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Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Printable Version

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Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Bill Kelly - 12-09-2012

Revolutionary Program: American Embassies Attacked in Egypt and Libya

Cairo(CNN) -- Angry protesters attacked U.S. diplomatic compounds in Libya and Egypt onTuesday, citing in both instances an online film considered offensive to Islam.
In Cairo, several men scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down its American flag, according to CNN producer Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, who was on the scene.

In Libya, witnesses say members of a radical Islamist group called Ansar al-Sharia protested near the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where NATO jets established no-fly zones last year to blunt ground attacks from then Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

The group then clashed with security forces in the city, blocking roads leading to the consulate, witnesses said.

The Libyan government notified the United States that an employee at the U.S.Consulate was killed, a State Department official told CNN.

The State Department does not have independent confirmation of the death, the official said. The nationality of the worker was not immediately known.

Libya's General National Conference condemned the attack, saying it "led to the regrettable injury and death of a number of individuals." Lawmakers said in a statement Tuesday night that they were investigating.

Middle East attacksagainst U.S.

It was unclear whether the two attacks were coordinated, CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend said Tuesday night.

Protesters storm U.S.embassy walls

"One such breach of an embassy or consulate's walls orsecurity on any given day would be tremendous news. ... The fact that two ofthem happened on the same day that is the 9/11 anniversary where Americans are remembering those that we lost, you have to ask yourself, what are American officials trying to understand about this and whether or not these two are related?" she asked.

In Egypt, police and army personnel formed defensive lines around the U.S. Embassy in an effort to prevent demonstrators from advancing, but not before the protester saffixed a black flag atop a ladder in the American compound.

The black flag, which hangs in full view from inside thecomplex, is adorned with white characters that read, "There is no God butAllah and Mohammed is his messenger," an emblem often used by Islamicradicals.

A volley of warning shots were fired as a large crowdgathered around the compound, although it is not clear who fired the shots.

Areyou there? Share your images and videos.

Egyptian groups point to U.S.websites, including YouTube, that have scenes from the film. Some anti-Muslimblogs also have flagged the movie.

In a series of disjointed scenes, filmmakers depict ProphetMohammed as a child molester, womanizer and ruthless killer.

Most of the Muslim world considers depictions of Mohammed tobe blasphemous and deeply offensive.

It was not clear late Tuesday who produced the film andunder what auspices.

Embassy officials issued a warning to Americans in Egypt,telling them to avoid the demonstrations which "may gather in front of theU.S. Embassy, or Egyptian government buildings such as the People's Assemblyand Ministry of Interior."

"It is unclear if large numbers will take to thestreets, but clashes may occur should two opposing groups come into contactwith one another," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. "Largegatherings and non-essential travel in and around downtown and Garden Cityshould be avoided this afternoon."

Frenzied protesters could been seen Tuesday afternoonholding up bits of a shredded American flag to television camera crews whilechanting anti-U.S. slogans.

An embassy phone operator told CNN that the compound hadbeen cleared of diplomatic personnel earlier in the day, ahead of the apparentthreat, while Egyptian riot police and the army were called in.

"This is an expression of a feeling that is thought tobe an insult," said Nizih El Naggary, a spokesman for the Egyptian ForeignMinistry. "But events like this are extremely deplorable. And we have towork to get things under control."

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement Tuesday, pledging toprotect embassies and warning of the protests' potentially debilitating effectson the Egyptian economy.
"There are police forces at the demonstrations,"El Naggary said. "They should be protecting the embassy and asking peopleto leave."

Several individuals claimed responsibility for organizingthe demonstrations Tuesday, including Salafist leader Wesam Abdel-Wareth, whois president of Egypt'sconservative Hekma television channel.

Mohamed al-Zawahiri -- the brother of al Qaeda leader Aymanal-Zawahiri -- added, "We called for the peaceful protest joined bydifferent Islamic factions including the Islamicc Jihad (and the) Hazem AbuIsmael movement."

"We were surprised to see the big numbers show up,including the soccer Ultra fans," he said. "I just want to say, howwould the Americans feel if films insulting leading Christian figures like thepope or historical figures like Abraham Lincoln were produced?"

He added that "the film portrays the prophet in a veryugly manner, alluding to topics like sex, which is not acceptable."

The U.S. Embassy in Cairoannounced that it had canceled visa services for Wednesday.
It also said in a statement that it "condemns thecontinuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings ofMuslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."

"Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone ofAmerican democracy," the statement said. "We firmly reject theactions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt thereligious beliefs of others."

Demonstrations elicited a mixture of reactions from theEgyptian street, where last year tens of thousands turned out in opposition toformer Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
This summer, Egypt'sfirst Islamist president, Mohamed Morsy, was sworn into power at Tahrir Square, the scene of the nation's revolution in2011.

Though Tuesday's embassy protests are the first that Morsyhas dealt with, Egyptrecently produced similar scenarios when protesters attacked the Israeli andSyrian embassies in unrelated episodes.

"These protests are a bad image for Egypt,"said a Cairo street vendornamed Ahmed. "Of course I'm against insulting Islam, but it's theundereducated, poor people who are out here causing problems."

"All I want for Egyptis security and stability," he said. "And as you can see this isn'tit."
The incident occurred on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11attacks as crowds gathered across the United States in somber remembrance of a day thatleft nearly 3,000 people dead.

Tuesday's focus on the controversial film also drewcomparisons to outcry generated from a 2008 movie produced by an anti-MuslimDutch lawmaker, which then sought to portray Islam as a violent religion.

Geert Wilders' film "Fitna," which he releasedonline, featured images of terrorist acts superimposed over verses from theQuran.

http://www.bikyamasr.com/77280/remember-egypts-flagman-when-putting-context-to-us-embassy-flag-takedown/

CAIRO: A fewdozen Egyptian protesters climbed an outer wall of the United States Embassycomplex in Cairo on Tuesday eveningand tore down the American flag, replacing it will another flag that read"There is no God but God and Mohamed is His Messenger." Shocking? Onlyslightly.

Flashback to August 2011 in front of the building housingthe Israeli Embassy in Egypt.Then, a thin fence was erected to supposedly keep protesters from storming theembassy, housed on two upper levels. We know that didn't work. But the mostpopular event of that demonstration which saw protesters storm a lower levelto the embassy and toss documents from the windows was a young man who scaledthe outer side of the building to take down the Israeli flag and replace itwith the Egyptian flag, gives a clue as to why Egyptian protesters might havedecided to climb the US embassy walls on Tuesday.

During the August 2011 protests, the man dubbed "Flagman"was praised, promoted and even given a flat free of charge by the Egyptiangovernment for his "patriotic" effort. For most Egyptians he was viewed as ahero, his act of "bravery" given numerous praise on social media networks atthe time.

On Tuesday, Egyptians had gathered in front of the USembassy to protest what can only be described as a barbaric and insulting filmcreated by an Israeli-American "filmmaker" and promoted by ultra-conservativeJews, Christians and Coptic Christians.
For Egyptian Muslims of all walks of life, young, old,liberal and conservative, the film that portrayed the Prophet Mohamed as apedophile, violent and sex addict, is a red line in Egypt.

So when there was no security presence in front of theembassy, undoubtedly the idea of taking down the American flag sprouted fromthe memory of how the "Flagman" was praised. The protesters jumped on the wall,a few hopped down and took down the flag, replacing it with a symbolic Islamicflag not in any way related to al-Qaeda as many Western reports were so quickto point to.

The move, while being roundly condemned by many punditsinside Egyptand abroad, is likely to be seen in a positive light. This was evidenced by thereaction at a local cafe only a few blocks from the embassy, where they smiledand clapped in support of the action.

This is important. Egyptians are not going to sit lightly asa film is attacking its Prophet. And without a real security presenceattempting to block any advance on the embassy, moving on the embassy seemedthe logical move.

On top of this was the reporting that labeled the protesters"Islamists" missed the true nature of those present on Tuesday. A quick walkthrough the protest showed it was not "bearded men" gone crazy, but a mix ofEgyptian society, from young football fans to middle-class citizens as well asthe ultra-conservatives. Insulting Islam will always bring forth across-section of Egyptand this must be highlighted.

At the end of the day, the USresponded appropriately, sending a statement earlier in the day on Tuesday thatcondemned the film. While it may have been too little too late, thedemonstration on Tuesday shows there is a serious need to look at freedom ofspeech, in Egyptand how it will differ from the American view on the topic.

Egyptis moving in a positive direction. The country has had free elections. Mediahave largely been more open, despite a few hiccups that need to be resolved.But at the end of the day, just as Europe has outlawedHolocaust deniers, Egypt'sconception of freedom of speech may not, and never, include insulting Islam asthe film did.

Egyptians are angry, and rightfully so. The film, "Innocenceof Muslims" is downright disgusting. Does that mean the US Embassy should havebeen attacked? No. It does a disservice to the cause of Muslims in their angertowards the film, but understanding why, the historical nature of angryprotests in the country and remembering the "Flagman" and his story, adds muchunderstanding to how this situation played out.
BM

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Bill Kelly - 13-09-2012

Well, at least we know what it takes to have the US marines sent in - "boots on the ground" - Kill the American ambassador.

[URL="http://revolutionaryprogram.blogspot.com/"]Revolutionary Program
[/URL][URL="http://revolutionaryprogram.blogspot.com/2012/09/chris-stevens-rip-april-1960-september.html"]
Revolutionary Program: Chris Stevens - RIP April 1960 - September 11, 2012[/URL]

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Magda Hassan - 13-09-2012

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LEFT: US Ambassador Stephens, apparently content with his part in the murder of President Gadaafi, RIGHT: gets the same treatment, from his own gang

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Magda Hassan - 13-09-2012

Yemen: US Embassy Stormed



[Image: evs-xtaccess-2012-09-13-111-a-01h00m01s07-1-522x293.jpg][URL="http://news.sky.com/story/984584/yemen-us-embassy-stormed-by-protesters"]

Video here [/URL]
Protesters have stormed the US embassy in Yemen as demonstrations about an anti-Muslim film spread in the Middle East.
Up to 5,000 protesters are trying to get into the US compound in Sanaa, according to local reports.
Hundreds got past two police barricades and managed to get inside the building. They were then driven back by security forces firing weapons into the air.
TV pictures showed Yemenis trying to scale walls to get back into the compound.
The violence came a day after the US embassy was attacked in Benghazi in Libya.
US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American officials died as gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and set fire to the building.
The US is investigating whether the deadly attack was a co-ordinated terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 atrocity.
It had been thought it was a spontaneous protest provoked by an American-made anti-Islam film, which is being promoted on YouTube and is said to insult the Prophet Mohammed.
But a US counterterrorism official has said the Benghazi violence was "too co-ordinated or professional" to be spontaneous.
The Pentagon has announced it is moving two warships to the Libyan coast and a group of Marines has been dispatched to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The ships, which carry Tomahawk missiles, do not have a specific mission but will give commanders flexibility to respond to any mission ordered by President Barack Obama, officials said.
Protests in the Egyptian capital continued overnight as demonstrators clashed with police near the US embassy. Police were pelted with rocks and responded with a charge at the protesters and continued with their firing tear gas to disperse the crowd.
In Tunisia, police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the air to disperse a protest by around 200 people near the US embassy in the capital Tunis, apparently about the film.
Opponents say the $5m (£3.1) film, called The Innocence Of Muslims, depicts Mohammed as a fraud and shows him having sex and calling for massacres.
The US Navy has already moved the destroyer, the USS Laboon, to a position off the Libyan coast and the USS McFaul is en route and should be stationed off the coast within days.

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Carsten Wiethoff - 13-09-2012

From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/sam-bacile-film_n_1878060.html
Quote:
After YouTube clips of his amateurish, green-screen-heavy film "The Innocence of Muslims" or "Muslim Innocence" were translated into Arabic and led to riots in Egypt and Libya this week, Sam Bacile has become the most famous independent filmmaker in the world, despite the fact that nothing is known about his past, his roots or how he actually funded his project.
Quote:
Gawker interviewed Cindy Lee Garcia, one of the actresses from the film, who is living in Bakersfield, California. She says she was never told that the film was a spoof of Muhammed. The casting notice she had originally received from her agent was titled "Desert Warriors." She said the director called himself "Sam Bacile," and he claimed he was an Israeli real estate mogul. But Garcia said Bacile told her on set that he was actually Egyptian.

and from CNN:
Quote:"The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer," they said in a statement to CNN.According to the statement, the group was "shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."
An actress in the film, who asked not to be identified, said the original script did not include a Prophet Mohammed character. She said she and other actors complained that their lines had been changed.


Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Magda Hassan - 13-09-2012

LOS ANGELES The search for those behind the provocative, anti-Muslim film implicated in violent protests in Egypt and Libya led Wednesday to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview outside Los Angeles that he helped with logistics for the filming of "Innocence of Muslims," which mocked Muslims and the prophet Muhammad and may have caused inflamed mobs that attacked U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya. He provided the first details about a shadowy production group behind the film.
Nakoula denied he directed the film and said he knew the self-described filmmaker, Sam Bacile. But the cell phone number that AP contacted Tuesday to reach the filmmaker who identified himself as Sam Bacile traced to the same address near Los Angeles where AP found Nakoula. Federal court papers said Nakoula's aliases included Nicola Bacily, Erwin Salameh and others.
Nakoula told the AP that he was a Coptic Christian and said the film's director supported the concerns of Christian Copts about their treatment by Muslims.
Nakoula denied he had posed as Bacile. During a conversation outside his home, he offered his driver's license to show his identity but kept his thumb over his middle name, Basseley. Records checks by the AP subsequently found it and other connections to the Bacile persona.
The AP located Bacile after obtaining his cell phone number from Morris Sadek, a conservative Coptic Christian in the U.S. who had promoted the anti-Muslim film in recent days on his website. Egypt's Christian Coptic population has long decried what they describe as a history of discrimination and occasional violence from the country's Arab majority.
Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., who burned Qurans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, said he spoke with the movie's director on the phone Wednesday and prayed for him. He said he has not met the filmmaker in person, but the man contacted him a few weeks ago about promoting the movie.
"I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name," Jones said. "I just talked to him on the phone. He is definitely in hiding and does not reveal his identity. He was quite honestly fairly shook up concerning the events and what is happening. A lot of people are not supporting him."
The film was implicated in protests that resulted in the burning of the U.S. consulate Tuesday in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
Libyan officials said Wednesday that Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other embassy employees were killed during the mob violence, but U.S. officials now say they are investigating whether the assault was a planned terrorist strike linked to Tuesday's 11-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Nakoula, who talked guardedly about his role, pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.
The YouTube account, "Sam Bacile," which was used to publish excerpts of the provocative movie in July, was used to post comments online as recently as Tuesday, including this defense of the film written in Arabic: "It is a 100 percent American movie, you cows."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Leigh Williams said Nakoula set up fraudulent bank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, then checks from those accounts would be deposited into other bogus accounts from which Nakoula would withdraw money at ATM machines.
It was "basically a check-kiting scheme," the prosecutor told the AP. "You try to get the money out of the bank before the bank realizes they are drawn from a fraudulent account. There basically is no money."
The actors in the film issued a joint statement Wednesday saying they were misled about the project and said some of their dialogue was crudely dubbed during post-production.
In the English language version of the trailer, direct references to Muhammad appear to be the result of post-production changes to the movie. Either actors aren't seen when the name "Muhammad" is spoken in the overdubbed sound, or they appear to be mouthing something else as the name of the prophet is spoken.
"The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer," said the statement, obtained by the Los Angeles Times. "We are 100 percent not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."
The person who identified himself as Bacile and described himself as the film's writer and director told the AP on Tuesday that he had gone into hiding. But doubts rose about the man's identity amid a flurry of false claims about his background and role in the purported film.
Bacile told the AP he was an Israeli-born, 56-year-old, Jewish writer and director. But a Christian activist involved in the film project, Steve Klein, told AP on Wednesday that Bacile was a pseudonym and that he was Christian.
Klein had told the AP on Tuesday that the filmmaker was an Israeli Jew who was concerned for family members who live in Egypt.
Officials in Israel said there was no record of Bacile as an Israeli citizen.
When the AP initially left a message for Bacile, Klein contacted the AP from another number to confirm the interview request was legitimate then Bacile called back from his own cell phone.
Klein said he didn't know the real name of the man he called "Sam," who came to him for advice on First Amendment issues.
About 15 key players from the Middle East -- from Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and a couple Coptic Christians from Egypt -- worked on the film, Klein said.
"Most of them won't tell me their real names because they're terrified," Klein said. "He was really scared and now he's so nervous. He's turned off his phone."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, said Klein is a former Marine and longtime religious-right activist who has helped train paramilitary militias at a California church. It described Klein as founder of Courageous Christians United, which conducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques.
It quoted Klein as saying he believes that California is riddled with Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cells "who are awaiting the trigger date and will begin randomly killing as many of us as they can."
In his brief interview with the AP, Bacile defiantly called Islam a cancer and said he intended the film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.
But several key facts Bacile provided proved false or questionable. Bacile told AP he was 56 but identified himself on his YouTube profile as 74. Bacile said he is a real estate developer, but Bacile does not appear in searches of California state licenses, including the Department of Real Estate.
Hollywood and California film industry groups and permit agencies said they had no records of the project under the name "Innocence of Muslims," but a Los Angeles film permit agency later found a record of a movie filmed in Los Angeles last year under the working title "Desert Warriors."
A man who answered a phone listed for the Vine Theater, a faded Hollywood movie house, confirmed that the film had run for a least a day, and possibly longer, several months ago, arranged by a customer known as "Sam."
Google Inc., which owns YouTube, pulled down the video Wednesday in Egypt, citing a legal complaint. It was still accessible in the U.S. and other countries.
Klein told the AP that he vowed to help make the movie but warned the filmmaker that "you're going to be the next Theo van Gogh." Van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker killed by a Muslim extremist in 2004 after making a film that was perceived as insulting to Islam.
"We went into this knowing this was probably going to happen," Klein said.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/09/13/california-man-confirms-role-in-production-anti-islam-film-blamed-for-protests/#ixzz26M7MNpe3

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Magda Hassan - 13-09-2012

Ansar al Shariah issues statement on US Consulate assault in Libya

By BILL ROGGIOSeptember 12, 2012 3:52 PM


Ansar al Shariah, an Islamist group in Libya that has been accused of executing last night's attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, issued a statement on the assault. The statement, which has been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, is neither a full denial nor a full claim of responsibility. The group stated that it "didn't participate as a sole entity," leaving open the possibility that its members were involved. Ansar al Shariah then claimed that the attack "was a spontaneous popular uprising" to a video released on YouTube that denigrated the Prophet Mohammed.
Below is an excerpt from the statement, emphasis is ours:
Ansar al-Shariah Brigade didn't participate in this popular uprising as a separate entity, but it was carrying out its duties in al-Jala'a hospital and other places where it was entrusted with some duties. The Brigade didn't participate as a sole entity; rather, it was a spontaneous popular uprising in response to what happened by the West.
Ansar al Shariah wants you to believe that this attack was part of a "spontaneous popular uprising," and not an assault linked to an organized Jihadi-Salafist group that has launched attacks in Benghazi in the recent past, including against at least one foreign consulate. To believe that, you also have to believe that a group of demonstrators, armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, spontaneously showed up in front of the US Consulate, and then overran the security and killed the US ambassador and three Americans. While this is certainly possible, it isn't likely.
Update at 8:31 PM EST
Unnamed State Department officials breifed reporters late this afternoon. The description they have provided, which generally matches news reports, indicates that this wasn't a group of rowdy protesters gone wild, but an organized attack. Fighting lasted for more than four hours before the compound was "secured." From the briefing:
At approximately 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time yesterday, which was about 10 p.m. in Libya, the compound where our office is in Benghazi began taking fire from unidentified Libyan extremists. By about 4:15, the attackers gained access to the compound and began firing into the main building, setting it on fire. The Libyan guard force and our mission security personnel responded. At that time, there were three people inside the building: Ambassador Stevens, one of our regional security officers, and Information Management Officer Sean Smith. They became separated from each other due to the heavy, dark smoke while they were trying to evacuate the burning building. The Regional Security Officer made it outside, and then he and other security personnel returned into the burning building in an attempt to rescue Chris and Sean. At that time, they found Sean. He was already dead, and they pulled him from the building. They were unable, however, to locate Chris before they were driven from the building due to the heavy fire and smoke and the continuing small arms fire.At about 4:45 our time here in Washington, U.S. security personnel assigned to the mission annex tried to regain the main building, but that group also took heavy fire and had to return to the mission annex. At about 5:20, U.S. and Libyan security personnel made another attempt and at that time were able to regain the main building and they were able to secure it. Then, due to continued small arms fire, they evacuated the rest of the personnel and safe havened them in the nearby annex.
The mission annex then came under fire itself at around 6 o'clock in the evening our time, and that continued for about two hours. It was during that time that two additional U.S. personnel were killed and two more were wounded during that ongoing attack.
At about 8:30 p.m. our time here in Washington, so now 2 o'clock in the morning in Libya, Libyan security forces were able to assist us in regaining control of the situation. At some point in all of this - and frankly, we do not know when - we believe that Ambassador Stevens got out of the building and was taken to a hospital in Benghazi. We do not have any information what his condition was at that time. His body was later returned to U.S. personnel at the Benghazi airport.



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/09/ansar_al_shariah_issues_statem.php#ixzz26MDz6ixS

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Carsten Wiethoff - 13-09-2012

Interesting. If I interpret the linked document correctly (http://www.scribd.com/doc/105762440/USA-v-Nakoula-Basseley-Nakoula-Judgment-and-Commitment) , Mr Nakoula has been in trouble before.
He had to pay nearly 800.000 $ to several victims in what seems to be some kind of internet fraud, and he was on probation.
I don't think this helps.

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Magda Hassan - 13-09-2012

U.S. officials and Middle East analysts said Wednesday that an attack that killed four Americans at a U.S. Consulate in eastern Libya may have been planned by extremists and inspired by al-Qaeda.
The U.S. Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans were killed Tuesday in an assault on the consulate in the city of Benghazi. President Obama strongly condemned the attack and pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice, vowing that "justice will be done."

5000+

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[Image: w-benghaziConsulate296.jpg]
(Gene Thorp/Image source: Digital Globe via Google Earth) - Map of U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya



The attack followed a violent protest at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo over a low-budget anti-Muslim film made in the United States, and it initially appeared that the assault on the Benghazi consulate was another spontaneous response. But senior U.S. officials and Middle East analysts raised questions Wednesday about the motivation for the Benghazi attack, noting that it involved the use of a rocket-propelled grenade and followed an al-Qaeda call to avenge the death of a senior Libyan member of the terrorist network.
Libyan officials and a witness said the attackers took advantage of a protest over the film to launch their assault.
Stevens, 52, and the others appear to have been killed inside the temporary consulate, possibly by a rocket-propelled grenade, according to officials briefed on the assault.
On Wednesday, administration officials described a fast-moving assault on the Benghazi compound, which quickly overwhelmed Libyan guards and U.S. security forces, and separated the Americans from the ambassador they were supposed to protect. U.S. personnel lost touch with Stevens just minutes into the attack, about 10 p.m. Benghazi time. They didn't see him again until his body was returned to U.S. custody, sometime around dawn.
"Frankly, we are not clear on the circumstances between the time he got separated from the group inside the burning building, to the time we were notified he was in Benghazi hospital," a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters. "We were not able to see him until his body was returned to us at the airport."
Stevens, based in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, happened to be visiting the U.S. outpost in Benghazi at the time of the attack. Officials said he was one of perhaps 25 or 30 people inside the U.S. consulate compound and its annex at 10 p.m. local time (4 p.m. Washington time), when unidentified gunmen began firing from outside.
Within 15 minutes, the officials said, the gunmen had entered the compound, and set its main building on fire. Three people were inside: Stevens, Sean Smith, a Foreign Service information management officer, and a Department of State security officer. As the building filled with dark smoke, the three became separated.
The security officer escaped, then went back inside with another officer. They found Smith dead inside, and pulled his body out. But they could not find Stevens, before being driven out of the building by smoke and gunfire.
Thirty minutes later, U.S. security officers tried again to enter the burning building. They withdrew, and eventually sheltered with all remaining personnel in an annex building. There, the personnel were under seige for two hours, taking fire that killed two more Americans and wounded three others.

The attack did not end until about 8:30 p.m. Washington time, when Libyan security forces helped drive away the attackers. Administration officials said they still were not sure Wednesday who the attackers were, or if the Benghazi attack was related to protests over an anti-Islamic movie at the U.S. embassy in Cairo the same day.
At some point during the attack, officials said, Stevens was taken out of the building where he was last seen. But they did not know how he got out, if Stevens was dead or alive when he left the compound, or whether he was taken to a hospital.




The Associated Press reported that Stevens arrived at a Benghazi hospital about 7 p.m. Eastern, and was pronounced dead later. Doctors said he died of asphyxiation, due to smoke inhalation. U.S. officials said that would have to be confirmed with an autopsy.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said there is strong evidence that the attack was planned.
"This was a well-armed, well-coordinated event," Rogers said in an interview on MSNBC. "It had both indirect and direct fire, and it had military maneuvers that were all part of this very organized attack." Rogers referred to weapons that aimed directly at a target and those, such as rockets and mortars, that are fired without a direct line of sight.
According to Firas Abdelhakim, a Libyan television journalist who said he witnessed part of the attack, a group of several dozen armed men mounted the assault.
Abdelhakim said he was about three miles from consulate when he saw 20 to 30 cars driving toward the consulate shortly before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
When he reached the consulate, he said, he saw about 50 armed men gathering who were not carrying banners or chanting slogans. When asked who they were, they described themselves variously as "Muslims defending the Prophet" and "a group of Muslim youth" who were "defending Islam," Abdelhakim said.
He said he saw Libyan security forces the February 17 Battalion guarding the consulate, a walled-off villa compound with several buildings, a swimming pool and one security watchtower on an unpaved side street in a prosperous residential district of Benghazi.
The assault on the consulate started sometime between 10:30 and 11 p.m., and the two groups traded fire, Abdelhakim said.
Benghazi residents said the compound had never previously had a major security presence around it.
Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said the security force was outgunned by the attackers, who joined a demonstration of "hundreds" of people outside the consulate. He said the original demonstration, which began as early as noon and escalated during the evening, was apparently called to protest the offensive film.
Sharif said armed men "infiltrated" the protest, but that the Libyan government did not believe they were Islamist militants. Instead, he said, authorities suspect they were loyalists of slain former strongman Moammar Gaddafi who were out to upend the country's fragile political situation.

"We are going through a war with people from the old regime who are trying to destabilize security," Sharif said. He also said the Libyan government believes that the first shot came from within the consulate compound, enraging the crowd. And he complained that the consulate should have extracted its employees earlier in the day and taken them to hotels or another secure location for safety.
Sharif said the consulate was completely burned and looted. "The most we expected was taking down the American flag and burning it," he said. "We didn't expect what happened to take place."


The Defense Department has dispatched two Marine antiterrorism security teams to Libya to reinforce security there, a senior Marine official said. In a statement issued by the White House early Wednesday, Obama said he had directed an increase in security at U.S. diplomatic posts around the world.
(Find the latest updates on The Post's live blog.)
The FBI said in a statement that it has opened an investigation into the deaths of the four Americans and the attack on the consulate. It said investigators would work closely with the State Department and "the appropriate government partners" in Libya.
"The FBI will not speculate on the facts and circumstances surrounding the attacks," the statement said.
A U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said all four of the dead were State Department civilians. About a half dozen Americans were wounded in the attack, and it was not immediately clear if any of them were military. No U.S. Marines were posted at the consulate as part of its security detail, the official said.
The attack was the latest in a series of violent assaults in Benghazi over the last several months many, but not all, directed against U.S. interests there.
Tuesday's assault was the second on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. On June 5, a bomb exploded outside the gates of the compound in the first targeting of an American facility since the fall of Gaddafi last year.
The following day in Benghazi, two British bodyguards were injured in an attack on a convoy carrying the British ambassador to Libya. Last month, unknown assailants attacked a compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Libyan port city of Misurata. No one was injured in that attack.
A group allied with al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for several recent assaults in Benghazi. But there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attack.
Obama said Wednesday morning that the United States "condemns in the strongest possible terms this outrageous and shocking attack" and is working with the Libyan government to secure U.S. diplomats and bring the attackers to justice.
Appearing with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the White House Rose Garden, Obama said: "We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, but there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts."

He said many Libyans have already joined that stand, and he vowed, "This attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya." He stressed that Libyan security personnel had "fought back against the attackers alongside Americans" and that other Libyans carried Stevens's body to the hospital and helped U.S. diplomats find safety.
Obama added: "We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done."


Obama spoke as some Middle East analysts suggested that the attack in Benghazi might have been launched as revenge for the death of a top al-Qaeda militant who was killed by an American drone strike in Pakistan in June.
Mathieu Guidere, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Toulouse in France and an expert on Islamist radicals, said information from militant Web sites suggested that Libyan extremists seized on the film to rally people around an attack on the consulate. He said the attack appeared to be motivated by a recent call by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader, to avenge the killing of Hassan Mohammed Qaed, better known as Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan-born cleric who was a key aide to Osama bin Laden.
Quillam, a respected British think-tank that monitors extremist groups, said its sources in Libya and elsewhere in the region described the attack as a well-planned assault that occurred in two waves and was organized by a group of about 20 militants. The first wave involved driving the Americans from the consulate, and the second was a coordinated attack using a rocket-propelled grenade after they were taken to another location.
"These are acts committed by uncontrollable jihadist groups," said Noman Benotam, the president of Quillam.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian who took over as al-Qaeda leader after bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani hideout in May, issued a 42-minute video Monday acknowledging Libi's death and calling on Muslims, particularly fellow Libyans, to seek vengeance for the killing.
"With the martyrdom of Sheikh Hassan Mohammed Qaed, may God have mercy on him, people will flock even more to his writings and his call, God willing," Zawahiri said in the video. "His blood urges you and incites you to fight and kill the crusaders."
Stevens, a longtime Middle East hand in the State Department, was named ambassador to Libya in May. He had worked in Libya for a number of years, both before and after the fall of Gaddafi.
In an interview with The Washington Post in June, Stevens said Libya's emerging democracy faces a threat from small, violent Islamist groups that reject elections.
"These are, for the most part, new groups that are emerging after the revolution, and the Libyans themselves don't know who they are," Stevens said. "Some of these groups are probably forming out of the militias that grew out of the revolution, and they have access to arms, so that is troubling."
On the recent series of violent incidents in Libya, Stevens said, "When people cross the line, it's also a function of a lack of strong state and police to enforce the law."

Obama called Stevens a "courageous and exemplary representative" of the U.S. government, who "selflessly served our country and the Libyan people."
"His legacy will endure wherever human beings reach for liberty and justice," Obama said.

Clinton said she had called Libyan President Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf "to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya."
The attack in Benghazi followed protests in neighboring Egypt, where a group of protesters scaled the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday evening and entered its outer grounds, pulled down an American flag, then tried to burn it outside the embassy walls, according to witnesses. On Wednesday morning, a sit-in by several dozen protesters continued outside the Cairo embassy.
The attack on the embassy in Cairo was apparently prompted by outrage over an independent, anti-Muslim film made in the United States. It illustrated a deep vein of anti-American sentiment, even though the United States supported Arab Spring revolutions and was instrumental in providing financial and diplomatic support for their newly-democratic governments.
After his Rose Garden remarks, Obama headed to the State Department with Clinton to address a closed session of the diplomatic workforce. A White House official said Obama held the meeting "to express his solidarity with our diplomats stationed around the world." The official said Obama wanted to "give thanks for the service and sacrifices that our civilians make, and pay tribute to those who were lost."
Clinton identified Smith as a Foreign Service information management officer for 10 years who was on a temporary assignment in Libya. She said Smith, an Air Force veteran, left a wife and two children. The names of the other two people killed were being withheld pending notification of their families, Clinton said.
Before appearing at the White House with Obama, Clinton called those who attacked the Benghazi consulate a "small and savage group," praised the response by the Libyan government and people to the violence and said the assault would not deter the United States from helping Libya become free and stable.
"This is an attack that should shock the conscience of people of all faiths around the world," Clinton said in a solemn speech at the State Department. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of violence."
"Today many Americans are asking indeed I asked myself how could this happen," she said. "How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding, the world can be. But we must be clear-eyed even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group, not by the people or government of Libya."
Clinton said Libyans had helped to repel the attackers and lead other Americans to safety, and she said Libya's president has pledged to pursue those responsible.
Stressing that "a free and stable Libya" is in the U.S. interest, Clinton said, "We will not turn our back on that. Nor will we rest until those responsible for these attacks are found and brought to justice."

She said some people have sought to justify the violence as "a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet." She added: "There is no justification for this.... Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith, and as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace."
Both the Egyptian and Libyan governments condemned the violence outside the American diplomatic compounds. But local security officials in both countries appeared slow to provide protection for the American diplomatic installations and have issued no firm statements explaining the violence.
In a news conference in Tripoli Wednesday, Libya's prime minister and parliamentary speaker apologized for the assault and extended sympathy for the deaths to the United States and families of the victims.
While they provided no details, they offered two alternative theories regarding the perpetrators, saying at one point that Gaddafi loyalists were responsible but later saying that it involved "extremists" and was related to Tuesday's anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
The film that appeared to have sparked the protest in Cairo is called "The Innocence of Muslims." It calls the prophet Muhammad a fraud and shows him having sex. A controversial Cairo television host, Sheikh Khaled Abdallah, aired clips from the video on an Islamic-focused television station on Saturday, and the same video clips were posted online on Monday.
A man who identified himself as Sam Bacile said he made the film. Bacile had gone into hiding on Tuesday, but remained defiant in his condemnations of Islam, the Associated Press reported.
Bacile described himself to several news organizations as an Israeli-born Jew who works as a real estate developer in California. The Washington Post included that identification, citing the AP interview. But Steve Klein, an associate of Bacile, told the Atlantic that Bacile was in fact a pseudonym. Bacile is not listed in any directories or incorporations or real estate deeds and is not licensed in California as a real estate broker.
The crisis quickly spilled over into the U.S. presidential campaign, as Mitt Romney issued a brief statement saying he was "outraged" by the assaults. Romney then said, "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn the attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."
Obama's reelection campaign quickly responded in kind, saying, "We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose the launch of a political attack."
Romney, speaking to reporters on the campaign trail Wednesday, stood by his criticism.
Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since 1988, when Arnold Raphel was killed in a mysterious airplane crash in Pakistan along with Pakistani president Zia ul-Haq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/news-agencies-us-ambassador-to-libya-killed-in-attack-outside-consulate/2012/09/12/665de5fc-fcc4-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_story_4.html
Birnbaum reported from Cairo. Sari Horwitz, Douglas Frantz , Tara Bahrampour, Craig M. Whitlock and David A. Fahrenthold in Washington, Edward Cody in Paris, HaithamTabei in Cairo, and Ingy Hassieb in El-Arish, Egypt, contributed to this report.

Film "The Innocence of Muslims" Sparks Attacks on USA in Egypt and Libya - Carsten Wiethoff - 13-09-2012

Oh yes, and from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/13/anti-islamic-film-us-nakoula
Quote:An anti-Islamic activist and self-described "consultant" on the film, Steve Klein, has worked closely with Coptic groups over the years, according to Jim Horn, a fellow activist. "He's been helping them to stand up for themselves against Islamic terror in Egypt. That's what he does," he told the Guardian.
Klein, who claims to have led a "hunter-killer team" in Vietnam, helped to found a conservative Christian group and calls himself a counter-terrorism expert.
Phoenix Program, anyone?