Anti-Islam Filmmaker Tracked Down

The man who started it all has been finally identified. The maker of the incendiary film Innocence of Muslims is now known as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula aka Sam Bacile, the latter was the name used to upload the film on YouTube. Below is the report from Associated Press.

The anti-Muslim film implicated in mob protests against U.S. diplomatic missions in the Mideast received logistical help from a man once convicted of financial crimes and featured actors who complained that their inflammatory dialogue was dubbed in after filming.

The self-proclaimed director of “Innocence of Muslims” initially claimed a Jewish and Israeli background. But others involved in the film said his statements were contrived as evidence mounted that the film’s key player was a southern Californian Coptic Christian with a checkered past.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview outside Los Angeles Wednesday that he managed logistics for the company that produced “Innocence of Muslims,” which mocked Muslims and the prophet Muhammad.

The movie has been blamed for inflaming mobs that attacked U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya this week as well as U.S. Embassy in Yemen on Thursday.

Nakoula denied he had directed the film, though he said he knew the self-described filmmaker, Sam Bacile. But the cellphone number that the AP contacted Tuesday to reach the filmmaker who identified himself as Bacile traced to the same address near Los Angeles where Nakoula was located.

Nakoula told the AP he is a Coptic Christian and supported the concerns of Christian Copts about their treatment by Muslims.

The film was implicated in protests that resulted in the burning of the U.S. consulate Tuesday in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Libyan officials said Wednesday that Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other embassy employees were killed during the mob violence, but U.S. officials now say they are investigating whether the assault was a planned terrorist strike linked to Tuesday’s 11-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Controversial Film and Outspoken Pastor Prompted Muslims To Cry "Foul"

For those of you who haven't seen Innocence of Muslims, the controversial (and allegedly) anti-Islam film that had prompted the killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three more of the embassy staff there, it's a cheaply made one with amateur actors. Despite of its lack of cinematic merit, it's still garnering clicks and causing protests across the globe and the world wide web. It is also feared that more repercussions (i.e. violent attacks) will be staged by Radical Islamists against the United States.


The very outspoken and openly anti-Islamist Terry Jones fired up the already volatile sentiments by promoting the film. Jones, the fundamentalist pastor from Florida, led the burning of the Qur'an in April this year.


Currently the video, posted by a Sam Bacile on YouTube, has about 34,500 dislikes and about the same number of fiery comments. Some consider the film a satire and an exercise of freedom of expression, and therefore should be tolerated and/or not to be taken seriously. It's like Monty Phython's Life Of Brian , although this British comedy is a tad tamer probably because it was filmed way back in the late 1970s.




Hopefully, the situation will cool down and be resolved without further casualties. You can help by not commenting against Muslims or Christians or any religious group for that matter. I believe that morality has nothing to do with religion.