Al-Qaeda Seen as Global Insurgency, According to the Department of Defense

According to the Department of Defense and the United States Military Academy at West Point, al-Qaeda is not only seen as a terrorist faction, but as a global insurgency, based on their definitions of the difference between guerrillas, insurgents, and terrorists. Although it acknowledges that terrorism often overlaps with insurgency, as is the case with the Sunni militant faction, the overall goals of the hard line faction headed by Osama bin-Laden shares more with an insurgency movement than with just a typical terrorist faction.

The report goes on to specify that rather than just being interested in carrying out attacks to receive a shock reaction, many of bin-Laden's targets follow a strategic goal for "regime change" - in this case, on a global scale. Where forces such as the now American aligned Islamic Army of Iraq and Ba'ath Party can be seen as domestic, nationalist insurgencies, with a single goal of forcing a regime change in Iraq, al-Qaeda's goal is what's sometimes defined as a global jihad movement, with the ultimate goal of establishing a universal Caliphate on Earth.

The goals are consistent with what the Department of Defense classifies as an insurgency, specifically a faction intent on dislodging and replacing a current regime. Guerrillas and terrorists, according to the DOD, are the outward, physical manifestation of the ideals of an insurgency - where the insurgent is a simple idealist, the guerrilla is the insurgent that carries out those ideals on the muzzle of an AK-47.

But, it is important to understand that, likewise, not all guerrillas are insurgents - while the two do overlap, a guerrilla fighter is not necessarily fighting for a regime change. This is primarily because the term guerrilla is a definition of a military tactic that can be used in a variety of ways and conflicts, not just against an occupying force. Indeed, historically, guerrilla warfare has even been used in an offensive sense when conventional warfare would prove to be unrealistic against the prescribed foe.