Muhammad filmmaker, U.S. political prisoner: "I’m not afraid"

From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

Nakoula, or Youssef, or whatever his name is, clearly has a spotty record. But no matter who he really is, no matter how checkered his past or present or both may be, make no mistake: he was a political prisoner. He was imprisoned not for the technicality of the probation violation, but for insulting Muhammad and Islam. His imprisonment was symbol of America's capitulation to the Sharia.

"Imprisoned ‘Innocence of Muslims’ producer Nakoula Nakoula: ‘I want the world to see the truth,’" by Charles C. Johnson in the Daily Caller, August 5

In his first interview since his supervised release from prison, the filmmaker behind “Innocence of Muslims” told The Daily Caller that he “has no regrets” and promises more films and books about Islam. 

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is the only person who has been imprisoned in the aftermath of the organized Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which the ambassador and three other Americans were killed. He was wholly unconnected to the attack and was imprisoned on technical probation violations.

“The first reason I am writing this book is to tell the world we never forget our heroes and the second reason is to tell [everyone] that I’m not afraid,” Nakoula writes in a foreword obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller.

“I want the world to see the truth,” Nakoula told TheDC over the phone.

The interview was arranged after multiple letters to his former prison in El Paso, Texas.

Nakoula is currently targeted with assassination from several Muslim clerics, including the head of Hezbollah, who have put fatwas on his head. He spoke from an undisclosed location in Southern California.

Nakoula is upset that his film has been blamed for causing the Benghazi terrorist attack. His book is dedicated to both the victims of Benghazi and of terrorism around the world.

“Ambassador Chris Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty and to every son who has lost his father, every mother or father who has their son, every person all over the world [who] lost his life or [was] injured because of the terrorism culture,” Nakoula writes in his foreword. “I would like to tell you you’re not forgotten.”

Nakoula, who had prior felony convictions on drug and bank fraud charges, was on probation when he made the trailer. Following the Benghazi debacle, the Obama administration claimed the film had incited the attack, and Nakoula was arrested and returned to prison for violating probation terms that prohibited him from using an alias (he had gone by “Sam Bacile” in making the film) or using the Internet without prior approval.

The U.S. State Department and the White House, which characterize the amateur video as “hate speech” or “Islamophobic” have pressured Google to remove the trailer for Nakoula’s film.

Nakoula hopes to complete the film and has made storyboards of other scenes that he hopes to include, showing Mohammed on jihad and engaging in sex acts — all based, he told TheDC, on Islamic books and evidence from the time period...

Op-ed:
Another manufactured crisis to divert us from Benghazi
By: Diane Sori

Last week it was reveled that intelligence from conversations between Ayman al Zawahiri (the head of al-Qaeda in Pakistan) and Nasser al Wuhayshi (the head of al-Qaeda in Yemen), discovered that plans were in the works to carry out an attack or attacks on American interests in the Middle East as early as last Sunday…and the NSA intercepted it all.

Well, well… how convenient…we knew it would be just matter of time before Obama and his minions claimed that NSA spying saved us all from a horrible fate…and as expected it happened.

Deflect and divert has become an art form to these people, and the media is their private PR firm as they push the story that the subsequent closing of our embassies was in response to those threats, and using it as a way of justifying the NSA spying going on all around us.

Now I'm NOT saying that NO threats were uncovered but NO one with even one working brain cell would release specifics about that critical of information or what our response to it would be. All would be done secretly and covertly to keep the enemy guessing NOT blasting it out so the enemy could plan accordingly.

So, this disclosure must be promoted as NOTHING more than a coincidence after all the furor and bru-ha-ha about the monitoring of our personal telephone calls and internet surfing…but I think NOT for NOTHING Obama does is done by perchance. All is cleverly calculated, manipulated, and done with cutting edge precision to inflict as much damage on America and ‘We the People’ as possible.

And sadly, aiding him in this endeavor, whether deliberately or just through plain stupidity, is Saxby Chambliss (the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee), who said the decision to close the embassies was based on information collected by the NSA. “If we did not have these programs, we simply would not be able to listen in on the bad guys”…to which I say cluelessness has just reached a new level of absurdity because monitoring of ‘bad guys’ has been going on for years…years before Barack HUSSEIN Obama stole the office of the presidency through voter fraud, intimidation, and media infatuation.

And then along comes RINO extraordinaire Senator Lindsey Graham who had to stick his two-cents in and say that, “the NSA program is proving its worth yet again”. NO Senator Graham it is NOT for the NSA is now spying on American citizens…law abiding, everyday American citizens instead of what was its intended objective of just spying on ‘the enemy’.

So now the NSA is being portrayed as the heroes in all this, and sadly even by some supposedly on our side (we all know who they are and I wish they’d just put the ‘D’ after their name and be done with it)…people who should know better…as embassy after embassy remain closed in countries we have normal diplomatic relations with, and all because of a ‘nonspecific threat’ picked up by the very agency that is under investigation for overstepping their bounds…kind of makes you wonder doesn’t it.

And when you really think about it all…all the events of this week…all the hype and all fear mongering…this is quite laughable in its in-your-face obviousness for even while all this is happening Obama keeps claiming that the core of al-Qaeda is, as he says, “greatly diminished”. Well if the core is “greatly diminished” why close the embassies…oh wait…I know why…he needs the threat of impending doom to divert us away from all the new Benghazi information that’s starting to leak out….he needs that threat so we’ll stop whining that we’re being spied on…as in Big Brother is watching us…by the very people who saved our embassy personnel from a horrible fate.

Sickening…it’s all quite sickening.

And while the parade of Obama mouthpieces appeared on the usual left-leaning talk shows over the weekend (shades of Susan Rice I’d say), and continue to do so as the week progresses, promoting the Obama prearranged lying rhetoric that the security threat to our embassies proves just how necessary the NSA spying program is in order to keep us safe both at home and overseas, prosecutors have now filed the first charges against militia leader Ahmed Khattalah in the ‘muslim terrorist attack’ (three words that you know you’ll never hear from Obama’s mouth) on the Benghazi consulate.

Yeah, it’s well and fine to charge the militia leader who carried out the actual attack but the prosecutors keep ignoring the man (who I believe is) behind it all…ignoring the man who told those who could help to ‘stand down’…ignoring the man who caused Benghazi in the first place with his under-the-table gun running to the al-Qaeda backed Syrian rebels…ignoring the man who deliberately and with malice left four Americans behind to be brutally murdered by his muslim brethren…yeah, keep ignoring that man and these prosecutors become just as guilty as the man they ignored…Barack HUSSEIN Obama.

And so the plot thickens as Obama hopes his manufactured embassy crisis gives the NSA hero status to counter the before unheard of spying on ‘We the People’ and takes our minds off Benghazi…well guess what…if there’s even one patriot left who will NOT let Benghazi be forgotten Barack HUSSEIN Obama will somehow someway be made to answer for leaving four Americans behind to die.

Obama's 'true' Mid-East policy...

Obamacare's Job "Growth" Trends

Mike Shedlock/ Townhall Finance

Here is an interesting chart by reader Tim Wallace that shows growth on jobs in five distinct job categories: Construction, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Retail, and Government.



click on chart for sharper image

Wallace Comments

On Government Jobs:  "Remember, this is only direct government payrolls, local, county, state and federal, and does not include the millions of contracted positions from privatization. I am still trying to find a reputable way to extract those numbers. Note the steady, steep growth in government jobs over the years, only dipping and then going flat in 2009. The growth in working age population since 1939 is about 150%, the growth in government jobs about 440%. This is more than a little skewed.

On Construction Jobs: Construction staffing levels go back to May of 1997. Since then the working age population is up by 43 million, a 21% population increase, with no increase in construction jobs.

On Manufacturing Jobs: Manufacturing jobs are now back to the levels of February 1946. Since then, working age population has increased by 144 million. Manufacturing jobs peaked around June of 1979 at 19.6 million and was about 17.3 million in early 2000. Manufacturing jobs now total approximately 12 million.

Additional Charts From St. Louis Fed

click on any chart for sharper image

Total Nonfarm Employees



Leisure and Hospitality: Total



Leisure and Hospitality: Food Service and Drinking Establishments



Of the total increase in L&H jobs, most were Food Service and Drinking Establishments jobs. These are typically low paying, part-time jobs.

Education and Health Services



Education and healthcare was a big winner in the recovery and even before. Some of these are well paying jobs such as nurses and some teaching positions. Other jobs in this sector are very low paying.

Retail Trade



These jobs tend to be low paying part-time jobs as well.

Part Time Job Growth

Finally, here is a chart from Doug Short at Advisor Perspectives on Part-Time employment.



Click on the preceding link for additional charts and analysis.

Doug comments and I concur "It is certainly possible that the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is playing a role in employer decisions about full-time versus part-time employment. The $2,000 per employee penalty for employers who do not comply with regulations has influenced some employers to begin shifting their employment policies. Last month the government pushed the start of the penalty from January 2014 to January 2015. But the anticipation of the penalty, even though delayed a year, will probably continue to influence the interim decisions of private employers."

Liberals Gear Up For Obamacare Fight

Byron York/ Townhall Columnist

While Republicans argue among themselves over what to do about Obamacare -- Defund it? Delay it? Give up the fight to repeal it? -- a coalition of wealthy and determined liberal groups is preparing to strike back at GOP efforts to stop the president's health care scheme.

 "We will deploy every tool and tactic at our disposal," said Brad Woodhouse, a former Democratic National Committee spokesman who now heads a group called Americans United for Change, during a recent conference call with reporters. "Events with supportive members (of Congress), administration officials, protests at Republican events, editorial board meetings, social media, press releases, op-eds, emails, videos, ads ... to hold Republicans accountable and go on offense in explaining (Obamacare's) benefits to people."

Woodhouse listed the groups, in addition to his own, that are part of the new effort: Health Care for America Now; the Center for American Progress; Protect Your Care; the Service Employees International Union; the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Planned Parenthood. They are just one segment, or "hub," as Woodhouse described it, in the broader effort to sell Obamacare run largely by Organizing for Action, a carry-over group from the Obama 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.

Much of the attention paid so far to the pro-Obamacare campaign has focused on efforts to promote the plan's features. What will distinguish the new group is a strategy to counter the GOP's continuing efforts against Obamacare. In assessing the defense effort, Woodhouse, who recently moved from the DNC to Americans United for Change, felt something was missing.

"The first place I noticed some space that needed to be filled was going after the GOP on Obamacare, rather than us being gone after all the time," he said in an email exchange after the conference call.

"That's why we're jumping into this."

Woodhouse wouldn't say how much money his organization has, other than it will be "enough." He's also got some resources money can't buy. For example, Stephanie Cutter, a former Obama campaign spokeswoman, will be advising the group on messaging -- at the same time she is starting a new role as co-host of CNN's revived "Crossfire." Don't look for her to stray off-message.

The problem for the group, of course, is that Americans don't like Obamacare, and haven't ever since it first took shape in the summer of 2009. The most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, for example, showed people oppose the law, 49 percent to 42 percent. And the opposition is not just Republicans and independents; the poll also revealed that support among moderate and conservative Democrats has dropped steadily. In 2010, when Obamacare was signed into law, 74 percent of moderate and conservative Democrats supported it. Now, that number is 46 percent.

Faced with those daunting numbers, the new war room seeks to build support by undermining the critics, as well as focusing on the elements of Obamacare that poll well, like the elimination of pre-existing conditions restrictions.

"We are using those individual elements of the law to our benefit, and as a hook," Eddie Vale, of Protect Your Care, said on the conference call. As far as the mandates, higher costs, and other unhappy consequences of Obamacare are concerned -- well, don't look for them to stand out in the groups' playbook.

Highlighting those will be the work of the anti-Obamacare forces set to take the field this August, when members of Congress are in their home districts for the summer recess. Shortly before Woodhouse announced his group's plans, Heritage Action, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, announced the "Defund Obamacare Town Hall Tour." Starting Aug. 19, the group will hold nine events around the country led by former Sen. Jim DeMint, now head of Heritage and a widely respected figure in conservative circles. At least one event will also feature Sen. Ted Cruz, a leader in the defunding movement.

Woodhouse would say only that "we are going to find a way to respond" to the Heritage events. But look for them to become circuses of anti- and pro-Obamacare forces, as both sides try to attract media attention in the August lull. And it all leads up to September, when the Republican effort to defund Obamacare will either happen, or it won't.

No matter how it goes, Democrats are operating from a position of strength. Republicans have passion and a good case. But Obamacare is already the law, having survived GOP efforts to kill it, a Supreme Court challenge, and mounting Democratic nervousness. If Woodhouse's group, and the others like it, can fight to a draw in August, the Republican surge will fall short -- again.

It's Bowe Tuesday...way past time to bring him home.

Op-ed:
Doing business with the enemy...with our taxpayer dollars
By: Diane Sori

Barack HUSSEIN Obama ‘s treachery is beyond anything my mere words can convey as his hatred for this country becomes more obvious with each passing day…with each passing action.

I mean here we are engaged in a war with islam…and YES we are indeed at war with islam along with their military operatives al-Qaeda and the Taliban…so what does Obama have our military doing…this miserable excuse of a president has our military awarding contracts to al-Qaeda and Taliban supporters…and ‘We the People’ are supposed to look away.

Awarding contracts to the enemy for ‘reconstruction’ of Afghanistan…the very country we freed with American blood, lives, and limbs, and the Obama administration is giving the enemy contracts…giving them money…to rebuild Afghanistan as they see fit…NOT rebuild Afghanistan for the freedoms American troops fought and died for…giving them contracts to rebuild a country that they’re trying to retake.

Hey, they don’t need to try and retake it…Obama and crew are literally handing Afghanistan back over to them.

And the ghosts of Benghazi hover over this as remember, al-Qaeda supporters had some of the contracts to guard our embassy compound and look how that turned out. Benghazi…through which I’ve said since day one that I believe Obama was running guns and weapons…US military grade guns and weapons…’under the table’ to the al-Qaeda backed and supported Syrian rebels.

Something is very wrong here…Benghazi and now Afghanistan…paramount to treason I’d say and again Congress looks away and does NOTHING…the cowards.

By claiming terminating these contracts (in fact 43 contracts with militant connections) would constitute a ‘due process rights’ violation if they were terminated based on divulged classified information or on findings by the Department of Commerce allows the contracts to keep getting awarded to the enemy…and why…because according to our rule of law NOT enough evidence exists to start suspension and debarment under federal acquisition regulations just based on the fact that al-Qaeda and the Taliban are designated enemies.

Doing business with the enemy…how far we’ve fallen under this president.

But…and this must be remembered…these now questioned contracts come through the Department of Defense…Obama’s shill Chuck Hagel’s Department of Defense…muslim supporter Chuck Hagel’s Department of Defense…kind of says it all doesn't it.

But what’s even worse than the awarding of these contracts itself is the fact that this administration is giving the enemy protection under our US laws. Who cares about the enemy’s ‘due process rights’…who gives a damn what the enemy thinks about how we award our contracts…who cares…only enemies of America who side with the enemy care…only the enemies within care…only Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his minions care.

And so we taxpayers are footing the bill for billions of dollars in reconstruction monies at the same time our troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan (and I wonder who will oversee these monies once we have completely withdrawn…hmmm…)…$10.7 billion for fiscal year 2014 alone to cover such things as improving local governments to building roads and schools (our dollars being given to local governments being infiltrated by the Taliban and schools teaching hatred of America)…$30 billion for contracts to build, train and sustain the totally useless Afghan army…$47 million on a contracted program to what is called 'stabilize Afghanistan' yet the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the very source of the instability, have NOT been dealt with except to give them the very contracts and monies to cause even more trouble.

And so Barack HUSSEIN Obama is actually funding America’s enemies with our taxpayer dollars funneled through military contracts…and as long as the enemy gets funding and military supplies via this administration giving them and their supporters these contracts they will indeed continue to recruit new members, continue their terrorist actions throughout the region, and continue to pose a threat to our homeland…but hey, Obama said al-Qaeda was decimated and on the run…but the thing is they're on the run to America.

And no one in Congress does a damn thing about it...no one.