Thread by @JoshuaSteinman

Let me tell you a little story about the birth of al qaeda

and some uncomfortable potentials about what’s going on in ukraîne

1/

the year is 1979

the godless communists have just invaded afghanistan

and saudi arabia is experiencing a population boom



2/military.com/video/operatio…

saudi arabia is less than sixty years old. and the ruling house of saud, is only in control because they made a deal with the radical wahhabists sect to solidify their control of the country at the close of the first world war, trading away control of the mosques and schools.

3/

in the intervening years the wahhabists have grown a crop of hyper-radicalized youth.

within the year, a group of then will seize the grand mosque, in a dramatic challenge to the house of saud



4/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mos…

the saudis know they have a problem on their hands. tens of thousands of fervent, educated, angry youth with nothing to do.

and then, an idea:

why not send them to fight the “kuffar” (unbelievers) abroad?

send them to afghanistan!

5/

this begins what is known in my old counter-insurgency circles as “the golden horn,” the quasi-official pipeline of young men, money, and guns from the arabian peninsula to afghanistan.

aided in part by americans like charlie wilson.

6/

the most prominent of these fighters?

scion of one of the most fabulously wealthy families in the kingdom

graduate of the saudi version of harvard business school

student of the brother of sayyid qutb

with a fierce anti-western reputation

usama bin ladin

7/

what he lacks in knowledge of L-shaped ambushes and actions-on-objective, he makes for with:

accounting
finance
human resources organization
and contacts w wealthy saudi elites

8/

if you want the details of what happened next, read @lawrence_wright’s “the looming tower”

(a lot easier than how I figured this all out, over the summer of ‘01)

so I’ll skip to what happened AFTER the soviet withdrawal:

9/

goodreads.com/book/show/1108…

bin laden and crew had built a CADRE of men that knew how to FIGHT.

what to do?

back to arabia. but as you may know dear reader, victorious men are restless men.

UBL starts agitating against the house of saud

and is quickly “asked to leave”

10/

he travels to sudan, relocating many of his fiercest fighters with him.

be builds them houses. gives them purpose.

and what are they up to?



11/

things accelerate from there in a straight line to 9/11. the rest, as they say, is history.

what’s the lesson here with ukraine?

well history never repeats, but it rhymes:



12/thegrayzone.com/2022/03/20/us-…

simply judging from FACTS, not value judgements thereof,

it seems as if there are lots of folks who normally would be despised in western capitals, now getting weapons, training, and experience.

sound familiar?

13/

“The trouble with our friend azov”

once the conflict ends, these now-lauded “heroes” will return to their european home lands, with:

hard skills
connections
hardened willpower
and the adoration of their peers

14/

i close:

why did I become obsessed with al qaeda the summer of ‘01, before starting my senior year of high school?

the foreboding that “in the resolution of this war, the next one grows.”



15/15aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/1/…

@Callicleez I also got my camera, and took photos for the rest of the day, of my friends and teachers, watching the TV, trying to make sense of it all.

I can tell this tweet is gonna crush so you might as well sign up for my substack so you can say you were in early:
steinman.substack.com