New Wave of Anti-American Protests in the Middle East and North Africa

[C. Flower]

Reminds of the Taliban destruction of the Buddhas in Afghan.

Yes. It is designed to split and harden opinion and to show muscle. There is twitter war over it, some defending it on the grounds that the Prophet did similar (Christ at the Temple argument for shop lifting today?).

https://twitter.com/Niz_FGM/status/2...609792/photo/1

[C. Flower]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...87S1A520120829

Three members of the newly elected National Assembly have been suspended for having pro Gaddafi links.

Libya's newly elected national assembly on Wednesday suspended three members for having links with former leader Muammar Gaddafi's government, a spokesman said.

Omar al-Hassabi, spokesman for the assembly's High Organisation for Transparency and Nationalism, said the suspensions had followed an investigation into the three.

"We discovered the three representatives were either members of the Gaddafi Revolutionary Guards or involved in criminal anti-revolutionary activities," Hassabi told Reuters.

"For this reason, we advised the National Congress which suspended their membership on Wednesday morning."

In July, Libyans elected the 200-member national assembly which is charged with overseeing the writing of the country's constitution. The elections followed the ousting of Gaddafi in a popular revolt last year.

The three suspended members are Anfish Abdel Moneim representing Tarhouna, Salma Akheil of Zlitan and Ibrahim Adah of Obari.

[PaddyJoe]

AFP: One American killed in attack on US consulate in Benghazi...

[Sam Lord]

AFP: One American killed in attack on US consulate in Benghazi...

And another apparently injured. The consulate was torched after the building was stormed by "armed protesters" using automatic weapons and RPG's to overcome the security.

This is weird. Didn't the US win the war in Libya?

US Embassy in Egypt was also the target of protests and the walls breached.

The unpleasantness sems to be about a video produced in the USA attacking the prophet. The video appears to be designed to stir up trouble between Copts and Muslims in Egypt but there was a bit of of a blowback instead.

[C. Flower]

And another apparently injured. The consulate was torched after the building was stormed by "armed protesters" using automatic weapons and RPG's to overcome the security.

This is weird. Didn't the US win the war in Libya?

US Embassy in Egypt was also the target of protests and the walls breached.

The unpleasantness sems to be about a video produced in the USA attacking the prophet. The video appears to be designed to stir up trouble between Copts and Muslims in Egypt but there was a bit of of a blowback instead.

It seems so. Any idea who attacked? RPGs doesn't sound much like Salafis.

Far from the medieval old guys that one might expect, Salafis and their supporters, from what I've experienced in twitter exchanges, can be abusive internet trolls, telling people angry about the destruction of ancient mausoleums to "get over it."
Young thugs, first cousins to "Golden Dawn."

I would be surprised if they would take on a US compound.

[C. Flower]

The new US Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, died of smoke inhalation in the attack.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...108737726.html

[Count Bobulescu]

Doesn’t look like smoke inhalation.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats were killed Tuesday in an assault on the American consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the White House said Wednesday.

Wire services and reporters on the ground said that Stevens and the others were fleeing the consulate when a rocket-propelled grenade struck their vehicle. Al-Jazeera’s correspondent in Benghazi said the bodies of the dead had been taken to the Benghazi airport.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...y.html?hpid=z1

[Holly]

As I mentioned in Post #2:
"To hell in a hand-basket."
Most of us knew what to expect. Fundamentalist Islam tends to be kept in check only by ruthless dictatorships.

[Holly]

...
I think the problem is worse than that, in that right wing extremism masked under a banner of religion (Christian, after all in the case of Breivik) is beginning to run rampant across Europe and elsewhere in the absence of any solution to the economic crisis.

You're all wrong on this one, CF. What happened in Libya has nothing to do with Breivik's Templars or some economic crisis. It is rooted in Muslim fundamentalism and semi-literate ignorance. These were the people who were aided by NATO in deposing Qaddafi. Some of us warned about this from day #1.

[Griska]

You're all wrong on this one, CF. What happened in Libya has nothing to do with Breivik's Templars or some economic crisis. It is rooted in Muslim fundamentalism and semi-literate ignorance. These were the people who were aided by NATO in deposing Qaddafi. Some of us warned about this from day #1.

It seems to be in response to al-Zawahiri's statement.
The BBC correspondent couldn't find anyone who had seen the Youtube clip.
That said, such is the anti-American sentiment across the Arab world, word of mouth would have been enough to ensure a protest.

[Griska]

Would you have a link to that ?

The youtube sounds like a big fat provocation.

T'was on de tele, but I'll have a look on Auntie Beeb's site.
I agree with you about the video.
I also heard that that horrid pastor, Terry Jones was involved in the vid.

[C. Flower]

T'was on de tele, but I'll have a look on Auntie Beeb's site.
I agree with you about the video.
I also heard that that horrid pastor, Terry Jones was involved in the vid.

If it was a provocation, it was a shot-gun blast of a job. Perhaps aimed at Egypt because of the attempt (yet again) to set Copts and Muslims against each other. But clearly with the potential to cause blow-up here there and everywhere.

[Griska]

If it was a provocation, it was a shot-gun blast of a job. Perhaps aimed at Egypt because of the attempt (yet again) to set Copts and Muslims against each other. But clearly with the potential to cause blow-up here there and everywhere.

The clip has been on Youtube since July.
Wonder why it's taken so long for a backlash.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19572912

Sounds like a provocation to Muslims in general.

[C. Flower]

The clip has been on Youtube since July.
Wonder why it's taken so long for a backlash.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19572912

Sounds like a provocation to Muslims in general.

Nobody seems to know who made it. The Israeli guy may or may not exist and may or may not be Israeli.


http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...l-name/262290/

[C. Flower]

Nobody seems to know who made it. The Israeli guy may or may not exist and may or may not be Israeli.


http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...l-name/262290/

A refreshing blog post -

Yesterday, on September 11, a short clip of an anti-Muslim film named “Innocence of Muslims” appeared on YouTube. An AP publication has claimed the following:

· Sam Bacile is an Israeli filmmaker based in California. Later in the report, AP modified its claim, stating that “Bacile, a California property developer who identifies himself as an Israeli Jew”.

· “The two-hour movie, Innocence of Muslims, cost $5M”

· “…was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors”
· “Bacile's film was dubbed into Egyptian Arabic by someone unknown to him”

· “The film claims Muhammad was a fraud. An English-language 13-minute trailer on YouTube shows an amateur cast performing a wooden dialogue of insults disguised as revelations about Muhammad, whose obedient followers are presented as a cadre of goons.”

· “his film attacking the prophet Muhammad sparked angry assaults by ultra-conservative Muslims on US missions in Egypt and Libya, claiming the life of one American.”

All this information was received over the phone from someone at an undisclosed location that identified himself as a Sam Bacile, and has allegedly updated AP with that information.

The only vetting mentioned in this article is of a “Steven Klein”, who is “A consultant on the film”.

The entire mainstream media has copy-pasted this report, with little rewording, but not a single outlet has made any attempt at further vetting such an explosive report.

Here are some problems I have with this report:

1. First and foremost, a quick check of IMDb.com does not reveal any Sam Bacile as a writer, director, or in any other role in the film industry (the closest name is an actor who seems irrelevant), there is no movie under the name of “Innocence of Muslims” or even similar, and there are at least 6 different Steve Klein and many other variations. Almost every movie made in California is listed in IMDb, especially movies with a $5M budget.

2. The claimed cost of production ($5M) does not seem to be reflected in the film itself, which seems much cheaper.

3. “…was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors” – anyone in the film industry will tell you that it is extremely difficult to get so many investors together (quite a round number) for such a low budget (and low quality) movie. Also, Jews have little interest in attacking the Muslim faith (their faith is often attacked in both Muslim and Christian countries), specifically in these times when great reconciliation efforts are being made by both sides (perhaps this is a clue to the motivation). This was also reflected in many Israelis’ reactions to the movie, which ranged from contempt regarding its message, to empathy to the Muslims’ feelings.

4. “Bacile's film was dubbed into Egyptian Arabic by someone unknown to him” – How does that work?

5. The film’s date of publication is suspicious. How did he manage to get the attention of so many in the Middle East in just one day / exactly on 9-11? How did he manage to anger so many so quickly?

6. What is Terry Jones’ role in all this, if any?

7. How did Sam Bacile manage to convince AP with so little proof, over the phone, and with such a shaky story?

These are my concerns. Who is Sam Bacile? And who is the imbecile here? Me? AP? The entire mainstream media? What do you think?

http://www.publici.com/content/anti-...%80%93-it-hoax