On 11 August 1988, the members of what became al-Qaeda met in
Peshawar, Pakistan, to form the movement which is now 30 years old.
With Osama bin Laden’s money, political vision, religious fervour and
capacity as a modern communicator, it changed the course of the 21st century.
Even though its profile is lower now, there is much below the horizon.





What was to become al-Qaeda originated in Pakistan in the late 1970s among the Mujahiddeen who,
with American backing, opposed the Soviet-supported secular government of Afghanistan. A member
of a prominent Saudi Arabian family with links to the Texas Bush clan, Osama (Usama) bin Laden was
known to the CIA in the 1980s as Colonel Tim Osman, a successful leader of the Mujahiddeen.
He felt the United States failed to reward him for his efforts, and in August 1988 he took over the al-Qaeda
leadership and launched a series of attacks on American sites in the region,
before turning to targets in the US itself.

Revenge was a consistent motive on both sides.
The 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie set al-Qaeda an example.
It was Libyan retaliation for the US assault on Tripoli two years before, which in turn was
American revenge for the deaths of two off-duty American soldiers, killed in a night-club
by Libyans in West Berlin. Osama bin Laden declared it was every Muslim’s duty to
‘kill Americans wherever they are found’.
Conveying his outrage about half a million Americans remaining in US bases in Saudi Arabia,
close to Mecca and Medina, after the first Gulf War, al-Qaeda killed American soldiers in Somalia
in the early 1990s, was complicit in the first bombing of the World Trade Centre basement in 1993,
and in the same year bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia which housed US Air Force personnel.
Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, wanted in Egypt for terrorism, led the 1993 plot.
Amazingly, the CIA had spirited him into the US in 1990, and his attack followed procedures
in CIA manuals. The attack in 2000 on USS Cole in Aden was al-Qaeda’s response to the
intelligence facilities Washington was establishing in Yemen.
The spectacular and devastating 11 September 2001 assault on New York and Washington,
planned for years, was the culmination of bin Laden’s determination to punish the West
on its own soil for killing and insulting Muslims.

The US and allied retaliatory invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq fed more justifications for
revenge by al-Qaeda, which grew to become a large, centralised, hierarchical organisation
under bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the group’s leader in Egypt. At its peak, al-Qaeda
had thousands of fighters and trainees, as well as affiliated organisations in the Middle East,
North Africa and Southeast Asia.

Global telecommunications were increasingly significant: social media and smart phones
enabled the revolt in Tunisia in late 2010 to spread across the region, creating the
short-lived ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011. Videos and broadcasts on Al Jazeera made bin Laden’s
purpose clear to millions, including his assertion that al-Qaeda’s bombing of the Madrid
railway station in 2004 was ‘only part of the settlement of old scores with the Crusader Spain’.
The Spanish government fell and its successor withdrew Spanish forces from Iraq.

Al-Qaeda several times proved its capacity to fall back, regroup, and rise again. It could rely
upon the world-wide solidarity of Muslims who, despite their doctrinal schisms, shared hostility
towards the Crusaders and Zionists. The Iraq invasion inspired al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Qaeda
in the Arabian Peninsula, followed by successive versions of Islamic State (IS). Every ‘mistake’
bombing and every allied drone strike in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen or Syria successively
gave the Taliban, al-Qaeda and then IS opportunities to urge Muslims anywhere to kill as many
of their enemies as they could in as shocking a manner as possible or to become martyrs themselves.
Al-Qaeda concentrated on foreign targets, but fellow-Muslims were collateral damage for IS.
The rapid onslaught of IS on cities in Iraq and Syria culminated in the short-lived caliphate
announced by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2015. A successor movement, derived from Jabhat al-Nusra,
now called Hayat al-Shamat, is less apocalyptic but is the most capable terrorist group today,
says David Kilcullen. UN experts reported to the Security Council in August 2018 that IS still has
30,000 members in Syria and Iraq, with affiliates across the region and in Southeast Asia.
Al-Qaeda is stronger than IS in Somalia, Yemen, the Sahel and South Asia.
This month Hamza bin Laden, the 30 year-old son of Osama,
married 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta’s daughter,
suggesting dynastic possibilities for al-Qaeda.

By continuing to send troops to Africa and the Middle East and supporting proxy fighters in
civil wars for little gain, the US and its allies provide Muslims there and in Western countries
with an enduring motivation for terrorism. ‘The idea that you can set fire to countries in the
Middle East, collapse their societies, and traumatize entire populations sowing carnage on a
biblical scale, and not expect any reaction in the form of blowback is utterly insane,’
American analyst John Wight wrote last year. Jake Lynch of the University of Sydney agrees:
‘Islamic State germinated in the scorched earth left behind when we removed the
regime of Saddam Hussein. If we had not invaded Iraq,
the organisation that is now attacking us would not exist’.

As IS power in Iraq and Syria wanes, the US supports the Kurds (and even offshoots of IS)
against the Assad government and prepares for long-planned revenge on its main target, Iran.
Australia, on the other hand, in December 2017 withdrew its RAAF fighter jets from Syria
without explanation. If this means staying out of any more wars of revenge in the Middle East,
so much the better.

Dr Alison Broinowski FAIIA is a former Australian diplomat and a visiting fellow at ANU.
She is vice-president of Honest History and of Australians for War Powers Reform.

An earlier version of the article can be found on John Menadue ‘Pearls and Irritations’.
It is republished with permission.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Licence
and may be republished with attribution.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is dead at 74
The Houston Democrat announced earlier this year that she had cancer.



Sheila Jackson Lee died on Friday amid her battle with pancreatic cancer.
She was one of the longest serving members of Texas’ Congressional delegation.




WASHINGTON

Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat who was one of the longest serving members of Texas’
Congressional delegation and a longtime advocate for progressive causes, died on Friday amid
her battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 74.

Jackson Lee began her congressional career as an underdog, defeating four-term U.S. Rep. Craig Washington
in the 1994 Democratic primary, before establishing herself as a fixture in Congress and Houston with ties
to the highest reaches of the Democratic Party.

Jackson Lee was a progressive fixture on Capitol Hill for decades. She was an early opponent of the Iraq War
and advocate for gay rights. In 2021, Jackson Lee was arrested for engaging in civil disobedience over
a federal voting rights bill. By the time of her death, she was a senior member of the House Judiciary,
Homeland Security and Budget committees. She never shied from speaking on the House floor or before
the cameras on causes she cared about.

She was also a household name in the 18th Congressional District, which includes Downtown Houston.
She was known for her frequent visibility at constituent graduations, funerals and baby showers.

She often used her trademark chutzpah to fight for federal funds to be sent to Houston. In 2009,
she secured $1 billion for the city’s light system after cornering then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
ahead of then-President Barack Obama’s first joint address to Congress. She could reliably be found
in the aisle ahead of the State of the Union address, among the few members to directly meet with
the president on his way to the dais.

"Sheila is … a real combative advocate, in my opinion,”
said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, in 2017.
“When she believes in an issue or in a person she goes to bat.”

But that persistence waned this year as her illness kept her increasingly at home, missing every vote in June
and almost all of May, according to the House Clerk.

Jackson Lee was operating in full gear only months before. The veteran congresswoman made a pivot
last year when she announced a run for Houston mayor.

“I hope I’ve been a humble servant for you for 28 years,”
she said at City Cathedral Church, where she announced her bid.
“Sheila Jackson Lee wants to come home to be your Mayor, for the City of Houston.”

The move was rumored for months but ended up becoming a messy debacle after a leaked tape
last year revealed her berating staff with a string of profanities. Her office was long known for a
high turnover rate among staff. Despite an endorsement from outgoing-Mayor Sylvester Turner and
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Jackson Lee lost the race to former-state Sen. John Whitmire,
a fellow Democrat.

Jackson Lee then faced her first competitive primary in decades, a race against Amanda Edwards,
who years ago served as an intern in her office. Jackson Lee was able to tap into decades of strong
relationships throughout her party, securing the endorsement of the Democratic establishment going
all the way up to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. House Democratic leadership
and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also endorsed her in the race.
She won the primary by over 22 percentage points.

A native of Queens, New York, Jackson Lee graduated from Yale University in 1972, part of one of
the first classes of women to graduate from the university, and from the University of
Virginia Law School in 1975. She moved to Houston after her husband, fellow Yale alumnus and
Houston native Elwyn Lee, got a job with the University of Houston.

She served on the Houston city council before launching her 1994 campaign for Congress.
She and Austin Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett were the longest-serving Texans in Congress
at the time of her death.

Once in Congress, Jackson Lee built strong ties with her party’s leadership and throughout her caucus.
She has campaigned for her friends in far flung districts and in the Capitol for leadership positions.
She played a major role in Pallone’s bid to be the top Democrat on the influential Energy and
Commerce committee and advocated for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to again take the gavel in
2018 amid a left-wing revolt against her leadership. Jackson Lee also served as one of 10 deputies
to House Minority Whip Katherine Clark.

There are benefits to her strong relationships. She was the first female Ranking Member of the
Judiciary Subcommittee for Crime and Federal Government Surveillance and chaired the subcommittee
in the 117th Congress from 2020 to 2022. She was also tapped to speak at the
2016 Democratic National Convention, heralded by the staff of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton
as a uniquely effective surrogate.

Notable friends and allies issued tributes late Friday.
“Through crises and disasters - as well as triumphs - Sheila's ceaseless and unwavering dedication to
those she represented served as an inspiration and source of strength to me in my career,”
said Rodney Ellis, a longtime state senator from Houston who is now a Harris County commissioner.
“She exhibited this dedication every day through her deeds, actions, and accomplishments.”

Turner, the former mayor, praised her as an advocate for the people of Houston, saying:
“Her work on the ground, in some of the poorest and under-resourced communities; the channeling
of billions of federal dollars back to her district; her presence at someone's bedside, giving words of
comfort to families who lost loved ones; her appearances at places of worship and events showcasing
the global diversity of our City; and her uncanny ability to be everywhere, working every day for
those who needed a champion, made her truly exceptional."

Jackson Lee stepped into the shoes of the trailblazers who held the 18th Congressional District seat before
her – including Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman from a southern state to be elected to the
United States House of Representative, and Mickey Leland, a former At-Large Majority Whip.

Jackson Lee was not immune from criticism, particularly over her avid hunger for the spotlight and
her high staff turnover. Washingtonian Magazine dubbed her among the “meanest” members of Congress
for her treatment of her staff.

Jackson Lee expressed remorse after the audio of her verbally abusing staff leaked last year,
saying in a statement at the time that 

“...in my zeal to do everything possible to deliver for my constituents
I have in the past fallen short of my own standards and there is no excuse for that.”

But she has also noted that her white, male colleagues often escape the criticisms regarding
how they treat staff that have followed her through her career.

"I'm a woman of a certain era," 

she told the Tribune in 2017.
"I think I've been a victim of discrimination, sexism and even racism, frankly,
because I am sure there is a whole array of stories to be told, and I don't go
around trying to find out about them ... I don't worry about it. I do the work
in this office. I do it quietly and consistently, and I check off the boxes of who's
being helped and who's in need."

Lou Dobbs, conservative news host,
dies at 78




Lou Dobbs, the conservative political commentator who hosted "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNN and Fox Business Network,
has died. He was 78.

"It's with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of 'the great Lou Dobbs.' Lou was a fighter till the very
end -- fighting for what mattered to him the most, God, his family and the country. Lou's legacy will forever
live on as a patriot and a great American," a statement on his official social media accounts said on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump earlier announced Dobbs' passing on his Truth Social account.

Dobbs began working for CNN at its inception in 1980, hosting "Moneyline," which was later renamed
"Lou Dobbs Tonight." He also served as an executive vice president at the network and as a member
of its executive committee. From 2011,
he hosted the program on Fox Business Network until it's cancellation in 2021.




Lou Dobbs is shown in this 1999 photo.




Dobbs was born in Childress County, Texas, in 1945, with his family later moving to Rupert, Idaho.
He attended Harvard University where he obtained a degree in economics. He worked for a Department of Labor
poverty initiative and in banking before pursuing a career as a reporter, beginning at local outlets in Phoenix
and Seattle before joining Ted Turner's groundbreaking venture -- the Cable News Network.

As the host of "Moneyline," he became one of the network's most recognizable personalities.
The opinionated host frequently clashed with CNN brass, prompting him to leave the network briefly in the late '90s.

During a break from CNN, Dobbs founded Space.com, a website devoted to astronautical news. He returned
to CNN in 2000 at the behest of Turner, launching "Lou Dobbs Reporting" -- which became
"CNN News Sunday Morning" -- and the new incarnation of "Moneyline,"
dubbed "Lou Dobbs Moneyline" and then "Lou Dobbs Tonight."

Dobbs became known for his frequent on-air commentary on illegal immigration, drawing criticism from
groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and Media Matters. He sparked further controversy by
repeatedly discussing the so-called "Birther" conspiracy against former President Barack Obama -- the false notion
that Obama was not born in the United States. Dobbs denied allegations of racism and said he ultimately
believed that Obama was born in the U.S.

He left CNN in 2009 and later joined the Fox Business Network.

Dobbs was a strong supporter of Trump's campaign and presidency, with the former president frequently
holding interviews on his TV and radio programs. Dobbs was accused by his critics of once again amplifying
unsubstantiated claims propagated by Trump.

Dobbs was among several Fox News hosts named in defamation lawsuits by the voting machine companies
Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems that accused the network and its hosts of pushing false claims
about the companies during the 2020 presidential election. Dobbs later aired an episode of his program
debunking many of the false claims. Nonetheless, his program was cancelled by the network in the
wake of the lawsuits.

Most recently, he had hosted "The Great America Show" on iHeartRadio and his personal website.

He is survived by his wife Debi and his four children.


A number of other social media users also spoke out following the announcement of Dobbs' death on Thursday.

"We're all praying for Lou Dobbs, his family, and staff. Lou was a great American and will be deeply missed,"
Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan wrote on X.



Conservative commentator Laura Loomer also shared the news, saying,
"This is so sad. I just spoke to Lou a couple weeks ago. May he rest in peace."

Sean Davis, the CEO of The Federalist said,
"Very sad news. Lou Dobbs was an exceptionally kind, generous, gracious, wonderful man
in an industry that rewards none of those qualities.
Yet he remained as kind as ever to the end. What a patriot."