The Media Line The Al-Qa’ida Seven: Where They’re From and What It Means

A closer look at the seven people wanted for planning an attack in the U.S. highlights the patterns of global terrorism, as well as different counter-terrorism measures adopted by various states.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft published the names on Wednesday with the FBI, saying that Al-Qa’ida was planning an attack on the U.S. in the next few months. He named the upcoming G8 conference in Georgia as one of several possible targets.

Out of the seven, Adam Yahya Gadahn is the only suspect born in the U.S. Gadahn is fair-skinned and one of his aliases is the Jewish-sounding Adam Pearlman, the FBI claimed.

Like Timothy McVeigh, Gadahn represents a glitch in the U.S.’s stepped-up security measures, which focus on high-tech border control and single out people of Middle Eastern or Muslim origin, at the expense of internal security.

Adnan G. Al-Shakri Jum’a was born in Saudi Arabia, but may try to enter the U.S. using a Canadian passport, according to the FBI.

If Al-Shakri Jum’a were to enter the U.S. via its northern border, he wouldn’t be the first. Canada has seen a wave of terror suspects enter its territory in recent years, virtually all of whom are believed to have been planning attacks on the U.S. The U.S. has since tightened its northern border, particularly in the wake of 9/11.

At the same time, Al-Shakri Jum’a’s native Saudi Arabia purports to be a U.S. ally in the war on terror, offering rewards for assistance in apprehending terrorists. The kingdom has witnessed several deadly terror attacks in recent years as well as stalwart attempts by security forces to eliminate terror networks.

Like Al-Shakri Jum’a, Tunisian-born ‘Abd Araouf Jday is believed to hold a Canadian passport.

Tunisia, a secular and self-proclaimed modern Muslim state, has been taking strident measures to oppose terrorism, introducing a law in December 2003. State anti-terror measures have been linked to claims of the aggressive suppression of radical Islam.

An April 2002 attack claiming 20 lives, mostly tourists, outside a synagogue on the island of Djerba, was widely publicized and damaging to the country’s image as a moderate state.

‘Afya ‘Sadiqi, the only female suspect among the seven, is reported to be a Pakistani national.

It is not surprising, as Pakistan has seen an upsurge in radical Islamic activity of late. President Pervez Musharraf has met this activity head-on with “frontline” participation in the U.S.’s war on terror, a commitment that has almost cost him his life, on several occasions.

A fifth suspect was ‘Amir Al-Ma’ati, born in Kuwait. Like Saudi Arabia, the emirate has been greatly concerned by instability caused by the war in Iraq. Last month, Kuwait signed an anti-terror pact with Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

The remaining two suspects are labeled “most wanted” for their roles in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in 1998.

Fazal ‘Abdallah Muhammad is a native of the Comoros islands, a tiny Muslim nation, known for instability because of factional fighting, not religious extremism or terrorism.

Tanzania, the home of Ahmad Khalfan Jhailant, on the other hand, has committed to fight terrorism, but is also weary of overzealous attempts to suppress it. One of the poorest countries on the world’s poorest continent, Tanzania has recognized the susceptibility of poor nations to religious extremism and terrorism.

In 2002, the state passed an anti-terror law, which was apparently interpreted by the nation’s Muslims, making up about 35% of the country’s mainland population, as a way to persecute and intimidate them. Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous island on Tanzania’s east coast is almost entirely Muslim.

Since 2002, Tanzania suffered from a drop in tourism and global suspicion when neighboring Kenya was attacked by Al-Qa’ida a second time at an Israeli-owned hotel.

While it is too soon to analyze the significance of the origins of the seven alleged terrorists, it is apparent that terrorism is widespread, reaching distant corners of the globe. And as for preventative measures, the U.S.’s method of raising public awareness has raised skepticism, for the time being, particularly in the Muslim world.

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