Lawfare legal warfare

Lawfare legal warfare ---


*Timeline

Chris Kyle lawsuit

January 15, 2008 MARK STEYN IS NOT ALONE Plenty of other authors and counterterrorism experts are being sued by Islamists to shut them up. By Brooke M. Goldstein  Award-winning author Mark Steyn has been summoned to appear before two Canadian Human Rights Commissions on vague allegations of "subject[ing] Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt" and being "flagrantly Islamophobic" after Maclean's magazine published an excerpt from his book, America Alone... just the latest salvo in a campaign of legal actions designed to punish and silence the voices of anyone who speaks out against Islamism, Islamic terrorism, or its sources of financing. The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), which initiated the complaint against Steyn, has previously tried unsuccessfully to sue publications it disagrees with, including Canada's National Post. The not-for-profit organization's president, Mohamed Elmasry, once labeled every adult Jew in Israel a legitimate target for terrorists and is in the habit of accusing his opponents of anti-Islamism -- a charge that is now apparently an actionable claim in Canada. In 2006, after Elmasry publicly accused a spokesman for the Muslim Canadian Congress of being anti-Islamic, the spokesman reportedly resigned amidst fears for his personal safety

At the time of her death in 2006, noted Italian author Orianna Fallaci was being sued in France, Italy, Switzerland, and other jurisdictions, by groups dedicated to preventing the dissemination of her work.

 Khalid bin Mahfouz, a wealthy Egyptian who resides in Saudi Arabia. Mahfouz has sued or threatened to sue more than 30 publishers and authors in British courts, including several Americans, whose written works have linked him to terrorist entities. 

March 31, 2004: The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued Andrew Whitehead, an American activist, for $1.3 million for founding and maintaining the website Anti-CAIR-net.org, on which he lists CAIR as an Islamist organization with ties to terrorist groups. Why CAIR Dropped Its Lawsuit Against Andrew Whitehead  FrontPage Magazine Apr 26, 2007  Why Is CAIR Suing Anti-CAIR? :: Daniel Pipes Apr 6, 2004 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Inc. filed suit against Andrew Whitehead, one of the founders of Anti-CAIR (or ACAIR) in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court on March 31, 2004.

 lawsuit alleges that CAIR is the victim of "libelous defamation" because of five Anti-CAIR statements in particular (the quotes that follow are exactly as presented in the motion):

• Let there be no doubt that CAIR is a terrorist supporting front organization that is partially funded by terrorists, and that CAIR wishes nothing more than the implementation of Sharia law in America."
• CAIR is an "organization founded by Hamas supporters which seeks to overthrow Constitutional government in the United States and replace it with an Islamist theocracy using our own Constitution as protection."
• "ACAIR reminds our readers that CAIR was started by Hamas members and is supported by terrorist supporting individuals, groups and countries."
• "Why oppose CAIR? CAIR has proven links to, and was founded by, Islamic terrorists. CAIR is not in the United States to promote the civil rights of Muslims. CAIR is here to make radical Islam the dominant religion in the United States and convert our country into an Islamic theocracy along the lines of Iran. In addition, CAIR has managed, through the adroit manipulation of the popular media, to present itself as the 'moderate' face of Islam in the United States. CAIR succeeded to the point that the majority of its members are not aware that CAIR actively supports terrorists and terrorist supporting groups and nations. In addition, CAIR receives direct funding from Islamic terrorists supporting countries."
• "CAIR is a fundamentalist organization dedicated to the overthrow of the United States Constitution and the installation of an Islamic theocracy in America."

These statements, CAIR claims, "are false, and were false when made."

updates: Apr. 30, 2004 update: Represented by the powerhouse law firm of Greenberg Traurig, Whitehead today filed his reply to the CAIR law suit and for good measure he countersued on grounds of an Anti-SLAPP suit, a common law civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, intimidation and harassment motivated by religious and ethnic animosity, and defamation and slander. Whitehead asks the court to dismiss CAIR's suit, then award him $1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages, plus costs, expenses and reasonable attorney's fees. Whitehead's documentation about CAIR is impressive and worth a read. Again, CAIR's publicity machine has made no mention of this quite interesting news concerning itself.

June 20, 2005 update: CAIR reduced the number of alleged libelous statements to just two (the first two quoted above) in its amended motion, dated today.

July 28, 2005 update: Sharon Chadha and I discuss this reduction in charges in an article published today, "CAIR Founded by 'Islamic Terrorists'?"

Mar. 23, 2006 update: Whitehead reports on his website that his "CAIR lawsuit is over, and has been dismissed, as the parties have reached a mutually agreeable settlement." He adds that "The policies and procedures of Anti-CAIR (ACAIR) have not changed in any way as a result of the CAIR lawsuit settlement."

Apr. 21, 2006 update: In "CAIR Backs Down from Anti-CAIR," I document and explain how Whitehead of Anti-CAIR "won a sweet victory, while CAIR suffered a humiliating defeat." With this development, what I identified in 2004 as "CAIR's Growing Litigiousness" appears to have come to an end.

June 5, 2007 update: I place the legal jihad waged by CAIR and others in context in an article today, "Islamists in the Courtroom."