Anti-Muslim Film -- Feds Zero In On Key Figure, AP Says - Deadline ...

FRIDAY PM, 9TH UPDATE WRITETHRU (adds new details): Demonstrations spread beyond the Middle East on Friday as protesters angered over the crudely made anti-Islam film Innocence Of Muslims?clashed in front of U.S embassies, consulates and missions. The protests turned deadly in Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt and Lebanon, and an elite U.S. Marine unit was called in to provide security to the American embassy in Yemen. Demonstrations also sprang up in Austria and East Jerusalem. In London, a crowd burned an American flag in front of the U.S. embassy. Muslims are questioning why the U.S. has failed to take action against the filmmakers, who remain in hiding. Meanwhile, a second man may be behind the making of the incendiary video. (below)

This morning, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney weighed in for the first time on the amateur film in an interview with ABC News? George Stephanopoulos, though he said he hasn?t seen the video and doesn?t plan to:

I think the whole film is a terrible idea. I think him making it, promoting it showing it is disrespectful to people of other faiths. I don?t think that should happen. I think people should have the common courtesy and judgment? the good judgment? not to be? not to offend other peoples? faiths. It?s a very bad thing, I think, this guy?s doing.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the American government had nothing to do with the crudely made film posted on the Internet and called the anti-Islam video ?disgusting and reprehensible.? The amateurish propaganda production ridicules the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child.

Questions continue to swirl around the identity of the filmmakers as protests continued at American outposts in Libya ? where four Americans including the U.S. ambassador were killed Tuesday ? and Egypt as well as spreading to Kuwait, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran and Morocco. ?We are in a full-court press at every single one of the posts in the Middle East and anywhere else there is any chance of demonstrations after Friday services to make sure nothing bad happens ? and to have the security in place in case bad things do happen,? one senior administration official told CNN. A bulletin issued by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned ?The risk of violence could increase both at home and abroad as the film continues to gain attention.? The Times of London further reports that Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has contacted controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones, asking him not to promote the film.

This increasingly volatile situation underscores the power of film as an international medium and multicultural influence. And the dangers of blatant propaganda masquerading as ?truthful? documentaries without clear identifiers as to who is?manning the cameras and funding these movies.

Hillary Clinton delivered this message?from the State Department (edited):

Let me state very clearly ? and I hope it is obvious ? that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage. But as I said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence.

Now, I know it is hard for some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light of day. Now, I would note that in today?s world with today?s technologies, that is impossible. But even if it were possible, our country does have a long tradition of free expression which is enshrined in our Constitution and our law, and we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.

There are, of course, different views around the world about the outer limits of free speech and free expression, but there should be no debate about the simple proposition that violence in response to speech is not acceptable.

In an ABC News interview published Friday, presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he hasn?t seen the film and does not intend to. He added, ?Under the First Amendment, people are allowed to do what they feel they want to do. They have the right to do that, but it?s not right to do things that are of the nature of what was done by, apparently this film. I think the whole film is a terrible idea.?

Details continue to emerge as people purportedly?involved with Innocence Of Muslims are brought forward:

? News reports claim?Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, president of the Duarte-based charity Media for Christ, is an associate of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula ? the first man believed?behind the movie. Both men are reportedly Egyptian immigrants and appear to have gone into hiding.

? The LA Times reports?that Media for Christ obtained filming permits for the movie in August 2011, and Nakoula provided his Cerritos home as a set and paid the actors. Police have visited Media for Christ, according to The Guardian. The filming permit has been temporarily removed from an online database amid safety concerns raised by the FBI and the State Department. Film LA president Paul Audley also told Bloomberg the film was shot at Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita.

? Nakoula has a criminal record, according to Thursday afternoon news reports: he pleaded guilty in 1997 and served time in jail for ?intent to manufacture methamphetamine?. His arrest in 2009 by postal inspectors interrupted his original plans to make the movie.

? Nakoula was connected to the persona of Sam Bacile, a federal law enforcement source told the AP. A man calling himself Sam Bacile initially claimed to be the writer and director of the film, but doubts have surfaced regarding his identity. It appears that Bacile is one of many aliases Nakoula used, the AP notes.

? The Obama administration has asked YouTube to determine if the video violates site content guidelines, although YouTube earlier this week reported that the video was within those guidelines. The YouTube profile ?Sam Bacile? was used to post clips of the film on July 1 and posted comments as recently as Tuesday this week. It lists the age of the account holder at 74. Nakoula is believed to be 55.

? Sam Bacile has no credits on any movie industry database. SAG-AFTRA tells Deadline they have no information about the film and the DGA confirms they have no ?Sam Bacile? on record.

? Another man, Steve Klein, told CNN he worked with Bacile on the movie vetting the script.?As a result of his connection, Klein has become a spokesman of sorts?and has given a stream of interviews. Klein is an insurance agent and self-described militant Christian activist who resides in Hemet, CA.

? There are accounts of the film being screened in June under the name Innocence Of Bin Laden. According to Klein, Nakoula wanted to give it a title that would draw in and then trick ?hardcore Muslims? into watching a movie that slammed Islam. But according to Klein, no tickets were sold and Nakoula was ?crushed,? the AP said. Klein told The Times ?felt great? about consulting on the film.

??According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Klein founded Courageous Christians United, which conducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques, and started Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, which preaches against Muslims and publishes?anti-Muslim propaganda.

? Another proponent of the film, Florida pastor Terry Jones, has been contacted by General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asking him not to promote the film, The Times says.

Related: ?Innocence Of Muslims? Maker?Hiding After?Violence

??CNN received a statement from the 80 or so people in front of and behind the cameras denouncing the film they say they worked on without knowing it was propaganda. The statement reads:

?The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% 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.?

? Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress who appears in clips of the film on YouTube, told Reuters she answered a casting call last year for Desert Warrior. She said shooting took place inside a church near L.A. in the summer of 2011. About 50 actors were involved, she told Reuters. Garcia said her character was forced to give away her child to a character named Master George, who is listed in the casting call. But in scenes from the trailer, Garcia?s lines appear dubbed over with another voice referring to Mohammad rather than George.

? Garcia also told CNN the script did not include a Prophet Muhammed character and that the actors complained their lines had been changed. She said she spoke Wednesday with Bacile who told her he wrote the script ?because he wants the Muslims to quit killing,? she said. ?I had no idea he was doing all this. I would never be involved in a film to ever hurt or bring harm to anybody,? she further told CNN. ?This makes me sick to my stomach to think that I was involved in that movie that brought death to somebody else.?

? Another actor told The LA Times that when the ?ludicrous? lines were questioned, they might be slightly changed, ?but there was still craziness.?

Related:?YouTube Blocks Innocence Of Muslims Clips In Egypt, Libya

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Source: http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/latest-on-the-anti-muslim-filmmakers-that-sparked-mid-east-violence/

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