Standard Missile Shows Versatility with “Juliet” Flight Test

During flight test “Juliet,” the Navy examined the missile's ability to intercept a subsonic, low- altitude target over land. Juliet is one of 10 follow-on operational test and evaluation (FOT&E) events planned for SM-6's missile performance and demonstration.
 

 "This event demonstrated SM-6's ability to detect and engage a slow moving target in the presence of complex land clutter," said Jim Schuh, Anti-Air Warfare Missiles technical director at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, which is among the Navy's SM-6 partners. "It is another victory for this very versatile weapon."
 

 The SM-6 provides an over-the-horizon engagement capability when launched from an Aegis warship. It uses the latest in hardware and software missile technology to provide needed capabilities against evolving threats.
 

 "This is an important achievement for Naval warfare," said Capt. Michael Ladner, Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems 3.0 Program Manager. "SM-6 is undoubtedly the most advanced anti-air missile the Navy has ever produced and delivered to our Sailors."
 

 The SM-6 is the sixth variant of the Standard Missile family developed for the Navy with Raytheon Missiles Systems. Last June, Raytheon was awarded a $275 million contract modification covering SM-6's all-up round production and its spares. The SM-6 program has been in development for seven years and achieved Initial Operational Capability in November 2013. It is now undergoing FOT&E, which is projected to be completed during the second quarter of FY16.
 

 PEO IWS is an affiliated Program Executive Office of the Naval Sea Systems Command.  IWS is responsible for spearheading surface ship and submarine combat technologies and systems, and for implementing Navy enterprise solutions across ship platforms

Obama: Russia is 'on the wrong side of history' in Ukraine

The world believes Russia's operations on Ukraine's territory violate international law, U.S. President Barack Obama said.

"The world is largely united in recognizing that the steps Russia has taken are a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty, their territorial integrity – that they're a violation of international law," Obama said at the White House on Monday.

The U.S. President stressed that Russia is 'on the wrong side of history' in Ukraine.

Obama called on U.S. Congress to adopt an assistance package to the Ukrainian government as a 'first order of business.'

America Gears Up For Cyber War Offensive

The U.S. Department of Defense has revealed that it is now spending $30 million to set up offensive Cyber War operations in the army and air force. Two-thirds of the money is being spent by the air force which has traditionally taken the lead in Cyber War matters. The money is being spent mainly to buy hardware for the hackers, as well as software tools.

 

Offensive Cyber War involves a lot more than just trying to hack your way into specific enemy computers and networks. First you have to find out what you are up against. This begins with mapping where everything on enemy networks is. China was noted doing this back in 2005 and the mapping they were doing was a prerequisite to a major attack on non-Chinese systems that is still underway. 

 

After the initial mapping you select the best targets. This is done by determining which systems yield the best impact (which ones have the most valuable information and/or are the most vulnerable). 

Then you go in and collect more information on specific attacks on military targets. After that you carry out the attacks. 

 

The mapping is part of a military operation and the Chinese know that. You have to assume they will respond to the mapping, which is why the mapping is a constant process. Mapping is also done by professional Internet criminals in preparation for their more mercenary attacks (Internet fraud). Over the last decade Internet fraud has been largely taken over by highly disciplined gangs, rather than lots of individual hackers. The gangs are well organized, and have the resources to carry out extensive mapping operations. Thus many periods of heavy mapping activity is usually a prelude to major Internet based heists. Even government and military sites are valuable targets for the Internet hacking gangs, because valuable information can be sold on the black market. Governments have been known to hire the gangs for specific jobs, or simply let it be known on the black market (for data stolen by hackers) that certain types of data held by some governments will fetch a particularly high price.

The most valuable information in Cyber War offensive operations is data from enemy hackers. 

Stealing their tools and data (especially mapping and target selection data) is the most valuable prize of all. A lot of it is kept off line to prevent that, but one function of mapping is to discover where someone may have screwed up and left some valuable information available via the Internet. 

 

Offensive Cyber War is a full time process, even when your people are not actually trying to hack their way into an enemy site. The Department of Defense announcement of the $30 million budget was largely to build public support for these operations and ensure that the money will keep coming.

US unveils major arms deal with Israel, Saudi, UAE

The United States unveiled plans Friday to sell $10 billion worth of advanced missiles and aircraft to Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in a bid to counter the threat posed by Iran.

It was highly unusual for the Pentagon to announce an arms deal covering three countries and the move seemed to be designed to send a warning to Iran that Washington's partners in the region were beefing up their military power.

 

But officials insisted the arms package did not reflect any shift in US policy on Iran.

The elaborate deal would provide Israel with anti-radiation missiles designed to take out enemy air defenses, radar for fighter jets, aerial refueling tankers and Osprey V-22 tilt-rotor transport aircraft, defense officials told reporters.

Israel would be the first foreign country to be allowed to buy the US military's Osprey, which can take off and land like a helicopter but fly with the speed of a plane, officials said.

The deal "not only sustains but augments Israel's qualitative military edge," said a senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Under the package, which is still being finalized, the US government will sell 26 F-16 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates as well as sophisticated missiles for the warplanes, which officials would not specify.

The UAE part of the arms deal comes to nearly $5 billion, officials said.

Saudi Arabia, which had already agreed to buy 84 F-15 fighters in 2010, would purchase the same advanced missiles provided to the United Arab Emirates, allowing Saudi fighters to strike ground targets at a safe distance.

Pentagon officials unveiled the deal a day before Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's departure on a week-long trip to the region, with stops in Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Bolstering Israel's air power with crucial mid-air refueling tankers and missiles is sure to fuel speculation that Washington could be helping Israel to prepare for a preemptive strike against Iran.

But officials said it would be months or more for the weapons and aircraft to be delivered. They also insisted the hardware could be used for a variety of missions and was not intended to address a particular country or specific threat.

"This doesn't signal a change in US policy towards Iran," said the defense official.

But the UAE and the Saudi leadership are deeply concerned over Iran's nuclear and missile programs while Israel has said it may be forced to take preemptive military action if it believes Iran is close to having an atomic bomb.

The arms sales followed months of intense "shuttle diplomacy" by the Pentagon among the three countries, officials said, with the Americans seeking to boost the capabilities of Arab allies while maintaining a longstanding US commitment to ensure Israel enjoys military superiority in the region.

"This is one of the most complex and carefully orchestrated arms packages in American history," said the defense official.

Pentagon Weighs Refurbishing or Replacing Ballistic Missiles

The U.S. Defense Department is weighing the feasibility of extending the service life of the nation’s aging Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles versus replacing them in coming decades with brand new nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.

The 450 Minuteman 3s are expected to last through 2030, but might be retained longer if they can be further refurbished, senior Pentagon officials said at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. The weapons were first deployed in 1970 and sit on alert in underground silos at three different bases in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.

The Air Force, which fields and maintains the missiles, is “very carefully analyzing exactly how the current system is degrading, so that they have a much better understanding of how they might extend the life of this [ICBM], if that is the alternative that’s chosen,” Madelyn Creedon, assistant Defense secretary for global affairs, told the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee in testimony alongside other civilian and military leaders.

The analysis, which is to begin in July after some “bureaucratic delays,” will conclude late next year, said Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, who heads Air Force Global Strike Command. The assessment will examine whether to undertake a “program to further extend the life of the Minuteman 3 or to develop a follow-on ICBM,” Creedon elaborated in her written testimony.

Many details about the various modernization options and their projected costs -- first examined in an initial Capabilities Based Assessment finalized last October -- remain classified. However, officials say key factors under study include whether to place any new ICBMs in fixed launch silos or make them mobile on trucks or other vehicles; which warhead to mate with the delivery vehicles; and how to modernize these systems most affordably.

Whether the country’s future ICBM -- dubbed the “Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent -- is an updated Minuteman or a totally new design, it appears the missile will share quite a bit of hardware in common with the Navy’s future ballistic missile for basing aboard submarines, Defense officials say.

Which option ultimately is selected, according to experts, might come down to a question that many automobile owners would find familiar: Does it make more sense to save upfront investment by continuing to operate an old design with swapped-out parts and upgrades, or to invest instead in a new system with more up-to-date design efficiencies that could be easier to maintain in the long run?

Another question facing the Minuteman 3’s overseers and custodians is whether the missiles, even after some recent renovations, could actually function through 2030. At the hearing, Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) asked if the Minuteman might age out sooner unless near-term steps are taken to extend its service life.

“I am confident we can get the missile, as it is, to 2030 with the programs that we have in place, or the programs that we don’t have funded yet but plan to pursue in the next couple years,” responded Kowalski, whose command is based in Louisiana.

For example, he said, there is some question about whether the casings around the missile propellant might degrade early, a possibility that could lead to leaks or malfunctions. If the existing propulsion unit lasts an estimated 30 years, no refurbishment would be needed until 2025 or later, he said. However, less longevity in the technology could demand earlier intervention.

Of the Minuteman’s three rocket stages, the third motor is attracting most concern. However, there is no indication to date of any degradation of the materials with which it is made -- not even any “adverse trends” -- which has led many officials to conclude that the already overhauled propulsion system might even last a half-decade or more beyond an estimated 30-year lifespan, one issue expert said.

The expert asked not to be named in discussing the sensitive issue of how long a nuclear-armed system might remain viable.

The Minuteman 3 missile guidance system also could require a service-life extension between now and 2030, Kowalski said.

This, too, is a question under internal debate, according to the issue expert. The Air Force estimate is that the current guidance system -- which helps direct a warhead to its target -- will function for another 17 years. However, some have raised questions about whether existing electronics might fail earlier and should be traded out for updated replacements, this source said.

Kowalski noted in written testimony that the overall service life initially anticipated for the Minuteman 3 was just 10 years, but the missile has since “proven its value in deterrence well beyond the platform’s intended lifespan."

The Air Force is studying how any near-term maintenance for the deployed Minuteman 3s, if needed, would relate to the missile’s eventual replacement, the commander said at the hearing.

“All of the things that we plan to invest in the Minuteman 3 are specific subsystems that we intend to dovetail into the ground-based strategic deterrent, the follow-on [ICBM],” said the three-star general, adding that the Pentagon intends to ensure “we are not paying for the same thing twice.”

Some have suggested the United States might safely eliminate the ICBM leg of the nation’s nuclear triad, and rely instead on a combination of dual-capable, nuclear-conventional bomber aircraft and ballistic missiles aboard highly survivable submarines at sea.

However, Kowalski suggested that as the capability to field atomic arms and ballistic missiles proliferates around the globe, Washington’s ICBM arsenal remains a crucial bulwark against possible nuclear blackmail or coercion threats.

“There are 450 hardened launch facilities in the heartland of this country,” he said. “And if we did not have those, we’d need to think through what that scenario looks like in 15 or 20 years.”

Creedon was asked about a recent Obama administration decision to avoid further escalating tensions with North Korea by rescheduling a Minuteman 3 test launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., which had been slated for last week.

“We decided it was wise to postpone for a while the last launch because of the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” she said. “It was a situation that we just wanted to deal with in a way that we didn’t increase the provocation cycle” in the region, she said.

Plans are now for the next Minuteman 3 test flight to occur between May 21 and 23, which would effectively resume the normal launch schedule where it left off, Creedon said.

Star Wars or Star Peace?

35 years after George Lucas’s Star Wars was released, there is a greater possibility of a space battle outside the realm of Hollywood.

Two new military satellites, one American, the other Russian, were recently launched into orbit. There is nothing particularly newsworthy about this since different satellites are constantly being sent up into space, but still, the event is yet another indication that space is becoming more militarised. If we are to prevent space from turning into a new kind of warzone, it is essential that international agreements to ban space armaments are developed and signed as a matter of urgency. 

Back in 1977, no one would ever have believed George Lucas’s Star Wars Trilogy could become a reality. But today, 35 years after the film was first released, there is apparently a greater possibility of a space battle happening outside the realm of Hollywood fantasy. Space has become a central part of the military and defence policies in many of the world’s biggest states. 

In the future a country at war will not try to occupy enemy territory directly. Instead it will concentrate on finding a country’s weak spots before issuing calculated blows. Ground troops and armoured vehicles will soon become a thing of the past, and strategic aviation is also set to take a back seat in the military campaigns of the future. Our understanding of ‘strategic armament’ has shifted from classic ‘nuclear defence triads’ towards non-nuclear armaments which rely on high-precision weapons systems and various means of deployment.    

Wars of the future are expected to involve a lot of orbiters to ensure a country’s security: satellite reconnaissance, warning, forecasting and targeting systems – objects which themselves will need to be defended and armed.

The US is making huge investments into satellite technology. Back in 2009 US Defence Minister Robert Gates convinced Congress to designate a sum of $10.7 billion to developing this field. His successor in Barack Obama’s administration, Leon Panetta, clearly has no intention of lowering this sum.  

Authoritative military analysts like for example, General Vladimir Slipchenko (who recently passed away), predict that by 2020 the world’s leading countries will have between 70,000-90,000 precision weapons. We can only imagine the number of satellite systems these will require. And without satellites, the cruise missiles and smart bombs that can be programmed to wipe out something as small as a mosquito are no more than useless lumps of metal. 

And so it is only a matter of time before orbital systems are developed that will be able to independently hit targets in space, in the atmosphere or on the Earth itself. But just because the technology exists (or soon will do) it does not make it necessary to send military space stations into orbit, and this certainly should not mean that reconnaissance or meteorological satellites should have to be armed. In reality, the problems of satellite defence could be effectively dealt with from Earth. 

“Whoever owns space also owns the world,” says the former Chief of Arms of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Anatoly Sitnov. But people in the military are the first to admit that Russia is lagging far behind the USA when it comes to space systems…

At the moment the sky is home to around 500 American orbiters, and just 100 Russian ones. According to Russian experts the American satellite fleet is more than four times the size of the Russia’s. Plus which, not all of Russia’s orbiters are in good working condition.  In the middle of June the experimental space-craft X-37B completed a successful autonomous landing after more than 15 months orbiting the Earth. X-37B’s Programme Manager Lt Col Tom McIntyre noted that following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, the X-37B OTV programme would bring “a singular capability to space technology development.”  The Americans do not hide the fact that this sort of technology could first and foremost be applied to create new armament opportunities. 

In this respect Russia’s position is very different from that of the Americans. In May 2008 Commander of the Space Forces General Vladimir Popovkin (who is now in charge of Roscosmos) said: “We are categorically against placing or launching any sort of armaments into space, because space is one of the few areas where there are no borders. Introducing arms to space will upset the balance in the world.”

According to Popovkin space systems and complexes are technically very difficult and could easily fail. “As the Commander of Space Forces (in this case) I cannot guarantee that the object’s failure was not caused by the actions of a potential enemy”. 

According to military experts, strategic nuclear stability, i.e. guarantees against a sudden nuclear missile strike, rely heavily on the efficacy of early warning satellites that detect missile launches, and also on the constant work of reconnaissance satellites. If one of these orbiters ceases to function, the security of the state that launched it may end up in jeopardy. This could in turn create an atmosphere of distrust and uncertainty, which could ultimately lead to a military catastrophe.

It would seem that Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo, one of the most important characters in the Star Wars films, was right when he said that the main secret of the film’s success was that it was “not about space, but about people; this is primarily a film about human relationships.” It is up to us humans to decide whether space shall remain as a peaceful realm or whether it will become another arena for military conflict.

Moscow Issues Point-of-No-Return Warning on Missile Defense

Russia and the United States could still reach agreement on the missile defense issue but time is running out, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday.

“When the implementation of the third and then fourth and subsequent stages of the phased adaptive approach on the [U.S.] global defense system begins, the situation could alter for us,” Sergei Ryabkov said.

He reiterated Moscow’s demand for legally binding guarantees that U.S. and NATO missiles will not be aimed at Russia, warning that otherwise unspecified “compensatory” countermeasures would follow.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow indicated on Thursday that a compromise with Moscow on the U.S. missile defense system in Europe is possible, despite the current deadlock.

Several prominent Russian researchers and military experts have recently spoken out in support of NATO’s claims that the alliance’s plans do not target Russia, Vershbow noted, adding that their proposals could help Moscow and Brussels find common ground on the issue.

Makers of anti-Islamic movie influenced by preacher

Media crews gather outside the home of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who has been linked by U.S. federal authorities to the production of the anti-Muslim movie "Innocence of Muslims", in Cerritos, California September 14, 2012.

The makers of an anti-Islamic movie that set off violent anti-US protests in the Arab world were influenced by a southern California-based Coptic preacher, who made a business out of insults to the Prophet Mohammed, The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper said this preacher named Zakaria Botros Henein teaches that Mohammed was a necrophile, a homosexual and a pedophile.

He has not been directly linked to the film "Innocence of Muslims," but the three men behind the movie were all supporters of his views, the report said. Steve Klein, a Christian who worked on the script, said Botros was "a close friend" and compared him favorably to US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, the paper noted.

Joseph Nassralla, the head of a Christian charity in Duarte where part of the movie was shot, praised Botros's website, FatherZakaria.net.

Meanwhile, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who organized the production, spoke openly of his devotion to the cleric while in federal prison, The Times pointed out.

Botros's son, Benyamin, said his father was unavailable, according to the report.

"I cannot tell you where he is because his life is in danger," The Times quoted the son as saying.

However Botros defended the movie on the Arabic satellite TV station Alfady that he runs in California -- and criticized the violent reaction to the film, the paper said.

According to the report, Botros was jailed several times in his native Egypt for trying to convert Muslims to Christianity and eventually was exiled.

In Australia, he began an online ministry that insisted that Islam was a misguided religion, the paper said.

As a result, Al-Qaeda allegedly issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for his death and offering $60 million to his killer, The Times said.

He relocated to Huntington Beach in southern California in the early 2000s and launched the Alfady network, the paper noted.

"God let me to leave Egypt in order to speak freely and openly, explaining the Islam, saving Muslims from the bondage of the Islam," he said in one of his online sermons. "Islam is a religion? I say no. Islam is an ideology. Islam is a state before it is a religion." "Innocence of Muslims" was produced by a US religious group called Media for Christ and reportedly directed by a pornographer.

Nakoula, a US-based Egyptian Coptic Christian, has previously admitted uploading the trailer on the Internet.

In 2010 he was convicted of defrauding US banks by opening false accounts and passing bad checks, court documents show, and he served one year before being released on probation.

Early on Saturday US federal authorities questioned Nakoula, the alleged brains behind the film that has inflamed much of the Muslim world by lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, but quickly released him.

Nakoula was "given a ride" from his southern California home to the interview shortly after midnight, with investigators seeking to establish if he broke the terms of his probation over a bank fraud conspiracy, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Don Walker told AFP.

A man later emerged from the police station wearing a coat, hat, scarf and glasses, a local NBC News affiliate reported.

The film was promoted by a network of right-wing Coptic and Evangelical Christians with a radical anti-Muslim agenda, such as Terry Jones, a Florida pastor notorious for publicly burning a Koran.

Klein, a Vietnam war veteran and founder of Courageous Christians United, which is notorious for protests outside mosques and Mormon temples, was acting as "consultant." "He is not only a gifted preacher -- he is bold, a very brave man, Klein wrote about Botros in his book "Is Islam Compatible With the Constitution?" "Today, Father Zakaria and I are close friends," he continued. "He has taught me much -- including a sense of bravery as rare as those who earn Medals of Honor."

US identifies anti-Muslim filmmaker

A police car and media are seen outside the home believed to be the residence of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the man behind the controversial film "Innocence of Muslims."

Federal authorities have identified a Coptic Christian in southern California who is on probation after his conviction for financial crimes as the key figure behind the anti-Muslim film that ignited mob violence against U.S. embassies across the Mideast, a U.S. law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The official said Thursday that authorities had concluded that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was behind "Innocence of Muslims," a film that denigrated Islam and the prophet Muhammad and sparked protests earlier this week in Egypt, Libya and most recently in Yemen. It was not immediately clear whether Nakoula was the target of a criminal investigation or part of the broader investigation into the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya during a terrorist attack.

Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed Thursday that Justice Department officials were investigating the deaths, which occurred during an attack on the American mission in Benghazi.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation, said Nakoula was connected to the persona of Sam Bacile, a man who initially told the AP he was the film’s writer and director. But Bacile turned out to be a false identity, and the AP traced a cellphone number Bacile used to a southern California house where it located and interviewed Nakoula.

Bacile initially told AP he was Jewish and Israeli, although Israeli officials said they had no records of such a citizen. Others involved in the film said his statements were contrived, as evidence mounted that the film’s key player was a Coptic Christian with a checkered past.

Nakoula told the AP in an interview outside Los Angeles on Wednesday that he managed logistics for the company that produced the film. Nakoula denied he was Bacile and said he did not direct the film, though he said he knew Bacile.

Federal court papers filed against Nakoula in a 2010 criminal prosecution noted that he had used numerous aliases, including Nicola Bacily, Robert Bacily, Erwin Salameh and others.

During a conversation outside his home, Nakoula offered his driver’s license to show his identity but kept his thumb over his middle name, Basseley. Records checks by the AP subsequently found that middle name as well as other connections to the Bacile persona.

The AP located the man calling himself Bacile after obtaining his cellphone number from Morris Sadek, a conservative Coptic Christian in the U.S. who has promoted the anti-Muslim film in recent days on his website. Egypt’s Christian Coptic populace has long decried what they describe as a history of discrimination and occasional violence from the country’s Muslim majority.

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., who sparked outrage in the Arab world when he burned Qurans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, said he spoke with the movie’s director on the phone Wednesday and prayed for him. Jones said he has not met the filmmaker in person but added that the man contacted him a few weeks ago about promoting the movie. Jones and others who have dealt with the filmmaker said Wednesday that Bacile was hiding his real identity.

"I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name," Jones said. "He is definitely in hiding and does not reveal his identity."

The YouTube account under the username "Sam Bacile" was used to publish excerpts of the provocative movie in July and was used to post comments online as recently as Tuesday, including this defense of the film written in Arabic: "It is a 100 percent American movie, you cows."

Nakoula, who talked guardedly with AP about his role, pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and was ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Leigh Williams said Nakoula set up fraudulent bank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers; then, checks from those accounts would be deposited into other bogus accounts from which Nakoula would withdraw money at ATM machines.

It was "basically a check-kiting scheme," the prosecutor told the AP. "You try to get the money out of the bank before the bank realizes they are drawn from a fraudulent account. There basically is no money."

Prior to his bank fraud conviction, Nakoula struggled with a series of financial problems in recent years, according to California state tax and bankruptcy records. In June 2006, a $191,000 tax lien was filed against him in the Los Angeles County Recorder of Deeds office. In 1997, a $106,000 lien was filed against him in Orange County.

American actors and actresses who appeared in "Innocence of Muslims" issued a joint statement Wednesday saying they were misled about the project and alleged that some of their dialogue was crudely dubbed during post-production.

In the English-language version of the trailer, direct references to Muhammad appear to be the result of post-production changes to the movie. Either actors aren’t seen when the name "Muhammad" is spoken in the overdubbed sound, or they appear to be mouthing something else as the name of the prophet is spoken.

"The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer," said the statement, obtained by the Los Angeles Times. "We are 100 percent not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."

One of the actresses, Cindy Lee Garcia, told KERO-TV in Bakersfield that the film was originally titled "Desert Warriors" and the script did not contain offensive references to Islam.

"When I found out this movie had caused all this havoc, I called Sam and asked him why, what happened, why did he do this? I said, ’Why did you do this to us, to me and to us?’ And he said, ’Tell the world that it wasn’t you that did it, it was me, the one who wrote the script, because I’m tired of the radical Muslims running around killing everyone,’" she said.

Garcia said the director, who called himself Sam Bacile, told her then that he was Egyptian.

The man identifying himself as Bacile told the AP he was an Israeli-born, 56-year-old Jewish writer and director. But a Christian activist involved in the film project, Steve Klein, told the AP on Wednesday that Bacile was a pseudonym and that the man was Christian. Klein had told the AP on Tuesday that the filmmaker was an Israeli Jew who was concerned for family members who live in Egypt.

About 15 key players from the Middle East - people from Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran, and a couple of Coptic Christians from Egypt - worked on the film, Klein said.

"Most of them won’t tell me their real names because they’re terrified," Klein said.

Bishop Serapion of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Los Angeles said Thursday that the church opposes the views expressed in the inflammatory movie, and, initially, none of his priests recognized Nakoula as a congregant. On Thursday morning, Nakoula called Serapion and said he had attended services at the church in Bellflower, Calif.

Serapion told the AP that Nakoula immediately claimed innocence on the phone call, saying there had been a mix-up with his name and he had no involvement with the movie.

"This is the first sentence he mentioned, that is ’I want to tell you I am not part of it,’" said Serapion.

Serapion told the AP he confirmed with the priest in Bellflower that Nakoula had once gone to the parish but hadn’t been to services in a very long time.

Serapion said only "God knows" if Nakoula was truthful, but the holy man told Nakoula the filmmaker must take responsibility.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, said Klein is a former Marine and longtime religious-right activist who has helped train paramilitary militias at a California church. It described Klein as founder of Courageous Christians United, which conducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques.

Google Inc., which owns YouTube, pulled down the video Wednesday in Egypt, citing a legal complaint. It was still accessible in the U.S. and other countries.