Muslims are the
main victims of al Qaeda's deadly terrorist attacks against the
West, despite claims by the group's leaders that only a few
Muslims have died in the organization's global war against
Westerners, according to a study by the Combating Terrorism Center
at West Point, N.Y.
In 2007, al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri said in a
document he wrote called the "The Power of Truth" that "we haven't
killed the innocents; not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in
Algeria, nor anywhere else. And if there is any innocent who was
killed in the mujahedeen's operations, then it was either an
unintentional error, or out of necessity."
The report, published in December by Scott Helfstein, Nassar
Abdullah and Mohammad al-Obaidi, scholars at the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point center, concluded that al Qaeda has done
just the opposite and that the group's terrorist actions from 2004
to 2008 led to more non-Western deaths than Western killings and
have turned many of Islam's faithful against the extremist group.
"The fact is that the vast majority of al Qaeda's victims are
Muslims: The analysis here shows that only 15 percent of the
fatalities resulting from al Qaeda attacks between 2004 and 2008
were Westerners," according to the report, titled "Deadly
Vanguards: A Study of Al Qaeda's Violence Against Muslims."
"Many victims of al Qaeda and its affiliates have been Muslim, and
people in the Muslim world know that. This explains why many
Muslims deplore al Qaeda, and why you see more Muslim voices these
days expressing strong opposition to al Qaeda and the ideology it
espouses," the report states.
"Despite numerous warnings and ongoing public debates about the
indiscriminate use of violence, al Qaeda remains committed to its
current tactics as displayed by the steady stream of Muslim
fatalities from 2006 to 2008."
The study, which focused on al Qaeda violence from 2004 to 2008,
stated that only 15 percent of the 3,010 victims killed in al
Qaeda-related attacks were Western.
The research also found that during the period from 2006 to 2008,
only 2 percent (12 of 661 victims) were from the West, and the
remaining 98 percent of those killed were inhabitants of countries
with Muslim majorities.
"During this period, a person of non-Western origin was 54 times
more likely to die in an al Qaeda attack than an individual from
the West," the report states. "The overwhelming majority of al
Qaeda victims are Muslims living in Muslim countries, and many are
citizens of Iraq, which suffered more al Qaeda attacks than any
other country courtesy of the al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) affiliate."
The researchers of the study used "Arabic media sources to study
the victims of al Qaeda's violence through a nonprism."
Researchers said it was to "avoid accusations of bias associated
with Western news outlets or U.S. datasets."
"Al Qaeda and sympathizers consistently argue that Western media
outlets are no more than propaganda machines, and therefore, any
reports or data they release distort facts or lack accuracy," the
researchers said.
The recent killings of seven CIA officers in Afghanistan's eastern
province of Khost by Jordanian-born bomber and double agent Humam
Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was the most significant al Qaeda
attack on a Western group this year. However, overall, U.S.
intelligence officials agree with the report's findings that al
Qaeda attacks have taken many more Muslim lives than those they
target.
"Many victims of al Qaeda and its affiliates have been Muslim, and
people in the Muslim world know that," a U.S. counterterrorism
official told The Washington Times.
"This explains why many Muslims deplore al Qaeda, and why you see
more Muslim voices these days expressing strong opposition to al
Qaeda and the ideology it espouses," the counterterrorism official
said.
An al Qaeda video released after the death of al-Balawi urges "jihadists"
to strike U.S. targets.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Timothy M. Haake said in an interview that
al Qaeda's inability to control civilian deaths is "what turned
the Sunni tribes against them in Iraq and it may work against them
in Afghanistan as well, but it's not certain."
"Civilian casualties soured their [al Qaeda] relationship in
Iraq," Gen. Haake said. "It is their Achilles' heel. It was one of
the psychological and moral underpinnings used by [Gen. David H.]
Petraeus to create the Anbar Awakening, which divided al Qaeda
from the Sunni tribes in Anbar province."
As with the Anbar Awakening, also known as the Sons of Iraq, which
started in 2005 among the Sunni tribes in Anbar province, the top
commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, and Gen.
Petraeus are hoping to create the conditions so that tribal
leaders will step up to provide security in Afghanistan.
