9/30/11
2:48 pm
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-bc-us--us-iraq,0,4839606.story
In the American war on terror, a major force of opposition in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the terrorist group Al-Qaida. They have had a major hand in many deaths of American soldiers, with the use of suicide bombers, and I.E.Ds. However recently the group has been suffering from shortages of new recruits and willing participants in suicide attacks. Also due to increased efforts by the military and Iraqi police working together, there has been less money flowing into the groups coffers. This has caused the organization to turn to more traditional criminal activities. These activities include a wide range from petty larceny to extortion rackets. This has caused al-Qaida to focus more on criminal activities rather than terrorist attacks, also they are resorting more to remote detonated attacks rather than the suicide bombers. It is believed that since there has been a lack of recruits in recent months, al-Qaida can no longer afford to use its true devotees in suicide attacks. These effects so far are only being felt in the Iraq, due to heavy crack downs.
This is both good and bad news for the country of Iraq, since there have been less attacks. However since al-Qaida is switching motives in the country, we could see a rise of a new powerful organized crime syndicate. The recent activities have already caused many social problems, since the police and army are more focused on stopping terrorist activities, and aren’t looking into theft crimes as much. They are also lacking man power to stop all the minor crimes. But if al-Qaida becomes a major crime syndicate, their influence could spread further then the Middle East and establish contacts with other criminal organizations through drug and arms trade. This could lead to a stronger branch of al-Qaida in Iraq, who would possibly have a much larger income due to religious supporters, and illegal crimes income.
No comments:
Post a Comment