Skeptic Project

Well, thus far it's not really concrete as to where exactly the name Al Qaeda came from. On the one hand, there is some evidence to say that the US government began using it to refer to Osama bin Laden and his followers/peers and then after 9/11 when bin Laden realized this name was equated to him, he began using it as well. On the other hand, however, bin Laden claims he began using it around 1988 after he and al-Zawahiri came up with it.

I think when people say that "the US government made it up" they're over simplifying it and it often makes people think the US government created the actual entity that is Al Qaeda.

Whether or not bin Laden & Co made it up or they just took the name when they realized that's what the US government was calling them, is really irrelevant, because today it refers to him and his group. People all over the world equate Al Qaeda to bin Laden, even in the Arab world.

The video suggests that the US benefited from labeling Bin Laden and his constituents as a structured network so that they could formally prosecute him for anything anyone in this network attempts.

The video then explains that this wasn't a formal structure, and therefore Bin Laden couldn't be accountable for actions he is not directly connected to.

@Matt - they sure make it sound like the US made it up.

I'll have to rewind to where he says it, but I think the interviewee who wrote the book, "Al Quaeda" said that the US made it up. Maybe I heard him wrong.

They don't need a name to make a connection like that, it's not a requirement. Regardless of name, it almost certainly could have been done due to the sheer amount of evidence connecting the terrorists to bin Laden and bin Laden to others, as well as his training camps.

What's left then is to figure out if Al Quaeda was ever more than a small band of Osama followers.

"What's left then is to figure out if Al Quaeda was ever more than a small band of Obama followers."

ILL FITE U ON THE INTERNET FOR THAT AARON!

I favour the Asimov link myself:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/aug/24/alqaida.sciencefictionfantasyandhorror</p>

Sorry its not a youtube video, but as this isn't TZM, I thought words would be more efficient :-)

I just watched this documentary for the first time. Really good insight, even though I was familiar with most of it. I need to show this shit to some of my idiot "conservative" friends. Some of them still actually believe that Al-Qaeda is the super underground largely funded terrorist network we're told it is.