Muslim Children Gassed at Dayton Mosque After Obsession DVD Hits Ohio

Friday, September 26th ended a week in which thousands of copies of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West -- the fear-mongering, anti-Muslim documentary being distributed by the millions in swing states via DVDs inserted in major newspapers and through the U.S. mail -- were distributed by mail in Ohio. The same day, a "chemical irritant" was sprayed through a window of the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton, where 300 people were gathered for a Ramadan prayer service. The room that the chemical was sprayed into was the room where babies and children were being kept while their mothers were engaged in prayers. This, apparently, is what the scare tactic political campaigning of John McCain's supporters has led to -- Americans perpetrating a terrorist attack against innocent children on American soil.

I read the story as reported by the Dayton Daily News, but this was after I had received an email written by a friend of some of the victims of these American terrorists. The matter of fact news report in the Dayton paper didn't come close to conveying the horrific impact of this unthinkable act like the email I had just read, so I asked the email's author for permission to share what they had written. The author was with one of the families from the mosque -- a mother and two of the small children who were in the room that was gassed -- the day after the attack occurred.

"She told me that the gas was sprayed into the room where the babies and children were being kept while their mothers prayed together their Ramadan prayers. Panicked mothers ran for their babies, crying for their children so they could flee from the gas that was burning their eyes and throats and lungs. She grabbed her youngest in her arms and grabbed the hand of her other daughter, moving with the others to exit the building and the irritating substance there.

"The paramedic said the young one was in shock, and gave her oxygen to help her breathe. The child couldn't stop sobbing.

"This didn't happen in some far away place -- but right here in Dayton, and to my friends. Many of the Iraqi refugees were praying together at the Mosque Friday evening. People that I know and love.

"I am hurt and angry. I tell her this is not America. She tells me this is not Heaven or Hell -- there are good and bad people everywhere.

"She tells me that her daughters slept with her last night, the little one in her arms and sobbing throughout the night. She tells me she is afraid, and will never return to the mosque, and I wonder what kind of country is this where people have to fear attending their place of worship?"

"The children come into the room, and tell me they want to leave America and return to Syria, where they had fled to from Iraq. They say they like me, ... , and other American friends -- but they are too afraid and want to leave. Should a 6 and 7 year old even have to contemplate the safety of their living situation?

"Did the anti-Muslim video circulating in the area have something to do with this incident, or is that just a bizarre coincidence? Who attacks women and children?

"What am I supposed to say to them? My words can't keep them safe from what is nothing less than terrorism, American style. Isn't losing loved ones, their homes, jobs, possessions and homeland enough? Is there no place where they can be safe?

"She didn't want me to leave her tonight, but it was after midnight, and I needed to get home and write this to my friends. Tell me -- tell me -- what am I supposed to say to them?"

When acting as a representative of Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the 501(c)3 non-profit organization that I work for, I cannot engage in political activities. The distribution of Obsession, however, although a political campaign scheme, clearly crosses over into the mission of MRFF. So, I'm going to make two statements here -- one in my capacity as MRFF's Research Director, and another as an individual whose disgust at the vile campaign tactics of John McCain's supporters completely boiled over when I opened up the email about children being gassed.

My statement as MRFF's Research Director:

The presidential campaign edition of the Obsession DVD, produced and currently being distributed by the Clarion Fund, carries the endorsement of the chair of the counter-terrorism department of the U.S. Naval War College, using the name and authority of an official U.S. military institution not only to validate an attack the religion of Islam, but to influence a political campaign. For these reasons, this endorsement has been included in MRFF's second lawsuit against the Department of Defense, which was filed on September 25 in the Federal District Court in Kansas.

My opinion as an individual and thoroughly appalled human being:

John McCain has a moral obligation to publicly censure the Clarion Fund; to denounce the inflammatory, anti-Muslim message of Obsession; and to do everything in his power to stop any further campaign activities by his supporters that have the potential to incite violence.

Comments

[AstridD]

It probably wasn't reported in MSM as the details didn't seem to fit with this whole notion of "a gassing" and they would have ended up with egg on their faces and having to retract. As it turns out, a canister of pepper spray was found INSIDE the mosque and it appears that a boy has been questioned re the incident. Looks like it all boils down to children's play that got out of hand. No so unusual. I can remember getting into all kinds of trouble at my church as a child. But, reporting a story like this without facts, alongside a headline comparing the incident to the horrific acts committed throughout the Holocaust was irresponsible, and serves no one.

[krissmiss81]

Check the Dayton Daily News for Updates!

There's (hopefully) going to be a lot of blogger updates for this; it got good circulation. Love the newspaper poll "Is there anti-Islamic sentiment in America?". Um....duh. Just because this happened to be more than likely a nasty prank (is there a better word than prank? Because I think the word is too light...), doesn't erase a mom getting shot for wearing hijab or Muslim kids getting called names in school. You should have seen the nasty e-mails I got a year ago when I attempted to circulate the fact that Barack Obama isn't a Muslim (or a terrorist. two separate things)as a response to forwards I kept getting. Let's just say I almost gave back my baptism in response to the all the Christian "love" in my inbox.

Doesn't erase my disgust with the Clarion Fund, either. Still vile.

I saw a speaker once who was standing in for the scheduled person, a self-claimed PLO terrorist turned Evangelical Christian; the scheduled person might have actually been Walid Shoebat, but I can't remember the poster accurately. To say his stand-in was a racist Islamophobe would be an understatement. One of the more memorable portions of the speech was "Muslim men want nothing more than to marry an American princess and carry her off to Tehran". I am so not joking. And I so walked out. There's a limit to polite listening on my part.

[truthupontruth]

I think some Americans could learn a thing or two about how the world really works. In reality, there are bad people who get carried away and pull evil stunts that their own twisted minds can justify, while the rest of us got on with the job of cleaning up the mess. The quick response of the paramedics is evidence of the success of the civil society that exists. Further evidence, in the form of a successful police investigation, and a fair trial with appropriate consequences for the perpetrators, and community support for the victims from both within and outside the immediate mosque community, and a general expression of sympathy from all who come across this story, should follow .
Neanderthals who think, for example, gassing people is not as bad (or 'unconscionable') as any other example of human behaviour need to visit a Holocaust museum. The demonization of others is the first step of a dehumanization process that culminates in extermination. As for the police rep who declared that this is not a hate crime, I wonder if he has some evidence that a specific child was targeted, perhaps for not sharing a fruit roll-up at recess? Give me a break.
Yesterday on theindependent.co.uk I read a story about a Jewish woman and a Rabbi who travel from England to the West Bank every year to help a Palestinian farmer with the olive harvest. That's the kind of world I believe in.

[fred69]

I would like to recommend a very interesting documentary for everyone to watch and to learn from!

"TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE". It basically covers how muslim prisoners were & are treated without having trials and hearings and the tortures they went through! you could call it confessions by the US soldiers! A real eye opener for us all and it scares me to see what "normal" humans are capable of doing to one another!

Please do watch this documentary!

[SophiaFanny]

This is absolutely unconscionable, to gas people, children or otherwise. But it is even more unconscionable to kidnap a 10- and 13-year old girls, force them to convert, marry the older one off in days, then petition the court for custody because Muslims should not be raised by their parents if their parent are Christian! This happened recently in Pakistan.

Currently in Egypt, there is a situation where a Christian man left his Christian wife and children, converted to Islam, remarried, and now is fighting for custody of his 13-year-old Christian sons. They don't want to go, but an Islamic court has ruled in violation of the law that the boys should go to him.

In Islamic countries, Muslims who convert to any other religion may be killed.

Mohammed spread Islam by the sword.

We Westerners are slow to believe these atrocities because we are used to the
post-Christian culture here. Christianity recognizes that God has given us the freedom to reject Him, so we grant that freedom polically. Yes, much harm has been done by people claiming to be Christians, but that is in violation of our holy book and traditions. Islamic violence on non-Muslims is supported by their holy book.

Of course, most Muslims do not act violently. Most are decent, friendly human beings who are willing to live and let live and convert by persuasion, not force. However, the violent ones do not "hijack" their religion.

This does not justify the gassing.

[IbrahimSapien]

And yet you're posting this junk here, now. Why? To equivocate? To shift attention. To suggest these Muslims have it coming?

Christianity wasn't spread with kisses, you know. Read up on the ethnic cleansing Christians engaged in when they colonized the Indies. The KKK use the Bible, the book of Hebrews, to justify their racism.

Fix the problems in your own country. Egypt doesn't claim to be the "leader of the free world". Pakistan doesn't initiate wars to spread its own notion of what amounts to the best form of government. America is a country where half the people soil their pants in fear at the notion of a man of color being president. Two centuries gone, not once have your people elected a woman to office. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh (ie Muslim countries) have elected female Prime Ministers.

[maketherightchoice]

What the hell?!!!

http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncrime/

[adeal918]

"WHO TARGETS WOMEN AND CHILDREN????" Talk about your ultimate foot-in-the-mouth comment!! Because the answer to that question is ISLAMIC RADICALS!!! Yeah, sure, some punk here targeted women and children with an "irritant" for which s/he should go to prison if they were trying to kill anyone with it, but the jihadists target women and children with NAIL-STUDDED BOMBS AND JET PLANES CONVERTED INTO MISSLES!!!!! And the point of this documentary, which I saw when it first came out was not to insight hatred or violence or anything resembling that. It was merely to remind voters in a time when the economy is probably foremost in their minds, that this threat from these manaics has not gone away and they need to think about this too when they cast their votes. Nowhere is the claim made that all Muslims are terrorists, nor does reminding us of what psychos are out there constitute "fear-mongering" or "hate-mongering." It just reminds us that this might not be the time to elect a president who wasn't willing to stand up for a common sense piece of legislation that ensured that individuals who report suspicious behavior don't have to worry about defending themselves against a bullshit lawsuit just for following the "if you see something, say something" mantra.

[fred69]

dear adeal918 one must educate themselves about the term Jihadists! it means to defend islam and your self only in the time when one is under attack! almost like USA did with Iraq and Afghanistan..when it felt it was under attack by the terrorists! secondly...have a good look around you in Iraq so many us and british soldiers are being charged for killing innocent people, having fun with them, rapping them and yes killing women and chidlren!...Do you think this is how a civilised country and it's people should behave and do? People who are terrorists and do such awfull things have either been brain washed or really messed up in the head...but how do you explain the behaviour of the us president...and it's soliders going in to two countries and completely messing it up! they have no food no where to live no clean water and they are constentaly under attack...you don't think innocent muslims are paying the price for suicide bombers etc? they are having their own family members killed! Look at the middle east...there is no end to that war but the USA will only take sides with Israel! have you been out there? have you been out to Iraq or Afghanistan...have you seen how they live? how there women are rapped, children are killed and they watch there fathers being slaughtered before there eyes! It's very easy to use the comment foot-in-the-mouth

[adeal918]

Wow, there's so much bull here, I don't even know where to start. First, don't take me for an idiot. I know the ORIGINAL, meaning of the term "jihad" (it actually literally means an "internal struggle." I use the term here as the term that these maniacs have PROUDLY given themselves as THEY declare it to mean a "holy war against the West." And that's THE WEST, not just the U.S. They target the U.S. first because we are the strongest, and thus, the biggest obstacle they have to spreading their sick, twisted brand of rule all across the world. Take us out, and the rest falls like dominos. When they declared this jihad, they had NO legitimate argument to say they were "under attack" by us other than the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia (which, by the way, was done AT THE SAUDI GOVERNMENT'S REQUEST, in case you don't know your history. We, on the other hand, WERE under attack, blatantly and openly declared, when we took the action we took. Perhaps not directly by Iraq, but that was a judgement call based on intelligence we couldn't afford to ignore and which turned out to be faulty.

[adeal918]

One more point. I am fully aware of what Islam is SUPPOSED to be about. I also know that a rather significant sized portion of that community has lost sight of this, and much of the rest of the greater Islamic community is either to afraid to speak out against, or tacitly approves of it. (And it could be some of both.) I am in no way saying that all Muslims are terrorists. I am, however, saying that almost all terrorists who pose an existential threat to the existance of the U.S., Israel, and the West in general, ARE Muslim. When the term "Islamic terrorist" is used, it simply refers to the fact that the actions are being commited in the name of Islam, and are often not condemned by far too large a portion of the rest of this population. And sure, there's the occasional Christian terrorist, like the few crazies who have bombed abortion clinics and such, but I remind you once again, that on the rare occasion that this happens, even the most fanatical of the pro-lifers go to great lengths to condemn the action and declare the person a disgrace to their cause, not celebrate them. And also, last I checked, no group such as this has ever declared its intent to destroy this nation.

[adeal918]

Also, where you really shoot yourself in the foot here is when you talk about British and American soldiers on trial for atrocities committed against civilians. That is precisely the point. They ARE on trial by OUR GOVERNMENT. Their actions are in no way condoned by any higher ups. The military is a microcasm of our society, which means it consits overwhlemingly of honorable men and women, but also the occasional psychos and maniacs of its own. So have any of our soldiers committed atrocities? Of course. But the point is, when British or American soldiers commit these atrocities, they are tried, convicted, declared a disgrace to the nation, and locked up for the rest of their lives. So when I see our enemies putting people on trial, and imprisoning THEM for the slaughter of civilians and declaring THEM a disgrace to their nations and to Islam, when they stop declaring them heros and martyrs, when they stop giving festive welcome home celebrations for unrepentant child murderers like Samir Kantar (who Israel was stupid enough to release in any condition other than in pieces in exchange for the returning of the bodies of two murdered soldiers), THEN you can come back to me with you moral equivalence arguments. Until then, your logic deserves nothing more than ridicule.

[fred69]

but do not forget we are all responsible for what is happening out there! we live in our little bubble with clean water, safe, protected, food and don't have to worry about where to sleep at night! People in the US need to be educated about religions...and about the reality outside there little bubble that they live in!...and to realise the final aim is oil, money and power for many of these politicians...if it wasn't we would have peace in the middle east and not be declaring war on all the muslims countries and it's people! you do realise that US is probably the most hated country in the world...

do you ever stop and think why? why are we not accepted? and some ignorant people here have such little education about islam that they do not wish to pick up literature and teach themselves...they watch biast news and believe whatever they are shown how sad! unfortunately, we live in a horrible world and every day to make it a better world to live in is a term where you would use Jihad! please do read some solid literature on islam...educate your self and ones around you..it is our duty to bring peace to the world as human beings! (islam.com) has live chats and articles etc for anyone wanting to know more about islam and what it REALLY is about! not what the media or your next door neighbour says! thank you

[fred69]

http://www.islam-qa.com anyone with questions about islam or who wants to expand their knowledge about islam please visit this website.

[Chris Rodda - Huffpost Blogger]

HuffPost's Pick

A can of pepper spray has now been found near the mosque. The can was in a white and red bag, which concurs with the initial story from the girl who was watching the children. She had described what the two men she saw at the window holding as white and red canisters.

[JodyMcg]

Dear Chris,
Obviously this needs full in-depth reporting. Interviews with anyone who was taken to an area hospital, on camera interviews with the police and mosque members. We have freedom of the press in the US and unfortunately hate propaganda by extremist groups is widely distributed. More so during this election than at any other time. There is a tremendous amount of money being funneled into hate groups by those who do not wish the status quo to change.

Has anyone contacted the Anti-Defamation League and other civil rights and civil liberty organizations? There needs to be more education and multti-cultural and multi-ethnic events and sharing within the community and with all religious leaders. Hopefully, with enough press coverage some amount of healing may begin to take place.

[Dawud]

If this had been a gas attack upon a church or Jewish temple, there would be national outrage.

What has happen to our nation?

[Justice-is-Life]

So true.

[BBBenson]

Good news people: A lot of the editors I have spoken to have decided NOT to distribute this nonsense. Contact the editors, managers and V.P.s of these papers and get them to pull distribution. We cannot allow this kind of hatred to take root in America.

-Bradley B. Benson

[PazPraSempre]

Can we get THIS on the front page, instead of maybe one of the inane posts about Palin's beauty paegant days?
This is a national tragedy. Some of these children were Iraqi refugees!!
One way to fight the war on terror: Practice peace and tolerance at home!

[whatstheidea]

Police: No evidence of hate crime at local mosque.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/29/ddn092908mosquefoloweb.html

Mosque board member Tarek Sabagh said many people within the mosque speculated that the incident was the result of a DVD about Islamic radicalism titled "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" that was mailed to area homes by its producers and circulated as a paid advertisement with more than 70 newspapers, including the Dayton Daily News.

"We are not linking the two at all," Sabagh said.

[Chris Rodda - Huffpost Blogger]

I'm getting emails from people who were there who are in shock over this latest article from the Dayton Daily News, which is now downplaying the story, not even mentioning that there were people taken to the hospital and that whatever the chemical was it affected people in other parts of the building, all of which was in the previous two articles from the same paper.

We now have a much bigger paper looking into the story and are going to get to the bottom of this. I can't give any details yet, but this is far from over.

[NickOhio]

BTW, we didn't receive the DVD in question since it was delivere din the Dayton Daily News and we no longer subscribe to that paper. However, I've heard about it from people at church who've received it and they are appalled by its discriminatory message. For McCain to accept money from this sordid group, it only serves to make him appear as if he's a bigot.

Vote Obama-Biden!!!!

[IndependentMeans]

OMG, I am appalled, ashamed, to be an American. My apologies to these families for the hateful way you have been treated. I hope the producers and distributors of this DVD are sued for criminal inciting acts.