Tag: Qaeda

Free Download Prof Melissa Finn, "Al-Qaeda and Sacrifice: Martyrdom, War and Politics"
English | 2012 | ISBN: 0745332625, 0745332633 | EPUB | pages: 264 | 0.4 mb
Al-Qaeda and Sacrifice is a pioneering critical intervention into the study of terrorism. Challenging the commonly held idea that ‘suicide-bombings’ are motivated by a nihilistic hatred of life, Melissa Finn argues that it is more honest and helpful to examine such violent agency through the concept of ‘sacrifice’. The book provides a unique look at the way ‘sacrifice’ is used in the Arabic language and in the writings of Islamists and jihadis. Finn offers penetrating insights into jihadi thought on its own terms, arguing that it constitutes a political theory which can be usefully compared and related to western political theorists, from Machiavelli and von Clausewitz to Hannah Arendt, Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler. She critically examines the strategy of ‘sacrifice’ in martyrdom operations and ultimately concludes that the heedless certainty of such violence undermines attempts to redress political grievances. Al-Qaeda and Sacrifice is a unique contribution which goes beyond simplistic or apologetic explanations of terrorism and allows the authentic jihadi voice to speak for itself.

Free Download Paul L Williams, "The Al Qaeda: Connection"
English | 2009 | ISBN: 813090375X | EPUB | pages: 284 | 0.8 mb
The face of Terror has changed dramatically. Today major terrorist attacks are marked by their meticulous preparation and deadly execution as the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 have clearly established. The most important planning centre for these operations is the tribal region located on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following the U.S. action in Afghanistan in December 2001 many Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters escaped and settled down in these regions where, historically, the writ of the state has always been weak. Taking advantage of the inhospitable terrain and the porous border, Al Qaeda militants of multiple ethnic origins regrouped. In 2008 alone they launched over fifty suicide missions which have inflicted more than six thousand casualties in attacks across the world. In these remote valleys the fatal mix of ultra-conservatism, economic under-development, religious obscurantism and the absence of law and justice has resulted in a cauldron of militancy which is being fed and fuelled by the shadowy presence of the Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Ever-younger fighters are being recruited for suicide missions while music, shaving and the education of girls are proscribed by increasingly powerful clerics. In this book Imtiaz Gul follows the trail of militancy and the way it has evolved under Al Qaeda’s influence in tribal areas.