Term Paper on "Report on Terrorist Organization and Its Threat to Australia or Australian Interests"

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93.1.5.

Sources of Funding

93.2.

Operational Issues

Operational locations

Recent Activities

Threat Assessment

Identification and Characterization of Nature of Threat

Risk Analysis of Australian National Interests

Perceived threat to Australian values

Policy Recommendations

Conclusion

References

Appendices

Dossier

1. Executive Summary

A great change is seen in the security environment of Australia. New kinds of terrorism are evolving and the Australian government faces a new threat. The new kind of terrorism can be referred to as transnational terrorism and it is being spread based on Muslim extremist cause. Two of the main groups that are heightening the terrorist activities include Al-Qaeda and in some cases Jemaah Islamiyah. It is recently observed that the sympathizers to the highlighted groups are now adopting the same terrorist activities. To these groups, Australia seems to be the new target.

This is the new threat that requires that the Australian government devises new ways by the help of which an adequate response can be issued to the terrorist activities if launched on Australia. There is no doubt about the fact that many manifestations of terrorism and of those who support it, exist. The many forms of transnational terrorism are the new and previously unknown challenge for Australia. Newer facts about transnational terrorism are the extremist ideology being followed. The terrorists in this case are not based on geography and they know what they want. They are aware that the goals that they have cannot be achieved by using persuasion and the violent tactics that they use are strategic. Policing and intelligence has now shown that Australia is the new target to the new global and transnational terrorism. Defending Australia and the global interests from transnational terrorism should be the main aims of the Australian government.

2. Background

If Islamic values and tradition are taken into account, it can be seen that it teaches increased tolerance for others. The others include other religions, ethnicities, races, and people's views. If these values are compared with what is being followed by the transnational terrorist, it is observed that their values are far away, from what Islam teaches and still these terrorists claim to the representatives of Islam. Islam has a rich history and it has always supported rich theological perspectives. Pluralist tradition is an important tradition in Islam that has helped in defining some of the most important human rights. Notions of compassion, restraint, forgiveness, and diversity have been intensely defined by Islam (Rumley, Forbes, and Griffin 2006). Al-Qaeda is the best-known example of the groups holding extremist ideologies. The development and evolution of Al-Qaeda is based on the Soviet-Afghan war as Al-Qaeda started recruiting militants from around the globe. The Soviet War was won by the mujahedeens, proving to be a great stimulant to the Muslim extremists. Al-Qaeda, from there started to spread its wings training new and young militants with global connection, military expertise, and fanatical enthusiasm (Smith 2005).

Southeast Asia has gained more focus in counter terrorism efforts being made by many countries. The kind of extremism being forwarded and spread by the transnational extremist Muslim terrorists includes intolerant, purist and violent forms. The mainstream and more tolerant form of Islam being followed in the areas of Southeast Asia is threatened by the presence of these violent forms. After the success of Al-Qaeda in soviet war, it decided to spread its wings beyond Middle East to Southeast Asia. Some of the main factors that helped Al-Qaeda spread their wings in Southeast Asia include open political, economic, and legal systems (McDougall and Shearman 2006).

The second important threat to Australia is Jemaah Islamiyah. The roots of Jemaah Islamiyah stem back to Indonesia in 1950 and the well-known separatist Dar-ul-Islam movement. Jemaah Islamiyah later developed its links in the countries like Malaysia; Philippines especially terrorist links were developed with some of the most well-known Muslim extremists in Southern Malaysia. History shows that Jemaah Islamiyah is a great threat to the Australians as Jemaah Islamiyah killed more than 88 Australians in the Bali bombings, in addition to three Australian residents (Hubbard 2005).

Weaknesses in Australia as a nation are to be realized. The proximity and gravity of the threat is to be understood, as vulnerabilities within the nation are the main threat. The total and collective response managed by the Australian government is the mirror of the collective security employed against these threats. Other than these, some of the additional challenges faced by the Australian region include experiences, resources, and political circumstances, relationships with international political players, security cultures, and related circumstances. It is important to highlight here that one of the long-term challenges to the Australian region is Jemaah Islamiyah as it is the most dynamic. There is no doubt about the fact that the regional cooperation has played important roles in the disruption of terrorist networks in the country but Jemaah Islamiyah has not been quiet since. Adaptations used in the methods being used by Jemaah Islamiyah include the diversion of its targeting. The intentions and capability that Jemaah Islamiyah has to strike again with even more power is one of the main threats to the Australian region (Gyngell and Wesley 2007).

3. Current Profile

It is mentioned that the main terrorism threats faced by Australia come from Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. Thereby the profiles of these two extremist terrorist organizations will be taken into account in the following sections.

3.1. Organisational Issues

Organizational philosophy of Al-Qaeda is mainly the centralization of decision-making and devolution of execution. One of the most well-known and notorious Islamic extremist terrorist group is Al-Qaeda. It was founded between 1988 and 1989 by Osama bin Laden. The network of Al-Qaeda is based on stateless and multinational army. After the War on Terror, Al-Qaeda has now become more geographically isolated (Marsh 2002).

3.1.1. Leadership

Information about the leadership structure of Al-Qaeda was given by Jamal al-Fadl. The 'emir', the head and the decision-maker of the group is notable Osama bin Laden. Deputy Operations Chief for the group is Ayman al-Zawahiri. He is now the commander and the emir of the group since the assassination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on 1st May 2011. Shura Council is the main advisor of the group consisting of senior members of Al-Qaeda. The Military Committee controls the training operations, and the Sharia law is reviewed by the Law Committee helping in making decisions on attacks and assassinations.

In the case of Jeemah Islamiyah, Yemen, born Indonesian Abu Bakar Bashir leads the group. Other reported leadership figures for the groups include Southeast Asia's most wanted Mohammed Noordin Top and Azhari Husain (Smith 2000).

3.1.2. Ideological Basis

The last few decades of the 10th century have seen great and radical Islamic movements and these have been caused by Al-Qaeda and related Islamic radical groups. It is argued that without the radical writings of Sayyid Qutb, the birth of Al-Qaeda would have never taken place. Sayyid Qutb, based on his Sunni-Islamism ideology has argued that the Muslim world is now vaguer as compared to what they were in the past and the main reason is the complete lack of Sharia law. He thereby argues that there is a need to restore true Islamic state. Thereby the ideas spread by Sayyid Qutb are strongly followed by Al-Qaeda.

Indonesia is considered as the center of operations for Jeemah Islamiyah. The main aim of the actions of Jeemah Islamiyah is the development and establishment of Daulah Islamiyah or a regional Islamic caliphate in the Southeast Asian region that also include Singapore, Brunei, and Philippines (Akbarzadeh and Yasmeen 2005). There is a deep hatred in the group for the West, which was openly shown in the Bali Bombings. The group believes that the Jews and Christians spreading anti-Islamic ideologies dominate the West (Tran, Garner, Morrison, Sharley, Griggs and Xavier 2003).

3.1.3. Rationale

After the September 11 attacks, they… READ MORE