What War? What September 11? We're Worried About a Law Suit!

By Barry Rubin

You might be amused by an experience I had a few years ago. After the September 11 attacks, I wrote a book for an American publisher quoting extensively from a book by an al-Qaida leader that had been published only in Arabic.

After my manuscript was submitted, the publishing company's legal department contacted me greatly worried lest the al-Qaida leader sue for copyright violation. Aside from the fact that he had never copyrighted his book in the first place, I couldn't resist pointing out that after he had helped murder 3,000 American citizens, we shouldn't worry too much about his feelings and that since he was hiding in a cave in Pakistan the gentleman might have other things on his mind.

The lawyers accepted my argument, the book was published, and no law suit has since materialized. Still, it gives a sense of how far the world of reality is from all too many people nowadays.