Islam

KABUL, Afghanistan - Across Afghanistan, at combat outposts in the wind-scoured desert and the jagged mountains, it was daily routine: A small group of Afghan police or soldiers and Western ground troops would gather their gear and set out together on a foot patrol or a village visit. Until now. In its most sweeping response yet to "insider" shootings that have seen 51 Western troops killed this year by Afghans in uniform, the NATO force is halting, at least temporarily, joint patrols and other small-unit ground operations by Afghan and foreign troops unless specifically approved by a high-ranking regional commander, military officials said Tuesday.

Last week, an acquaintance sent me a link to an article on the Atlantic's website about "Innocence of Muslims," the anti-Islam film that has provoked so much violence in the Middle East. To my horror, the story prominently featured a picture of me. When I watched the film clip, I was even more appalled. A year earlier, I had done two days of acting in a film I'd been told would be called "Desert Warrior. " The images were clearly from that film, but my words had been replaced by words I would have never uttered, and the resulting film was something I would never have agreed to participate in. Here's how it happened.

“Muslim rage” is the headline, and it's brought the country full circle. To recap: Americans made a grotesque video about Islam, violent protests ensued, and now other Americans have condemned Muslims for reacting poorly. On Monday, Tina Brown's Newsweek released a cover once again intended to provoke, outrage, create buzz and sell copies   of the magazine: "MUSLIM RAGE," the new cover reads in bold font, "HOW I SURVIVED IT, HOW WE CAN END IT. " The text straddles a highly unflattering picture of screaming Muslim men in Morocco.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Does a prince's presence endanger those serving alongside him? The Taliban launched a rare all-out assault on the heavily fortified NATO base in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province where Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, is deployed. The attack lasted into the early hours of Saturday and left two U.S. Marines dead, military officials said. Afterward, a Taliban spokesman reiterated the group's desire to kill or capture Queen Elizabeth II's grandson.

The Southern California men behind the anti-Islamic movie that has enraged the Arab world were influenced by a fiery Coptic cleric who owns a home in Huntington Beach and is known around the globe for insults to the prophet Muhammad that are strikingly similar to those in the film. The preacher, Zakaria Botros Henein, sometimes called Islam's Public Enemy No. 1, teaches that Muhammad was a necrophile, a homosexual and a pedophile. He has not been linked to "Innocence of Muslims," but the three disparate figures who have emerged as key forces behind the movie are all devotees of his views.

Last summer, Los Angeles actor Tim Dax answered an ad for the role of a muscular warrior in what was billed as a desert adventure film on the casting website Actors Access. He worked for a week and half, at a rate of $75 a day, on a low-budget set tucked into a Monrovia strip mall. But for Dax, this would not turn out to be just another quickie acting gig. On Tuesday morning, he woke up to find himself at the center of an international crisis when the movie he thought he had made had been transformed into a very different production.

The chaotic violence that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three American staffers in Libya, and that resulted in a mob storming the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, has been garbed in religious language and references. However, the religious rhetoric from all corners distracts from the real issues: serious domestic political fragmentation in Libya and Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and America's place in the region. Media attention has focused on a polemic 14-minute movie trailer for "Innocence of Muslims" posted on YouTube, which prompted protests in Benghazi and Cairo.

One ran a low-profile Christian charity from a sleepy suburb east of Los Angeles. The other was a financially strapped gas station operator just out of federal prison. In the last year, these men, both Egyptian immigrants, became unlikely collaborators in an endeavor that has shaken the stability of the Middle East. Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, the president of the Duarte-based charity Media for Christ, and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a convicted felon from Cerritos, emerged Thursday as forces behind "Innocence of Muslims.

A person who identified himself as a crew member who worked on the anti-Islam movie that apparently sparked attacks on U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya said he and the rest of the cast and crew were misled about the purpose of the film. “We just want this to go away," said the person who contacted The Times by email Wednesday. He said he did not want to be identified because he feared his life was in danger. "We feel extremely taken advantage of and fear for our safety.” "Innocence of Muslims," portions of which first appeared on YouTube two months ago, has inspired violence, including the murder Tuesday of the U.S. ambassador in Libya, for its depiction of Muhammad as a bloodthirsty womanizer and child abuser.

The movie that apparently sparked attacks on U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya, leading to the death Tuesday of the U.S. ambassador in Libya, looks to be an amateur endeavor made by a filmmaker who is probably working under a pseudonym. Nearly 14 minutes of scenes from a movie titled “Innocence of Muslims” and credited to a writer-director who calls himself Sam Bacile were posted on YouTube two months ago. The clumsily assembled footage features actors in fake beards stiffly delivering lines about the sins of Muhammad on a village set against a greenscreen-created desert backdrop.