Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: Framing Narratives and Prescriptions

Abstract

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has positioned itself at the vanguard of a media revolution in which terrorist groups both create and frame news events to an unprecedented extent. Through the publication of its e-magazine Sada al-Malahim (The Echo of Epic Battles), the organization has sought to mobilize both Yemeni and non-Yemeni Muslim, Arabic-speaking audiences to carry out violent jihad. This article utilizes the concept of collective action frames to analyze Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's media output, identifying the organization's grievance narratives, ideological justifications for violent actions, and means to strengthen its credibility among its intended audiences.

Keywords:

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
• frames
• media
• Yemen

Notes

Steven R. Corman and Jill S. Schiefelbein, Communication and Media Strategy in the Jihadi War of Ideas (Arizona State University: Consortium for Strategic Communication, 2006): 1–24; Alex P. Schmid, “Terrorism and the Media: The Ethics of Publicity,” Terrorism and Political Violence 1, no. 4 (1989): 539–565; Alex P. Schmid, “Terrorism as Psychological Warfare,” Democracy and Security 1, no. 2 (2005): 137–146.

Schmid, “Terrorism as Psychological Warfare” (see note 1 above), 141.

Jarret M. Brachman and William F. McCants, Stealing Al Qa'ida's Playbook (Combating Terrorism Center, 2006), http://www.ctc.usma.edu/pdf/Stealing%20Al-Qai%27da%27s%20Playbook%20--%20CTC.pdf, 11

Thomas Hegghammer notes that “despite the popularity of the term ‘Jihadi-Salafi’ in recent years, it is surprisingly difficult to find a politically substantial and specific definition of it.” This paper defines “jihadi-salafi” groups as Islamic militant organizations that are, following Hegghammer's description: 1) more extreme and uncompromising than other Islamic actors; 2) use Salafi or Wahhabi religious understandings as part of their ideological justification as opposed to the discourse espoused by the Muslim Brotherhood; and 3) “are more internationalist and anti-Western than other groups.” See Thomas Hegghammer, “Jihadi Salafis or Revolutionaries? On Theology and Politics in the Study of Militant Islamism,” in Global Salafism, ed. Roel Meijer (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2009).

Akil N. Awan, “Virtual jihadist media: Function, legitimacy and radicalizing efficacy,” European Journal of Cultural Studies 10, no. 3 (August 1, 2007): 390.

Corman and Schiefelbein (see note 1 above), 16.

Steve Coll and Susan B. Glasser, “Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations,” The Washington Post, August 7, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080501138.html

Alistair Harris, Exploiting Grievances: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Carnegie Papers (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2010); Sarah Phillips, What Comes Next in Yemen? Al-Qaeda, the Tribes, and State-Building, Carnegie Papers (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2010).

Hazim Al-Amin, “Al-yaman bayna ma'ziqay mukafahat al-irhab... wa adwar al-jihadiyyin [Yemen … Trapped between the War on Terror and the Role of Jihadis],” Al-Hayat, 2005, http://www.hdrmut.net/vb/t191899.html

Robert D. Benford and David A. Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment,” Annual Review of Sociology 26 (2000): 611–639.

Norman Cigar, Al-Qa'ida's Doctrine for Insurgency: Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin's “A Practical Course for Guerrilla War” (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2008), 4.

Daniel Kimmage, The Al-Qaeda Media Nexus: The Virtual Network Behind the Global Message, Special Report (Washington DC: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 2008), 3.

Ibid.; Steven R. Corman, Angela Trethewey, and H. L. Goodall Jr., Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Strategic Communication to Combat Violent Extremism. (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2008), 19.

Ibid., 1; Brynjar Lia, “Jihadi Web Media Production: Characteristics, trends, and future implications,” presented at the “Monitoring, Research and Analysis of Jihadist Activities on the Internet – Ways to deal with the issue,” Berlin, 2007.

Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements” (see note 10 above), 629.

Quintan Wiktorowicz, “Framing Jihad: Intramovement Framing Contests and Al-Qaeda's Struggle for Sacred Authority,” International Review of Social History 49, no. Supplement S12 (2004): 159–177; David A. Snow and Scott C. Byrd, “Ideology, Framing Processes, and Islamic Terrorist Movements,” Mobilization 12, no. 2 (2007): 119–136.

Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements” (see note 10 above), 615.

David A. Snow et al., “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation,” American Sociological Review 51, no. 4 (August 1986): 464.

Gregory Johnsen, “Securing Yemen's Cooperation in the Second Phase of the War on al-Qa'ida,” CTC Sentinel 1, no. 1 (2007): 14–15.

Gregory Johnsen, “The Expansion Strategy of Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula,” CTC Sentinel 2, no. 9 (2009): 8–11.

Gregory Johnsen, “Al-Qaeda makes a new mark in Yemen,” Asia Times Online, July 4, 2007, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IG04Ak05.html; Thomas Catan in Madrid, “Spanish tourists killed as suicide bomber strikes in Yemen,” The Times (UK), July 3, 2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2017836.ece; BBC, “Tourists die in Yemen explosion,” BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7945013.stm

Al-Qaida Claims Attempted Assassination of Saudi Prince Nayef (The NEFA Foundation, 2009); Al-Qaida in Yemen: AQIY Claims Responsibility for Christmas Airline Attack (New York: The NEFA Foundation, 2009).

'Abdul Sitar Hutaytah, “Al-yaman ba'd al-harb al-sadisa (al-halaqa al-thalitha): <<al-qa'ida>>ikhtariqt qaba'il fi-al-yaman … wa laha 3 masadir tamwil [Yemen after the Sixth War (Third Series): <<Al-Qa'ida>>has penetrated the tribes in Yemen … and it has three sources of funding],” http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&article=559187&issueno=11416.

Gregory Johnsen, Testimony of Gregory D. Johnsen, 2010, http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2010/JohnsenTestimony100120a.pdf

Snow and Byrd, “Ideology, Framing Processes, and Islamic Terrorist Movements” (see note 16 above), 124.

Thomas Hegghammer, “The Ideological Hybridization of Jihadi Groups,” Current Trends in Islamist Ideology 9 (November 18, 2009), http://www.currenttrends.org/research/detail/the-ideological-hybridization-of-jihadi-groups

Snow and Byrd, “Ideology, Framing Processes, and Islamic Terrorist Movements” (see note 16 above), 126.

Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements” (see note 10 above), 616–617.

Royce Hutson, Taylor Long, and Michael Page, “Pathways to Violent Radicalisation in the Middle East: A Model for Future Studies of Transnational Jihad,” The RUSI – Journal 154, no. 2 (2009): 18–26; Andrew Silke, “Holy Warriors: Exploring the Psychological Processes of Jihadi Radicalization,” European Journal of Criminology 5, no. 1 (January 1, 2008): 99–123.

Stathis N. Kalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 151–160.

Khaled Fattah and Karin M. Fierke, “A Clash of Emotions: The Politics of Humiliation and Political Violence in the Middle East,” European Journal of International Relations 15, no. 1 (March 1, 2009): 71.

Cigar, Al-Qa'ida's Doctrine for Insurgency (see note 11 above).

See Tarif Khalidi, Images of Muhammad: Narratives of the Prophet in Islam Across the Centuries (New York: Doubleday Religion, 2009) for an excellent historical overview of this phenomenon.

Silke, “Holy Warriors” (see note 29 above), 114.

Bert Klandermans and Dirk Oegema, “Potentials, Networks, Motivations, and Barriers: Steps Towards Participation in Social Movements,” American Sociological Review 52, no. 4 (August 1987): 520.

Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements” (see note 10 above), 620.

Cigar, Al-Qa'ida's Doctrine for Insurgency (see note 11 above).

Barak Mendelsohn, “Al-Qaeda's Palestinian Problem,” Survival: Global Politics and Strategy 51, no. 4 (2009): 73.

Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements” (see note 10 above), 620.

Wiktorowicz, “Framing Jihad” (see note 16 above), 163–164.

AQAP's descriptions of their role models shares similarities with historical Zaydi ideals of the ruler of the Imamate as a leader who possessed both scholarly and military abilities. See Bernard Haykel, Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad al-Shawkani (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 36–37.

Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements” (see note 10 above), 621.

Ibid., 622.

Steven C. Caton, Yemen Chronicle: An Anthropology of War and Mediation (New York: Hill and Wang, 2006).

Lisa Wedeen, Peripheral Visions: Publics, Power, and Performance in Yemen (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2008), 46.

Education Development Center, Inc., Yemen Cross-Sectoral Youth Assessment: Final Report (Washington DC: USAID, 2008), http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADN990.pdf

John H. Evans, “Multi-Organizational Fields and Social Movement Organization Frame Content: The Religious Pro-Choice Movement,” Sociological Inquiry 67, no. 4 (1997): 453.

Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004); Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger, “The Changing Nature of Suicide Attacks: A Social Network Perspective,” Social Forces 84, no. 4 (2006): 1987–2008.

Janeta Novakovic, “Yemen's Internet Market registers high growth rates,” March 14, 2006, http://www.ameinfo.com/80390.html; Christopher Boucek, Yemen: Avoiding a Downward Spiral, Carnegie Papers (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2009).

Ayman Hamidi, “Inscriptions of Violence in Northern Yemen: Haunting Histories, Unstable Moral Spaces,” Middle Eastern Studies 45, no. 2 (2009): 178.

Boucek, Yemen (see note 49 above), 2–3.

Wedeen, Peripheral Visions (see note 45 above), 121.

'Abdul Sitar Hutaytah, “Al-yaman al-sa‘id: tanzim al-qa‘ida fi al-yaman yujannid al-sabbiyya wa yahdur dam a‘jam al-nisa’ wal-atfal [Happy Yemen: Al-Qa‘ida Organisation in Yemen Recruits Children and Allows the Bloodshed of Foreign Women and Children],” Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, July 22, 2009, http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&issueno=11194&article=528512&search=%C7%E1%ED%E3%E4%20%C7%E1%DE%C7%DA%CF%C9%20%C7%E1%DE%C8%C7%C6%E1

Bryan S. Turner, “Religious Authority and the New Media,” Theory, Culture & Society 24, no. 2 (March 1, 2007): 117–134.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project, “Islamic Extremism: Common Concern for Muslim and Western Publics: Support for Terror Wanes Among Muslim Publics,” 2005, http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?PageID=814

Thomas Hegghammer, The Failure of Jihad in Saudi Arabia (Combating Terrorism Center, 2010), http://www.ctc.usma.edu/CTC_OP_Hegghammer_Final.pdf

Bruce Hoffman, “A Counterterrorism Strategy for the Obama Administration,” Terrorism and Political Violence 21, no. 3 (2009): 371.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Page

Michael Page is a consultant for Pursue Ltd.

Lara Challita

Lara Challita is a consultant for Pursue Ltd.

Alistair Harris

Alistair Harris is the director of the research consultancy Pursue Ltd.