Right-Wing Terror Film Delivered To Swing-State NYTimes Readers

This past Sunday, in presidential-election swing states across the country, the New York Times came bundled with a dvd of the documentary "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," a controversial film on the threat Islamic terrorism. The documentary is set for release to retail outlets this week -- the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks -- but has been shown at college campuses for nearly a year now, presented largely by Jewish student organizations and as part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, the national "conservative campus protest" organized and sponsored last fall by conservative author David Horowitz's Freedom Center.

The dvd was an "insert" with the Sunday newspaper, contracted no doubt with the New York Times marketing department as an advertisement the way coupons for local stores are often inserted in nationally distributed publications. The editorial side of the paper likely had little or no knowledge that the controversial dvd would be included with the paper. The provenance of the film remains somewhat mysterious. The website lists only the filmmakers, Wayne Kopping and Raphael Shore. The dvd packaging included with the Times lists the producers as Peter Mier and Raphael Shore. The project is listed as "concieved by Peter Mier. At this point, it is unclear who planned and paid for the film's bundling with the New York Times and its distribution to homes in election-year swing states. "The Clarion Fund" is listed with contact information below the credits.

Arriving at the doorstep together, the package was alarming. The film is made to appear as a news-style documentary and includes splashy sell-lines that shout "As seen on CNN and FOX News by more than 20 million viewers worldwide." Indeed, the incendiary packaging is a reflection of the contents of the film. The "O" in "Obsession" is formed with the Islamic crescent moon and a star, and the closing "N" is tricked up with a silhouette of an automatic rifle. Soft focus-images of Middle Easterners, the World Trade Center, a firefighter on a ladder and the American flag all bathed in golden light.

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