Sociologia del terrorismo iracheno: un’analisi di Al-Qaeda in Iraq

Abstract

The article analyses one of the most radical examples in the contemporary terrorism – the campaign of Al-Qaeda in Iraq since the 2003 invasion by the US-led coalition. Once specified the role of Al-Qaeda in Iraq within the Iraqi insurgency, the text offers an explanation of its development and strengthening up to the first half of 2008 – by indentifying its political objective, its capacity of exploiting specific political and social opportunities after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, its strategy and tactics, with special reference to the heavy resort to terrorist attacks. On this basis, it is underlined the fact that Al-Qaeda in Iraq is part of the transnational network of Al-Qaeda because of at least three features: the struggle for the liberation of Muslim countries from the occupation of the US and its allies; a revolutionary campaign against the secular regimes which govern the Islamic world and, conjointly, a vigilant action in opposition to the growing power of the Shiites; e, finally, a systematic use of the most extreme methods of asymmetric warfare, in particular the indiscriminate suicide attacks on civilians.