'If you feed a scorpion, it will bite you'.": U.S. embassies attacked in Yemen, Egypt after Libya envoy killed: Democracy is the last thing on the minds of bearded Salafists and Islamic fundamentalists

Posted 07 September 2012 - 10:36 AM In Syria: only the tails of the feuding lions will be left intact! Air force General Hafez Al-Assad came to power in September1968 with the help of the CIA to topple the leftist government of Al-Attassi, Bachus, Y.Zain and Salah Jidid. At the time late King Hussein’s forces were attacking the Palestinians in Al-Baqaaa and the leftist Syrian government ordered the army to enter Jordan to assist them. This would have incited Israel to interfere, that was why Dr Kissinger asked the CIA to give a green light for Assad senior to be in control. Assad senior didn’t forget the CIA’s help and returned the favour and went to embrace US policies and plans. It was not a mere coincidence that Dr Madeline Albright, US secretary of state went to attend his funeral. Furthermore, Syria has rendered all assistance to the US and to the British in attacking Iraq in 1991 and in 2003. As it is usual, the Americans Use-and-Dump the ones they groom to serve their interests. Right now, Assad Jr is being castigated and the Americans insist that he must go the way Saddam and Gheddafi had gone under the force of the gun. Unlike Gheddafi and Saddam Syria has many friends and the opposition movement is made up exclusively of Sunni Arabs, Turks, and Kurds. This means that the Alawayites will fight to the end supported by Shiats from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. The money of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UK and US and the logistic and armed support from Turkey, Germany, Israel and France are trying to takeover the country, topple the Assad regime and to deny Iran a foot hold on the Israeli borders. While the Assad regime is being characterised as undemocratic, the opposition groups are labelled as being agents of foreign powers, not necessarily interested in the democracy or freedom of the Syrian people. So the lions will continue to fight it out until nothing is left except their tails. The country will be fragmented, the infrastructure will be destroyed, and democracy is the last thing on the minds of bearded Salafists and Islamic fundamentalists. One can’t help but laugh at the US governments and their European allies for embracing Saudi Arabia plans to democratise Syria. Some parties may profit from seeing the Middle East destroyed a country at a time. It must be part of an USraeli plan to redraw the Middle East map using local agents. Posted 05 September 2011 - 10:54 AM The US and most European governments, didn’t practice what they preached or what they had been announcing to their respective people; at least not when it comes to matters concerning Libya or the Geddafi regime. The documents uncovered in Libya so far have exposed many secret dealings and illegal activities in helping Geddafi punish his opponen while at the same revealing names of high US, French and British officials (e.g. Sir Mark Allen). Furthermore, it has shown that State Department and Pentagon officials visited Libya few months ago rendering advice in order to save Geddafi regime from further NATO attacks. As a result of such consultation, Libyan diplomats travelled to Israel to normalise relations with the National Zionist (NAZI) State as it is called by JEWWATCH.com. The Americans were right in being concerned as the collapse of Geddafi regime will lead to some embarassing exposures. Besides their part in the rendition and torture of terror suspects (e.g. Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the current military commander in Tripoli) there is a risk that the significant payments made to Tony Blair, to Sir. Mark Allen, to US officials and to Nikolas Sarkozi will be made public. In addition, the Israelis were unhappy to see Geddafi gone since many believe that he has a Jewish blood and wanted to compensate Jews with $US billions for the properties left behind when they immigrated out of the country in 1967, following the Israeli attack on Egypt, Jordan and Syria. So what has made the West rush to bombard Libya and to risk loosing Geddafi and the ensuing consequences? Squeezed between revolutions in Tunisa and Egypt, the US, UK, and France were aware that the Islamists will eventually take control of Libya and convert the North African state into another Iran. The present chaos in Libya is expected to continue long after Geddafi had left the scene. There is a Libyan saying, one doesn|t have to go out to know it is winter.The Islamist commander in Benghazi has already called on the head of the NTC (National Transitional Council) to resign for being too close to Geddafi in the past and for being too cosy with NATO. The same commander was involved in the killing of Rebel General Abdul Fattah Younis and the burning of his remains near Benghazi. While the Islamist commander of Tripoli has called on the US and the UK to apologise for helping Geddafi in kidnapping and torturing him at the notorious Bu Slim prison where he was held for seven years. One can say that Libya is not Iraq, but the US-led NATO chaos is familiar. Money in the hands of te crooks will not result in stable, secure or prosperous Libya. So far the US had spent over $two trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan. There re still $7 billion un accounted for in Iraq. Mr Paul Bremer, US-appointed first ruler of occupied Iraq, was accused of pocketing $300 million. The infrastrucre and services in Iraq are one million times worse than when criminal Saddam was in charge. Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times =========== Thu, Sep 13 11:18 AM EDT 1 of 18 By Mohammed Ghobari and Edmund Blair SANAA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Demonstrators attacked the U.S. embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protest at a film they consider blasphemous to Islam and American warships headed to Libya after the death of the U.S. ambassador there in related violence earlier in the week. Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in eastern Sanaa, shouting "We sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God". Earlier they smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned cars. "We can see a fire inside the compound and security forces are firing in the air. The demonstrators are fleeing and then charging back," one witness told Reuters. A security source said at least 15 people were wounded, some by bullets. An embassy spokesman said its personnel were reported to be safe. In Egypt, protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the U.S. embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy and tearing down the American flag. The state news agency said 13 people were injured in violence which erupted on Wednesday night after protests on Tuesday. Islamist gunmen staged a military-style assault on the U.S. consulate and a safe house refuge in Benghazi, eastern Libya on Tuesday. The U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the assault, carried out with guns, mortars and grenades. Eight Libyans were injured. U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to "bring to justice" those responsible and the U.S. military moved two navy destroyers towards the Libyan coast, in what a U.S. official said was a move to give the administration flexibility for any future action against Libyan targets. Obama said security was being increased at U.S. diplomatic posts around the globe and on Thursday the U.S. consulate in Berlin was partially evacuated after an employee fell ill on opening a suspicious envelope. About 1,000 Bangladeshi Islamists tried to march on the U.S. embassy in Dhaka after protests earlier in the week outside U.S. missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco. The U.S. military dispatched a Marine Corps anti-terrorist team to boost security in Libya, whose leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in a U.S.-backed uprising last year. The attack, which U.S. officials said may have been planned in advance, came on the 11th anniversary of al Qaeda's attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. FILM The attackers were part of a mob blaming America for a film they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad. Clips of the "Innocence of Muslims," had been circulating on the Internet for weeks before the protests erupted. They show an amateurish production portraying the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child abuser. For many Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous and caricatures or other characterizations have in the past provoked protests all over the Muslim world. An actress in the California production said the video as it appeared bore no resemblance to the original filming. She had not been aware it was about the Prophet Mohammad. Among the assailants, Libyans identified units of a heavily armed local Islamist group, Ansar al-Sharia, which sympathizes with al Qaeda and derides Libya's U.S.-backed bid for democracy. Former Libya militant commander Noman Benotman, now president of Britain's Quilliam think-tank, said Western officials were investigating a possible link with a paramilitary training camp about 100 miles south of the eastern Libyan town of Darnah. U.S. officials said there were suggestions members of al Qaeda's north-Africa based affiliate may have been involved. Yemen, a key U.S. ally, is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), viewed by Washington as the most dangerous branch of the militant network established by Osama bin Laden. The attacks could alter U.S. attitudes towards the revolutions that toppled secularist authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia and brought Islamists to power. The violence also could have an impact on the closely contested U.S. presidential race ahead of the November 6 election. Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's challenger, criticized the president's response to the crisis. He said the timing of a statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo denouncing "efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims" made Obama look weak as protesters were attacking U.S. missions. Obama's campaign accused Romney of trying to score political points at a time of national tragedy. The attack raised questions about the future U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya, relations between Washington and Tripoli, and the unstable security situation after Gaddafi's overthrow. SAFE HOUSE Stevens, a 52-year-old California-born diplomat who spent a career operating in perilous places, became the first American ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, died in a 1979 kidnapping attempt. A Libyan doctor pronounced him dead of smoke inhalation. U.S. information technology specialist Sean Smith and two other Americans who have not yet been identified also were killed when a squad of U.S. troops sent by helicopter from Tripoli to rescue the diplomats from the safe house came under mortar attack. "It was supposed to be a secret place and we were surprised the armed groups knew about it," Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said of the safe house. Libyan leader Mohammed Magarief and Yemeni President Mansour Hadi both apologized to the United States over the attacks and Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi condemned them on television while also rejecting any "insult to the Prophet". Many Muslim states focused their condemnation on the film and will be concerned about preventing a repeat of the fallout seen after publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. This touched off riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2006 in which at least 50 people died. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the making of the movie a "devilish act" but said he was certain those involved in its production were a very small minority. The U.S. embassy in Kabul appealed to Afghan leaders for help in "maintaining calm" and Afghanistan ordered the YouTube site shut down so Afghans would not be able to see the film. (Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Beirut, Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Hadeel Al Shalchi in Tripoli, Sami Aboudi in Dubai, Raissa Kasolowsky in Abu Dhabi, Sarah N. Lynch, Arshad Mohammed, Andrew Quinn, Matt Spetalnick, Steve Holland and Mark Hosenball in Washington, William Maclean in London and Reuters reporters in Cairo and Benghazi; writing by Philippa Fletcher; editing by Ralph Boulton and Janet McBride) (This story was refiled to correct the attribution of quotation in paragraph 25) ============== 'Anti-US protests hit Kuwait, Saudi Arabia LAST UPDATE Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:25:13 GMT Anti-US protests have spilled over into Saudi Arabia and Kuwait days after the release of a US-made movie attacking the Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Protesters gathered on Thursday in front of the US Embassy in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and a similar protest was also held outside the American consulate in the port city of Jeddah. Activists have called for mass demonstrations in front of US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia on Friday. Meanwhile, the US Embassy staff in Kuwait were evacuated amid reports of protests against the blasphemous film. The Muslim world is seething with anti-US sentiments over the release of the $5-million movie which -- financed by more than 100 Zionists -- insults the glorious religion's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Angry protesters across the world have poured into the streets to condemn the blasphemous movie and demand the US government apologize to the Muslim world. MRS/JR === ‘US, Zionists prime anti-Islam suspects’ Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:12:29 GMT The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has slammed the antagonistic policies of Zionism and the US as the root cause of the recent production of an American movie desecrating Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Ayatollah Khamenei issued a message on Thursday following the anti-Islam move. The full text of the message follows: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Dear Iranian nation; the great Islamic ummah The filthy hand of the enemies of Islam once again revealed its deep-rooted malice by insulting the Grand Prophet [Mohammad] (PBUH) and with an insane and deplorable measure showed the fury of the evil Zionists at the daily-increasing radiance of Islam and Holy Qur’an in the present world. Regarding the disgrace of the agents of this crime and great sin it suffices to say that they have targeted the most sacred and luminous figure among the world sanctities with their disgusting nonsense. Behind this evil move lie the antagonistic policies of the Zionists and the US and other heads of the global arrogance, who in their vain delusions want to knock down the Islamic sanctities from their lofty position in the eyes of the young generations in the world of Islam and to extinguish their religious sentiments. Had they not backed the previous links in this evil chain, namely Salman Rushdie, the Danish cartoonist, and the US pastors who burned the Holy Qur’an and had they not made orders for [production of] tens of anti-Islam movies to companies affiliated to the Zionist capitalists, things would not have lead to this great and unforgivable sin today. The prime suspects in this crime are Zionism and the US government. If the US politicians are honest in their claim of not being involved [in production of this film], [they] must bring the perpetrators of this hideous crime and their financial backers, who have wrenched the hearts of Muslim nations, to face a punishment proportionate to this great crime. Muslim brothers and sisters must know that this desperate move by the enemies in the wake of the Islamic Awakening is a sign of the grandeur and importance of this uprising and heralds its increasing growth. Seyyed Ali Khamenei September 13, 2012 ============================================= Honoring dead from Libya, Obama vows to 'stand fast' Fri, Sep 14 17:01 PM EDT 1 of 4 By Margaret Chadbourn ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Maryland (Reuters) - President Barack Obama vowed on Friday to "stand fast" against violent anti-American protests sweeping the Muslim world as he honored the return of the remains of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans killed in an attack in Libya this week. Leading a somber ceremony with the flag-draped caskets of the Libya dead laid out beside him, Obama pledged to do everything possible to protect U.S. diplomats abroad and said he would hold foreign governments responsible for helping to safeguard them. "The United States will never retreat from the world," Obama told a crowd that included grieving family members, diplomatic personnel and military service members inside a vast aircraft hangar at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. Obama spoke as growing fury about a film that insults the Prophet Mohammad tore across the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world after weekly prayers on Friday, with protesters attacking U.S. embassies and burning American flags as the Pentagon rushed to bolster security at U.S. missions. The obscure California-made film triggered an attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on Tuesday, the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States. The attack and the spread of anti-U.S. violence to other Muslim countries have raised questions about Obama's handling of the Arab Spring revolutions of the past year even as he seeks re-election in November in a closely contested race. The wave of attacks has reverberated into the presidential campaign, with Republican challenger Mitt Romney and his allies seizing the chance to reassert their accusations that Obama has weakened U.S. global leadership. U.S. RESOLVE Obama acknowledged "these are difficult days" but expressed firm resolve. "We will bring to justice those who took them from us. We will stand fast against the violence on our diplomatic missions," he said. "We will continue to do everything in our power to protect Americans serving overseas, whether that means increasing security at our diplomatic posts, working with host countries which have an obligation to provide security, and making it clear that justice will come to those who harm Americans," he said. The ceremony was held to honor the return to U.S. soil of the bodies of Stevens, State Department information management officer Sean Smith and security personnel Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, both former Navy SEALS. Some U.S. officials believe the deadly attack could have been plotted in advance, but White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday he had no information suggesting the assault on the Benghazi consulate was "pre-planned." Clinton repeated that the U.S. government had nothing to do with the making of the inflammatory film, and she insisted the violent response was "totally unacceptable." She said countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, which had cast off authoritarian rulers, "did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of the mob." At the start of the ceremony, Marine pallbearers hoisted the caskets one by one from a military cargo plane and carried them into the hangar while a military band played somber music. As Obama spoke, he was flanked by four hearses. The remains were to be flown to a military mortuary at an air base in Dover, Delaware. (Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Lisa Lambert, writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Will Dunham) ======================================================\ Anti-American fury sweeps Middle East over film Fri, Sep 14 18:09 PM EDT 1 of 7 KHARTOUM/TUNIS (Reuters) - 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. The obscure California-made film triggered an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya's city of Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on Tuesday, the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States. In Tunis, at least three people were killed and more than two dozen wounded, state television said after police gunfire near the U.S. embassy in the city that was the cradle of last year's Arab Spring uprisings for democracy. At least one person died in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, a doctor said, after some of thousands of protesters had leaped into the U.S. embassy. As U.S. military drones faced Islamist anti-aircraft fire over Benghazi, about 50 marines landed in Yemen a day after the U.S. embassy there was stormed. For a second day in the capital Sanaa, police battled hundreds of young men around the mission. In Khartoum, wider anger at Western attitudes to Islam also saw the German embassy overrun, with police doing little to stop demonstrators who raised a black Islamist flag. Violence at the U.S. embassy followed protests against both Washington and the Sudanese government, which is broadly at odds with the West. The wave of indignation and rage over the film, which portrays Mohammad as a womanizer and a fool, coincided with Pope Benedict's arrival in Lebanon for a three-day visit. The protests present U.S. President Barack Obama with a new foreign policy crisis less than two months before seeking re-election and tests Washington's relations with democratic governments it helped to power across the Arab world. He was at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington to greet a flight bringing home remains of the four dead from Benghazi. It also emerged that Libya had closed its airspace over the second city's airport for a time because of heavy anti-aircraft fire by Islamists aiming at U.S. reconnaissance drones flying over the city; Obama vowed to bring the ambassador's killers to justice. The closure of the airport prompted speculation that the United States was deploying special forces in preparation for an attack against the militants who were involved in the attack. A Libyan official said the spy planes flew over the embassy compound and the city, taking photos and inspecting locations of radical militant groups who are believed to have planned and staged the attack on the U.S. consulate. There were protests in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. MARINES TO YEMEN The Pentagon said it had sent a "fast" platoon of Marines to Yemen to bolster U.S. embassy security after clashes in Sanaa. U.S. embassies were the main target of anger and protest but most embassy staff were not at work because Friday is the Muslim weekend across the Arab World. The frenzy erupted after traditional Muslim Friday prayers. Fury over the film has been stoked by Internet video footage, social networks, preachers and word-of-mouth. Protesters clashed with police near the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Two Islamist preachers in Egypt told worshippers that those who made the movie deserved to die under Islamic law but they urged protesters not to take their anger out on diplomats. In the restive Sinai peninsula, militants opened fire on an international observer base near El Gorah, close to the borders of Israel and the Gaza Strip, and burned tires blocking a road to the camp, a witness and a security source reported. The source said two members of the force were wounded. The Sudanese who broke into the German embassy in Khartoum and hoisted an Islamic flag, while one person was killed in protests in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. Police in the Sudanese capital had fired tear gas to try to disperse 5,000 protesters who had ringed the German embassy and nearby British mission. A Reuters witness said police stood by as a crowd forced its way into Germany's mission. Demonstrators hoisted a black Islamic flag saying in white letters "there is no God but God and Mohammed is his Prophet". They smashed windows, cameras and furniture in the building and then started a fire. Staff at Germany's embassy were safe "for the moment", Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Berlin. He also told Khartoum's envoy to Berlin that Sudan must protect diplomatic missions on its soil. Sudan's Foreign Ministry had criticized Germany for allowing a protest last month by right-wing activists carrying caricatures of the Prophet and for Chancellor Angela Merkel giving an award in 2010 to a Danish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet in 2005 triggering protests across the Islamic world. BASHIR UNDER PRESSURE President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is under pressure from Islamists who feel the government has given up the religious values of his 1989 Islamist coup. The official body of Sudan's Islamic scholars called for the faithful to defend the Prophet peacefully, but at a meeting of Islamists, some leaders had said they would march on the German and U.S. embassies and demanded the ambassadors be expelled. The Foreign Ministry said in its statement: "The German chancellor unfortunately welcomed this offence to Islam in a clear violation of all meanings of religious co-existence and tolerance between religions." Sudan used to host prominent militants in the 1990s, such as Osama bin Laden, but the government has sought to distance itself from radicals to improve ties with the West. A Lebanese security source said a man was killed in Tripoli as protesters tried to storm a government building. Earlier, a U.S. fast food restaurant was set alight. Twelve members of the security forces were wounded by stones thrown by protesters, the source said. Protesters also clashed with police in Yemen, where one person died and 15 were injured on Thursday when the U.S. embassy compound was stormed. U.S. and other Western embassies in other Muslim countries had tightened security, fearing anger at the film may prompt attacks on their compounds after the weekly worship. Obama has promised to bring those responsible for the Benghazi attack to justice, and the United States also sent warships towards Libya which one official said was to give flexibility for any future action. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had nothing to do with the crudely made film posted on the Internet, which she called "disgusting and reprehensible", and the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff called a Christian pastor in Florida to ask him to withdraw his support for it. Palestinians staged demonstrations in both the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli police, some on horseback, used stun grenades and made a number of arrests outside Jerusalem's Old City as a few dozen demonstrators tried to march on the nearby U.S. consulate. "Israeli police prevented an illegal demonstration from reaching the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem and used stun grenades after rocks and bottles were thrown at them," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, several hundred people protested and burned an American flag, witnesses said. AMERICAN FLAGS BURNED The largest protests were in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Islamist group Hamas, with at least 30,000 Palestinians staging rallies across the coastal territory. Some 25,000 took to the streets of Gaza City, answering a call by Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad faction and waving the green and black flags of the two factions. American and Israeli flags were set alight, along with an effigy of the film's producer. Protesters in Afghanistan set fire to an effigy of Obama and burned a U.S. flag after Friday prayers in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Directing their anger against the U.S. pastor who supported the film, tribal leaders also agreed to put a $100,000 bounty on his head. About 10,000 people held a noisy protest in the Bangladeshi capital. They burned U.S. flags, chanted anti-U.S. slogans and demanded punishment for the offenders, but were stopped from marching to the U.S. embassy. There was no violence. Thousands of Iranians held nationwide protests. There were also rallies in Malaysia, Nigeria, Jordan, Kenya, Bahrain, Qatar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iraq. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa, Samia Nakhoul in Beirut, Ulf Laessing and Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum, Gareth Jones in Berlin, Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Benghazi, Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Libya, Sami Aboudi in Dubai, Raissa Kasolowsky in Abu Dhabi, Aref Mohammed in Basra, Iraq, Siva Sithraputhran in Kuala Lumpur, Anis Ahmed in Bangladesh, Regan Doherty in Doha, Roberto Landucci in Italy and Mirwais Harooni in Kabul; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Peter Millership and Alastair Macdonald) ============================= Google rejects White House request to pull Mohammad film clip Fri, Sep 14 18:04 PM EDT By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc rejected a request by the White House on Friday to reconsider its decision to keep online a controversial YouTube movie clip that has ignited anti-American protests in the Middle East. The Internet company said it was censoring the video in India and Indonesia after blocking it on Wednesday in Egypt and Libya, where U.S. embassies have been stormed by protestors enraged over depiction of the Prophet Mohammad as a fraud and philanderer. On Tuesday, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in a fiery siege on the embassy in Benghazi. Google said was further restricting the clip to comply with local law rather than as a response to political pressure. "We've restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia, as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries," the company said. "This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007." White House officials had asked Google earlier on Friday to reconsider whether the video had violated YouTube's terms of service. The guidelines can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines. Google said on Wednesday that the video was within its guidelines. U.S. authorities said on Friday that they were investigating whether the film's producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year old Egyptian Coptic Christian living in Southern California, had violated terms of his prison release. Basseley was convicted in 2010 for bank fraud and released from prison on probation last June. (Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Toni Reinhold)============ Lebanon Protesters Destroy Kentucky Fried Chicken And Hardee's Over 'Muslim Innocence' Film [PHOTOS] By Eric Brown: Subscribe to Eric Brown's RSS feed September 14, 2012 6:22 PM EDT Lebanon Protesters Destroy Kentucky Fried Chicken And Hardee's Over 'Muslim Innocence' Film [PHOTOS] In the wake of anti-American demonstrations over the incendiary film "Muslim Innocence," protesters in Tripoli, Lebanon, have taken to attacking not an American consulate, but an American fast-food restaurant, according to Reuters. Rioters were seen burning down a combination Hardee's and Kentucky Fried Chicken in the northern Lebanon city. Many demonstrators were also enraged about Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Lebanon, shouting, "We don't want the pope" and "No more insults (to Islam)." The film "Muslim Innocence" was filmed in California as an inflammatory piece of anti-Islamic propaganda by Egyptian Nakoula Basseley Nakoula under the pseudonym "Sam Bacile," according to the Associated Press. "Federal court papers filed against Nakoula in a 2010 criminal prosecution noted that Nakoula had used numerous aliases, including Nicola Bacily and Robert Bacily," AP reported. Nakoula allegedly hired a cast and crew under the pretense that they were making a film called "Desert Warriors" about the life of an ancient Egyptian. In post-processing, Nakoula overdubbed lines in the film to make specific derogatory comments about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, referring to him as a "child molester," among other things. Nakoula, in the guise of "Sam Bacile," publicly referred to Islam as a "cancer" while attempting to drum up publicity for the self-produced film. After Middle Eastern audiences became aware of the film's existence, "Muslim Innocence" sparked outrage across the Muslim world, leading to anti-American protests over the film's content. One attack killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens. American officials such as Hilary Clinton have roundly criticized both the film and the violence it incited, as the protesting continues. ============================= 'Innocence of Muslims': Sound Expert Says Islamophobic Dialogue Definitely Dubbed [Exclusive Transcript] By Christopher Zara: Subscribe to Christopher's RSS feed September 13, 2012 1:17 PM EDT Most actors have virtually no control over the direction of a movie once it reaches the editing room, so it's not uncommon to hear a few of them moan and groan (quietly, if they want to get hired again) after they see the final cut. (Photo: Youtube) A 13-minute clip of the movie that has sparked protests throughout the Middle East contains several instances of overdubbed dialogue, according to a sound-recording expert. But few actors in Hollywood or elsewhere have more of a reason to be outraged over post-production than the ones who appeared in "Innocence of Muslims" -- that is, if we are to believe a joint statement released by the 80 cast and crewmembers who supposedly worked on the low-budget project (to call it a film would be an insult to celluloid). The statement, posted on Wednesday by CNN, said this: "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. 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." The actors claim they responded to a casting call for a film called "Dessert Warrior." That movie, which they say they shot with a filmmaker who called himself Sam Bacile, had nothing to do with religion, according to one actress quoted Wednesday by Gawker. Instead, the director said the movie was simply about life in Biblical times. According to the actors, they were just as surprised as everyone to see the blatantly anti-Muslim sentiments in the clips, which sparked riots in Egypt and Libya and may have resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. As of Thursday, the rioting has spread to Yemen and Iran, according to several reports. The actors say that significant portions of their dialogue were re-dubbed during post production to give the storyline an anti-Muslim context that had not appeared in the original script. Judging from the 13-minute clip posted on YouTube by someone with the username Sam Bacile, the actors' explanation is certainly plausible. Much of the dialogue does not synch up with the actors' mouths, and the sound quality varies drastically from one line to the next. Although the sound quality of the entire clip is poor, many instances of overdubbing appear to be more than just a case of slapdash editing. "You can totally tell it's two different voices," said Marshall Grupp, a sound engineer at Sound Lounge, an audio post-production house based in New York. "It's so obvious they did that. The question is why." Grupp, who has 30 years of experience in sound editing, went through the one of the clips of the movie that first showed up YouTube -- 13.57 minutes of footage posted on July 2. (The title of the clip is called "Muhammad Movie Trailer," but it's more a sequence of scenes than a trailer.) The low-budget clip appears to be set in the modern-day Middle East as well as in Biblical times. Grupp said all the instances of overdubbing are references to Islam and the Muslim faith. Grupp emailed his notes to the International Business Times on Thursday. One of the most obvious examples of overdubbing, he said, takes place at 6:31, when a sword-wielding character yells in anger, "Mohammed is our messenger and the Koran is our constitution!" The dialogue in that scene does not even remotely synch up with the character's mouth, Grupp said. Grupp's transcription of the overdubbing instances follows below, along with his notes on each instance. 1:34- "protect Islamic crime"- sounds similar to actor but seems over-dubbed 1:56- "Islamic terrorist"- definitely over-dubbed, but again sounds like actor 2:54- "his name is Mohammed, we can call him the father unknown"- definitely over-dubbed by another actor 3:07- "Mohammed, Mohammed the bastard, your lady summons you"- definitely over-dubbed 3:42- "come in Mohammed"-sounds like actress but over-dubbed 6:31- "Mohammed is our messenger and the Koran is our constitution"- definitely over-dubbed 7:09- "have you heard what god has said in the Koran" - over-dubbed 8:32- "now go and read the Koran"- over-dubbed 9:04- "is your Mohammed a child molester"- over dubbed 10:11- "Islamic nation forbids adoption because of......" over-dubbed 10:16- "that is the next version of the koran"- seems like it is over-dubbed 10:32- "i have not seen such a murderous thug as Mohammed"- over-dubbed with another actress 13:37- "every non-Muslim"- over dubbed The movie's original dialogue in these instances remains unclear, but if the reaction from the actress quoted by Gawker is any indication, the original context was far less inflammatory: "Now we have people dead because of a movie I was in," she told the website. "It makes me sick." To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail: c.zara@ibtimes.com To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.com ====================== Sep. 16, 2012 5:13 PM ET Clashes over prophet film; Hezbollah urges demos By ADIL JAWAD and BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press AIM Share A Pakistani protester holds stone as others hang a flag at the entry of the gate of the U.S. consulate during a demonstration in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012. Hundreds of Pakistanis protesting an anti-Islam video produced in the United States clashed with police Sunday as they tried to march toward the U.S. Consulate in the southern city of Karachi, while thousands of others held peaceful demonstrations in other parts of the country. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan) 1 of 5 More News Video Latest developments on anti-Islam film protests Sep. 16, 20122:28 PM ET Paris prosecutor to probe protest at US Embassy Sep. 16, 201212:53 PM ET China aims at Japan's economy in island protests Sep. 16, 201210:03 AM ET Panetta: violence leveling off; protests to go on Sep. 16, 20126:33 AM ET Al-Qaida calls for more attacks on embassies Sep. 15, 20125:43 PM ET Advertisement Advertisement Buy AP Photo Reprints KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of Pakistanis protesting an anti-Islam film broke through a barricade near the U.S. Consulate in the southern city of Karachi on Sunday, sparking clashes with police in which one demonstrator was killed and more than a dozen injured. In a move that could escalate tensions around the Arab world, the leader of the Hezbollah militant group called for protests against the movie, saying protesters should not only 'express our anger' at U.S. embassies but urge leaders to act. The film, which denigrates Islam's Prophet Muhammad, has sparked violent protests in many Muslim countries in recent days, including one in Libya in which the U.S. ambassador was killed. The U.S. has responded by deploying additional military forces to increase security in certain hotspots. In a televised speech, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the U.S. must be held accountable for the film, which was produced in the United States. The U.S. government has condemned the film. "The ones who should be held accountable and boycotted are those who support and protect the producers, namely the U.S. administration," Nasrallah said. He called for protests on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to call on their leaders to express their anger too. "We should not only express our anger at an American embassy here or there. We should tell our rulers in the Arab and Muslim world that it is 'your responsibility in the first place' and since you officially represent the governments and states of the Muslim world you should impose on the United States, Europe and the whole world that our prophet, our Quran and our holy places and honor of our Prophet be respected," he told his followers in a televised speech. Nasrallah said he waited to speak out about the film until Sunday, when Pope Benedict XVI ended his three-day trip to Lebanon. In Pakistan, police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters in Karachi after they broke through the barricade and reached the outer wall of the U.S. Consulate, police officer Mohammad Ranjha said. The protesters threw stones and bricks, prompting the police to beat back the crowd with their batons. The police and private security guards outside the consulate also fired in the air to disperse the crowd. One protester was killed during the clash, said Ali Ahmar, spokesman for the Shiite Muslim group that organized the rally. An official with the main ambulance service in the city, Khurram Ahmad, confirmed they carried away one dead protester and 18 others who were injured. All Americans who work at the consulate, which is located in the heart of Karachi, were safe, Rian Harris, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, said. Thousands more held peaceful demonstrations against the film in other parts of the country, including the eastern city of Lahore and the northwest city of Dera Ismail Khan. The demonstration in Lahore was organized by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, believed to be a front organization for a powerful militant group blamed for attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed over 160 people. The protesters shouted anti-U.S. slogans and burned an American flag. "Our war will continue until America is destroyed!" shouted some of the protesters. "Dog, dog, America is a dog!" chanted others. The head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, addressed the crowd and demanded the Pakistani government shut down the U.S. Embassy and all consulates in the country until the filmmakers are punished. The protests were set off by a low-budget, crudely produced film called "Innocence of Muslims," which portrays Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester. A 14-minute excerpt of the film, which is both in English and dubbed into Arabic, has been available on YouTube, although some countries have cut access to the site. The violence began Tuesday when mainly Islamist protesters climbed the U.S. Embassy walls in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and tore down the American flag from a pole in the courtyard. Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, also was killed Tuesday along with three other Americans, as violent protesters stormed the consulate in Benghazi. President Barack Obama has vowed that the attackers would be brought to justice but also stressed that the U.S. respects religious freedom. In a security shake-up following the attack on the consulate, the Libyan interior minister has fired three security officials in the eastern city, including the head of the Benghazi security sector, and the deputy interior minister in Benghazi, said senior security official Adel Rajouba. The decisions came following a government meeting and the three were fired because of "the lawlessness," Rajouba said. The intensity of the anti-American fervor initially caught U.S. leaders by surprise, but in the last several days the Obama administration has called for calm and urged foreign governments to protect American interests in their countries. "I think that we have to continue to be very vigilant because I suspect that ... these demonstrations are likely to continue over the next few days, if not longer," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters Sunday. It has been unclear how much of the violence was spontaneously triggered by the film and how much of it was spurred on by anti-American militants using it as a tool to grow and enrage the crowds. Libya's Interim President Mohammed el-Megarif said Sunday that the attackers who killed the U.S. ambassador in the country appeared to have spent months preparing and carefully choosing their date — the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He pointed to a second raid on a safe house. "All this indicates clearly that the attackers are well trained and well prepared and have planned this in advance," he said in an interview. But the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, brushed aside his assessment, saying evidence gathered so far indicated it was a spontaneous reaction to the anti-Islam video and not a premeditated or coordinated strike. "It seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons," said Rice, referring to the mortars and rocket-propelled grenades used in the attack. Whether the attackers had ties to al-Qaida or other terrorist groups has yet to be determined, Rice said, noting that the FBI has yet to complete its investigation. It wouldn't be the first time that Western works critical of Islam have triggered spontaneous unrest throughout the Middle East, she said, pointing to the novel "Satanic Verses" by British author Salman Rushdie and the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper in 2006. A semiofficial religious foundation in Iran increased a reward it had offered for killing Rushdie to $3.3 million from $2.8 million, a hard-line Iranian newspaper reported Sunday, a move that appeared to be linked to the protests against the video. ___ Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Zaheer Babar in Lahore, Pakistan; Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; and Esam Mohamed in Tripoli, Libya, contributed to this report. Associated Press ===================== Monday 17 September 2012 Robert Fisk: Al-Qa'ida cashes in as the scorpion gets in among the good guys A Damascus friend of mine called this weekend and was pretty chipper. "You know, we're all sorry about Christopher Stevens. This kind of thing is terrible and he was a good friend to Syria – he understood the Arabs." I let him get away with this, though I knew what was coming. "But we have an expression in Syria: 'If you feed a scorpion, it will bite you'." His message couldn't have been clearer. The United States supported the opposition against Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, helped Saudi Arabia and Qatar pour cash and weapons to the militias and had now reaped the whirlwind. America's Libyan "friends" had turned against them, murdered US ambassador Stevens and his colleagues in Benghazi and started an al-Qa'ida-led anti-American protest movement that had consumed the Muslim world. The US had fed the al-Qa'ida scorpion and now it had bitten America. And so Washington now supports the opposition against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was helping Saudi Arabia and Qatar pour cash and weapons to the militias (including Salafists and al-Qa'ida) and would, inevitably, be bitten by the same "scorpion" if Assad was overthrown. My friend's sermon was not quite in line with Syrian government policy. Assad's argument is that Syria is not Libya, and that Syrians, with their history, culture, love of Arabism, etc, did not want a revolution. But the Arab fury at Hollywood's obscene little anti-prophet video has occasioned almost as much rewriting of history in the West. The US media has already invented a new story in which America supported the Arab Spring saved the city of Benghazi when its people were about to be destroyed by Gaddafi's monstrous thugs – and has now been stabbed in the back by those treacherous Arabs in the very city rescued by the US. The real narrative, however, is different. Washington propped up and armed Arab dictatorships for decades, Saddam being one of our favourites. We loved Mubarak of Egypt, we adored Ben Ali of Tunisia, we are still passionately in love with the autocratic Gulf states, the gas stations now bankrolling the revolutions we choose to support – and we did, for at least two decades, smile upon Hafez al-Assad; even, briefly, his son Bashar. So we saved Benghazi with our air power and expected the Arab world to love us. We ignored the composition of the Libyan militias we supported – just as Clinton and Hague don't dwell on the make-up of the Free Syrian Army today. We pay no attention to Assad's warnings of "foreign fighters", just as we largely ignored the Salafists who were moving among the brave men who fought Gaddafi. Go back further, and we did pretty much the same in Afghanistan after 1980. We backed the mujahedin against the Soviets without paying attention to their theology and we used Pakistan to funnel weapons to these men. And when some of them transmogrified into the Taliban and nurtured Osama bin Laden and the scorpion bit on 9/11, we cried "terrorism" and wondered why the Afghans "betrayed" us. Same story yesterday, when four US Special Forces were murdered by their ungrateful Afghan police "trainees". The tragedy of this pathetic cycle of events is that the Assad regime is horrible and its secret police thugs have tortured and murdered thousands of innocents, its personnel have committed war crimes and Syria's civil war is consuming a generation who should be building a nation rather than destroying it. And Turkey has now taken on Pakistan's role as an arms funnel and rest-and-recreation centre for Syria's mujahedin. Will Turkey turn out to be the Pakistan of the Middle East? Syria's war is now taking on the carapace of Lebanon's 1975-90 conflict: sympathise with Palestinians and you were anti-Christian – express Christian fears and you were pro-Israeli. In Syria, the government's brutal snipers are killers of children. On the other side of the front line, the Free Syrian Army sniper is romantic; he gets married to a frontline nurse, only too sorry the family can't attend their nuptials. The mere suggestion that the opposition might be committing the occasional atrocity, and a reporter is asked – as I was – how much he is being paid by the Syrian mukhabarat intelligence service. So over to the Department of Home Truths. When he was murdered, Osama bin Laden was a has-been. No Arab revolutionary carried his picture. But this wretched organisation has now decided to cash in. Hence this weekend's al-Qa'ida call to Egyptians to continue their protests against the anti-Muslim video. Hence Benghazi. The scorpion has got in among the good guys. All you need then is a Hollywood crackpot. And a bit of hypocrisy. For Washington reluctantly says it can't ban the video since this would endanger free speech – the same free speech which America's dictators forbad their Arab people for so many decades ===================== Bank of America website slows; Prophet film threat made Tue, Sep 18 16:33 PM EDT By Rick Rothacker and Jim Finkle (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp's online banking site suffered intermittent problems on Tuesday amid threats on the Internet that a group was planning to launch cyber attacks on the bank and other U.S. targets to protest a film that has stirred unrest in the Middle East. Someone claiming to represent "cyber fighters of Izz ad-din Al qassam" said it would attack the Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange as a "first step" in a campaign against properties of "American-Zionist Capitalists." "This attack will continue until the Erasing of that nasty movie. Beware this attack can vary in type," said the statement on an internet bulletin board known as pastebin.com, where hackers often post such threats. It was not possible to verify the identity of the person who posted the statement. A short film mocking the Prophet Mohammad, made with private funds in the United States and posted on the Internet, has ignited days of demonstrations in the Arab world, Africa, Asia and in some Western countries. Bank of America said its website is available but some customers may experience occasional slowness. "We are working to ensure full availability," bank spokesman Mark Pipitone said. Asked whether the website was the victim of a denial-of-service attack, he said: "I can tell you that we continuously take proactive measures to secure our systems." The New York Stock Exchange, operated by NYSE Euronext, declined to comment. Bank of America customers reached by Reuters in New York, Georgia, Ohio and Michigan said they could not access the website. Last year, the No. 2 U.S. bank experienced six days of problems with its website, which it blamed on heavy traffic and an upgrade of its systems. The site allows customers to check balances, transfer money and make payments. (Reporting By Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, North Carolina and Jim Finkle in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Tim Dobbyn) =============== U.S. official says Benghazi consulate was "terrorist attack" Wed, Sep 19 13:03 PM EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last week in which four Americans died was a "terrorist attack" that may have had an al Qaeda connection, a top U.S. counterterrorism official told Congress on Wednesday. Rocket-propelled grenades and mortars struck the consulate on September 11, the anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the United States. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died. "They were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy," Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in response to a question at a Senate hearing. Olsen said whether the attack was planned for September 11 was under investigation, but the information so far indicated it was "an opportunistic attack" that "began and evolved, and escalated over several hours." There were well-armed militants in the area, he said. "What we don't have at this point is specific intelligence that there was a significant advance planning or coordination for this attack." Whether or not the attack was planned well in advance has become a point of dispute between the Obama administration and Republican lawmakers who say it bears the hallmarks of a premeditated assault. Senior Libyan officials have said the attack was planned in advance. At the same hearing, Republican Senator Susan Collins said she agreed with Libyan officials that the attack was premeditated, planned and associated with the September 11 anniversary. She expressed concern about the security at the consulate, where no Marines were present and security was handled by foreign nationals. Olsen told lawmakers U.S. authorities are investigating who was responsible for the attack, and it appeared that a "number of different elements" were involved, including individuals connected to militant groups. "As well, we are looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have had connections to al Qaeda or al Qaeda affiliates, particularly Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," he said. "The picture that is emerging is one where a number of different individuals were involved, so it's not necessarily an either-or proposition," Olsen said. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell, Tabassum Zakaria and Donna Smith; Editing by Warren Strobel) ============================================== ..Obama: Libya attack ‘wasn’t just a mob action’ . .By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News White House Correspondent .Posts .By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 1 hr 6 mins ago....Email Share0Print...... President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama appear on the ABC Television show “The View” in New York (Pablo …President Barack Obama said Monday that the Sept. 11 attack that claimed the life of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans "wasn't just a mob action," but he stopped short of explicitly labeling the assault as an act of terrorism. Obama's comments came as he taped an interview with "The View" during a brief trip to New York to address the annual United National General Assembly. He had been asked whether the attack on the U.S. Consulate compound in the city of Benghazi was a terrorist act. "There's no doubt that the kind of weapons that were used, the ongoing assault, that it wasn't just a mob action," the president said. "What's clear is that, around the world, there are still a lot of threats out there." Obama's remarks were collected by pool reporter David Boyer of the Washington Times. The head of the National Counterterrorism Center has called the attack an act of terrorism. White House spokesman Jay Carney said it's "self-evident" that that is the case. But Obama did not explicitly do so. Still, his remarks reflected a day-by-day shift in how his administration has described the attack. At first, the White House described it as a spontaneous act resulting from demonstrations against an anti-Islam video on the Internet. That video has led to angry anti-U.S. protests throughout the Muslim world. Obama noted that, but he underlined that "there's never an excuse for violence." And he said the best response to the video would be to "ignore it"--even though aides said he would discuss the film in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. The incident has raised questions about whether the slain ambassador, Chris Stevens, should have had more protection. And Republicans led by Mitt Romney have pointed to the demonstrations across the region as a sign that the president has botched his response to the so-called "Arab Spring" uprisings that have swept authoritarian regimes from power. ...==============