Al Qaeda is a loosely affiliated network of Islamic terrorist organizations, operating in the Middle East and throughout the rest of the world. The
name of the organization, nominally headed by Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri comes from the Arabic word for "The Base". The
name came from a database created by bin Laden at the end of the 1980s that contained the names of Islamic extremist fighters who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. So far, the bloodiest attack perpetrated by
Al Qaeda came on September 11, 2001, which precipitated the US invasion of Afghanistan and the decimation of the terror group. Prior attacks by Al Qaeda included the bombing of the USS
Cole on the Gulf of
Aden in 2000, the bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, and the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia in 1996. Al Qaeda vowed worldwide
jihad against the US in the early 90s, listing a number of grievances, specifically: the US presence in Saudi Arabia, the US support of
Israel, as well as failing to follow the Islamic way of
life.
