Now that Mitt “No Apology” Romney has conceded President Obama’s and Secretary of State Clinton’s point– that it is possible to be outraged by the violent attacks against US embassies in the Middle East and North Africa while at the same time denouncing the stupid anti-Islamic film that allegedly triggered those attacks– perhaps we can move on to the more compelling question of what motivated the mysterious people who produced the film.
CNN reports:
As outrage spread, the film’s origins still remained murky. Whose idea was it? Who financed it?
At the heart of the mystery was the filmmaker himself, a man identified in the casting call as Sam Bassiel, on the call sheet as Sam Bassil and reported at first by news outlets as Sam Bacile.
But federal officials consider that man to be Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who was convicted in 2009 of bank fraud.
According to Huffington Post: “In reality, he is an Egyptian Coptic Christian who has gone by at least six other false names and has served time for creating fake bank accounts with stolen Social Security numbers…”
When news of his movie first broke, the filmmaker identified himself as Sam Bacile and told the Wall Street Journal that he was a 52-year-old Israeli-American real estate developer from California. He said Jewish donors had financed his film.
But Israel’s Foreign Ministry said there was no record of a Sam Bacile with Israeli citizenship.
…..
The filmmaker told the Wall Street Journal Jewish donors contributed $5 million to make the film. Based on the trailer, however, the amateurish movie appears to have been produced on a low budget.Anti-Muslim activist Steve Klein, who said he was a script consultant for the movie, said the filmmaker told him his idea was to make a film that would reveal “facts, evidence and proof” about the Prophet Mohammed to people he perceived as radical Muslims.
…..
“Our intent was to reach out to the small minority of very dangerous people in California and try to shock them into understanding how dangerous Islam is,” Klein said.Klein is known in Southern California for his vocal opposition to the construction of a mosque in Temecula, southeast of Los Angeles, in 2010. He heads up Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, a group that contends Islam is a threat to American freedom.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, says Klein, a former Marine and Vietnam veteran, helped train militant Christian fundamentalists prepare for war.
…..
The movie got even more notice after it was promoted by anti-Islam activists, including Egyptian-born Coptic Christian Morris Sadek and Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose Quran-burning last year sparked deadly riots in Afghanistan.Jones said he had been contacted to help distribute the film.
So it seems some anti-Muslim extremists set out to make a film about Islam with no other purpose than to shock and anger Muslims. That’s bad enough.
But what’s really sinister about it is that the man behind the film lied that it was financed and produced by Jews– potentially endangering Jews worldwide.
The only thing I can conclude is that Nakoula hates Jews as much as or more than he hates Muslims (he’s hardly unique in that respect), and was quite prepared to turn them against each other.
