# How many members does Al Qaeda have **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2009, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-members-does-al-qaeda-have/520978 "2009-12-12T09:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-members-does-al-qaeda-have/520978/21 "2009-12-13T07:55:08Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Well, by this definition, perhaps Al Qaeda isn’t a terrorist organization either, since one of its main goals is to have the US withdraw from the Middle East. Perhaps it would cease its violent attacks against the US were that goal ever to be realized. According to CBS Chief Foreign Affairs Respondent Lara Logan on the Colbert Report Thurday, Al Qaeda has pledged to follow us home after we try to leave. [video link](http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/258263/december-10-2009/lara-logan) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-members-does-al-qaeda-have/520978/22 "2009-12-13T11:00:20Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Depending on how we cut hairs, either everyone is a terrorist or nobody is. The obvious problem with playing these little word games in this thread is that everyone knows that Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization: The word would have to be redefined into a fine paste to exclude them. So can we focus more on Al Qaeda’s organizational structure and less on who deserves to be called what? Well it’s probably my fault in nitpicking what defines terrorism, but I do think in order to answer the question, it _is_ pretty important to define it, to establish who is a terrorist “member” or not - as illustrated by **qazwart** ’s thoughful post. Drawing a parallel, the IRA was undeniably a terrorist group that aimed for both military and civilian targets. Some of these acts would be categorised as “insurgency” and some as “terrorism” (with grey areas, such as the attack on Horse Guards in Hyde Park, and the bombing off-duty Army musicians in Deal barracks). But it had an organisational hierarchy, a membership pledge, etc. You could come up with a fairly clear estimate of membership. Whereas talking about Al Qaeda membership is first like asking how many employees McDonalds has: while you definitely count all the people that are paid directly, do you count all employees of each franchise? The guy who delivers the potatoes? Similarly, should for example Iraqi insurgents that have temporarily identified with AQ, attacking only military targets in-country, be counted as terrorist members of AQ? ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-members-does-al-qaeda-have/520978/23 "2009-12-13T18:52:18Z")
I happened to see this guy on the Sean Hannity show a few days ago. GARY BERNTSEN, FORMER CIA OFFICER: … “There are over 900,000 people that have gone through terrorist training camps in Pakistan in the last 20 years.” Full transcript of the show at [http://www6.lexisnexis.com](http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007214&docId=l:1090983772&isRss=true) Not saying they are all actual AQ members … just a FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-members-does-al-qaeda-have/520978/24 "2009-12-13T23:21:36Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > I happened to see this guy on the Sean Hannity show a few days ago. > > GARY BERNTSEN, FORMER CIA OFFICER: … “There are over 900,000 people that have gone through terrorist training camps in Pakistan in the last 20 years.” But most of those training camps were run by the Pakistani security forces who were training terrorists to inflitrate India. It was a nationalist terrorism and not that religious in nature Although they thought of themselves as Muslims fighting Hindus, it was really a war of nationalism. The Pakistanis were doing this for over 50 years, and most of that time, we simply looked the other way (not our problem). To the Pakistanis these were liberation fighters fighting for a free Kashmir. Well, not entirely a free Kashmir since it would be attached to Pakistan, but they weren’t the _Islamic Terrorists_ we think of. In fact, the Taliban were formed by the Pakistani security forces as a way to end the war in Afghanistan which had broken into a civil war when the Russians left. The Taliban was chosen because they seemed most manipulable and thus the Pakistanis felt they’d have the greatest influence on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-members-does-al-qaeda-have/520978.md?page=1)