March 6, 2004--When was the last time you came across a Drivers License with the name "Vinny The Butcher" or "Billy The Kid"? Our familiarity with the structure of Anglo-based names readily prompts us to identify these names as nicknames as opposed to legitimate or valid names.

However, when working with foreign names, the lack of knowledge of foreign languages and foreign cultures causes us to loose perspective and creates name confusion and name ambiguation which significantly hinders intelligence operations and law enforcement activities. In many cases, foreigners can create multiple identities or conceal their true identity by using many linguistic and cultural naming conventions and variations native to their language and culture.

For example, recently, a $10 million reward was announced for capturing the terrorist "Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi". According to the American naming convention, this name is interpreted as: First Name: AbuMiddle Name: Mus'abLast Name: Al-ZarqawiWhereas actually, the name provided for this terrorist is a nickname no different than using the nickname "Billy The Kid" for William Henry (Bonney) McCarty as the word "Abu" in Arabic means "Father of".

Culturally, Arab males assume a nickname after the birth of their first born son by using the word "Abu" followed by the name of the first-born son so that the first-born son is distinguished from other siblings. The word "Abu" can also be used as a nickname with no genological association, such as "Abu Al-Harb" meaning "father of the war".

Examining the other aliases listed for this individual, "Ahmad Fadil Al-Khalailah", "Abu Ahmad", "Abu Muhammad" and "Sakr Abu Suwayd", we notice that two of the above listed aliases are also nicknames ("Abu Ahmad", "Abu Muhammad"). "Muhammad" is the most popular Arabic or Muslim name as the Muslim's prophet was named "Muhammad". As a matter of fact, 8 out of the 22 most wanted terrorists on the FBI's Website contain the name "Muhammad" in their name - but with three different spelling permutations. There are literally millions of Arabs with the nickname "Abu Muhammad" as their first-born son is named "Muhammad". The same is true for "Abu Ahmad" as "Ahmad" is one of the most frequently used Arabic names (similar to Bill in English).

Lets examine the name "Al-Zarqawi". Arabs tend to articlize some last names. In English that would be similar to using "The Smith" as opposed to "Smith" for the last name. The letters "Al-" or the associated spelling permutation "El-" are the English transcription of the Arabic Article "The". So the last name "Al-Zarqawi" means "The Zarqawi". Knowing that "Zarqa" is the second largest city in Jordan, then the name "Al-Zarqawi" means that this individual descended from Zarqa, Jordan. This is readily evident by listing his place of birth as Zarqa, Jordan.

However, this individual is identified as a Palestinian Jordanian which means that his family descended from Palestine not Jordan even though he was born in Zarqa, Jordan. So this means that his true last name is not "Al-Zarqawi" because his family did not originate from Zarqa, Jordan. In all likelihood, his family seeked refuge in Zarqa after the 1948 Arab Israeli war.

So, lets examine the alias "Ahmad Fadil Al-Khalailah". Interestingly enough, The Arabic name for the Israeli city Hebran is "Al-Khalil". Knowing that this terrorist's family descended from the West Bank or Palestine (pre 1948), then the last name "Al-Khalailah" means descendent from "Al-Khalil" City. This is most likely his true identity! His father's name is "Fadil Al-Khalailah" as Arabs by default use the father's name as opposed to a Middle Name. So, don't expect to find any traffic citations of academic records in the U.S. with the name "Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi".

First Capital Technologies has market ready solutions to address foreign name disambiguation and to provide the ability to automatically process critical sources of information for explicit foreign identity identification and fraud prevention on a name-by-name real-time basis.

First Capital Technologies is a leading technology and services provider that delivers justice systems software applications to provide automated analytical tools specifically tailored to process foreign languages for law enforcement and intelligence communities. Additionally, FCT offers counter militant Islamist terrorism training curriculums for Law Enforcement agencies focusing on preventative strategies.

First Capital Technologies, LLC.
info@firstcapitaltech.com / 225-284-6781

© 2004 First Capital Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.

First Capital Technologies, LLC.
(225) 284-6781
info@FirstCapitalTech.com








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