2006年VOA标准英语-Terror Expert: Groups Imitating al-Qaida M

By Meredith Buel
Washington
01 February 2006

An expert on global terrorism says there are now up to 40 groups around the world trying to imitate al-Qaida and virtually all of them are intent on attacking the United States and its allies.  Rohan Gunaratna spoke¹ to Middle East specialists and journalists in Washington.

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Rohan Gunaratna is the head of terrorist research at the Institute for Defense² and Strategic Studies in Singapore and a senior fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Gunaratna has studied terrorism for two decades and is the author of the best-selling book, Inside al-Qaida: Global Network of Terror.

The native of Sri Lanka has interviewed more than 200 terrorists in dozens of countries and he says there are now terror groups around the world that are trying to act like al-Qaida.

"Al-Qaida has morphed from a group into a movement," he said.  "Today, in place of al-Qaida, we have 30 to 40 different groups from Asia, Africa and the Middle East seeking to emulate³ al-Qaida.  Al-Qaida has influenced these groups operationally and ideologically⁴."

Gunaratna says because these organizations are scattered⁵, security and intelligence services must monitor and respond to multiple threats as the terror groups employ classic al-Qaida tactics such as suicide bombings and multi-target attacks.

He says the threat of terrorism has increased significantly since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"We have seen many of these local jihad groups that traditionally believed in local jihads, are now believing in the global jihad," he said.  "Today they are not only fighting their local governments and non-Muslim populations, but also the United States, its allies and its friends.  This is the single biggest development we have seen in the international terrorism landscape in the past four years."

Gunaratna says after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, most al-Qaida members fled to Pakistan and Iran.

He says about 100 al-Qaida members and their families, including four sons and two wives of Osama bin⁶ Laden⁷, are currently in Iran.

Gunaratna says the porous⁸ nature of many borders in the Middle East, and a common cause, has encouraged terrorist groups to cooperate with each other.

"Today we are seeing a greater exchange of personnel, a greater exchange of technologies and ideas across these groups," he added.  "Today it really does not matter whether you are al-Qaida, or whether you belong to any other organization.  The main interest is that you believe in the global jihad and this is largely a post-Iraq invasion development."

Gunaratna says al-Qaida's main objective remains⁹ the same.  It is to create its own Islamic states wherever Muslims live throughout the world.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

4 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。

5 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

6 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

7 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

8 porous   

adj.可渗透的，多孔的

参考例句：

• He added sand to the soil to make it more porous.他往土里掺沙子以提高渗水性能。
• The shell has to be slightly porous to enable oxygen to pass in.外壳不得不有些细小的孔以便能使氧气通过。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。