LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Al Qaeda: Groups
built 142 days ago
Al Qaeda has responded in characteristic fashion — a campaign of atrocities designed to intimidate or kill its new antagonists. Such tactics were successful in the past. No longer. Today these atrocities only serve to remind the leaders of the salvation councils and their supporters that Al Qaeda is the real enemy. They have not deterred Anbaris from joining and integrating into the Iraqi government's security organs. They have not deterred leaders in other provinces from forming similar groups.
Source:
Al Qaeda has targeted the Maulana. Undoubtedly the U.S. is applying more than a little bit of pressure on him, and his former foreign sponsors Saddam and Qaddafi are no longer pumping millions to his jihad groups. The new Bhutto/Mushareef alliance leaves him divided from the military and democratic political interests of Pakistan. He is increasingly isolated.
Source:
Whether or not such claims are true, al Qaeda is well placed to threaten global security in the near future. Because it thrives on failed and failing states, it will have opportunities to set up new operations. One appealing option may be Lebanon, where extremist Sunni groups have long operated, particularly in the country's second-largest city, Tripoli, which was controlled by a Sunni fundamentalist group during much of the 1980s, before Syria cracked down. If the Lebanese state is further weakened or civil war breaks out, al Qaeda may seek a foothold there. The United Nations force stationed in Lebanon is likely to be a target, since the jihadists consider it to be another crusading army in the Muslim world.
Source:
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a group named for their location in North Africa, evolved from the Algerian militant group, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC). GSPC formed in 1998 as an outgrowth of the once-powerful and extremely violent Groupe Islamique Armée (GIA). GIA’s popularity declined following a series of massacres in which it killed thousands of Algerian civilians.
Source:
[T]he next group of al Qaeda operatives destined for the planes operation [the Hamburg group] had just surfaced in Afghanistan. The new recruits had come to Afghanistan aspiring to wage johad in Chechnya. But al Qaeda quickly recognized their potential and enlisted them in its anti-U.S. jihad.
Source:
Having failed to finish off Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Washington now finds itself fighting Qaeda-affiliated groups on multiple fronts, most recently in Somalia. Al Qaeda’s comeback in Pakistan is a devastating indictment of Mr. Bush’s grievously flawed strategies and misplaced Iraq obsession. Unless the president changes course, the dangers to America and its friends will continue to multiply.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Groups