"Sam Bacile," the likely Mossad operative who produced the film that led to so much outrage (see previous post), has been identified as an American citizen who was born as a Coptic Egyptian. His real name is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. The information we have on him is pretty telling:
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 posting comments online as recently as Tuesday.
Ah yes. How many times have we seen this pattern? First, a shady low-life gets into trouble with the law. Then the spooks find him, whisper in his ear, and promise to make all of his problems go away -- as long as he plays along with some bizarre scheme. For quite a few years, I've called it the "Three R" trick -- the three Rs being Terry Reed, Michael Riconosciuto and Gunther Russbacher.
Think about it. Who the hell is going to loan Nakoula -- a guy guilty of freakin' bank fraud -- the sum of five million dollars? Even if the actual budget was $50,000, how would this jailbird scrape up the dough? He was sent to prison for 21 months in 2010; how did he secure an early release?
You can't make a movie of any kind -- even a student film -- if you can't communicate via the internet.
And what sort of crook would make it his first order of business, after walking out of jail, to make a movie denigrating Mohammed -- a film intentionally designed to create an international incident? If you had no job, no prospects, a prison record and a debt of more than three-quarters of a million dollars, would your first instinct be to make a damned movie? Even though you've never made a movie before in your life?
And why would said crook also throw in some slurs against the Occupy movement?
If this creep cared at all about the Copts in Egypt, he would know that a stunt like this is the last thing those Christians would want, especially at a time like this. For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood has had an extremely suspicious and (at times) threatening attitude toward the Copts, who have always sought harmonious relations with Egypt's Islamic majority. The Copts never -- ever -- insult the followers of Mohammed. The church does everything it can to keep the peace. At this moment, the Coptic patriarchy must be scared to death. (There is no official Pope of the Coptic Church right now, since Pope Shenouda III died recently and the church often waits months before investing a successor with the title. The acting Pope is a Bishop named Pachomius.)
Crew members who worked on the film say that they were grossly misled about its content. Apparently, a very different film was shot; crude overdubbing laid in the slurs against Mohammed. The New York Times says that a full film may not even exist, although it has been confirmed that some version of it did play after hours at the Vine in Hollywood. (The Vine is a dump that ran porn for many years. It's the only theater on Hollywood Blvd I've never entered.) The NYT also seems to think that the reported $5 million budget is suspicious:
This is an operation. Spooks recruited NBN. Make no mistake about that. Since NBN did time in an American prison, then whoever offered him the deal must have been in a position to make his parole problems go away.
What irritates me is that this is all so bloody sloppy. The spooks behind NBN put no thought at all into their work. It's an insult to our intelligence. You remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer enters into the Witness Relocation Program wearing a t-shirt bearing the words "Witness Relocation Program"? NBN might as well be wearing a black windbreaker with MOSSAD on the back. Even people who take pride in proclaiming that they don't believe in conspiracy theories are saying that this one is a real conspiracy.
How can anyone say otherwise, now that we know that the attack on the Libyan embassy was planned well before NBN's production hit YouTube?
Fortunately, this shitty trick is not working out very well for Mitt Romney. His team blew their lines. (Timing is everything, fellas.) It's just too bad that a fine ambassador had to die as part of this pathetic Mossad scheme to put the Mittster in office.
Incidentally, NBN's partner, Steve Klein, has been identified as an insurance agent in Hemet, California, a desert community best known as one of the headquarters for Scientology. Get this:
Think about it. Who the hell is going to loan Nakoula -- a guy guilty of freakin' bank fraud -- the sum of five million dollars? Even if the actual budget was $50,000, how would this jailbird scrape up the dough? He was sent to prison for 21 months in 2010; how did he secure an early release?
You can't make a movie of any kind -- even a student film -- if you can't communicate via the internet.
And what sort of crook would make it his first order of business, after walking out of jail, to make a movie denigrating Mohammed -- a film intentionally designed to create an international incident? If you had no job, no prospects, a prison record and a debt of more than three-quarters of a million dollars, would your first instinct be to make a damned movie? Even though you've never made a movie before in your life?
And why would said crook also throw in some slurs against the Occupy movement?
If this creep cared at all about the Copts in Egypt, he would know that a stunt like this is the last thing those Christians would want, especially at a time like this. For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood has had an extremely suspicious and (at times) threatening attitude toward the Copts, who have always sought harmonious relations with Egypt's Islamic majority. The Copts never -- ever -- insult the followers of Mohammed. The church does everything it can to keep the peace. At this moment, the Coptic patriarchy must be scared to death. (There is no official Pope of the Coptic Church right now, since Pope Shenouda III died recently and the church often waits months before investing a successor with the title. The acting Pope is a Bishop named Pachomius.)
Crew members who worked on the film say that they were grossly misled about its content. Apparently, a very different film was shot; crude overdubbing laid in the slurs against Mohammed. The New York Times says that a full film may not even exist, although it has been confirmed that some version of it did play after hours at the Vine in Hollywood. (The Vine is a dump that ran porn for many years. It's the only theater on Hollywood Blvd I've never entered.) The NYT also seems to think that the reported $5 million budget is suspicious:
Still, a film of this sort — with rudimentary props and costumes, cartoonish visual effects, poor lighting — would be relatively easy for amateurs to make. Digital video cameras can be purchased for $3,000 or less, and relatively sophisticated video editing software is widely available. Casting can be as simple as posting an ad on Craigslist or tacking a flier to a Starbucks bulletin board.Actually, you can get an HD Canon camera adequate to this task for under $500. (I once saw a camera used on a feature film go for under $200 on an ebay auction.) Many actors will work for free, or for very low wages. All of this suggests that the "budget" is actually a pay-off. Take note of the amount of money he owed in restitution.
This is an operation. Spooks recruited NBN. Make no mistake about that. Since NBN did time in an American prison, then whoever offered him the deal must have been in a position to make his parole problems go away.
What irritates me is that this is all so bloody sloppy. The spooks behind NBN put no thought at all into their work. It's an insult to our intelligence. You remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer enters into the Witness Relocation Program wearing a t-shirt bearing the words "Witness Relocation Program"? NBN might as well be wearing a black windbreaker with MOSSAD on the back. Even people who take pride in proclaiming that they don't believe in conspiracy theories are saying that this one is a real conspiracy.
How can anyone say otherwise, now that we know that the attack on the Libyan embassy was planned well before NBN's production hit YouTube?
Fortunately, this shitty trick is not working out very well for Mitt Romney. His team blew their lines. (Timing is everything, fellas.) It's just too bad that a fine ambassador had to die as part of this pathetic Mossad scheme to put the Mittster in office.
Incidentally, NBN's partner, Steve Klein, has been identified as an insurance agent in Hemet, California, a desert community best known as one of the headquarters for Scientology. Get this:
The Southern Poverty Law Center said Klein is an ex-Marine who has trained church members in "the art of combat."Again, I'm not surprised by any of this. Spooks use dumb-ass merc wanna-bes all the time. They are malleable and deniable. More on Klein:
It [the SPLC] described Klein as founder of Courageous Christians United, which conducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques.Doesn't like Mormons, eh? Maybe he didn't know that he was party to a plot to put a Mormon in the oval office. The website for Courageous Christians United offers these thoughts on Romney. (Also here.)
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."
9 comments:
NAILED it!!!
I'm still so sad about the death of the fine ambassador. My heart is warmed by the support the Libyans showed.
Could not care LESS how the rapist Mohammed is portrayed.
But do not want to kill any Libyans or Persians, etc.
Thanks for all your explanations...again, please be patient with those of us trying to follow you from afar...so to speak.
PZ,
I am genuinely curious about your suggestion regarding the Prophet. I would be really interested in an explanation. My limited reading about the prophet has always suggested he was a genuinely good man who tried to civilise a very uncivilised part of the world. And surely thats precisely what a prophet should be doing. The definition of prophet doesnt require perfection - they just have to improve the lot of the people and correct societal failures at a key moment.
On another note, I wonder if Google has any liability? I mean they tend to remove the pornography so why not the blasphemy? The consequences of this video were definitely foreseeable. Generally one probably shouldnt broadcast anti-muslim sentiment into the islamic world - rude at the very least. So couldnt the guys at Google find a way to at least make this kind of content unviewable in the ME?
Rhetorical question. What would happen if some Jews made a satirical video about Jesus emphasising his Jewishness and taking the piss out of christian theology? How would that be taken in Evangelistan?
Final comment is that Joe is absolutely right. Someone really wants to stir up the ME right now. I wonder who?
Harry
The charge of blasphemy presumes that the religion being assailed is true. It's begging the question.
And if Jews made a Jesus video like that -- fine by me!
But this country is a democracy of long-standing. Egypt and Libya are democracies a-borning, and as several writers have noted, many people there cannot comprehend the possibility that a film might be made without official sanction. As a matter of common sense (rather than strict legality) one should not toss gas on a fire.
Near flawless analysis. Let's give credit to CIA for effectively blowing the Mossad cover on this operation. No doubt CIA placed the call to AP to spill the key details about this plot. Now we must ask, why would this Steve Klein character be calling reporter Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic. After all, Jeff is a neocon hack who peddled Iraq War propaganda. Oh look what I just did, I answered my own question.
I'm done.
Ben
Blasphemy and pornography have in common that they are in the eye of the beholder. I dont have a good definition of either, but I know it when I see it.
Suppose we say that no religion is true, then its obvious that there can be no blasphemy. Which is fine. But we might still want a word to describe being rude about other people's deep seated irrational beliefs (like intelligent design or the virgin birth, or burning flags for example).
So I will call that blasphemy for want of another well defined term. Now since we happen to know the ME is a mad place where dissing the prophet can get an ambassador killed (a little like a doctor offering abortion in the southern US) we might want to discourage free speech given the likely consequences.
We have laws aimed at preventing racial or ethnic violence in the UK. You cant publish something which is likely to prompt violence - muslims cant call for violent jihad on the internet for example.
Harry
Two words - Sheldon Adelson.
very good post
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