In The Al Qaeda Network: A New Framework For DefiningThe Enemy, Katherine Zimmerman of the American Enterprise Institute describes the terrorist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda. Zimmerman is seen as a leading expert on the Al Qaeda network, having testified about it to Congress and written about it for The Washington Post, the Weekly Standard, and the Huffington Post.
In her analysis, Zimmerman identified the geographical locations of the groups said to be within the Al Qaeda network. These locations outline an area encompassing parts of Northern Africa and all of the Middle East. This region, in which the entire Al Qaeda network is based, represents about 15% of the total land on planet earth.
What is special about this land that might lead its inhabitants to a life of terrorism? Some, including Zimmerman, say that this region correlates to the land of Islam and that therefore the correlation is simply an indication that Muslims are prone to terrorism.
However, the known distribution of the world’s population of Muslims does not support that contention. According to the Pew Research Center, only about 55% of the world’s Muslims live inside the Al Qaeda network region.
The other possibility is that, since the area is rich in untapped resources, powerful people have used claims of terrorism as a pretext to invade. That possibility is definitely supported by evidence. For example, ten years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, U.S. officials began openly admitting that the war in Iraq was motivated by the desire to seize oil. U.S. military leaders including General John Abizaid, head of the U.S. military in Iraq, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have said that the war was about oil. Even former Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan admitted it.
Geographical correlation also supports this possibility much better. When the region outlined by Zimmerman’s Al Qaeda network is superimposed on a map of oil reserves by country, over 70% of the world’s oil reserves fall within the same area.
If one considers only oil reserves that are not yet fully within the control of the world’s superpowers (the U.S., Russia, China, and the E.U.), about 90% of what is left is within Zimmerman’s region. Only Venezuela, with 6.5% of the remaining oil, stands out. It is therefore not surprising that the U.S. government has recently declared Venezuela to be a national security threat.
The strong correlation between Al Qaeda and oil suggests that the terrorist group might be better named Oil Qaeda. However, the truth is a little more complex. As reported before, the geopolitical significance of this relatively small part of the world is as much about natural gas as it is about oil. Other critical resources, including uranium, diamonds, lithium, and gold, are motivators for those wanting control of the region.
Moreover, it has been seen that the invasion of Afghanistan probably had something to do with that country having the ideal climate for the production of opium. Just before the U.S. invasion in 2001, the Taliban had essentially eradicated the production of opium in Afghanistan. Under the U.S. occupation, opium production has reached record levels and the country now supplies 90% of the world’s heroin.
There’s no doubt that the Al Qaeda network serves multiple purposes. For those who want simple answers, there will continue to be propaganda about the region’s problems with “Islamic terrorism.” For those who can still think and see, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Al Qaeda and its associated network is largely an excuse for seizing resources.
Dig Within 
Reblogged this on Taking Sides.
You seem to have some apparently good articles presently linked in the Taking Sides page that you provided a link for and which is for understanding Al Qaeda. James Corbett of CorbettReport.com and corbettreport at YouTube, plus regular contributor at GlobalResearch.ca, did a piece about AQ not even being real, which, in a way, he’s actually right about. AQ is being used by western powers, after they actually were responsible for the creation of the so-called AQ, as well as after continuing to use this sharade. It’s part of the “game” of the western powers “screwing us all”.
Some good analysts continue to write or communicate as if AQ really exists and I think James Corbett is right; but, it exists in so much as western powers want to have us believe and this is in order to try to garner our ignorant support for western military interventions … “all over the place”, i.e.,, this world. Many of these analysts are against the former ends but still write or communicate as if AQ exists as a separate organization and I doubt very much that it’s really separate.
The “elites” have been playing weird “games” with us for ages. No AQ attacked the USA on 9/11, and we could go on with this sort of thing or line of analysis. The USA wasn’t attacked by a foreign power on 9/11.
Iow, blaming AQ as if it’s truly a separate organization from our governments is surely a false step. There’re dupes at low levels on both sides of the aisle, but the leadership level is a whole other matter. AQ has almost become a meaningless name.
I don’,t believe that AQ really exists outside of our governments.
WOW , great explanation of the situation . What bothers me is that in the TIME mag. for Dec. Jan 2001 , Rudy G is glorified by ONE man ,Eric Pooley , Editor ; who proceeds to take Ruddy to Israel ,to meet Ariel Sharon , and more accolades . Mayor of the World , ; Kerik , NYPD Chief , worked in Security in Saudi Arabia .
No connection between Saudi’s and USA .Ha. Now i just found out that Pataki , moved his office ( GOVERNORS OFFICE ) BEFORE 911 , .
Zin /or Zim shipping moved out of WTC on 9-4-2001 ,into a building built so fast , it defied the politician ,how that could have been done in so short a time . < Israeli Company )
Pataki , Roland Betts ( Chelsea Piers and owner of the Texas Rangers , with GWB. ( These 3 were at Yale at the same time .
http://www.c-span.org/video/?182320-1/september-11-commission-hearing ( this is the video of the Military ,FAA on June 17 , 2004 . Try watching the FAA ,; 3hrs & 45 min. into the hearing ;One hour for the FAA . Boring has hell , but you can solve 911 , with this video alone . Make sure if you do , focus on Monte Belger and Benedict Sliney . Belger was not in charge ,;you will hear is opening statement .El crapola .Sliney came into the Command Center early in the morning of 911 /. He was flabbergasted by the Screens (radar ) , like a lion . At the hearing he is more like a pussy cat .
A lawyer , former Marine , former supervisor at FAA . Fell asleep in the Radar section where they have the weather reports .
Four witnesses , one hour , last formal meeting ; this should have been the first meeting . See John Farmer . The commissioners agreed not to tell the truth ; there were NO lower level witnesses. I tried to get C-SPAN to air it some night , but exposure is not what they want .
They made videos trying to cover up , who / whom was in charge on 911 .
Pardon my French ; Shakyspeare thru me out of his classes.
Hello, Kevin. Fine short article and, quote: “For those who can still think and see, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Al Qaeda and its associated network is largely an excuse for seizing resources.”
Yep, indeed! Unfortunately, it was clear enough well over a decade ago; but, it’s always welcome when we have anyone finally realizing what’s actually happening. For that, we have reason to always applaud and to be thankful for.
James Corbett of CorbettReport.com and corbettreport at YouTube did a vdeo or episode, whatever, about Al Qaeda not really existing and he’s essentially right, but it’s a confusing thing. It’s essentially an instrument of Washington and the people who really run Washington, as well as some other industrialized western powers. It’s all a “game”, of sorts, against all of us, just that we’re not all in direct line of fire. Most of us aren”t, but many of us still are; many innocent people, very many.
Al Qaeda isn’t really what these western powers want us to believe that it is and deception is part of the latter’s strategy. There’s a lot more to reality than what only meets the eye, say.
Just re-reading Synthetic Terror: Made in the USA, by Web Tarpley; about halfway through, where there’s a whole hank of pages (I got the eBook and it’s not so portable, machine to machine (corresponding to chair to chair) haven’t tried it on phone)….
digression restart: Tarpley has a nice exegesis of growth of these “Al Quacks”–from Gladio (use natives, they fit in easier–I mean Indigenous peoples. Think of how long it takes to learn languages AND develop the right level of melanin (and maintain it). How could you be a Quisling in Sweden if you were born of Italian or Spanish or Lebanese, or South African (the 90%) parents. Body type, skin color and lingo, wouldn’t these be the absolutely 1ST “tells” (you never get to make a 1st impression twice, right?).
Tarpley makes total sense to describe these “groups” as just part of the CIA/MI6 “permanent enemy” pool, carefully “curated” for the right collection of “tells” and skills. Robert/Richard Connoly==Utube (JFK to 911: Everything’s a whitemans lie) puts a couple of European/Corsican Drug Mafia sniper teams as part of the 8 (eight) teams he places there, for two synchronized volleys of 8 shots per, at Dealey Plaza. Hunt played Suthin’ Whiteboy in the lineup–others were darker complected. The “umbrella man” was the “Starter”. No starter pistol because the puff of smoke and the report aren’t synchronized–that “speed of light vs speed of sound” thing.
Speaking of “tells,” Connoly points out that Herbie, standing in the crowd on the steps of the Depository, has his right hand in his trench-coat pocket, “broken” at the wrist–a position like your wrist would assume after a swat at scooping a net shot up ‘n’ over. (Tennis).
I haven’t read the “unauthorized bio” of the Fine Shrub family of over-the-topiary, so don’t know whether he covers (he being Tarpley again?) Herbie’s life-long connection with the secret army known as CIA–I think Russ Baker talked about it–I may have come away with an inaccurate recollection, but seems like Herbie got on board at age 19 or so, as soon as he was eased into Naviator Glasses by his prep school, what, guidance counsellor?. He was youngest pilot going, and maybe had established a Bones Spy Ring even before there was an OSS. But he was doing aerial recon, probably from his famous Red Studebaker. And from Navy Recon to OSS to CIA to USA to “Die, USA–make way for the New World Ordnance.
All of these “organizations” and “affiliations” are just so much hot air, seems to me. Like, to what Secretary of State’s office do they repair to file their articles of incorporation (and thus get their Paper-Personhood, a la Citizens Untied)? Do they do a remote filing with the Delaware Corporations office? I mean, they probably SHOULD incorporate in Delaware, as that gives paper corporations every iota of personhood they can have–four corners, four edges and….WAIT FOR IT–THERE’s MORE–TWO whole sides, a Front and a Back. For $15 extra, they can be named “Recto” and “Verso”.
And with incorporation as Al Fake-you-out or whatever, they get to treat ordinary business expenses as deductible, and thus reduce their income taxes. They do get their proper Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), don’t they. Or is there an External Revenue Service, maybe for black, brown, beige sheets of Paper-Personhood. People are always referring to “The Black Economy,” and I’m almost positive that they’re not talking about what W.E.B. duBois was talkin’ about.
And, come to think of it, I’m probably being apocryphal here, as I don’t think any other country in the world has become advanced enough to breathe the divine afflatus into sheets of paper. They’d need either a New-and-IMPROVED-Pearl Harbor, or a SCOTUS of their very own.
Think of the possibilities, though. It would be like the scenes from 9/11, with paper-people flying everywhere, and not one of them touched by flame (or some magnetic field and radio frequency that would return them to freeze-dried pulp). And how many paper-people drowned in the pit, as firemen poured in the millions of gallons of water to quench the self-feuling SuperThermite exothermic reactions?
Were any of them able to “go transnational” and swim down the Hudson, cross New York Harbor, and head and out to sea. With four corners and no need to stop for food or refreshment, maybe they could make it to Hispaniola, and we could start the experiment all over again, hoping to learn from our mistakes–such as failing to pass the Multiple Passport Tension and Confusion Elimination Act of 2015.The MPTCEA of 2015 simply allows US government officials who are citizens of two or more countries to chose whether to give up their government jobs or their multiple passports.
As an incentive to them simply giving up their government positions, the MPTCEA offers a 3rd alternative, which is to allow these multiple-passport carriers to plea-bargain away as many counts of treason they’ve accrued during the time of their multiple-passport incumbency.
The MPTCEA would also apply to organizations like the CIA, the National Surveillance Agency (NSA) and all other agencies that issue multiple passports for the same collection of cells within one skin-sack..
Dear Mr. Ryan ; Zimmerman , and AEI , are synonymous with a Rattle snake .
Lynne Cheney , Dick Cheney , richard Perle , Joe Liebermen ,Billy Kristol ( Dan Quayles , chief of staff . ) Judge Liberman ( one step below Supreme Court ; ” Bush did not lie .” )
Quayle signed the PNAC , NWO statement , along with Jeb Bush , Donald Rumsfeld , ETAL .
Smacks of a coup to me , but i am prejudiced against any Republican ; check this out , Pataki , Bush , Roland Betts ( aka Chelsea Piers , Lower Manhattan ,that would make him familiar with ” president Rudolf Giuliani ) . Three Judges who turned down April Gallops appeal in NEW HAVEN ,home of Yale U. from Yale Law School . One of them was GWB’s cousin , who refused to “recuse ” himself .
Yale , Harvard , John Hopkins , are guilty of TREASON . Plain and simple .
Harvards , JFK School of Government , was taken over by Dick Gergen , AND is the hideout for Zelikow , Ashton Carter , ( new Secretary of De-fence , waiting Jebs election .
JIB JAB JEB :forgot, Wolfowitz , Hauer , Bloomberg ,Prince Bandar , Eliot Cohen . All members in good standing with Gulf War and Iraq War . Orchestrated and executed .
Thank you .
every major terrorist event since 1990 was created by a FBI informant
911 exception
1993 1st World Trade Center bombing
FBI informant Amed Salem
FBI handlers Anticev and Floyd
1995 Oklahoma City bombing
Timothy McVeigh and John Doe
FBI handler Larry Potts
Omargh bombing Ireland
FBI informants David Rupert Whitey Bulger
Boston FBI office were handlers
Mumbai attack India
FBI informant David Headley
2 weeks before Boston Marathon bombing
I posted when will FBI agents create their
next terrorist event
google phrase with lds freedom forum
for more info google
whosarat forum fbi
click on website toolbox
msfreeh,
Why is 9/11 an exception, in your opinion? After all, you say that it’s an exception and thereby insinuate or imply that Usuama Bin Laden et al are likely responsible, as Washington has said in its unending series of lies.
Excellent point
For oil ,not BILL . Zimmerman , One who testifies before Congress does not make ONE Zimmer a
/ an expert on anything /