Pages

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Funders of controversial movie traced by US intelligence

While protests and riots are spreading in a number of Muslim nations following release of a controversial anti-Islam movie named 'Innocence of Muslims', various intelligence agencies in the United States have already traced two of the main masterminds of the project, while US intelligence is scrutinizing various scoops and evidences on involvement of an Lebanese-American woman, who's NGO might also have put significant amount of money in this project with the ulterior motive of pushing Muslims and Jews towards extreme confrontation. Some analysts are even seeing the movie as a conspiracy of the anti-Israel elements inside America. It was also learnt by the US intelligence that most of the actors of the film were kept in dark by its masterminds about the entire script, while many of the actors were recruited from the American underground porn movie world. Tim Dax, who also played role in 'Innocence of Muslims' is learnt to have earlier worked in a number of gay porn films has already expressed severe anger at the makers of the film for "trapping" them by hiding the script of the movie.

Egyptian-American, Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, the president of the Duarte-based charity Media for Christ, and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a convicted felon from Cerritos, emerged as forces behind "Innocence of Muslims." Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih got converted into Christianity from Islam few years back. Another mastermind behind the project is a Lebanese-American female, who runs a multi-million dollar NGO in United States. The same women earlier extended "cooperation" to Florida's infamous Pastor Terry Jones, who created international havoc by setting fire on Quran. The organization of ex-Muslim Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih - Media for Christ, whose stated mission is to "glow Jesus' light" to the world, obtained permits to shoot the movie in August 2011, and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula provided his home as a set and paid the actors, according to government officials and those involved in the production.

Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih founded the charity in 2005 with US$30,000. In its 2011 tax filing, which covers the period of the filming, the charity reported having eight employees and contributions of US$ 1 million. While Media for Christ public filings describe it as an evangelical organization working to spread the Gospel, Nassralla has devoted himself in recent years to criticizing Islam in speeches and interviews.

Following outbreak of massive protests in the Muslim world, both Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula went into hiding and had been denying any "involvement" behind the movie, though, according to porn actor Tim Dex, he had been paid US$ 75 per day through checks drawn on the bank account of Abanob Basseley Nakoula — a name linked to the Cerritos property where Nakoula Basseley Nakoula resides. The home's distinctive front door with triangle windows in a half-circle pattern is visible in the 14-minute trailer for the movie posted on YouTube.

the check he received from his role in the movie was paid from the bank account of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

Refering to Nakoula, Bishop Serapion of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles said, "He denied completely any involvement."

Similarly, an official at Media for Christ said the charity was not connected to the movie and was upset by its controversial content. The same day, an associate who served as a script consultant told the paper that Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih "had nothing to do with it."

The Innocence of Muslims - movie that has enraged radical Islamists who have rioted and committed murders in the Middle East this week, was partially shot on a set that Paramount's TV unit helped to build for its TV show JAG, and a man with five decades of movie and television experience. Portions of the infamous, micro-budget movie were filmed in Saugus, about 30 miles north of Hollywood, on a portion of Blue Cloud Film Ranch called "Baghdad Square," which is often used for TV and film productions seeking to replicate Middle Eastern war zones. Other movies and TV shows partially filmed at Blue Cloud include Iron Man, Get Him to the Greek, Serenity, Arrested Development, NCIS Los Angeles, The Closer, Threat Matrix and CSI. The U.S. military has also made training videos at Blue Cloud. Veluzat, 72, said the 100-acre ranch is for sale for US$ 15 million. Although makers of the movie claimed to have invested US$ 5 million in the project, it was later learnt from numerous sources inside American film industry that the entire budget of the film would have been less than US$ 400,000.

The makers of the movie not only hided the script from the actors, but also deceived the American government by giving another name while the shooting was continuing. They registered the name as 'Innocence of Bin Laden' and later 'Desert Warriors', while finally they changed the name to 'Innocence of Muslims'. The film starts with a claim that the Prophet of Islam was "illegitimate" and "his birth a disgrace". 

Later the Prophet of Islam is shown as a low status man ridiculed by a boy for having no known father. Then most of the film deals with the rise of Islam, there is a great deal of violence and cruelty. Some of the allegations made in the film such as the followers of the Prophet took slaves; Non-Muslims were forced to pay a tax or Jizyah, which the film calls as extortion. The movie also shows a donkey becoming first Muslim by establishing faith on the Prophet of Islam.

The s0-called film was produced and directed by a person first identified in casting calls as "Alan Roberts",and then in media reports "Sam Bacile", though finally it had been revealed that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula actually used pseudonym of Sam Bacile and on purpose told reporters in interview that he was a real estate businessman from Israel and was a Jew. Though later it was proved that, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula aka Sam Bacile is neither an Israeli nor Jewish but is a Coptic Christian.

The cast and crew have publicly stated that they were deceived about the purpose and content of the film. In a statement obtained by CNN, the film's 80 cast and crew members disavowed the film, they said: "The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose." It further explained, "We are shocked by the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred." Cindy Lee Garcia, who played the mother of Muhammad's bride-to-be, said the script for a movie called Desert Warriors, about life in Egypt 2,000 years ago and that the character "Muhammad" was referred to as "Master George" on set. According to Garcia, "Bacile" claimed to be an Israeli real estate mogul. Later, however, he told her he was Egyptian and she heard him speaking in Arabic with other men on set. Garcia was stunned to find out that the film was actually an anti-Muslim agitprop piece and that "it makes me sick" that she was involved in a film that caused people to die. She is considering legal action against "Bacile." The overdubbing permitted the film's director to deceive the cast into taking part in the movie under the pretense that it was about the life of a generic Egyptian from 2,000 years ago. Sarah Abdurrahman, a producer for WNYC's On the Media program stated that all of the religious references were overdubbed.

 

High profile corruptions by Awami ‘Chors’





Mr. A B M Musa is one of the senior-most journalists in Bangladesh. In a recent gathering he advised everyone to shout "s/he is a thief" as soon as any one connected with the Government is sighted. I am sure that Mr. Musa also knows very well that there are still some honest people in the country working for the Government. Apparently one would say that Mr. Musa should not have made such irresponsible utterances. But when you think more deeply you can understand how frustrated Mr. Musa felt with the present state of affairs. Next day I read something very interesting. Mr. Musa writes about a shipwrecked person in an island full of snakes, crocodiles and other dangerous animals. Then he sees a ship passing-by and waves in desperation. God responded to his call when he found a boat coming from the ship. The man in the boat gave some recent newspapers and said "you should read them and decide if you want to go back Bangladesh or remain in the island".


When a very respected and elderly journalist like Mr. Musa writes and speaks like that, it is time for us to look at things to its fullest context and think if there is a limit to it or will it go on endless. First let us talk about monetary corruption. I would not like to go on details but would just touch upon a few of them. By now there is hardly anyone in Bangladesh who has not heard about the case of Hallmark group. I understand they took well over four thousand crores of taka from the state-owned Sonali Bank and there is little hope that the bank can recover that money. Yet the finance minister calls it just a minor incident. Another company known as "Destiny Group" [a multilevel marketing company] took money not only from banks but also from innocent public in general. Some of those involved have even run away from the country. By market manipulation some people also made quick money out of stock exchange and most of it has gone out of the country. BEXIMCO Group took full advantage of the inflated price of their share to take a huge loan from the bank against shares as security. The price of those shares is now not even 1/10th of the negotiated deal. There is another very interesting case of a mortgaged ship being sold without any reference to the bank. Such things can only happen in Bangladesh. Now let us talk about the most sensational case – Padma Bridge project. Some people were too eager to make quick money and on the assurances of various contracts took in advance a large sum of money. I believe the transactions took place in Canada. When the Canadian Police started investigating the matter, a young Bangladeshi (also Canadian national) couple slipped out of Canada and returned to Bangladesh. The World Bank who initially promised to finance most of the project withdrew from the project. The World Bank [WB] provided the Government some vital information relating to the corruption. The government initially tried to laugh it out by saying how could there be any corruption when contract have not been awarded. Then for a few days the Government kept on blaming Professor Yunus for the WB decision. Then slowly the cats started emerging out of the bag. One minister has already resigned and another adviser is on the verge of resignation. Perhaps the root of the corruption goes beyond that and it cannot be resolved so easily.

Corruption is now deep rooted at every level of the society. A minister's APS was caught with a car full of money in sacks on way to minister's house. The minister resigned. He was still kept in the cabinet as a minister without any portfolio. The Anti-corruption Commission gained full confidence of the government by declaring the minister innocent. The nation soon came to know the identity of two new patriots. They are none other than the ministers who resigned on charges of corruption. If you want to know how wide spread and deep rooted the corruption network is then you have to visit any of the government departments or agencies who are supposed to provide service to the people. Let us start with local police, hospital, port office, customs office, land registry and record office, and then go to relevant offices for gas, electricity, water and to primary school for admission of children. You will soon know that there is only one solution to your problems and that is money. The railway minister admitted his inability to recover railway lands because of the influence of very powerful elements. Similarly the rivers and canals are being filled up by influential people for their use.

We will now take a quick look at the law and order situation. Almost every day one or two dead bodies are recovered from rivers and drains. Police said to have identified the body of garment labour leader Aminul Islam like that. The young journalist couple were murdered in their own bedroom perhaps because they knew too much about government corruption. A BNP leader along with his driver was hijacked from his car never to be seen again. There are others who die in so-called "cross-fire" (extra judicial killing). Countless people die on the roads when a minister advocates for driving licence to be made easier.

But the present Government can be proud of some of its success. It took no time to change the name of the Dhaka Airport to remove the name of Zia from it. It successfully evicted Khaleda Zia from her cantonment house. It hanged most of those responsible for 1975 changes. It brought in the constitutional changes to hold election under the present government instead of a non-party care-taker government. However, their claimed success of dealing with BDR revolt is most debatable. Men in arms revolt is nothing short of sedition. There can be no negotiation or compromise with them. Call for surrender of arms and submit them to lawful authority. Everything else comes after that. The elite forces of the country are maintained to defend the country and they should have been allowed to take necessary action to restore normalcy. The so-called political negotiation with the mutineers resulted into a great loss for the country. One can become a politician overnight but it takes lot of tax-payers' money, years of training, hard work and dedication to become a colonel or brigadier. The nation can never excuse those responsible for the massacre.

We also suffered in the hands of the opposition when they were in power. We do not know where is the end and where shall we go. 

BY :   F R Chowdhury.