Ayman
al-Zawahiri and Dr Fadl were all founding members. The presence of US
troops on Saudi soil in the fi rst Gulf War sowed he seeds of the
virulent anti- Americanism that would explode into the world's
consciousness on 11 September 2001
THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
is a Sunni political organisation that advocates a return to 'pure'
Islamic values based on a literal reading of the Koran. While it claims
to be a peaceful organisation, it has taken part in several political
assassinations and an arson campaign in Egypt. It created Hamas in Gaza
during the Eighties
THE ISLAMIC GROUP
appeared in the Seventies and was dedicated to overthrowing the
Egyptian government. Unlike al-Jihad, which organised into sleeper
cells designed for covert terrorist attacks, the Islamic Group
attempted to start an open social revolution in Egypt. By the end of
the Nineties the group had thousands of followers in jail. A peace deal
was brokered between the organisation and the Egyptian government,
leading to a formal renunciation of violence by the group's leaders
HAMAS
emerged in 1987 from the Gaza wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and became
active during the fi rst intifada. It is dedicated to the destruction
of the state of Israel and its replacement with an Islamic state. It
claims to be politically rather than religiously motivated, although
its rhetoric is often framed in religious terms and 'martyrdom' is
central to its operations
THE TALIBAN is
primarily made up of members of the Pashtun community from Afghanistan
and Pakistan. The infl ux of foreign fi ghters and money during the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan meant the Taliban's ideology was infl
uenced by their powerful Wahhabi benefactors - men like Osama bin
Laden. They governed Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, implementing a
rigorous Islamic code of conduct. The group is currently behind a fi
erce insurgency in southern Afghanistan.