The attack on the US Embassies in Libya and Egypt, along with the death of the US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, is not a surprise to some elements in our society. In fact, it is welcome in certain circles.
The claimed film, “Innocence of Muslims,” which has not yet been released and only has a 12 minute trailer available, fails to tell a story or educate. They seem to have shot the trailer with what seems to be $50 flip cameras and it lacks any production value. The lack of production value is the first tip-off that this was not produced for $5 million, unless of course they bought the worlds most expensive pizza for their cast and crew for every single meal. The story behind it starts to fall apart here.
But who is behind this movie?
The spokesperson for the movie is Steve Klein, the CEO of Courageous Christians United. For those unfamiliar with this organization, it operates websites and hosts videos dedicated to attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Islam, Judaism, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, atheists, Bahá’í, The Unification Church, and even the United Pentecostal Church. The group is dedicated to restoring what, in Steve Klein’s own words is the “Christian Heritage of America.” When asked about the violence which resulted in the deaths in Libya, Mr. Klein said that he did not feel guilty and blamed the violence on the religion of Islam. However, when asked if he expected violence, he did admit that the violent response was as he expected.
Mr. Klein has proclaimed himself in the past an expert on terror cells, although has not had any position of authority since 1977 when he retired from the Marines. He has claimed that the Kosovo conflict was begun by Al Qaeda, a claim whose origin came from the trial of Slobodan Milošević in 2002, taking the word of the commander-in-chief of the Serbian army who ordered multiple civilian massacres which left thousands dead and countless more homeless in the policy of “Identify Cleansing.” He has also claimed that “Islam is attacking everything not Islam and it is not just using violence.” But, when you check his website, all you find is his organization attacking everything not in his own narrow view of Christianity. In addition, the group is also one of the more vocal opponents of reproductive rights and have called for a “Death to Abortion” multiple times in the past.
A person who claimed to be movie director Sam Bacile was interviewed shortly after the violence erupted in Egypt and Libya. The majority of his comments boiled down to one comment, which he repeated multiple times throughout the interview, “Islam is a cancer, period.” Charming words. He also put the full blame for the attack on the embassy security, claiming no responsibility for his own portrayal of the prophet Mohammad as a pedophile and philanderer.
Steve Klein originally called the film’s director an Israeli, then later an Israeli-American. Mr. Klein also kept shifting the director’s age, occupation, and location. Some are even starting to doubt that there even was a man whom Mr. Klein called ‘Sam Bacile’ and that Mr. Klein made the movie himself. The lack of production quality demonstrates a lack of knowledge for filmmaking techniques, and with the most realistic portrayal in the trailer being a US military officer. Mr. Klein’s own military record would enable him to make that part work far better than the rest of the trailer. Eventually Mr. Klein admitted that the name is a phony, but would not divulge any further.
Once you start studying who Steve Klein is, quickly one discovers that he is found in the records of the Southern Poverty Law Center as a leader for the Church at Kaweah, part of the larger Patriot and Sovereign Citizen movements. For those of you unfamiliar with these movements, their basic concept is that the United States is an occupied nation, controlled by a corporation called The United States of America. They believe in the founding of the US as a Christian nation, to become the beacon to Christianity for the world. Sovereign Citizens have turned to violence in their attempts to undermine the government, such as the Oklahoma City bombing or the assassination attempt on Justice Ralph Beistline, but more often they engage in what the FBI terms Paper Terrorism, the use of fake legal filings to force their opposition to give in to their will. Members of the group have even formed a shadow government and are attempting to run for public office to undermine the nation.
For this group, the death of Ambassador Stevens would be welcome news. The viewpoint, that Islam is a menace, fit only for eradication and its members either converted by the gun or killed is held widely among these groups. As Steve Klein has already been found participating in anti-immigrant action along the Mexican border, assisting the self-proclaimed Minutemen, more violence inciting rhetoric would be expected.
That Mr. Klein attempted to label the film as created by an Israeli tells one right there that this film was never about information, nor to tell a story. Its whole purpose is to incite violence against the government they view as illegitimate, namely, the United States of America. They have engaged in stochastic terrorism, the use of mass media to induce a terror event, this time getting it to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. They just had to put the right message out there, and to get the right person, in this case Koran burning Florida pastor Terry Jones, to proclaim it. Then insert an Arabic language translation of the film (claiming innocence of it the whole time), add in religious extremists in Libya and Egypt, and let the pot simmer. The power of modern mass media should never be under estimated, and to these domestic terrorists, it is but another tool in their arsenal for their goal, of the destruction of the United States of America.