AfgahnistanIraq and Al-Qaeda

An Afghan KingdomIn 1919 the British gave up and it became a KingdomThe Kingdom lasted for two generation and ended in 1973, and it became a republic.In 1978 a communist regime seized power and was supported by the Soviet Union.A Muslim freedom movement (Including Osama Bin Laden) fought back…supported by the USWar devastated the country for 10 years

The Taliban

In 1989 the Soviet Union gave up.War raged between moderates and the Taliban a fundamentalist Muslim movement.In 1992 the Taliban won.It rules according to Sharia (Islamic) Law and local conservative valuesThey allowed almost no religious or intellectual freedomWomen lost their rights

Iraq becomes independentFor many years Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire.After WW1 in was placed under British ControlIn 1932 it became an independent Kingdom

Though the British kept military bases there.In 1941 the British fought a Iraq Nationalist group that had

seized power to ensure oil for the Allies.The Kingdom was restored after WW2It was overthrown by a military coup in 1958Which was overthrown by another military coup in 1963Finally the Ba’ath party took control in 1968

The Ba’ath PartyThe Ba’ath party was an Arab secular socialist political party that sought to unite Arab countries as one large socialist nation.It came to power in Egypt and Syria in the 1950’s establishing socialist dictatorships From 1958-1961 the Ba’ath party united the countries of Egypt and Syria as the United Arab Republic or “UAR” Ba’athists controlled Iraq from 1968 until the US invasion in 2003. During the Cold War they were supported by the Soviet UnionThus relations with the US were tenuous at best

In 1979 a Sunni Arab named Saddam Hussein, a leader of the Ba’ath party seized power to avoid a union with SyriaHe then invaded Shia Iran after the revolutionThe War continued for 10 years.Iraq used poison gas on Iranians and ethnic Kurds during the War violating international law.In 1990 Iraq conquered its oil-rich neighbor Kuwait.The United States declared war on IraqThe Arab league supported the US which easily drove the Iraqi army out.

It was called “Desert Storm”

An Aggressive Iraq

Bin Laden DissedAl Qaeda – US Enmity begins

When Iraq invaded Kuwait Bin laden offered the Saudi King troops to fight Iraq.The King rejected the offer and accepted US forces allowing them to live and operate in Saudi-ArabiaBin laden declared that this “profaned sacred soil.”He attacked Saudi-government with words and eventually the US with terrorismHe went into exile in Sudan

Al-QaedaAround 1988 Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi veteran of the Afghanistan war against the Soviet Unionfounded a terrorist organization called Al Qaeda

(The Base)It advocates global Jihad with the goal of

establishing Islamic Theocracies worldwide

Saddam Hussein was secular and therefore had no interaction with Al-Qaeda Because of his connections with the Taliban Al-Qaeda was based in Afghanistan

The Al Qaeda Plan

Its plan is to…1.Attack the US so they will invade as many Muslim countries as possible2.Organize local resistance, & recruit terrorists3.Expand conflicts into wars expensive to fight4.Make Al-Qaeda an ideology that “franchises” terrorism5.By 2020 make US Economy collapse producing global chaos and Wage Global Jihad..bringing Islamic rule to the world

9/119/11 in New York and the Pentagon •Two Hijacked planes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center•One crashed into the Pentagon•On one passengers fought with the Hijackers crashing in rural Penn. It was intended to hit the White house2,977 people died

US ResponseThe US asked the Taliban to turn over Bin ladenThey refusedIn 2001 the US invaded Afghanistan and threw the Taliban out of PowerBut the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban fought on from bases in the south and the Pakistani border region.On May 1 2011 Osama bin Laden was killed…but…It and its Taliban allies still control parts of Afghanistanand Al-Qaeda is an ideology that has spread into many countries.As the Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS) and Boko Haram