Posted By richards on September 17, 2012
There are many indications that this could just be the beginning. On Friday, Islamists in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, attacked the German Embassy. Out of fear of further violence, the German government has closed its embassies in a number of Islamic countries. The Americans have pulled out staff from some of its diplomatic missions and deployed guided-missile destroyers off the coast of Libya.
Political Damage
The political damage is enormous: The fragile governments of the Arab Spring countries remain extremely unsteady. The West is now losing much of the credit that it gained from its opposition to dictators such as Libya's Gadhafi and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.
And there doesn't appear to be a solution to this conflict, which is fueled by the following differences: For the secular states of the West, but also for secular Muslims, freedom is vital -- freedom of expression, freedom of art and freedom of religion. In some Islamic countries, however, there is a blurring of the differences between religion and politics. And many people in the slums of Cairo, Sana'a and Khartoum have little that they can be proud of, aside from their religion.
It is easy to use blasphemy to mortally offend less educated people, and it has become even easier since the advent of the Internet. In fact, it is so easy that an Islamophobe somewhere in America need only upload a video to YouTube to spark violence on the other side of the globe. This new clash of cultures is led by extremists on both sides who stir up hatred against each other -- extremists like Sam Bacile.
This is the name used by someone who posted an English version of the video on YouTube back in July. Nothing happened for weeks. Ten days ago, an Arabic version was uploaded as well. Now, the virulently anti-Muslim video has gone viral and the people of the Middle East have understood the intended message involving Muhammad, the donkey and the young girl.
'Islam Is A Cancer'
After the protests began, sources leaked a phone number to the Associated Press news agency. When reporters dialed the number, a man answered who claimed to be Sam Bacile, the film's director. "Islam is a cancer," he said, adding that he was an Israeli Jew who wanted to spread the truth about Islam. Some 100 Jews had donated money to the project, he said, supposedly to the tune of $5 million. Anyone who says something like that is not only willing to accept a few deaths; he is, at least in the eyes of many Muslims, also getting the state of Israel involved.
The journalists felt that there was something about his story that didn't add up. They found the address that corresponds to the man's cell phone number. The man who came to the door in a cul-de-sac in Cerritos near Los Angeles denied being Bacile. He said that he was only responsible for managing the film team's logistics, and showed them his driver's license, but covered his middle name with one of his fingers. The journalists were able to read Nakoula Nakoula -- and the rest was research. They found out that Nakoula was convicted of federal bank fraud charges in 2010. He was given a 21-month prison sentence and ordered to pay $790,000 (600,000) in restitution.
Now, the reporters knew that his real name was Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Christian from Egypt with U.S. citizenship. According to police records, he maintains at least 14 aliases. "Basseley" sounds almost like "Bacile". U.S. investigators believe that Sam Bacile, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and the director are one and the same person.
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Tolerating Hate - Muslim Protests Show Limits Of Free Speech
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