The Evolving Terrorist Threat
出处：按学科分类—政治、法律 BERKSHIREPUBLISHINGGROUP《PatternsofGlobalTerrorism1985-2005：U.S.DepartmentofStateReportswithSupplementaryDocumentsandStatistics》第140页（4145字）
From Country Reports on Terrorism 2004
Al-Qaida leadership was degraded through arrests and ongoing Pakistani operations to assert greater control along the border with Afghanistan where some al-Qaida leaders are believed to hide. Numerous al-Qaida and affiliated foot soldiers were captured or killed during the year.
■ Pakistani authorities captured al-Qaida communications expert and Heathrow bomb plot suspect Naeem Noor Khan and US Embassy bombing suspect Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani in July 2004, and killed Amjad Farooqui, suspected in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, in September 2004.
■ Saudi security forces killed several top leaders of the al-Qaida organization in Saudi Arabia, including Khalid Ali al-Hajj and Abdulaziz al-Muqrin.
■ Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, leader of the alQaidaaffiliated Jemaah Islamiya remained in jail pending his early 2005 trial for involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.
■ The Filipino Antiterrorism Task Force captured seven foreigners in 2004 believed to be elements of al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiya.
■ British authorities in August 2004 arrested suspected alQaidaaffiliated individuals who were subsequently indicted in the United States for plotting to attack financial institutions in the United States.
Many senior al-Qaida leaders remained at large, continued to plan attacks against the United States, US interests, and US partners, and sought to foment attacks by inspiring new groups of Sunni Muslim extremists to undertake violent acts in the name of jihad. In some cases, alQaida attempted to bring other extremist groups under its banner, while in other cases, groups claimed allegiance to al-Qaida despite little evidence of any connection with al-Qaida leaders. In still other cases, the existence of new groups only became evident following an attack.
■ Al-Qaida cells continued to carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia throughout 2004.
■ AlQaidaaffiliate Jemaah Islamiya continued to plot attacks against the United States, Australian and other foreign interests in Indonesia, bombing the Australian Embassy in September 2004.
■ The al-Qaida cell in East Africa, including terrorists linked to the 1998 bombings of US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and the 2002 attacks on a Mombasa hotel and an Israeli commercial aircraft, remained at large, and are suspected of planning new attacks.
■ Notorious terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi pledged the fealty of himself and his group in Iraq to bin Ladin; alZarqawi is now the recognized leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
■ The March 2004 bombing of commuter trains in Madrid that killed 191 innocent people was executed by a previously unknown group of jihadist terrorists (mostly Moroccan immigrants resident in Spain for years) inspired by, but without direction from, al-Qaida.
■ The new leader of the GSPC in Algeria announced his affiliation with alQaida, but there was no evidence of assistance or direction from al-Qaida leadership.
The latter two incidents illustrate what many analysts believe is a new phase of the global war on terrorism, one in which local groups inspired by al-Qaida organize and carry
out attacks with little or no support or direction from al-Qaida itself.
As al-Qaida itself weakens and local groups take on greater responsibility for planning, acquiring resources and carrying out attacks in their localities, it will be ever more important for the United States to help partners who require assistance to counter this new manifestation of the terrorist threat. Furthermore, although al-Qaida remains the primary concern regarding possible WMD threats, the number of groups expressing an interest in such materials is increasing, and WMD technology and knowhow is proliferating within the jihadist community.