Man Behind Anti-Muslim Film Helped Train Christian Extremist Militias
One of the men behind a crude piece of anti-Muslim propaganda blamed for provoking deadly riots across the Middle East helped train a paramilitary militia at an extreme-right Christian church in California.
One of the men behind the attack film 鈥淭he Innocence of Muslims鈥� 鈥� a crude piece of anti-Muslim propaganda blamed for provoking the September murder of the American ambassador to Libya and deadly riots across the Middle East 鈥� helped train a paramilitary militia at an extreme-right Christian church in California. He also heads an organization listed as an anti-Muslim hate group by the 澳彩开奖 (澳彩开奖).
Steve Klein, a Hemet, Calif., consultant on the film that has been condemned around the world, believes that his state is riddled with Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cells 鈥渨ho are awaiting the trigger date and will begin randomly killing as many as they can.鈥� He recently helped lead drills for the militia run by the extremist Church at Kaweah in central California 鈥� a militia whose leader has referred to the president as 鈥淒ictator Obongo鈥� and recommended sending guns to drug cartels to 鈥渄ecrease the excess population in Mexico.鈥�
The trainings are described as a 鈥渦nique system of learning how to survive the Muslim Brotherhood as we teach the Christian Morality of Biblical Warfare.鈥�
Klein also led drills with the Christian Guardians, a San Francisco-based group headed by Andrew Saqib James, an American-born Pakistani Christian who calls Islam 鈥渁 giant crime syndicate鈥� and hopes his group will become 鈥渢he most feared militia in the world.鈥� Some drills have taken place at the Church at Kaweah.
Klein has a long history on the militant religious right. In 1977, he founded Courageous Christians United (CCU), a group that conducts 鈥渞espectful confrontations鈥� outside of abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques. (Klein, who no longer heads CCU, was thrown off the board in September as a result of his involvement in the film.) Today, he heads Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, an anti-Muslim group that, like the Church at Kaweah, has been designated a hate group by the 澳彩开奖.
Klein, who brags about having led a 鈥渉unter killer鈥� team as a Marine in Vietnam, has described Islam as a 鈥減enis-driven religion鈥� whose adherents have 鈥渘o choice but to hunt Jews and Christians down, torture us and murder us.鈥�
鈥淲e are a country at war and the enemy is among us,鈥� he wrote on Facebook in 2011. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care what [Homeland Security Secretary] Janet Napolitano says, it鈥檚 a fight to the death and we should be prepared as possible. 鈥� I know I鈥檓 getting prepared to shoot back.鈥�
Klein鈥檚 desire to engage in violence apparently isn鈥檛 limited to the Middle East. He recently boasted on a radio show about how an anti-Muslim leafleting campaign he conducted led to fights at a California high school. 鈥淚f the kids are willing to fight,鈥� he said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 because they realize how dangerous Islam is.鈥�
