Regarding the origin of al Qaeda: on August 20, 1988, bin Laden and a small group of followers “met again to establish what they called al-Qaeda al-Askariya (the military base). ‘The mentioned al-Qaeda is basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make His religion victorious,’ the secretary recorded in his minutes of the meeting.”
– Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, Page 152