Mob sets fire to US consulate in Benghazi, staffer dies

**Taxmancometh** · September 12th, 2012, 01:38 AM

UPDATED: Mob sets fire to US consulate in Benghazi, staffer dies - International - World - Ahram Online

**Theophylact** · September 12th, 2012, 10:45 AM

Also the US Ambassador to Libya. Nice work, "Reverend" Terry Jones.

**no1_vern** · September 12th, 2012, 11:39 AM

As bad as Terry Jones is, for this set of riots, the NYT claims that you should blame , Sam Bacile(an Israeli-American)

a California real-estate developer who called Islam “a cancer,” in an interview. Mr. Bacile told The Journal that he raised $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors and shot the two-hour movie in California last year.
Obscure Film Mocking Muslim Prophet Sparks Anti-U.S. Protests in Egypt and Libya - NYTimes.com

Reference:U.S. Missions Stormed in Libya, Egypt - WSJ.com

**Epidemic** · September 12th, 2012, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by Theophylact

Also the US Ambassador to Libya. Nice work, "Reverend" Terry Jones.

There is no excuse for their actions. Muslim extreemists are like little children throwing a tantrum..

**Taxmancometh** · September 12th, 2012, 02:23 PM

I'm hearing on the news that these riots may have been planned, planned on 9/11.

**Theophylact** · September 12th, 2012, 02:51 PM

Read Sarah Posner's analysis:

Both the AP and the Wall Street Journal have reported interviews with Sam Bacile, the man who claims to be a California real estate developer who raised $5 million from Jewish donors to make his obviously lowest-of-low budget, amateurish anti-Islam film.

But before the July 2012 upload of the film trailer to YouTube, under the user name Sam Bacile, you’d be hard pressed to find evidence of the existence a California real estate developer online. What’s more, if whoever made the film actually spent $5 million on it, the expenditure hardly shows in the content, acting, or production values. Amateurish doesn't even begin to describe the 13-minute trailer on YouTube.

The film was promoted by anti-Muslim zealot Terry Jones.

The WSJ reported yesterday:

The film’s 52-year-old writer, director and producer, Sam Bacile, said that he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion. “Islam is a cancer,” he said in a telephone interview from his home. “The movie is a political movie. It’s not a religious movie.”

Mr. Bacile said he raised $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors, whom he declined to identify. Working with about 60 actors and 45 crew members, he said he made the two-hour movie in three months last year in California.

The AP reported early this morning (before the brutal murders of US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three others were confirmed) that Bacile was “in hiding”:

An Israeli filmmaker based in California went into hiding Tuesday after his movie attacking Islam’s prophet Muhammad sparked angry assaults by ultra-conservative Muslims on U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya, where one American was killed.

Speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, writer and director Sam Bacile remained defiant, saying Islam is a cancer and that the 56-year-old intended his film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.

* * * *

Bacile, a California real estate developer who identifies himself as an Israeli Jew, said he believes the movie will help his native land by exposing Islam’s flaws to the world.

“Islam is a cancer, period,” he said repeatedly, his solemn voice thickly accented.

The two-hour movie, “Innocence of Muslims,” cost $5 million to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors, said Bacile, who wrote and directed it.

The Times of Israel says Bacile spoke from telephone with “a California number”:

Speaking from a telephone with a California number, Bacile said he is Jewish and familiar with the region. Bacile said the film was produced in English and he doesn’t know who dubbed it in Arabic. The full film has not been shown yet, he said, and he said he has declined distribution offers for now.

“My plan is to make a series of 200 hours” about the same subject, he said.

Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Christian in the U.S. known for his anti-Islam views, told The Associated Press from Washington that he was promoting the video on his website and on certain TV stations, which he did not identify.

Both depicted the film as showing how Coptic Christians are oppressed in Egypt, though it goes well beyond that to ridicule Muhammad—a reflection of their contention that Islam as a religion is inherently oppressive.

“The main problem is I am the first one to put on the screen someone who is (portraying) Muhammad. It makes them mad,” Bacile said. “But we have to open the door. After 9/11 everybody should be in front of the judge, even Jesus, even Muhammad.”

Consider all the contradictions: small ones, true, like in one account he is 52 and in another he is 56. To the AP he is “a California real estate developer who identifies himself as an Israeli Jew” and to the Times of Israel he is “Jewish and familiar with the region.” And what about that bit at the end of the statement to the Times of Israel—that “even Jesus” should be “in front of the judge”? That sounds like someone who is trying to provoke more than just Muslims. A lot of things don’t add up here about the claimed identity of the filmmaker.

UPDATE: A detail I failed to note earlier this morning from the AP story: “Israeli officials said they had not heard of him and there was no record of him being a citizen. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not permitted to share personal information with the media.”

Also, Laura Rozen raises some questions about Steve Klein, who told the AP that he was a "consultant" on the film who warned Bacile he would be “the next Theo van Gogh.” Klein told the AP that Bacile was concerned for relatives in Egypt, something Bacile would not confirm.

Rozen:

And there were some hints that Bacile may be a pseudonym for someone affiliated with the Egyptian Coptic Christian diaspora.

A consultant on the film, Steve Klein, told the AP that Bacile has family members in Egypt. A 2007 interview with Klein, a self-styled terrorism expert and former Marine Corps Vietnam vet, mentions his ties to the Copt diaspora community.

Klein’s author biography in a self-published work, “Is Islam compatible with democracy,” states: “With 9/11 2001, I immersed myself with Islam in America; went to every major Mosque in SoCal with Arabic speaking Christians as translators and uncovered useful information about many Mosques being the head quarters of terrorism in America.”

If that is true, and “Bacile” was claiming to be Jewish and to have raised money from Jews for the film, it only multiplies the incendiary nature of his project.

FURTHER UPDATE, via Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic, who talks to Klein:

Klein told me that Bacile, the producer of the film, is not Israeli, and most likely not Jewish, as has been reported, and that the name is, in fact, a pseudonym. He said he did not know "Bacile"'s real name. He said Bacile contacted him because he leads anti-Islam protests outside of mosques and schools, and because, he said, he is a Vietnam veteran and an expert on uncovering al Qaeda cells in California. "After 9/11 I went out to look for terror cells in California and found them, piece of cake. Sam found out about me. The Middle East Christian and Jewish communities trust me."

Klein also tells Goldberg that he doubts "Bacile" is Jewish, and that the claims he is were a "disinformation campaign." He added, about the people involved in the film, "Some are Copts but the vast majority are Evangelical."

**Chuckiechan** · September 12th, 2012, 03:01 PM

Could you imagine if Republicans or democrats started burning things every time someone said something they didn't' like? We'd look like the same imbeciles they are so proud of being.

Contrary to many Muslim beliefs, the world does not exist to kiss their asses.

And these Americans weren't just "killed", they were murdered - a politically incorrect description of intentional death at the hands of another - and the Muslim loving MSM can't seem to put it in writing with their shaky little hands.

IWO: Our embassy was attacked by a Muslim mob, unhappy with something someone else wrote, and murdered an embassy staffer. Stern memo to follow.

Sam Bacile is not the problem. Islam's intolerance is the problem.

**Theophylact** · September 12th, 2012, 03:09 PM

As John Cole says,

Typical:

The violence that claimed the life of Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three of his American staff members yesterday appears to have been sparked by an obscure, anti-Islam film produced by Sam Bacile, an Israeli-American real-estate developer who says his goal was to draw attention to the hypocrisies of Islam.

So, what do we know about Bacile? In short, not much.

A man claiming to be Bacile spoke to a number of international news outlets by phone after going into hiding in the wake of the attacks.

Run your mouth, let other people do the dying. Not much different from what Thiessen, Senor, Kristol, and company everyday, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.

**Taxmancometh** · September 12th, 2012, 03:11 PM

You guys, I'm watching on the news that these were planned attacks. The film has nothing to do with it. It may have something to do with an attack on Al qaeda leader number 2 man in June. Pro-al Qaeda group seen behind deadly Benghazi attack - CNN.com

If this was a targeted hit it's an act of war!

**Chuckiechan** · September 12th, 2012, 03:18 PM

Dude, we are already at war with Al Quaeda.

The best thing we can do is start pumping oil and their fortunes will plummet. Most of these Arab states cannot survive on $ 40.00 a bbl oil - which is where it can be in a few years if we start drilling again.

They will collapse like a cheap tent.

And we'll comfortably retain our title of "Great Satan" among Allah's faithful "peace corps" of volunteers murdering civilians just for "being in the way"...

**sharder8** · September 12th, 2012, 03:36 PM

OR . . .

We find another way to be oil independent.

Here's the trick . . . if we quit buying oil from the Arabs, they'll just sell it to others . . . like Russia or China. If we find a viable energy source, other than oil, we can sell or lease the technology to others, resulting in them also not interested in buying oil.

Win-Win!

Harder

**tony_j15** · September 12th, 2012, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckiechan

IWO: Our embassy was attacked by a Muslim mob, unhappy with something someone else wrote, and murdered an embassy staffer. Stern memo to follow.

Sam Bacile is not the problem. Islam's intolerance is the problem.

First, the issue was something produced via video, not written. Thanks for paying attention.
Second, when you know you're dealing with a rabid dog, you don't mess with it. "Mom, Jimmy keeps hitting me when I call him stupid!" Well...here's your sign.

Most of these Arab states cannot survive on $ 40.00 a bbl oil - which is where it can be in a few years if we start drilling again.

How many times does it need to be explained to you that oil is sold on the global market?

we'll comfortably retain our title of "Great Satan" among Allah's faithful "peace corps" of volunteers murdering civilians just for "being in the way"...

You're saying only Muslims inflect collateral damage?

**Theophylact** · September 12th, 2012, 04:43 PM

Ed Kilgore:

I’ve been watching CNN today, and paid special attention to an interview with Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy (who was jailed and sexually assaulted by Mubarak regime authorities during last year’s Cairo uprising), who was expressing sharp criticism of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi for his failure to say anything condemning the attacks on the U.S. Embassy or the closely related attacks in Libya.

Discussing the relationship between the creators and promoters of anti-Islamic propaganda films in the U.S. and those “protesting” them in the Middle East, Eltahawy noted that an alliance of “the right-wing fringe” in both countries was creating these disturbing and destabilizing events. There’s not much question about the mutual support society that’s long operated between Muslim-haters and radical Islamists who share a vast stake in escalated hostilities.

That’s still another reason Mitt Romney’s attempted intervention in this crisis is so ill-considered and tone-deaf. He’s attacking the president for a Cairo embassy statement that sought to distance the United States from atavistic idiots like Terry Jones. As a man who has happily accepted the support of Islamophobes like Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and a host of Christian Right figures (not to mention Sarah Palin, who used the occasion of the assassination to mock Obama for supporting the Arab Spring to begin with), I’d say Mitt has a special responsibility to make it plain his hammer-headed approach to foreign policy does not involve solidarity with anyone who hates Islam.