Al-Qa’ida’s doctrine for insurgency : a practical course for guerrilla war

207 Pages·2009·2.627 MB·English, Arabic

by  Cigar, Norman L., Al-Muqrin, ʻAbd Al-ʻAziz

AL-QA'IDA'S DOCTRINE
FOR INSURGENCY
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AL-QA'IDA'S DOCTRINE
FOR INSURGENCY
'Abd Al-'Aziz Al-Muqrin's
A Practical Course for Guerrilla War
T A
ranslated and nalyzed by
NORMAN CIGAR
F J L
orew ord by ulian ew is
Potomac Books, Inc.
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2009 by Norman Cigar.
Published in the United States by Potomac Books, Inc. All rights reserved. No part
of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written per­
mission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Muqrin, Abd al-Aziz, 1973-2004
Al-Qaida’s doctrine for insurgency : a practical course for guerrilla war / trans­
lated and Analyzed by Norman Cigar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59797-252-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-59797-253-6
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Guerrilla warfare—Saudi Arabia. 2. Qaida (Organization)—Handbooks, manu­
als, etc. I. Cigar, Norman L. II. Title. III. Title: Practical course for guerrilla war.
U255.S38M87 2008
355.4’25—dc22
2008043561
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper that meets the American
National Standards Institute Z39-48 Standard.
Potomac Books, Inc.
22841 Quicksilver Drive
Dulles, Virginia 20166
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to my mother, Amalia, and the memory of my father, Slavko.

CONTENTS
Foreword by Julian Lewis ix
Preface xv
Part 1: Overview and Analysis 1
Part 2: Translation of A Practical Course for Guerrilla War,
by ’Abd Al-’Aziz Al-Muqrin 83
Selected Bibliography 181
Index 189
About the Author 193

FOREWORD
One of the most striking ideas in the military chapter of Sir Thomas More’s
Utopia, written in 1516, is its emphasis on targeted assassination. Once a war is
declared, Utopians “promise great rewards to such as shall kill the prince, and lesser
in proportion to such as shall kill . . . those on whom, next to the prince himself, they
cast the chief balance of the war.” Even in the heat of battle, shock troops “single out
the general of their enemies, set on him either openly or by ambuscade, pursue him
everywhere . . . so that unless he secures himself by flight, they seldom fail at last to
kill or to take him prisoner.”
Thus, a technique regarded in this day and age as symptomatic of terrorism was
advocated almost five hundred years ago as an entirely ethical course of action. One
does not need to be a moral relativist to understand the logic of insurgents who—
believing that God is on their side—view Western codes of warfare as murderous and
illegitimate, and terrorist techniques as sanctified and just. This book is not about
morality but about efficacy.
Norman Cigar has applied his encyclopaedic knowledge of military doctrine and
Middle Eastern politics to select and preserve what is in effect the field manual of Al-
Qa’ida in Saudi Arabia. It will be of consuming interest, not only to scholars and
analysts, but also to those in government involved with the consequences of militancy
in parts of the Islamic world. Whilst there is a vast body of work commenting on
developments both before and after September 2001, much less attention has been
paid to what the militants actually reveal about their own methods. Their exploitation
of the Internet as a means of communication and training offers their adversaries a
window on their world.
One of the virtues—if such a term may be applied in this deadly context—of ’Abd
Al-’Aziz Al-Muqrin’s Guerrilla War is its utilitarian focus. Only occasionally does
ritual obeisance to Al-Muqrin’s perceived Holy Cause surface in his text. The practi­
cal actions he details and recommends could be transplanted, for the most part, into
the context of any other revolutionary movement on the extreme left or extreme right.
Extreme political movements—even those which appear directly to contradict one
ix