14-09-2012, 10:28 PM
Lizzie Phelan has a point of view similar to Maggie's, as this blog post indicates.
LIZZIEPHELAN Wednesday, 12 September 2012
By Lizzie Phelan
The first thing that comes to mind about the murder of the USAmbassador and his three staff in Benghazi, Libyatoday is the irony. Indeed this is the man who served as envoy to therebels/mercenaries during the illegal NATO proxy war against the legitimategovernment headed by Muammar Gaddafi of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah.
His life has been taken by what he helped give birth to, andindeed this is what Gaddafi and other former officials warned the west abouttime and time again, but it is hard to believe that the west were so naive asto not foresee this and so it seems clear that they were willing topay this price.
Finally, since February last year, the extent to whichNATO's mercenaries have been destroying and desecrating the country'sinfrastructural and historical and religous architectural wealth has been welldocumented, and this has only intensified over the last few months, includingthe bulldozing of a mosque in broad daylight in Tripoli at the end oflast month. It is hard to escape the irony of these Salafist groups killing USofficials in response to a blasphemous Islamophobic film released inthe US, when they themselves have been busy destroying a Muslim country andsites that are dear to many Muslims....
BK Notes:
My Libyan friends ashore me that the Salafists who are destroying the Sufi Muslim sites are a small minority - they are attacking Sufis because the Salafists are orthodox and the Sufis sing like black Baptists and revere saints like Christians.
The film is dizinformation and black propaganda, which means its origins can be traced, and will be - I will do it myself if I have to.
The producer of the film uses a fake name, is apparently a Copic Christian or Jew, and financed the "D" grade movie with $5 million - it looks like a high school production - though he accomplished his intention of inciting the riots and anti-American attacks.
None of those who protested the film have actually seen it, but were incited by the reports of what the film contains. There's no real proof that the producer is even an American.
If those who are so upset by the film's content would actually see the movie they would realize what a farce it is.
It most certainly is a black prop op - designed to hide the true source of the film, and a dizinformation operation in that it intended to get others to act on what it alleges to say. Who was behind the operation? We will see.
LOS ANGELES The search for those behind the provocative,anti-Muslim film implicated in violent protests in Egyptand Libya ledWednesday to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes whoacknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview outsideLos Angeles that he helped withlogistics for the filming of "Innocence of Muslims," which mockedMuslims and the prophet Muhammad and may have caused inflamed mobs thatattacked U.S.missions in Egyptand Libya. Heprovided the first details about a shadowy production group behind the film.
Nakoula denied he directed the film and said he knew the self-describedfilmmaker, Sam Bacile. But the cell phone number that AP contacted Tuesday toreach the filmmaker who identified himself as Sam Bacile traced to the sameaddress near Los Angeles where APfound Nakoula. Federal court papers said Nakoula's aliases included NicolaBacily, Erwin Salameh and others.
Nakoula told the AP that he was a Coptic Christian and said the film's directorsupported 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 overhis middle name, Basseley. Records checks by the AP subsequently found it andother 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'sChristian Coptic population has long decried what they describe as a history ofdiscrimination 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 themovie's director on the phone Wednesday and prayed for him. He said he has notmet the filmmaker in person, but the man contacted him a few weeks ago aboutpromoting the movie.
"I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name," Jonessaid. "I just talked to him on the phone. He is definitely in hiding anddoes not reveal his identity. He was quite honestly fairly shook up concerningthe 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 otherembassy employees were killed during the mob violence, but U.S. officials nowsay they are investigating whether the assault was a planned terrorist strikelinked to Tuesday's 11-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Nakoula, who talked guardedly about his role, pleaded no contest in 2010 tofederal bank fraud charges in Californiaand was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentencedto 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the Internetfor five years without approval from his probation officer.
The YouTube account, "Sam Bacile," which was used to publish excerptsof the provocative movie in July, was used to post comments online as recentlyas Tuesday, including this defense of the film written in Arabic: "It is a100 percent American movie, you cows."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Leigh Williams said Nakoula set up fraudulentbank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, then checksfrom those accounts would be deposited into other bogus accounts from whichNakoula 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 theyare drawn from a fraudulent account. There basically is no money."
The actors in the film issued a joint statement Wednesday saying they weremisled about the project and said some of their dialogue was crudely dubbedduring post-production.
In the English language version of the trailer, direct references to Muhammadappear to be the result of post-production changes to the movie. Either actorsaren't seen when the name "Muhammad" is spoken in the overdubbedsound, or they appear to be mouthing something else as the name of the prophetis spoken.
"The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage ofby the producer," said the statement, obtained by the Los Angeles Times."We are 100 percent not behind this film and were grossly misled about itsintent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script andlies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragediesthat have occurred."
The person who identified himself as Bacile and described himself as the film'swriter and director told the AP on Tuesday that he had gone into hiding. Butdoubts rose about the man's identity amid a flurry of false claims about hisbackground and role in the purported film.
Bacile told the AP he was an Israeli-born, 56-year-old, Jewish writer anddirector. 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 wasconcerned for family members who live in Egypt.
Officials in Israelsaid there was no record of Bacile as an Israeli citizen.
When the AP initially left a message for Bacile, Klein contacted the AP fromanother number to confirm the interview request was legitimate then Bacilecalled 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, Iranand a couple Coptic Christians from Egypt-- worked on the film, Klein said.
"Most of them won't tell me their real names because they'reterrified," Klein said. "He was really scared and now he's sonervous. He's turned off his phone."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, said Klein is aformer Marine and longtime religious-right activist who has helped trainparamilitary militias at a Californiachurch. It described Klein as founder of Courageous Christians United, whichconducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques.
It quoted Klein as saying he believes that Californiais riddled with Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cells "who are awaiting thetrigger 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 andsaid he intended the film to be a provocative political statement condemningthe religion.
But several key facts Bacile provided proved false or questionable. Bacile toldAP he was 56 but identified himself on his YouTube profile as 74. Bacile saidhe is a real estate developer, but Bacile does not appear in searches of Californiastate licenses, including the Department of Real Estate.
Hollywood and Californiafilm industry groups and permit agencies said they had no records of theproject under the name "Innocence of Muslims," but a Los Angeles film permit agency later found a record of amovie filmed in Los Angeles lastyear under the working title "Desert Warriors."
A man who answered a phone listed for the Vine Theater, a faded Hollywood moviehouse, 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 filmmakerthat "you're going to be the next Theo van Gogh." Van Gogh was aDutch filmmaker killed by a Muslim extremist in 2004 after making a film thatwas perceived as insulting to Islam.
"We went into this knowing this was probably going to happen," Kleinsaid.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...#ixzz26M7MNpe3
CASTAND CREW OF ANTI-MUSLIM MOVIE: WE WERE DUPED!
Cast and crew of anti-Muslim movie: We were duped!
Cast says inflammatory dialogue was subbed in after film wasshot. The film The Innocence of Muslims' is being blamed for widespread unrestand protests
The ongoing unrest centers on an obscure 14-minute film trailer that mocks Islam'sprophet.
Posted in July on YouTube, it got more notice recently afterEgyptian television aired segments and anti-Islam activists promoted it online.Numerous questions surround the film, which includes cartoonish scenes ofMohammed as a womanizer, child molester and ruthless killer.
According to a FBI/Homeland Security joint statement, thefilm's producer identified himself to news media as an Israeli -- an assertion Israel'sgovernment denies -- and falsely claimed the movie was financed with help frommore than 100 Jewish donors.
While he'd been identified in July 2011 by various names,including Sam Bassiel, federal officials now say they believe the filmmaker'sname is NakoulaBasseley Nakoula. He was convicted in 2009 of bank fraud, with theindictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office listing seven aliases.
A production staffer said he believed the filmmaker was aCoptic Christian who also went by the name Abenob Nakoula Bassely.
U.S.warns of rising threat of violence amid outrage over anti-Islam video
Attention in the United States turns to filmmaker
U.S.officials have stepped up their criticism of the film at the center of theongoing protests, which was privately produced in the United States, and began pursuing the elusivefilmmaker who allegedly made it.
Clinton saidThursday that the video "appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, todenigrate a great religion and to provoke rage," even as she stressed itoffers "no justification" for violence.
The FBI has spoken to the filmmaker within the past 24hours, a federal law enforcement officer told CNN on Thursday. Feinstein, headof the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said she believes "aninvestigation is going on in this country considering the individual who didthis very obnoxious ... preview to some very stupid movie and wrong-headed movie."
ManyMuslims find any depiction of Mohammed to be offensive. A Danishnewspaper's publication in 2005 of Mohammed caricatures triggered riots -- andderogatory depictions of the prophet are considered by some to be worse.
The production staffer on the film said the filmmaker was aCoptic Christian who had gone to Alexandria, Egypt,where the Coptic church is based, to raise money for the film. Far fromstanding behind the film, the Coptic church has issued a statement calling it"abusive" and part of a "malicious campaign to dividepeople."
Reactionfuels debate on free speech vs. hate speech
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 9:28 PM EDT,Thu September 13, 2012
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/world/meas...index.html
(CNN) -- After days of protests and related violence,concerns are growing that furor over an anti-Islam video could intensify evenmore Friday -- threatening U.S.interests abroad and at home.
People have taken to the streets in 11 nations, according toU.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, to derail "Innocence of Muslims" and thenation where it was produced, the United States.This outrage, and dangers to Americans, could worsen in the coming days, theU.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI warned Thursday in a jointintelligence bulletin.
"The risk of violence could increase both at home andabroad as the film continues to gain attention," the U.S.agencies said. "Additionally, we judge that violent extremist groups inthe United Statescould exploit anger over the film to advance their recruitment efforts."
American tourists cautious, but undeterred
Worries about Friday, in particular, stem from the fact thatMuslims hold their weekly prayers that day -- and may congregate afterward andmarch toward U.S.diplomatic missions.
Analysis: In Libya, militias 'running the show'
On Tuesday, the same day people protesting the film stormedthe U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the U.S.Consulate in Benghazi was attacked-- leading to the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Departmentcomputer expert Sean Smith,and security officers Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALcommandos.
In addition to stressing there's no excuse for violencetargeting U.S. diplomatic missions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hascalled the video "disgusting and reprehensible" and said it appearsto aim "to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage."
Still, condemnations of the film and calls by leaders oflargely Muslim countries not to assault U.S.diplomatic missions haven't stopped throngs from demonstrating, at timesviolently.
Protests rage against inflammatory anti-Islam film trailer
Small and large demonstrations have occurred in recent daysall around North Africa and the Middle East.While some protesters say they have not seen any of the online film, they wereincensed by reports of its depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
Many of them directed their anger, too, at the U.S.government as well as its Israeli allies. In Cairo,for instance, a photo showed a man standing over chalk-writing, in Arabic, thatread, "Remember your black day 11 September."
Here are details about various protests:
In Yemen,demonstrators breached a security wall at the U.S. Embassy as several thousandpeople protested outside. Four protesters died during clashes with securityforces outside the embassy, according to Yemeni security officials.
Twenty-four security force members were reported injured, aswere 11 protesters, according to Yemen'sDefense Ministry, security officials and eyewitnesses.
In Egypt,site of one of the largest, longest-lasting protests, at least 13 civilians andsix police officers were injured Thursday, according to Egyptian governmentofficials. Throngs continued to pack the area in front of the Cairoembassy on Friday morning, as security guarded the area.
The instability in Egypt is a primary concern to U.S.President Barack Obama, who warned in an interview with Telemundo that it wouldbe "a real big problem" if Egypt's leaders fail to protect Americaninterests there.
In Tunisiaand Morocco,protesters massed in front of U.S.embassies.
In Gaza City,Palestinians demonstrated outside U.N. headquarters, and about 200 Palestiniansprotested the film at the Palestine Legislative Council building. In oneinstance, Palestinian men burned a U.S.flag.
In Tel Aviv, Israel,about 50 people demonstrated in front of the U.S. Embassy.
Iranians protested near the Swiss Embassy in Tehranon Thursday. Switzerlandrepresents U.S.interests in Iran,since Washington and Tehrando not have diplomatic relations. Up to 500 people chanted "Death to America!"and called for death to the director of the movie, which was made in the United States. The demonstration ended peacefullyafter two hours.
The Islamic Propagation Coordination Council, meanwhile, hasissued a statement calling for rallies across Iran onFriday "to protest Zionist-U.S. plots against Muslim and Islamicvalues," the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
In Iraq,specifically in the predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdadknown as Sadr City,hundreds of protesters hit the streets to protest the film. They chanted,"Americais the enemy of the people," with some burning an American flag and othersputting one on the ground and stomping on it. Other followers of radical clericMuqtada al-Sadr also protested in the provinces of Najaf and Karbala.
So far,the violence has not spread to Afghanistan, where there is a high potentialfor outrage to erupt into destabilizing chaos. Obama and his Afghancounterpart, Hamid Karzai, have expressed their commitment to prevent that fromhappening.
The Afghan government has ordered an indefinite block ofYouTube to prevent people there from watching the clips and staging violentprotests. YouTubehas already restricted access to the video.
LIZZIEPHELAN Wednesday, 12 September 2012
By Lizzie Phelan
The first thing that comes to mind about the murder of the USAmbassador and his three staff in Benghazi, Libyatoday is the irony. Indeed this is the man who served as envoy to therebels/mercenaries during the illegal NATO proxy war against the legitimategovernment headed by Muammar Gaddafi of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah.
His life has been taken by what he helped give birth to, andindeed this is what Gaddafi and other former officials warned the west abouttime and time again, but it is hard to believe that the west were so naive asto not foresee this and so it seems clear that they were willing topay this price.
Finally, since February last year, the extent to whichNATO's mercenaries have been destroying and desecrating the country'sinfrastructural and historical and religous architectural wealth has been welldocumented, and this has only intensified over the last few months, includingthe bulldozing of a mosque in broad daylight in Tripoli at the end oflast month. It is hard to escape the irony of these Salafist groups killing USofficials in response to a blasphemous Islamophobic film released inthe US, when they themselves have been busy destroying a Muslim country andsites that are dear to many Muslims....
BK Notes:
My Libyan friends ashore me that the Salafists who are destroying the Sufi Muslim sites are a small minority - they are attacking Sufis because the Salafists are orthodox and the Sufis sing like black Baptists and revere saints like Christians.
The film is dizinformation and black propaganda, which means its origins can be traced, and will be - I will do it myself if I have to.
The producer of the film uses a fake name, is apparently a Copic Christian or Jew, and financed the "D" grade movie with $5 million - it looks like a high school production - though he accomplished his intention of inciting the riots and anti-American attacks.
None of those who protested the film have actually seen it, but were incited by the reports of what the film contains. There's no real proof that the producer is even an American.
If those who are so upset by the film's content would actually see the movie they would realize what a farce it is.
It most certainly is a black prop op - designed to hide the true source of the film, and a dizinformation operation in that it intended to get others to act on what it alleges to say. Who was behind the operation? We will see.
LOS ANGELES The search for those behind the provocative,anti-Muslim film implicated in violent protests in Egyptand Libya ledWednesday to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes whoacknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview outsideLos Angeles that he helped withlogistics for the filming of "Innocence of Muslims," which mockedMuslims and the prophet Muhammad and may have caused inflamed mobs thatattacked U.S.missions in Egyptand Libya. Heprovided the first details about a shadowy production group behind the film.
Nakoula denied he directed the film and said he knew the self-describedfilmmaker, Sam Bacile. But the cell phone number that AP contacted Tuesday toreach the filmmaker who identified himself as Sam Bacile traced to the sameaddress near Los Angeles where APfound Nakoula. Federal court papers said Nakoula's aliases included NicolaBacily, Erwin Salameh and others.
Nakoula told the AP that he was a Coptic Christian and said the film's directorsupported 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 overhis middle name, Basseley. Records checks by the AP subsequently found it andother 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'sChristian Coptic population has long decried what they describe as a history ofdiscrimination 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 themovie's director on the phone Wednesday and prayed for him. He said he has notmet the filmmaker in person, but the man contacted him a few weeks ago aboutpromoting the movie.
"I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name," Jonessaid. "I just talked to him on the phone. He is definitely in hiding anddoes not reveal his identity. He was quite honestly fairly shook up concerningthe 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 otherembassy employees were killed during the mob violence, but U.S. officials nowsay they are investigating whether the assault was a planned terrorist strikelinked to Tuesday's 11-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Nakoula, who talked guardedly about his role, pleaded no contest in 2010 tofederal bank fraud charges in Californiaand was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentencedto 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the Internetfor five years without approval from his probation officer.
The YouTube account, "Sam Bacile," which was used to publish excerptsof the provocative movie in July, was used to post comments online as recentlyas Tuesday, including this defense of the film written in Arabic: "It is a100 percent American movie, you cows."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Leigh Williams said Nakoula set up fraudulentbank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, then checksfrom those accounts would be deposited into other bogus accounts from whichNakoula 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 theyare drawn from a fraudulent account. There basically is no money."
The actors in the film issued a joint statement Wednesday saying they weremisled about the project and said some of their dialogue was crudely dubbedduring post-production.
In the English language version of the trailer, direct references to Muhammadappear to be the result of post-production changes to the movie. Either actorsaren't seen when the name "Muhammad" is spoken in the overdubbedsound, or they appear to be mouthing something else as the name of the prophetis spoken.
"The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage ofby the producer," said the statement, obtained by the Los Angeles Times."We are 100 percent not behind this film and were grossly misled about itsintent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script andlies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragediesthat have occurred."
The person who identified himself as Bacile and described himself as the film'swriter and director told the AP on Tuesday that he had gone into hiding. Butdoubts rose about the man's identity amid a flurry of false claims about hisbackground and role in the purported film.
Bacile told the AP he was an Israeli-born, 56-year-old, Jewish writer anddirector. 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 wasconcerned for family members who live in Egypt.
Officials in Israelsaid there was no record of Bacile as an Israeli citizen.
When the AP initially left a message for Bacile, Klein contacted the AP fromanother number to confirm the interview request was legitimate then Bacilecalled 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, Iranand a couple Coptic Christians from Egypt-- worked on the film, Klein said.
"Most of them won't tell me their real names because they'reterrified," Klein said. "He was really scared and now he's sonervous. He's turned off his phone."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, said Klein is aformer Marine and longtime religious-right activist who has helped trainparamilitary militias at a Californiachurch. It described Klein as founder of Courageous Christians United, whichconducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques.
It quoted Klein as saying he believes that Californiais riddled with Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cells "who are awaiting thetrigger 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 andsaid he intended the film to be a provocative political statement condemningthe religion.
But several key facts Bacile provided proved false or questionable. Bacile toldAP he was 56 but identified himself on his YouTube profile as 74. Bacile saidhe is a real estate developer, but Bacile does not appear in searches of Californiastate licenses, including the Department of Real Estate.
Hollywood and Californiafilm industry groups and permit agencies said they had no records of theproject under the name "Innocence of Muslims," but a Los Angeles film permit agency later found a record of amovie filmed in Los Angeles lastyear under the working title "Desert Warriors."
A man who answered a phone listed for the Vine Theater, a faded Hollywood moviehouse, 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 filmmakerthat "you're going to be the next Theo van Gogh." Van Gogh was aDutch filmmaker killed by a Muslim extremist in 2004 after making a film thatwas perceived as insulting to Islam.
"We went into this knowing this was probably going to happen," Kleinsaid.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...#ixzz26M7MNpe3
CASTAND CREW OF ANTI-MUSLIM MOVIE: WE WERE DUPED!
Cast and crew of anti-Muslim movie: We were duped!
Cast says inflammatory dialogue was subbed in after film wasshot. The film The Innocence of Muslims' is being blamed for widespread unrestand protests
The ongoing unrest centers on an obscure 14-minute film trailer that mocks Islam'sprophet.
Posted in July on YouTube, it got more notice recently afterEgyptian television aired segments and anti-Islam activists promoted it online.Numerous questions surround the film, which includes cartoonish scenes ofMohammed as a womanizer, child molester and ruthless killer.
According to a FBI/Homeland Security joint statement, thefilm's producer identified himself to news media as an Israeli -- an assertion Israel'sgovernment denies -- and falsely claimed the movie was financed with help frommore than 100 Jewish donors.
While he'd been identified in July 2011 by various names,including Sam Bassiel, federal officials now say they believe the filmmaker'sname is NakoulaBasseley Nakoula. He was convicted in 2009 of bank fraud, with theindictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office listing seven aliases.
A production staffer said he believed the filmmaker was aCoptic Christian who also went by the name Abenob Nakoula Bassely.
U.S.warns of rising threat of violence amid outrage over anti-Islam video
Attention in the United States turns to filmmaker
U.S.officials have stepped up their criticism of the film at the center of theongoing protests, which was privately produced in the United States, and began pursuing the elusivefilmmaker who allegedly made it.
Clinton saidThursday that the video "appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, todenigrate a great religion and to provoke rage," even as she stressed itoffers "no justification" for violence.
The FBI has spoken to the filmmaker within the past 24hours, a federal law enforcement officer told CNN on Thursday. Feinstein, headof the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said she believes "aninvestigation is going on in this country considering the individual who didthis very obnoxious ... preview to some very stupid movie and wrong-headed movie."
ManyMuslims find any depiction of Mohammed to be offensive. A Danishnewspaper's publication in 2005 of Mohammed caricatures triggered riots -- andderogatory depictions of the prophet are considered by some to be worse.
The production staffer on the film said the filmmaker was aCoptic Christian who had gone to Alexandria, Egypt,where the Coptic church is based, to raise money for the film. Far fromstanding behind the film, the Coptic church has issued a statement calling it"abusive" and part of a "malicious campaign to dividepeople."
Reactionfuels debate on free speech vs. hate speech
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 9:28 PM EDT,Thu September 13, 2012
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/world/meas...index.html
(CNN) -- After days of protests and related violence,concerns are growing that furor over an anti-Islam video could intensify evenmore Friday -- threatening U.S.interests abroad and at home.
People have taken to the streets in 11 nations, according toU.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, to derail "Innocence of Muslims" and thenation where it was produced, the United States.This outrage, and dangers to Americans, could worsen in the coming days, theU.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI warned Thursday in a jointintelligence bulletin.
"The risk of violence could increase both at home andabroad as the film continues to gain attention," the U.S.agencies said. "Additionally, we judge that violent extremist groups inthe United Statescould exploit anger over the film to advance their recruitment efforts."
American tourists cautious, but undeterred
Worries about Friday, in particular, stem from the fact thatMuslims hold their weekly prayers that day -- and may congregate afterward andmarch toward U.S.diplomatic missions.
Analysis: In Libya, militias 'running the show'
On Tuesday, the same day people protesting the film stormedthe U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the U.S.Consulate in Benghazi was attacked-- leading to the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Departmentcomputer expert Sean Smith,and security officers Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALcommandos.
In addition to stressing there's no excuse for violencetargeting U.S. diplomatic missions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hascalled the video "disgusting and reprehensible" and said it appearsto aim "to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage."
Still, condemnations of the film and calls by leaders oflargely Muslim countries not to assault U.S.diplomatic missions haven't stopped throngs from demonstrating, at timesviolently.
Protests rage against inflammatory anti-Islam film trailer
Small and large demonstrations have occurred in recent daysall around North Africa and the Middle East.While some protesters say they have not seen any of the online film, they wereincensed by reports of its depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
Many of them directed their anger, too, at the U.S.government as well as its Israeli allies. In Cairo,for instance, a photo showed a man standing over chalk-writing, in Arabic, thatread, "Remember your black day 11 September."
Here are details about various protests:
In Yemen,demonstrators breached a security wall at the U.S. Embassy as several thousandpeople protested outside. Four protesters died during clashes with securityforces outside the embassy, according to Yemeni security officials.
Twenty-four security force members were reported injured, aswere 11 protesters, according to Yemen'sDefense Ministry, security officials and eyewitnesses.
In Egypt,site of one of the largest, longest-lasting protests, at least 13 civilians andsix police officers were injured Thursday, according to Egyptian governmentofficials. Throngs continued to pack the area in front of the Cairoembassy on Friday morning, as security guarded the area.
The instability in Egypt is a primary concern to U.S.President Barack Obama, who warned in an interview with Telemundo that it wouldbe "a real big problem" if Egypt's leaders fail to protect Americaninterests there.
In Tunisiaand Morocco,protesters massed in front of U.S.embassies.
In Gaza City,Palestinians demonstrated outside U.N. headquarters, and about 200 Palestiniansprotested the film at the Palestine Legislative Council building. In oneinstance, Palestinian men burned a U.S.flag.
In Tel Aviv, Israel,about 50 people demonstrated in front of the U.S. Embassy.
Iranians protested near the Swiss Embassy in Tehranon Thursday. Switzerlandrepresents U.S.interests in Iran,since Washington and Tehrando not have diplomatic relations. Up to 500 people chanted "Death to America!"and called for death to the director of the movie, which was made in the United States. The demonstration ended peacefullyafter two hours.
The Islamic Propagation Coordination Council, meanwhile, hasissued a statement calling for rallies across Iran onFriday "to protest Zionist-U.S. plots against Muslim and Islamicvalues," the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
In Iraq,specifically in the predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdadknown as Sadr City,hundreds of protesters hit the streets to protest the film. They chanted,"Americais the enemy of the people," with some burning an American flag and othersputting one on the ground and stomping on it. Other followers of radical clericMuqtada al-Sadr also protested in the provinces of Najaf and Karbala.
So far,the violence has not spread to Afghanistan, where there is a high potentialfor outrage to erupt into destabilizing chaos. Obama and his Afghancounterpart, Hamid Karzai, have expressed their commitment to prevent that fromhappening.
The Afghan government has ordered an indefinite block ofYouTube to prevent people there from watching the clips and staging violentprotests. YouTubehas already restricted access to the video.