The Justice Department has apparently decided not to include in its prosecution of captured Benghazi suspect Ahmed Abu Khattallah the argument that he was inspired by an anti-Muhammad video. Based on the mounting evidence that the Justice Department was involved with the filmmaker at the time of the video’s production, this news serves as an interesting development.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was beholden to Holder’s Justice Department beginning in June of 2010. As Shoebat.com has reported on at length, the stated reason for Nakoula’s lighter sentence was not the real reason for it.
The Benghazi attacks being about a video has become a sword that cuts both ways for the Obama administration. On one hand, successfully doing so would have meant an effective assault on the first amendment, which is precisely what the Muslim world was attempting to do by pointing to the video. As Shoebat.com has reported, Hillary Clinton was very active in this regard when she kicked off a series of meetings designed to quash criticism of Islam. On the other hand, evidence of the administration’s complicity in the producing and promoting the video itself means that by blaming the video, Obama implicates his administration in the deaths of four Americans.
That is why the announcement that the newly released criminal complaint against Ahmed Abu Khattallah does not blame the video could be significant. In fact, the Justice Department appears to be running away from that issue. According to one news report:
The Justice Department’s indictment spells out a calculated conspiracy by Ahmed Abu Khatallah and associates to attack the U.S. diplomatic mission and CIA annex, which killed four Americans. The indictment might be viewed as a death knell for a theory that the attack resulted from a spontaneous protest against a U.S.-produced video.
If there has been one figure with egg on his face when it comes to pushing the video narrative, it may be New York Times’ Cairo Bureau Chief David Kirkpatrick. Last December, he wrote a lengthy missive and insisted that the Benghazi attack was about the video. Much of Kirkpatrick’s report was debunked by a Senate Select Committee Intelligence (SSCI) report released a few weeks later.
Nakoula the filmmaker contacted Shoebat.com by phone at about this time as well. He wanted me to help him clear the name of his partner in crime, my cousin Eiad Salameh, the fugitive Nakoula was supposed to help the FBI catch based on the plea agreement in June of 2010.
We know this stated reason for Nakoula’s lighter sentence was not the real reason because in January of 2011, the Canadian Peel Police picked up Eiad but the FBI wouldn’t take him. For that matter, why would a supposed Coptic Christian (Nakoula) want to clear the name of a Muslim fundamentalist who hates Copts?
Last month, it was learned that Nakoula told one of the actors who appeared in the anti-Muhammad video that he is a Muslim.
Earlier this month, Kirkpatrick was at it again, reporting that the video was the inspiration for Khattallah’s involvement in the attack. The unsealed federal complaint once again serves as a rebuke of Kirkpatrick.
When it comes to the Obama administration’s alleged involvement in the video’s production – through Nakoula – and promotion prior to the Benghazi attacks, the Justice Department’s apparent decision to run away from the video narrative may indicate it’s time for others to start running toward it.