Al-Qaeda ("The Base" in English) is a radical Sunni Muslim organization led by Usama bin Laden.  In addition to its own members, al-Qaeda's network includes groups operating in as many as 65 countries throughout the world. <br /><p><br /> Bin Laden's first mentor was Dr. Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian who became one of the leaders of the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan.  After education in Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden, who comes from a wealthy Saudi family, became involved in the funding and recruitment of Arab volunteers fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan and eventually came into contact with Azzam's organization.   Bin Laden formed al-Qaeda in the late 1980s in order to organize the recruitment, funding and organization of these "Afghan Arab" mujahideen.  When the Soviets withdrew, Bin Laden used his contacts and resources from the anti-Soviet struggle to turn al-Qaeda's focus toward his new perceived enemies of Islam in the West.  The group changed its base of operations, principally due to government pressure, from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia to Sudan and finally back to Afghanistan.<br /><p><br />Al-Qaeda's philosophy is one of "defensive jihad." Using this philosophy, bin Laden encourages each Muslim to take it upon them self to fight what it perceives as attacks on  Muslims across the world.  As an extension of this view, the group aims to overthrow 'un-Islamic regimes' that they believe oppress their Muslim citizens and replace them with genuine Islamic governments, to expel US soldiers and Western influences from the holy territories of the Gulf and Iraq, and to capture Jerusalem as a Muslim city.  <br /><p><br />Al-Qaeda allies with and supports terrorist groups throughout the world that further these goals.  These include groups fighting Muslim governments with allegedly apostate rulers (Egypt, Algeria, post-2002 Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia), groups fighting regimes perceived to oppress their Muslim citizens (Kosovo, India, Russia and Indonesia), and groups fighting to establish their own Islamic state (Palestine, Chechnya, Dagestan and Mindanao).  <br /><p>Al-Qaeda supports these groups in two ways, both by training group members in its camps and by sending its own members to help these groups in their struggles around the world.  Training for its own members and for members of allied groups has focused on insurgent warfare in addition to the classic "terrorist" techniques that are usually associated with the group.  Some experts even believe that the ratio of insurgent fighters to terrorists in al-Qaeda's camps may be 15 to 1.  American military officials have described the majority of those training in al-Qaeda's camps as "irregular ground combatants."  Fighters such as these engaged U.S. troops at Shai-e-Kowt and Tora Bora in Afghanistan. <br /><p><br />Throughout the 90s, al-Qaeda provided its affiliated groups with financing and training primarily through its bases in Sudan and Afghanistan. Some 10,000 recruits are thought to have passed through the training camps there.  Most of al-Qaeda's members are veterans of insurgencies and terrorist campaigns in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kashmir, Mindanao, Chechnya, Lebanon, Nagorno-Karabakh, Algeria, and Egypt.  <br /><p><br />Bin Laden's and al-Qaeda's hatred of the United States fits into this strategy of defensive jihad.  Support for al-Qaeda throughout the Muslim world has been garnered by the portrayal of the United States as a direct threat to and enemy of Islam.  Under this view, the United States is engaged in attacks on Muslims through its stationing of troops in holy Muslim territories of the Gulf and Iraq, its support of Israel, India, Russia and the Philippines, and its invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.   In addition to the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, al-Qaeda's anti-American attacks include the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.<br />