Laura Mansfield is your preferred source for up-to-date, credible information from professionals who speak the language and understand the religion, history, and culture of the Islamic world.

We bring you the most important translations of foreign press reports, jihadist videos, audios, and Arabic-language message boards on a daily basis.

To receive these critically important updates, subscribe to Strategic Translations, Laura's premium translation and analysis service. <% connString="dsn=lauram;uid=lmlaura;pwd=boodles;network=dbmssocn" set dbConn=Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection") dbConn.Open connString %>

Civil Litigation: A Weapon in Jihad?

By Laura Mansfield

This weekend, I was catching up on my reading. My choice of books was Dr. Walid Phares' "Future Jihad, a book I highly recommend to all who truly want to understand jihad, In the book, Dr. Phares related a common Arabic saying: "Darabani wa baka sabaqani wa ishtaka". This phrase translates roughly to "he hits me and cries, then beats me to the court to sue me".

This reminded me of a similar saying that I heard often while I was living in Cairo that appears to be the Egyptian version of the saying Dr. Phares quoted: "He beats me, then calls the police when I hit back."

Parents of small children are familiar with this behavior too. Little Johnny hit Little Billy, and when Little Billy hits back, Little Johnny runs to Mom screaming "Mom, Billy hit me". If allowed to continue, it quickly deterioriates into cries of "Mommy, Billy is thinking about hitting me. Make him stop."

This is exactly what is happening in this country today in the explosion of civil lawsuits against so-called discriminatory actions.

But is there more to these lawsuits than simply individuals seeking recourse against perceived injustices in the court system of this country?

Is our civil court system being used as an offensive weapon in the Global Jihad?

Let's take a look at a few of these lawsuits.

Six Muslim imams are removed from a flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix as a result of complaints by passengers that they are behaving suspiciously. They file a lawsuit against the airline, and file "John Doe" lawsuits against the passengers who reported their behavior, claiming that the reports were based on passenger bias against Muslims.

A former CIA official and counterterrorism and intelligence advisor to the NYPD is sued by a Muslim undercover cop in the New York Police Department for emails the cop claims Tefft distributed that created a ""culture of discrimination" has left the man "depressed and demoralized." One of the emails the police officer complained about was titled "Al-Qaida Recruits Through the Internet.". Al Qaeda recruiting through the internet?  Tell me it isn't so!�

Another lawsuit was filed in 2005 on behalf of "five Muslim Americans who, along with dozens of others, were detained for six and a half hours, interrogated, fingerprinted, and photographed at the Canadian border crossing to Buffalo as they returned home from an annual Islamic conference in Toronto."

These are just three of a veritable plethora of lawsuits filed against American citizens and government agencies. It's reached the point where businesses and law enforcement agencies in many cases must walk on eggshells if they want to avoid being sued.

It's not just in the US either. In the UK, law enforcement must provide mosques advance notice in some cases when they plan terror raids.

When used as an intimidation tactic, civil litigation can be quite effective as a weapon in the Global Jihad. It can effectively stifle free speech by making the speaker reluctant to speak out because of fear of being sued.

In the US criminal court system, those accused of a crime are entitled to a court appointed attorney if the accused cannot afford to retain an attorney. However, the American civil court system provides no similar provision for appointment of counsel.

Thus in order to yourself from a civil lawsuit, you must retain your own attorney, which can easily cost many thousands of dollars. The alternative is to act as your own attorney, with little likelihood of success outside of the Small Claims Court systems, or simply ignore the lawsuit and allow a default judgment to be entered against you.

And although in the US, a person cannot be imprisoned as a result of such a default judgment, it is certainly possible that a person can face financial ruin.

Nuisance lawsuits have long been a problem in many other areas, especially in the personal injury and medical malpractice fields, where insurance companies routinely settle claims which have little or no chance of prevailing in a court of law simply because it is much cheaper to settle than to defend against the claim.

In addition to the cost of defending against a lawsuit, there is the publicity aspect.

The media attention attracted by such a filing can cause damage to the reputation of businesses and individuals, and this can translate into financial loss quickly. After all, what airline wants to be seen as being prejudiced against a religious or ethnic group? What government agency wants to be accused of racial or religious bias?

Often the simple threat of such a lawsuit provides sufficient intimidation to quash opposing viewpoints.

It's important that the civil court system learn to recognize those lawsuits which are in fact nuisance suits, designed to muzzle dissent, and to handle them accordingly.

Until that happens, one of the most powerful weapons of Jihad in America will remain the American Civil Court system.

New Bin Laden audio tape calls for Iraqi jihadists to unite

Today's audiotaped message, released through Al Jazeera, was directed specifically to the "mujahideen" of Iraq. The message calls for them to unite and join forces, and avoid sectarian fighting within the jihadist groups.

The message, issued to commemorate the Eid, is part of a longer message that is expected to be released through the internet shortly. The 33 minute 42 second "video" consists of a still image (shown above) with English subtitles, with the audio of Bin Laden playing in the background.

The still image is from an earlier video, and is NOT from the video released on September 6. 2007, so no new clues as to Bin Laden's apperance are apparent.

We are currently working on a full translation and analysis.

A copy of the video can be downloaded here.

New As Sahab Video: The first interview with Sheikh Ustad Yassir

This new As Sahab video, announced earlier today on the jihadist forums, features an interview with Sheikh Ustad Yassir.

We have obtained a copy of the video, which  is 1 hour, 25 minutes, 50 seconds in length, and are currently
translating and analyzing.

Yassir was one of five jailed Taliban fighters who was released in a prisoner swap in March. The five Taliban were released in exchange for the release of kidnapped Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

We will continue to update.

The video can be downloaded here.

8 year old Bin Laden video posted, advertised in banners on jihadist forums this afternoon

Video footage of Osama Bin Laden delivering a message in Arabic, with Urdu subtitles, has been posted to the jihadist forums this afternoon.

The banners advertising the video claims that this is footage released for the "first time" and shows Bin Laden delivering an Eid Khutbah in the Islamic year 1420 AH. (Currently we are in the Islamic year 1428.)

Bin Laden's appearance in the video is consistent with his appearance in other footage from that timeframe.

It is NOT current footage of Bin Laden and is NOT new footage. It is unclear why this is labeled by As Sahab as the first time it was released - it may simply be the first time this was released in Urdu. A very short clip from this same video was released in the Winds of Paradise Part 1 video during the summer.

We are also working on a translation and will provide it as soon as it is complete. We will have excerpts shortly.

The video is one hour, six minutes, and four seconds in length.

In the meantime, the video can be downloaded here.

Jihadist videos in anticipation of Eid begin to appear

At the conclusion of the Islamic month of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate the Eid al Fitr. For a number of years now, the jihadists have also commemorated the Eid al Fitr with a flurry of video releases.

The first of these releases are beginning to appear on the jihadist servers. The images below are from a video announced this morning by the Ansar al Sunnah Army.

Now Available: English Translation of Sawt al Jihad, Issue 30

We have printed a limited number of copies of the Issue 30 of Sawt al Jihad, published in January 2007 by Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula.

Includes both the original Arabic text and a full English translation.

Published August 2007. Perfect bound. 8 1/2" x 11". Four color cover.

Click here for more information including table of contents.