Mark Greene asks is the YouTube release of Innocence of the Muslims actually aimed at the U. S. Presidential Election?
Was the YouTube release of an Arabic dubbed trailer of Innocence of the Muslims designed to inflame protests in the Middle East, undercutting public opinion of Obama’s diplomatic efforts just weeks before the election?
As American bases and consulates lock down under threat of repeated violent protests due to a anti-Islam video posted in Arabic on YouTube just days after 9-11, details about the identity of the film’s supposed writer director continue to get stranger and stranger. We already know that Innocence of the Muslims has put U. S. service persons and diplomats at grave risk. It has also put millions of moderate Christians and Muslims at risk as well. In addition, it may well have created cover for an al Qaeda-linked group to attack our Embassy in Libya, killing the U. S. Ambassador there.
To it’s great credit, The Huffington Post has continued to investigate production of the incendiary anti-Muslim film titled The Innocence of Muslims.
The Huffington Post writes:
Media for Christ, a Duarte, Calif.-based Christian nonprofit group, applied for the film permit, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported. The charity’s misson statement is to “glow Jesus’ light” to the world.
Though Joseph Nassralla, the president of Media for Christ, emerged as a force behind the anti-Muslim film, the organization said it had nothing to do with the project and was upset by its content, according to the L.A. Times. Nassralla has reportedly devoted himself to criticizing Islam in speeches and interviews during recent years.
The Huffington Post goes in the report in a second article:
In yet another twist in the production of “Innocence of Muslims,” the anti-Islam film that has led to riots around the world. Gawker reports that the movie’s director is Alan Roberts, a man known best for creating softcore porn films.
Robert’s earlier work includes titles like “The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood,” “Young Lady Chatterly” and “The Sexpert.”
So what was the alleged director doing on the set of a film that would go on to inflame the masses? A number of Gawker’s sources suggest Roberts had no idea that the movie would be so political in nature. As previously reported, many members of the cast and crew were duped into thinking they were making a historical film, as much of the dialogue was dubbed over after production ended.
It is clear that the backers of Innocence of the Muslims knew they were making an incendiary film. In fact, they knew it would be offensive to the actors and crew of the production. By disguising it as an historical film and then overdubbing the dialogue with its final script, the producers were able to dupe a number of actors into performing in the film.
But here’s the central question. Was the recent release of an Arabic dubbed trailer on YouTube specifically intended to undercut Obama’s re-election bid?
When John Kerry ran against George W. Bush as a war hero, the Swift Boat effort directly undermined that central credibility. It was timed to muddy public perception of Kerry’s war record so close to the election that the Kerry campaign was unable to effectively respond. Now that Obama has successfully captured and killed Osama Bin Laden and navigated the geopolitical minefield that is the Arab Spring, did someone decide that riots in the Middle East would create doubts about President Obama’s handling of events in the Middle East? Although the original production of the film happened in the summer of 2011, the dubbed version didn’t make its way to YouTube until September of 2012. Why?
Although it is unlikely anyone would have intended the tragic death U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American officials, the end result is this story in the New York Times which states:
The upheaval over an anti-Islam video has suddenly become Mr. Obama’s most serious foreign policy crisis of the election season, and a range of analysts say it presents questions about central tenets of his Middle East policy: Did he do enough during the Arab Spring to help the transition to democracy from autocracy? Has he drawn a hard enough line against Islamic extremists? Did his administration fail to address security concerns?
In a third story, the Huffington Post reports that Federal Agents questioned the film’s producer Mr. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, AKA Sam Bacile, at an LA sheriff’s station. Clearly Mr. Nakoula is an unseemly character. The full scope of his involvement and how he funded the film has yet to be fully understood. Who channeled money to him and from what organizations?
Whatever his exact motivations for making the film, one has to pose the question, why did he wait until just before the presidential election to post the film online dubbed in Arabic? The film was originally made in the summer of 2011.
And in that particular decision, did he act alone?
Also read: How the Extreme Right is Wronging America by Cameron Conaway
The post Is Anti-Islam Film This Campaign Season’s “Swift Boat” Effort? appeared first on The Good Men Project.