www.lauramansfield.com




rVirtual Reality: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
By Laura Mansfield

Sometimes fantasy turns into reality, especially in the world of cyber fantasy.

And the recent explosion in the global jihadist movement is fueled to a large extent by the virtual reality world of cyber-jihad.

That may sound a bit far-fetched, but if you take a look at a similar phenomenon of the past decade and a half, it becomes clear that a big part of the problem today is from individuals getting sucked into fantasy worlds on line, and then bringing that fantasy world back into the real world.

Do you remember back in the 1990's as cyber-romances moved out of the venue of the computer enthusiast and into the mainstream? At the time, it seemed like everyone know someone who was having an online affair.

To listen to those involved, the cyber-affairs were forbidden but very exciting. Men and women described a sort of "rush" that overtook them when they would meet their "cyber mate" on line. Cyber romances tended to get very intense quickly, and many people became obsessed with their virtual significant others.

But then the cyber world began to collide with the real world. Online relationships that began as a sort of "let's pretend" play-acting began to bleed over into reality, when one party or the other decided to take cyber sex to the next step - a real-life meeting.

The women's and men's magazines all featured articles titled something along the lines of "Is a cyber affair really cheating?". The answer, as many found out when they ended up in divorce court, was often a resounding "Yes".

If cyber romances were a phenomenon of the 1990's, then it's equivalent these days for many seems to be "cyberjihad".

Before the September 11, 2001 attacks, there were jihadist message boards on the internet, and terrorists were certainly using the internet to a degree.

But after 9/11, the "cyber jihad" really began to take off. Young men in growing numbers, and a smaller number of young women, began to search for like-minded individuals in jihadist chat room and on jihadist message boards.

Conversations and associations that would have been taboo in some cases and at the very least risked exposure in real life became the norm as these individuals began to form tightly-knit online communities on the web.

Quite often these forays into the jihadist world online began innocently enough, often initiated out of boredom or curiosity. But the world of cyber jihad can be just as seductive to many as the world of cyber romance, and the consequences can be deadly.

Jihadist message boards and chat rooms provide an unprecedented medium for recruitment and indoctrination. As the young men become more and more enmeshed in the jihadist ideology, they begin to lose touch with moderating influences offline in the real world.

It is not unusual to see many of these cyber jihadists signed on conversing in chat rooms and posting on message boards for upwards of twelve hours a day. Many are students or unemployed; others seem to be offline only for enough hours to conduct their offline activities - work, sleep, school, etc - but quickly come back online.

Before long, these new recruits are sucked completely into the world of cyber jihad. As they watch videos glorifying "martyrdom missions" - and there is certainly no shortage of those videos, with new attack video clips emerging daily - they begin to swear that they too will join the jihad in Iraq, Afghanistan, or in west.

Much of the infrastructure of the cyber jihad we see today, along with many of its leaders, was mentored by Younis Tsouli, who used the online name "Irhabi 007", or "Terrorist 007".

Tsouli, a charismatic voice on message boards in the 2003-2005 timeframe, emerged at a critical point in the development of the cyber jihad, and he quickly developed a following both online and offline.

One of Irhabi 007's key contributions was in the spread of jihadist propaganda and instructional videos on the internet. As he repeatedly posted videos from Zarqawi's group in Iraq showing the torture and beheading of Americans, his followers soaked up the videos and demanded more. Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups in Iraq obliged by providing the videos; Irhabi 007 worked hard to ensure that proper distribution channels were developed so that anyone who wanted to download these videos would have easy access to them.

Tsouli's played a major role in the radicalization of countless youth on the web; a look back at achive postings from the old Ansar forum shows how many of these youth first emerged on the boards asking questions and looking for videos, and over time began to voice a desire to join the jihad in Iraq, especially, and in the western countries as well.

It would be interested to see how many of these youth moved from initial curiosity into the virtual jihad online, and then took their online training and indoctrination back into the real world.

Although to my knowledge no longitudinal scientific study has tracked these trends, a cursory review of indictment and trial records of suspected terrorist shows a strong internet footprint for most.

Because of the ease of migration of jihadist activities from cyberspace into the real world, the virtual jihad must be considered an active front in the war on terror.

As long as the virtual jihad is allowed to grow unchallenged, the terrorist ideologies espoused on the internet will continue to spill over into real life terrorist attacks, and human lives will be lost.

It is critical that western governments come up with a clear and concise plan for dealing with the cyber jihad. In some ways, the cyber jihad world is even more dangerous than the terror training camps in Afghanistan, because they can reach people in the privacy of their own homes, and the entire cycle encompassing recruitment, indoctrination, training, and attack planning can be carried out online.

Only the operational stages remain for the "real world": the actual creation of the explosives or other "weapons" to be used in the attack, and the attack itself. Even the celebrations afterwards happen online.

The internet may be a great place to play "let's pretend". But virtual reality doesn't remain online. It spills over into the real world.

And that's the big problem with the "Cyber Jihad".

laura mansfield is a hack who writes for world net daily and frontpagemag, and insists that "radical Islam has declared War on America" and " Islamists were behind the Oklahoma City bombing". She's complete garbage. "Americans beware of muslims with computers." This crap gets so boring.

I had no idea who she was until today when I saw her featured on aol and then I started doing some reading. You can hardly call her a hack. She apparently worked for several embassies and actually spends every day pouring through islamist websites. Did you take a look at her site? She is fluent in arabic and does translations of al qaeda releases. I have no idea who she is entirely but the site kind of speaks for itself. I found it especially interesting that she follows the blogs... I have read about several american women like this. I do not know where they find the time to do this stuff. I don't think you can completely discount what she is doing. I still do not understand how she can read arabic so fluently. She must have been trained at the defense language institute or something. Just because you do not agree with her ideology does not mean that she is not good at what she does. She is apparently translating blogs and websites every single day. www.lauramansfield.com

Very interesting blog. Where did she say beware of muslims with computers? Do you have quotes that say this? I would be very interested to read these quotes in context. I have never heard of her before today but when I logged onto her blog this morning after seeing her in AOL, I was shocked at the level of her translations and at the number of blog entries. She is very into what she is doing and I still am trying to find out how exactly she making a living at what she does.

Well I figured out how she makes a living. She translates jihadist message boards and charges 135 dollars a year for a subscription.

http://www.lauramansfield.com/j/subscribe.asp

Anyone can translate those releases, observe:

"We're coming to get you. Ha ha ha, the Democrats are helping us. We're going to make Burger King fat free. We eat babies."

See?

( If you understand Arabic - you'll hear the translations are BOGUS when they translate Arabic. Even in the regular news - when they translate Iraqis talking about daily life. That's why they mute the sound and *never* provide easy access to the raw audio. I catch the first few raw Arabic seconds of these so-called "translations" - and do a real translation of what was said. I almost *NEVER* hear what the person said in any part of the so-called "translation". S

Notice the government is still hurting for translators ... even though all of these "prodigies" came out of college touting their non-existant "Arabic skills".

It's funny that you've brought that up my husband has said the same thing, that even subtitling in TV shows/ movies just doesn't match up. Very interesting point..

who cares how well she speaks arabic? her ideology and slant are what make her a hack. she routinely presents islam as a freakshow centered around terrorism, fundamentalism and incendiary propaganda. she's a trawler, lurking around on garbage websites, coming up with the most garbage excuses for humans she can find, and then announces to middle america that she's uncovered the 'true face of islam'.

trash
trash
and more trash

so what you're saying is this article is made up? link
or is it trash because you disagree with it?

She kind of reminds me of that Debbie Schlussel ####.

I was thinking the same thing.

exactly where did i say she "made anything up"? it's this tripe

The reason for concern is obvious: Two different doctrines are being promoted. One peaceful, friendly, warm and fuzzy doctrine is being used to draw people in, with a focus on the well-being of their children.

But the Arabic-speaking sessions clearly have an anti-American tone.

It shows clearly that as much as we'd like to pretend it hasn't, jihad has reached Small-Town, USA. This mosque isn't in Washington, D.C., or New York City. This is a small mosque in a small town in the deep South.

And if it's in this tiny little quiet southern town, it's probably in your hometown, too.

that makes me think she's trash. it's like if i visited stormfront.org, or went to one of the meetings this hideous neo-nazi white supremacist bastard is always handing out fliers for at my train station, and then going home and blogging that i'd uncovered the truth about white people in america. garbage. she's a nut picker-deliberately seeking out a skewed selection of crap excuses for humans who happen to be muslim in order to paint the worst picture possible. that's selective agitrop, to paint the picture, subtly to be sure, of the evil hordes of muslims who are hellbent on destroying america, and if you come across a normal one, well they're just engaging in duplicity, or even a 'sales pitch'.

i'm just trying to figure out why those links are labeled "trash" and it appears that it's just due to you disagreeing with what she said because it was negative.
so next question - do you think the story in that one link happened or not?

She is on the front page of aol and I had never heard of her before. I had no idea that she wrote for world net. It is interesting though that she understands arabic so well . I wonder if there is any truth to the things she is alleging. Oh well. I just had never heard of her before.

AOL puts this out like she is just some ordinary housewife. Far from it. She was working for the American embassy in Lebanon at the time of the beirut hijacking. She also does audio analyses for the crime library site and did the analyses of the Nick Berg beheading. I am at a loss for words as far as everything else the above poster said. I did not even know who she was until today. Did any of you actually look at her site? What do you think?

Google her. She definitely has other agendas. Getting info about Muslims from this woman is like getting info about blacks from the KKK.

I wonder what these agendas are. I read somewhere after really researching it that she used to be married to a mena man. Maybe all this careful stalking and research is some form of revenge on him... Wait I will look for the article that I saw this in. I am not saying the stuff she is reporting is not true. It very well may be. What I want to know is her intentions behind the vigilance

this is getting tediously tiresome. i already asked you, where do i say she made anything up? i haven't said anywhere that i don't think the incident really happened. it's trash because of the blatant slant and illogical conclusions she draws at the end, which i put in bold, supra. there's nothing criminal, or even remotely disturbing about the incident she relays. and for someone who's touted as being so prolific in arabic, it's especially shameful the way she bandies the word 'jihad' around in this writing-it's completely inappropriate. jihad does not mean minor acts of civil disobedience, such as the men in the story relate. but she knows exactly how the majority of her readers are going to absorb it and react when she uses it. trash.

never heard of her either, nor do i feel inclined to check out her website. she seems like another ds.

actually, you're not saying a whole lot other than spouting the party line of outrage. trying to nail you down seems about as easy as nailing jelly to the ceiling.
it's obvious to me that this is trash, slanted, and illogical primarily because what she wrote does not mesh well with your perceptions/experiences. not that you have any factual evidence to disprove what she saw and heard nor can you say honestly that the story was made up. so if it's not made up and you don't have any hard evidence to back up that allegation, or that what she wrote was taken out of context (and given her understanding of arabic as listed previously, i'd find that difficult to believe), it's one of two choices here: sensationalism or true. in either event, how can the reader tell? and please do try to reply without being snide or emotional outbursts.

Yeah its bollocks!

your reading comprehension skills are non-existent. the only allegations that this story was made up exist in your mind and your mind alone, because i’ve alleged no such thing. i’m not saying, nor have i ever said that any of the story is made up. the part at the end, that i cut and pasted and even put in bold up above is what’s trash-the conclusions based on this real-life event are of a histrionic bigot who publishes this trash to whip ignorant americans into a paranoid frenzy over the invading hordes of two-faced muslims. i’m not saying that this didn’t happen because it doesn’t mesh with my perceptions or experiences, i’ve said nothing but the conclusion that this anecdote means “jihad has reached Small-Town, USA.” is what's complete trash. i'm not trying to disprove anything but the absurdity of that conclusion-the message this writer wants her readers to come away from the story, how she wants them to view this event. there is no dispute whatsover that the event really happened.

sorry, but some men relating their wish to mock the system of racial profiling with their acts of civil disobedience, discussing a brother fighting in iraq, or one of the guys telling a blonde joke does NOT mean that muslims are duplicitous or deceitful because this woman overheard a political conversation in arabic that was different than the discussion held in english. i’ve heard far more radical politics on conservative radio or ann coulter guest appearances on fox talk shows, and especially on the website world net daily, where this story appears. but it’d be just as ridiculous for me to assert that conservative radio, wnd, and ann coulter mean that ‘fascism’ has infiltrated middle america because of their prevalence and popularity. that’s an equally retarded conclusion, and an equally retarded misuse of a word that gets tossed around to create hysteria, because few people truly understand what both of those words (jihad and fascism) really mean. and shut up about refraining from snide or emotional outbursts when you fail to do the same yourself.

Charles take a look at all the video downloads...you go to the site and push download movie here.I just got finished watching the al qaeda in the magreb video.It shows the bomb making, the bombers and the execution of Aprils terror attacks in North Africa.Pretty harrowing stuff on her site.

strange, i've always scored quite high on reading comprehension. i do find it humorous that you come right out with that after i said:


i'll just take it that you want something to complain about in the story and that you can't engage in civil discussions.

will do, but i'm sure some will say it's bollocks/trash also.

Charles, often some women marry men and immediately take their opinions as their own. Try to address terrorist groups such as hezbollah and hamas and you will get everything from apathy to people defending suicide bombings. Yes, you can be a muslim and not always agree with what everyone else is saying. I think that Laura Mansfield has so much to contribute to the war on militant islam but she made the fatal mistake of bringing her own baggage to the table. Yes, I think Americans would definitely find it offensive to listen to muslims inside mosque joking about emotionally terrorising passengers on a plane as revenge for being racially profiled. I think that one article you linked to is horriblyoffensive to Americans. You can be muslim and NOT anti USA. You can be a muslim and not be an apologist for terror. You can be muslim and NOT think every muslim out there is nice. You do NOT have to negate an entire body of work ( such as Lauras translations of salafi jihadist boards) because you do not like her. SHe is daily ssending out translations of boards where acts of terror are planned and the USA does not have enough translators to monitor boards and without people like Laura, misguided or not, we would be behind in knowing what was going on.

I got a call from my husband today that Al Qaeda has now started attacking civilians in North Africa, something that hasnt happened there in years. In less than 6 months, Al qaeda has hit the magreb multiple times. The video of the horrific April bombing is on Laura's site and is unavailable on youtube or anywhere else but her site and its free. I may not agree with the things she says but I am glad the site is there to be kept up to date on terror threats across North Africa. I cannot stand many authors but I am able to look at information and take what I want from it. The more I look at her site, the more I realise while she has gone about things the wrong way, she is doing a valuable service in translating these boards and staying one step ahead of the bloggers . I find it offensive even more that someone would tell me what to read and what not to read. I am glad I can think for myself. I have my own opinions about what constitutes terrorism and frankly I would never tell another person what or what not to read. What is my point of reference? She may be "bollocks"but the content on her site is not. It is real and horrible and true. I had never before seen the preparation of the bombs that killed over 53 people, men women and children in April. There are videos and translations that are on her site that can be found no where else and her transcritions of terror boards are invaluable in stopping things like happened yesterday in North Africa. Al qaeda attacked foreign dam workers ( NOT MILITARY, NOT GOVERNMENT) construction workers working on something to better Algeria's infrastructure. I will not be an apologist for terror and dismiss an entire body of work because I don't agree with everything everyone says. I do not like her( this Laura person) but I always do my best to analyse every piece of info that passes me by because I do not automatically follow the next persons opinion. I have seen women who were never anti semitic all of the sudden hate everything jewish because they married someone who grew up hating jewish people. Its just dumb. You don't have to run along behind everyone elses opnion because its popular.

I know this sounds funny but when me and my husband were in Tunis, we were at a restaurant and I asked a man to take our picture. He had a heavy accent. I asked him where he was from and he said Israel. My husband ' s face went white and after the man left, my husband told me he had never met a jewish person before and that the man seemed nice. I was kind of surprised at how shaken up my husband was. He told me that every time he wasgrowing up he heard that jews were monsters and bad and this and that. I said thats because politcs and what people really are do not always collide. The reality is for every predjedice Americans have towards arabs and muslims, they have ones towards westerners and people that are outside their world.... weird conspiracy theories, hatred for our culture and traditions. You have to be strong to be able to keep your own thoughts and opinions when you plunge into a foreign culture. Its tough. You sometimes have to change yourself regrettably to be able to weather a marriage to someone from another culture( I unfortunately have had to give some things up)

Just my opinion and no I wont be selling terrorist transcriptions any time soon. I will keep my day job...thanks

well said. and yeah, i've noticed that part in bold about a few around here. you were in tunis? i'll have to dig around and see if i have any pics of my trip to there back about 2001 and get them scanned. that was a neat place

Thank you. I was racking my brain trying to sort out where to even begin in responding. This says it all.

maybe you two should go fishing together

Charles....um charles.......um Charles......that was dry. I'll have a number 2 ,hold the pickle and a side of self loathing on the side. Oh... and a blintz.

The American Graveyard in Tunis



At the 27-acre North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial in Tunisia rest 2,841 of our military dead, their headstones set in straight lines subdivided into 9 rectangular plots by wide paths, with decorative pools at their intersections. Along the southeast edge of the burial area, bordering the tree-lined terrace leading to the memorial is the Wall of the Missing. On this wall 3,724 names are engraved. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. Most honored here lost their lives in World War II in military activities ranging from North Africa to the Persian Gulf. The chapel and the memorial court, which contains large maps in mosaic and ceramic depicting the operations and supply activities of American forces across Africa to the Persian Gulf, were designed to harmonize with local architecture. The chapel interior is decorated with polished marble, flags and sculpture.

I don't feel Laura is trash at all. This is very real and has been going on for a very long time. The jidhast's do post and they do threat. Recruiting is going on everywhere, not just in Mosques or online, but everywhere. Even in America. Just because we are married to Arabs and Muslims at that, doesn't mean we should shut our minds and ignore the truth about terrorism. It lives and breathes everyday. If she can get ahead start on some info, good, maybe it will prevent another 9/11 or other disasters throughout the world. I don't want to talk political online if I can help it, never know who reads this stuff, but we aren't taking care of our backyard very well as is. This country is going to hell. Prices of food, clothing, gasoline, etc. are so high! Our dollar isn't going far at all. Our soldiers are spread out and our backyard isn't guarded hardly at all which means someone could invade us, not by ground, but by other sources.

IF Laura charges, then this is how she brings in money to support herself, etc. We all do it. WE all have to charge to make it here. I wouldn't compare Laura to Debbie Scheussel or whatever her name is. Debbie likes to trash Arab/American marriages/relationships. Laura is more on what landscape or tourist area is on the agenda to be blown up. This is just my opinion.

Andrea

[quote name='AInfante-Saraireh' date='Sep 23 2007, 10:56 AM' post='1211592']
I don't feel Laura is trash at all. This is very real and has been going on for a very long time. The jidhast's do post and they do threat. Recruiting is going on everywhere, not just in Mosques or online, but everywhere. Even in America. Just because we are married to Arabs and Muslims at that, doesn't mean we should shut our minds and ignore the truth about terrorism. It lives and breathes everyday. If she can get ahead start on some info, good, maybe it will prevent another 9/11 or other disasters throughout the world. I don't want to talk political online if I can help it, never know who reads this stuff, but we aren't taking care of our backyard very well as is. This country is going to hell. Prices of food, clothing, gasoline, etc. are so high! Our dollar isn't going far at all. Our soldiers are spread out and our backyard isn't guarded hardly at all which means someone could invade us, not by ground, but by other sources.

IF Laura charges, then this is how she brings in money to support herself, etc. We all do it. WE all have to charge to make it here. I wouldn't compare Laura to Debbie Scheussel or whatever her name is. Debbie likes to trash Arab/American marriages/relationships. Laura is more on what landscape or tourist area is on the agenda to be blown up. This is just my opinion.

I have not read enough of her to really know what she is about. I do not doubt she heard what she heard . Truly sad.

Its little things like the following picture that make me glad SOMEONE is getting mad about what is going on