Difference Between Al-Qaeda and the IRA
Al-Qaeda vs the IRA
Al-Qaeda and the Irish Republic Army or commonly called IRA are both militant organisations. Almost all the terrorist groups have many similarities and they are against the establishments. Though Al Qaeda and the Irish Republic Army have many similarities, they differ in many ways.
Al Qaeda is militant organisation that funds and orchestrates the activities of Islamic militants the world over. Al qaeda was born out of Afghan war and it consisted of Afghan war heroes. Osama bin laden is credited with the formation of Al Qaeda and it was formed around 1988.
On the other hand, Irish Republic Army or IRA is the most active militant group in Northern Ireland. The IRA descended from Irish Volunteers, an organisation that staged the Easter Rising in 1916.
While the IRA raised funds through extortion and robbery, Al qaeda traded in drugs.
The main goal of Al qaeda is to establish a Muslim world with imposing the rule of Sharia. They are anti-western and consider America as their prime enemy. On the other hand, IRA’s aim is to create an Irish republic. It also aims to weaken the British government’s commitment to administer Northern Ireland.
While Al qaeda’s activities are spread throughout the world, The IRA activities are restricted only to Ireland.
Al Qaeda is based on religion and the militants are very much obsessed with Quran. On the other hand, the Irish Republican Army are no religious. While the IRA has a clear agenda for freeing Ireland from British rules, the Al Qaeda does not have any fixed agenda.
Summary:
1. Al Qaeda is militant organisation that funds and orchestrates the activities of Islamic militants the world over. The Irish Republic Army or IRA is the most active militant group in Northern Ireland.
2. Al qaeda was born out of Afghan war. Osama bin laden is credited with the formation of Al Qaeda and it was formed around 1988. The IRA descended from Irish Volunteers, an organisation that staged the Easter Rising in 1916.
3. Al qaeda’s goal is to establish a Muslim world with imposing the rule of Sharia. They are anti-western and consider America as their prime enemy. On the other hand, IRA’s aim is to create an Irish republic. It also aims to weaken the British government’s commitment to administer Northern Ireland.
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“While the IRA raised funds through extortion and robbery, Al qaeda traded in drugs.”
The IRA has received – and almost certainly still does, to a lesser degree – massive funding from overseas, most notably from residents in the United States sympathetic to the IRA’s ambition of a united Ireland. They have also benefited from funding from Libya, although this source of munitions has now dried up.
“IRA’s aim is to create an Irish republic.”
Not quite – there is already a Republic of Ireland. The IRA wish to unite both the existent Republic and Northern Ireland into one Republican state.
“It also aims to weaken the British government’s commitment to administer Northern Ireland.”
A bit of an understatement, to say the least. The IRA wish for a total withdrawal of the British administration and for Northern Ireland to no longer exist as a political entity.
“The IRA activities are restricted only to Ireland”
Whilst today’s IRA is massively weakened to that of only a couple of decades ago there is still the very real threat that they will resume terrorist attacks in Britain, as they used to during the course of the Troubles. Further, the IRA have murdered people on the European continent.
“…the Irish Republican Army are no religious”
Whilst this may be ostensibly true there is a strong religious dichotomy in Ireland, even if – as some suspect – religious affiliation is utilised more as a badge of identity then anything else. IRA leaders have often justified their campaign on the grounds of protecting Northern Ireland’s ‘Catholic community’, a distinction that is still often the case today.