'Muslims' Movie Producer Was Federal Informant --'I decide to cooperate with the government.' 14 Sep 2012 Before he was involved in the making of a noxious video that provided an excuse for anti-American riots in the Middle East, and before he was convicted of federal bank fraud, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was arrested on charges relating to the making of phencyclidine (PCP). In recent days, we've learned that Nakoula used 14 different aliases in a complex check kiting scheme. We've learned that Nakoula was sentenced to 21 months in federal custody for the affair. According to The Smoking Gun, Nakoula was released from the United States Penitentiary in Lompoc, California in September, 2010... The punishment was relatively gentle, even though it wasn't Nakoula's first encounter with the law. That's because Nakoula had decided to become a federal informant.
Anti-Islam Film Producer Wrote Script in Prison: Authorities 13 Sep 2012 The controversial "Innocence of Muslims" was written, produced and directed by a convicted drug manufacturer and scam artist, who has told authorities he actually wrote the script in federal prison and began production two months after his June 2011 release from custody. Authorities say Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, of Cerritos, California, admitted his role in the film, after seeking help from law enforcement in dealing with death threats he has received since the release of the film.
Filmmaker linked to anti-Islam production faces probation review
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/14/world/anti-islam-filmmaker/index.html
2012 Maker of anti-Islamic film escorted from home STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Nakoula Basseley Nakoula served a year in federal prison for 2009 bank fraud NEW: Officials weren't able to immediately determine whether he paid $794,700 in restitution A review of his federal probation is ongoing Federal officials consider Nakoula the person behind "Innocence of Muslims" Los Angeles (CNN) -- Federal officials are reviewing the probation of a local man believed to the maker of an anti-Islam film that ignited a firestorm in the Muslim world, a court spokeswoman said Friday.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was convicted in 2009 of bank fraud and was placed on supervised probation for five years. Federal officials consider Nakoula to be the filmmaker behind the anti-Islam "Innocence of Muslims." A review of his federal probation is ongoing, said Karen Redmond, spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Anti-American fury over film hits Australia Anti-U.S. demonstrations worldwide Redmond didn't provide details of why and when the probation review was initiated, or how long would the process would take. While on probation, Nakoula can't access computers or any device that can access the Internet without approval from his probation officer.
Nakoula served one year in federal prison at Lompoc, California, but officials couldn't immediately determine whether Nakoula paid any of the court-ordered restitution of $794,700, according to probation department officials and court records. Since notice of the film spread through YouTube, Nakoula has been out of public view and ensconced with his family in their home in Cerritos, California, where journalists have been gathered seeking information about his elusive background.
Cerritos is about a 20-mile drive southeast of downtown Los Angeles. U.S. demands Mideast countries protect embassies, halt violence The movie, backed by hardcore anti-Islam groups in the United States, is a low-budget project that was ignored in the United States, but after trailers were posted on YouTube in July, violent protests erupted in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Violent mobs attacked the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, leaving the ambassador and three other American men dead. The amateurish film portrays the Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer, buffoon, ruthless killer and child molester. Islam categorically forbids any depictions of Mohammed, and blasphemy is an incendiary taboo in Muslim world.
Navy SEALs among dead This week, the FBI contacted the filmmaker because of the potential for threats, a federal law enforcement official told CNN Thursday. But he is not under investigation. One of the few public reports about Nakoula emerged this week when he called the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Wednesday night to report a disturbance, said spokesman Steve Whitmore. He wanted local police to protect him. When news of his movie first broke, the filmmaker identified himself as Sam Bacile and told the Wall Street Journal that he was a 52-year-old Israeli-American real estate developer from California. He said Jewish donors had financed his film. But Israel's Foreign Ministry said there was no record of a Sam Bacile with Israeli citizenship. Disagreement over how attack began A production staff member who worked on the film in its initial stages told CNN that an entirely different name was filed on the paperwork for the Screen Actors Guild: Abenob Nakoula Bassely.
A public records search showed an Abanob B. Nakoula residing at the same address as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. He believed the filmmaker was a Coptic Christian and when the two spoke on the phone during production, the filmmaker said he was in Alexandria, Egypt, raising money for the film. In Egypt, tension has emerged in recent decades between Muslims and the minority Copts. U.S. intelligence warned embassy in Egypt of concern about anti-Muslim film Another staffer who worked on the film said he knew the producer as Sam Bassil. That's how he signed a personal check to pay staff. When CNN inquired about Sam Bassil, the U.S. Attorney's Office sent a copy of a 2009 indictment. Those court documents showed the bank fraud conviction for Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
Several other aliases -- Mark Basseley Youssef, Yousseff M. Basseley, Nicola Bacily and Malid Ahlawi -- were all listed as aliases in the indictment. Other court documents listed Thomas J. Tanas, Ahmad Hamdy and Erwin Salameh also as aliases. In his interview with the Wall Street Journal, the filmmaker characterized his movie as "a political effort to call attention to the hypocrisies of Islam." "Islam is a cancer," he said. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie."
Should Google censor video?
Armada of British naval power massing in the Gulf as Israel prepares an Iran strike 15 Sep 2012 An armada of US and British naval power is massing in the Persian Gulf in the belief that Israel is considering a pre-emptive strike against Iran's 'covert nuclear weapons programme.' Battleships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war... In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action by Iran, warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will today begin an annual 12-day exercise.
They don't 'hate us for our freedoms.' They hate us because we're sociopaths. Nato airstrike 'kills eight women and girls' in Afghanistan --Seven victims in hospital as villagers take bodies to provincial governor's office after women gathering firewood are hit 16 Sep 2012 Eight women and girls gathering firewood were killed by a Nato airstrike in Afghanistan early on Sunday, according to Afghan officials. The coalition says it believes only insurgents were hit. But villagers from Alingar district in the remote Laghman province, east of Kabul, brought the bodies to the governor's office in the provincial capital, said Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for the provincial government. "They were shouting 'death to America' They were condemning the attack," Zewak said. Seven females were taken to area hospitals, some as young as 10, said provincial health director Latif Qayumi.
24 Afghans killed in US-led airstrikes 16 Sep 2012 At least 24 people, including eight women, have been killed in two US-led airstrikes on the eastern provinces of Kunar and Laghman in Afghanistan. Local witnesses said on Sunday that at least eight women died and several others were wounded in an overnight attack in Laghman.
Afghanistan: Six killed by insiders, insurgents blow up $180m in jets --Green-on-blue attacks in Afghanistan have killed at least 51 international troops this year. 16 Sep 2012 At least six coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan this weekend in two separate incidents where members of the Afghan security forces turned their weapons against international forces. In Afghanistan’s southern Zabul province, four coalition soldiers were reportedly killed by a group of Afghan police who turned their weapons on international troops. The other incident occurred on Saturday and left two British soldiers dead. News of the latest so-called "green-on-blue" killings adds to what has become a serious and lethal trend confronting international forces here.
Afghan police forces kill 4 US-led soldiers 16 Sep 2012 At least four US-led soldiers have been killed by Afghan police forces in southern Afghanistan, as attacks on foreign troopers rage on in the war-ravaged country. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the latest insider attacks on the foreign soldiers were carried out on Sunday. On Saturday, an Afghan soldier killed two US-led soldiers in the southern province of Helmand.
Karzai slams US for failing to transfer of Bagram inmates to Afghanistan 16 Sep 2012 Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has criticized the US for failing to transfer the control of hundreds of inmates at the Bagram Detention Center to Afghan authorities. Karzai slammed Washington for not transferring some 600 inmates over to Afghan control, about a week after the prison was handed over to Afghanistan. "Delay in the handing over of prisoners after September 9th is a serious violation of the agreement signed between Afghanistan and the United States," the Afghan president said in a statement on Sunday.
Sudan rejects addition of Marines at US Embassy 15 Sep 2012 Sudan has rejected a U.S. request to send a platoon of Marines to bolster security at the U.S. embassy outside Khartoum, the state news agency SUNA said on Saturday. Earlier Saturday, a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to disclose details on the troop movement, said Sudan's objection held up the deployment of 50 Marines. A U.S. official said the Marines had already set off for Khartoum but had been called back pending further discussions with Sudan.
U.S. orders embassy staff to leave Tunis, Khartoum 15 Sep 2012 The United States ordered non-essential staff to leave its embassies in Tunisia and Sudan on Saturday after both diplomatic posts were attacked and Khartoum rejected a U.S. request to send a platoon of Marines to bolster security at its mission there. "Given the security situation in Tunis and Khartoum, the U.S. State Department has ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel from both posts, and issued parallel travel warnings to American citizens," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. The U.S. embassies in Tunis and Khartoum were attacked on Friday by protesters infuriated by a widely disseminated anti-Islamic film, made in the United States, that insults the Prophet Mohammad.
Anti-U.S. fury widens in Muslim world as protests rage in many countries 15 Sep 2012 From Tunis to Cairo to Jakarta, Indonesia, the Muslim world erupted in protests aimed at the United States on Friday as anger over a video that mocks the prophet Muhammad [and US imperialism that kills, maims and displaces millions while claiming contracts on their oil] boiled over into assaults on embassies or demonstrations in nearly two dozen countries.
FBI arrest suspect over 'bomb plot' --The device he planted was provided to him by undercover federal agents [as usual]. 16 Sep 2012 An 18-year-old man has been arrested in Chicago on suspicion of plotting a bomb attack. Adel Daoud, said to be a US citizen of Arab descent, was caught in an FBI sting operation. Agents allege he was attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb outside a city centre bar. He has been charged with trying to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to blow up a building, though the device that he planted was a bogus provided to him by undercover federal agents posing as extremists.
FBI Clears Halliburton Crew in Loss of Radioactive Tool --Austin National Guard team joins FBI, locals in hunt for radioactive drilling rod 14 Sep 2012 Halliburton Co. crew members who lost a radioactive rod used in drilling wells in West Texas weren't guilty of criminal conduct, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said as a hunt for the tool entered a fourth day. FBI officials working with the Texas Department of Transportation questioned three employees who were unable to locate the device this week after it went missing on a 130-mile (209-kilometer) route from Pecos to Odessa, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission incident report today. A National Guard unit based in Austin sent a three-person team with detection gear yesterday to assist local officials, said Amy Cook, a spokeswoman for the Guard.
Poll: Obama up by 11 in Pennsylvania 16 Sep 2012 More evidence that President Obama has a big lead in the key state of Pennsylvania. A new Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania Poll puts Obama ahead of Republican Mitt Romney by 50%-39%, putting the incumbent in position for a sixth straight Democratic win in the Keystone State. The Inquirer reports that "the Romney camp clearly has signaled doubts about Pennsylvania by slashing TV ads and candidate appearances. Obama, too, has cut back, and the state lags behind Ohio, Florida, and other swing states as targets for the most intensive campaigning."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel to striking Chicago teachers: See you in court 16 Sep 2012 The Chicago teachers strike may not end the way they want it to: Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans Sunday evening to sue the union and force what he called an illegal strike to end immediately. After little over two hours of reportedly contentious deliberation on Sunday afternoon, 800 teachers union delegates voted against ending the strike after negotiators from the district and the union had reached a tentative deal. Emanuel's office said it had told the city’s legal counsel to work with the school district’s attorneys to file an injunction in court to return students to their classrooms "immediately."
Chicago teachers union to continue strike 16 Sep 2012 The Chicago teachers union will continue its week-old strike in the nation's third-largest city, keeping thousands of students out of class. The union was considering a proposed contract giving teachers annual raises over three years and offering some laid-off teachers a first shot at jobs at other schools. Officials from the union and school district met until late Saturday to work out the exact language of a contract after announcing Friday that they had reached the "framework" of an agreement that could return 350,000 students to the classroom.
Without final contract, Chicago Teachers Union pushes for end to strike 15 Sep 2012 The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is pushing for a rapid end to the strike of 36,000 teachers along lines dictated by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Even though a contract has not yet been finalized, the CTU has indicated it is hoping to send teachers back to work on Monday. The union is seeking to end the strike even though the teachers have won widespread support from workers in Chicago and throughout the country. A rally planned for Saturday is expected to attract tens of thousands of people, with buses arriving from other states...In other words, the CTU has agreed to massive concessions but does not want to reveal them without carefully packaging them together with supposed "victories."
Feds Seek Stay of Anti-Terrorism Law Ruling in NYC 15 Sep 2012 The federal government asked a judge on Friday to suspend a ruling that bars enforcement of an anti-terrorism law that she called unconstitutional in its provisions for indefinite military detention. The law allows detention of people suspected of "substantially" or "directly" providing support to groups such as al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] or the Taliban. Some journalists, scholars and political activists sued over the law, saying they feared they could end up being held for exercising First Amendment rights. Government lawyers called such concerns unfounded, but U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest said in her ruling Wednesday that she found them legitimate. In court papers filed Friday, the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan asked for a stay of the decision while the government appeals.
US, Allies Set to Launch Largest Naval Exercise Ever in Middle East 13 Sep 2012 The United States and more than two dozen allies are gearing up for the largest naval exercise ever in the Middle East focused on countering the threat of anti-ship mines. The maneuvers starting next week are the latest flexing of American military muscle in and around the Persian Gulf, even as Washington tries to convince ally Israel that diplomacy and sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran to scale back its nuclear program need more time to work. U.S. Navy officials insist that the anti-mine exercise is not about any specific country or a response to 'Iranian threats' to shut the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the route for one-fifth of the world's oil.
US scrambles to rush spies, drones to Libya 15 Sep 2012 The U.S. is sending more spies, Marines and drones to Libya, trying to speed the search for those who killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, but the investigation is complicated by a chaotic security picture in the post-revolutionary country, and limited American and Libyan intelligence resources. The CIA has fewer people available to send, stretched thin from tracking fomenting conflicts across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The U.S. has already deployed an FBI investigation team...
Anti-American fury sweeps Middle East over film 15 Sep 2012 Fury about a film that insults the Prophet Mohammad tore across the Middle East after weekly prayers on Friday with protesters attacking U.S. embassies and burning American flags as the Pentagon rushed to bolster security at its missions. At least seven people were killed as local police struggled to repel assaults after weekly Muslim prayers in Tunisia and Sudan, while there was new violence in Egypt and Yemen and across the Muslim world, driven by emotions ranging from piety to anger at Western power to frustrations with local leaders and poverty. A Taliban attack on a base in Afghanistan that killed two Americans may also have been timed to coincide with protests.
Two US Marines killed in attack on Prince Harry's base in southern Afghanistan 15 Sep 2012 Two US Marines have been killed in a Taliban attack on a military post in southern Afghanistan where Britain’s Prince Harry is currently stationed. Prince Harry, 27, was "not in any danger" in the attack, which involved small arms and mortar or rocket fire and started around midnight local time Saturday (1930 GMT Friday), Master Sergeant Bob Barko of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
U.S. Used This Torture Box to Interrogate Gadhafi's Enemies 06 Sep 2012 Two Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) members, Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed al-Shoroeiya and Khalid al-Sharif, were captured in Pakistan in 2003. After interrogations by Pakistani and U.S. personnel, they were both sent to American detention facilities that they believe were at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. There, they were "chained to walls naked - sometimes while diapered - in pitch black, windowless cells, for weeks or months at a time," Human Rights Watch alleges. Additionally, Shoroeiya and Sharif say they were "restrained in painful stress positions for long periods of time," "beaten and slammed into walls," "denied food," "denied sleep by continuous, deafeningly loud Western music" and "subjected to different forms of water torture including, in Shoroeiya's case, waterboarding." They were placed in the boxes described that contorted their bodies, while they were naked, cold and in the dark. Shoroeiya also says he was waterboarded on a board that could rotate 360 degrees; the CIA denies waterboarding him.
F-16 fighter jets escorted Cessna out of Obama air space over Colorado 14 Sep 2012 Two F-16 fighter aircraft intercepted a civilian aircraft that flew into a temporarily restricted area about 12:30 p.m. Thursday near Denver, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. The Cessna 182 was directed to land and did so without incident at Centennial Airport. The aircraft was to be met by law enforcement, NORAD said. President Barack Obama was in the Denver area on Thursday, and flight areas are generally restricted in areas when he visits.
Maryland Police Are Deploying Cameras to Watch Other Cameras [Just take those down first - problem solved.] 13 Sep 2012 Police in Palmer Park, Md., plan to deploy cameras to surveil the other cameras in their district. Ari Ash of WTOP talked to police in the area, who said that local people had started targeting the speed cameras police put up in intersections, as well as surveillance cameras. The police said that since April, six people have been involved camera damaging activities. One man literally pulled out a pistol and used the camera for target practice.
Anonymous's Barrett Brown Raided by FBI During Online Chat 13 Sep 2012 For the second time this year, self-proclaimed Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown was raided by the FBI. The latest dramatic incident occurred late Wednesday evening while Brown and another woman identified by some as his girlfriend were participating in an online chat on TinyChat with other individuals. Two minutes into the recorded chat session, loud voices could be heard in the background of Brown’s residence in Texas while the woman in the room with him was in front of the computer screen. She quickly closed the computer screen, but the audio continued to capture events in the room as the FBI appeared to strong-arm Brown to put handcuffs on him. Brown could be heard yelling in the background.
Assange gets an Aboriginal passport 15 Sep 2012 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been offered an Aboriginal Nations passport in an inner-city Sydney ceremony after he was "abandoned" by Australian authorities. His father, John Shipton, accepted the document at a celebration in Darlington today. He said his son had been jilted by the Australian government, and the passport ceremony - which follows Ecuador's decision to grant Mr Assange diplomatic asylum - was a show of solidarity.
US Federal Reserve extends unlimited support to financial markets 14 Sep 2012 It is a measure of the deepening crisis of global capitalism that on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers, the US Federal Reserve has decided to pump still more money into the financial system...One of the effects of the previous rounds of QE has been to fuel speculation in commodities, pushing up the prices of fuel and basic foodstuffs, which increases the hardships faced by hundreds of millions of impoverished people around the world. The jump in the prices of gold and oil after the measures were announced indicates that a new round of commodity speculation may be about to begin. ['Qualitative easing' is just euphemism for a continued bailout of the financial oligarchy at the expense and to the detriment of the vast majority. --MDR.]
Heads up! Officials call for 'universal' flu vaccination strategy 14 Sep 2012 For the third consecutive year, state and federal health officials are advocating a "universal" vaccination strategy to combat the seasonal flu. That means that everyone, 6 months and older, should get a flu shot, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "People should get vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available," said Dr. Brooke Rossheim, director of the Rappahannock Area Health District. [US lunatics want to force pharma-terrorists' mercury-laden vaccines on us to 'fight' the pandemics they're creating for profit. (And because they're sociopaths.)]
Hundreds evacuated after Indiana chemical fire 14 Sep 2012 A fire official says hundreds of people in northern Indiana have been evacuated following a fire at a factory that left a chemical cloud in the air. Mishawaka Battalion Chief Jim Cocquyt tells the South Bend Tribune that no injuries had been reported after the fire at the old Baycote facility. He says the Environmental Protection Agency took over the factory months ago and was cleaning up hazardous chemicals.
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