Right-Wing Terror Film Delivered To Swing-State NY Times 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 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 militant right-wing 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 film 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, and states that the project was "conceived 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. An entity called "The Clarion Fund" is listed with contact information below the credits.

Arriving at the doorstep together, the package-- New York Times with the Obsession terror dvd-- 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.

In addition to showing the film for his "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," Horowitz has distributed the film as part of the Freedom Center's larger Terrorism Awareness Project. As he puts it at the Freedom Center website:

After conferring with students from several universities who were concerned about both the ignorance about the objectives of Islamic fascism among their fellow students and also the "unholy alliance" between campus leftists and jihadists seeking to undermine the War on Terror, the Freedom Center has launched a Terrorism Awareness Project. This Project will provide conservative students with an intellectual toolkit containing all the elements of the truth about jihad: a speakers' bureau featuring figures such as Steve Emerson, Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer; DVDs of films such as "Obsession" that dramatically underline the threat we face..."

On the packaging included with the Sunday Times, in small print, beneath the dvd, there is a list of all the publications that included the supplement with delivery. Designed to "change the way you look at the world," the film was bundled into newspapers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia. It also came with national publications like the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Wall Street Journal and the Jewish World Digest.

In one light, the film can be seen as a study in unwitting irony. In discussing how terrorists are recruited, interviewees in the film relate that Islamic terrorism is made possible by politically whipped up fear. One talking head says: "One of the main ways to get people to be willing to fight and endanger their lives and to hate the west is to present the war as an act of self defense..." Another one says: "There has to be a good reason to do jihad... the best reason is to defend themselves. There is an enemy out there who wants to get us. America wants to get us. Nothing could be done wrong by Arabs. It's always the west. "

In effect, the documentary flips these comments on their head. Aimed at voters in the battleground states the week of September 11, the film is more than a scare tactic or a campaign ploy. It smacks of classic propaganda, boosted through this clever marketing deal by association with the authority of the New York Times brand. The point is to frighten viewers and, it seems clear, to frighten American voters across the country in order to raise security concerns ahead of all other issues in the election.

As witnessed in the Iraq, calling a nation a democracy doesn't make it so. At a time when more and more hard-working Americans are losing their homes than at any time since the Depression, when American citizens cannot afford health care, when wages are not keeping pace with the cost-of-living, when jobs that built the great middle class have been shipped overseas, and when speculators raise the price of gas while reaping record profits -- the Republican Party (or those who now control the Republican Party) are doing everything they can to distract voters from the issues that matter.

The election this year is a fight to protect democracy as we know it. We are responsible for our democracy; it will last only as long as we are good stewards. We face dangers from "terrorists" within, people who will stop at nothing to hold on to power. The policies of the last eight years are moving us more and more into a nation of two distinct classes: the wealthy and the poor, with the middle class falling into poverty. The American taxpayers will now bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while the executives who engineered this mess are giving themselves multimillion dollar severance packages--without conscience. McCain-Palin's former economic advisor, Phil Gramm, helped engineer the de-regulation that is responsible for home foreclosures.

American citizens have been the victim of an elaborate and well-planned con game for the past eight years and the game will be in full play this week. Anytime American citizens can be frightened and manipulated into voting against their best interests, they have been conned.

Comments

[JStandish]

For some reason the Republicans have co-opted the "security" mantle when they have little to show for it. Many of the policies supported by this administration have been antithetical to the security of this country. The very act of unilaterally attacking Iraq rejuvenated a weakened Al Qaeda. The proposed nuclear give-away to India would encourage nuclear proliferation in an unstable region. Antagonizing our allies has undercut dealing with worldwide terrorism. Within the United State, Homeland Security is a bloated, dysfunctional, poorly-managed bureaucracy that have failed to protect us domestical­ly--airpor­ts, mass transit, the ports, chemical plants, nuclear plants, inadequate terrorism funding for states, etc. Katrina proved this. The voters in this country who believe that Republicans will protect us better than Democrats are delusional. Republicans and their candidate, Sen. John McCain, have made battling the threat posed by radical Islamists a central platform of their campaign, while presenting their Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, as being weak on the issue. Obama has also fought off persistent smear campaigns, particularly among Jewish voters, that he is a closet Muslim. This biased DVD, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," is an obvious ploy to frighten voters and give McCain an edge in the security sweepstakes.

These newspapers that are distributing this video must be contacted. How can the Clarion Fund, a supposedly nonprofit group, maintain a 501 c(3) status with its obvious political bias? A petition should be created to fight this political attack.

[RepublicanForObama]

I am not afraid.
Florida Republican For Obama

[RepublicanForObama]

Live in SW Florida. Got mine in paper about two weeks ago. Didn't watch because I thought it might be some kind of misleading propaganda like the RNC surveys that come to my home.
Republican For Obama

[total frizz]

We got our copy in the Sunday Denver Post along with the advertising flyers. I kept it out, because although I suspected it was right-wing propaganda I always like to know what the other side is thinking. My reaction to it was that maybe it was time to think about getting out of the country. They did a pretty good job of stating the case for taking Radical Islamic Jihad seriously. I won't stand on the side of the guys who created this mess (I'll reserve the stronger words); in fact I am pretty upset that they did it in my name. This doesn't mean that I put my trust in some poor soul who thinks he (or she) can stop a speeding train as President. I fear our arrogance, our hubris may have allowed this culture of hatred to reach critical mass.

[JohnDavidPrince]

It is most likely that Jesus would order his followers to obey the edicts and covenants of the Old Testament due to the continual references by Jesus to fulfill the Law’s given by God through Moses. This is why Christianity can be as dangerous as Islamic Extremists. Christians believe that His death cleansed them of original sin; thus they feel that, if they live without sin they are now righteous through their belief in Jesus. As well, if they repent or confess their sin they are now without sin. It is these self-righteous people that scare me, because they would throw that first stone. As well, if you feel that belief in Jesus as a Son of God is absolute, than the laws of Moses, as punishment for sin no longer applies to those free of sin due to Jesus. This is the root of separatism and the elevation of themselves away from the rest of society. This exclusionary attitude is what drives the culture war. They feel that they are right while others are wrong because a book said so. They have the right to believe that but I have the right to say that is not based on logic, reason, or fact, rather it is based only on faith.

[JohnDavidPrince]

The trick is in the details of the absolutist aspect of, believe or else. You were excused from the treatment under Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and other Biblical Books only if you were a believer in Jesus as God. But if you do not the punishments described applied directly to you, thus Mat. 5:17 is not a pass from Moses Law rather it is the pathway to avoid being stoned to death only if you follow Jesus as God. Now I do not claim any religion or faith. I do worry about any push towards using Biblical Law within Government. Because one can interpret the Bible to suit any means to any end that one can dream up. Most people think that Jesus was all about peace and love. This belief is only true if you believe that He was a God or a Son of God. Jesus would only bring peace and love for those who agree with Him as He states in Matthew 10:34-39 or John 8:24. All other non-believers fall under the code of Moses and the treatment of non-believers mentioned through out the Bible. Modern absolutist or literalistic fundamentalism has interpreted the Bible to include the non-belief in Jesus as a sin or blasphemy. There

[JohnDavidPrince]

There are many who claim that Christianity is some how more advanced, superior, moral, or gentle version of religion than Islamic Fundamentalists. I would argue that Evangelical Fundamentalist Extremists are just as dangerous or potentially threatening to a free society as Islamic Fundamentalist Extremists. I would also argue that all the main three religions are all capable of 7th or 15th century treatment of those whom they view as different or non-believers. Any good that has come from religion is negated by all the religious war, hate, terrorism, discrimination, or violence that permeate the history of human existence. We are lucky to live in a secular nation, where the government is not governed by religion nor is religion governed by the state. Our only protection from reverting to witch hunts, crusades, forced conversions, and other religious injustice is our secular government. The potential for abuse of mankind is written within the pages of the Bible because it treats those who do not believe as subhuman soulless 2nd class citizens and there is nothing that can eliminate that effect within the society of Biblical Theology.

[JohnDavidPrince]

Ronald Regan spoke about America as a “Beacon to the World.” John F. Kennedy first touched upon this “Beacon” to the world. The Beacon has faded in the mist of Blind Nationalism, an Americanism with venomous attitudes, fermented by some in order to reap the reward of power. It is good to be a “Beacon” if you have any light to shine. We have walked away from this “Beacon,” leaving International Treaties, International Law, Due Process, Privacy, The Right of Redress of Grievances, and the Separation of Powers behind. We have taken on the act of Torture as the art of quality interrogation, while claiming that we are a moral, upstanding, modern, and civil nation. The critics of our walk from civilized Law, are most likely called, Anti-American or Un-Patriotic. Sometimes opposition or questioning of government policy is referred to with a reply of. “Well, you must Hate America.” This is Blind Nationalism, Americanism gone wrong, it is the dismantling of free speech, expression, and protest, our freedom of conscience of mind. It was employed prior to Iraq version 2, during, and is still ongoing. In 1950 Republican Senator, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine argued against Joseph McCarthy who was eventually, Censured.

[JohnDavidPrince]

“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism,” “are all too frequently those who ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism, the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest, the right of independent thought.” This is not the Republican Party of today. The Republican Party has been drunk on the poisonous nectar of the Neo-Conservative influence since Regan. The politics of the past are now tepid, innocent, even quaint, (Gonzales and the Bush Administration think quaint is a legal term). Modern, Neo-Conservative Republican politics is brazen in its use of Bad Nationalism, with the intent to divide and conquer. We now hear Americans referring to fellow Americans as “Great Americans,” this would by inference or innuendo a way of saying that there are “Bad Americans,” or ungrateful Anti-Americans.

[JohnDavidPrince]

We are no longer a “Beacon to the World,” when Blind Nationalism breaks out, a rash on the principles of Liberty, our Liberty of Mind, Thought, Speech, and Expression are encroached upon by the very classification of fellow Americans as being Anti-American. Anti-American or Un-American is the purposeful labeling of Citizens as Not Being American. And what do Non-Americans not have? Rights! This is the Tool of the Thought Implantation of Supremacist Blind Nationalism or Super Americanism. It is unproductive, unethical, and immoral for the health of a Civil and Just Democratic Society. Though it is very productive for those who seek quick power, sustainable power, or control over the minds of the people who elect them. We have lost the respect of the Civilized World, by walking away from Civility. Civility of politics, Law, Rights, and the treatment of prisoners not yet convicted or proven guilty of a crime, is no longer something we can claim that separates the US from the other despotic nations we fear. At least 150 other nations have used Torture and I would not like to see this level stay at 151, while the US considers any interrogation method that does not kill the Person or damage their organs, as moral, ethical, and legal. For conservative Christians, I would mention something Biblical. One cannot beat, stop, or fight the Devil, while acting like the Devil. Can Evil defeat Evil or does it only bread Evil?

[Robin16]

Back in February this film was sent out in another mass mailing to Reform rabbis and other Jews. In the same mailing was the book, "Standing With Israel" by David Brog, CUFI's director. It was mailed under a postal permit by CUFI by the Republican Jewish Coalition. Note, Raphael Shore is an ISRAELI Canadian.

Read what Rabbi Haim Beliak of Jews on First uncovered about the February mailing.
http://www.jewsonfirst.org/08a/cufi_obsession.html

Although the book obviously wasn't sent out in all these newspapers, you can see where the cooperation lies. Wasn't McCain sort of embarrassed into disavowing support from CUFI? What is an Israeli Canadian doing trying to intervene in US politics (rhetorical question because we know the answer)

Richard Silverstein has an excellent article on this also
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/09/14/anti-muslim-film-produced-by-pro-israel-advocate-boosts-mccain/

[veggiequeenmo]

I got one of these dvd's in today's paper - The Springfield News-Leader-less, as I like to call it. (Springfield, MO). It's marketed at the "pre-release one hour edition". No doubt it's fear-mongering propoganda. The blurb on the back of the insert states, "...The film also traces the parallels between the Nazi movement of WWII, the Radicals of today and the Western world's response to both threats."

Funny though, that I saw an ad for Palin's ex-chuch in Wasilla about "spreading the word" in Alaska, the US and the world! Sound familiar???

I live in SW Missouri - center of the Bible belt. No suprise here. World headquarters for the Assembly of God...

OBAMA/BIDEN!!!!

[janellrcarter1]

Here's what's really scary: Can you imagine someone having her finger on 'the button' who talks unflinchingly about war with Russia and never gave a second thought about her quaiifications -- or lack of -- when asked to run for the second highest office in the land????!!!!

What will she do in the face of a national emergency? Hit the button and think later? Will the McPalin administration be rule from the gut, govern by snap decision?

[northcan]

McCain does also. Why? The Republican crazy's again. A pipeline through Georgia...­.how convenient for McCain to visit giving Georgian President some comfort. stroke his ego and give him a security blanket, when Georgia mistreats a little province Russia then invades.

Oh my God!! Then we will be so nervous and scared we will vote for McCain because most think, think he has the military expertise to deal with Russia, Georgia, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Columbia ......on and on........­This is advertisement for John McCain as President, nothing else. Isreal, needs America for cover, America needs Isreal for launching in the middle east. They are playing with our lives the stupid idiots and knowone is seeing the trees for the forest.

McCain needs to go home, play with his little soldiers and dinky cars......­.he's not for peace at all. Once again America, the Repubs are calling your bluff.

[betterus]

This is the most grieve danger facing America and why we are where we are today:

The Israel Lobby
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html

[JoeCrevar]

I think people forget that it was the libs that forced lenders to relax their standards so more middle and lower income families could 'Share in the American Dream.' Had they not done this, we would not have had the mess we have now.

As for BO and Biden, these men are two of the weakest Foreign Policy candidates out there. Why don't you ask their supporters to look up their voting records when it comes to things like Hamas, Fatah, Hizbulla, Al-Queda, and so many more. These are the things that are vital to our security. And both men have proved how willing they are to succumb to interantional pressure. The same kind of pressure that allowed Italy and other nations to make deals with Terrorists to leave their countries out of it as long as the country didn't interfere with the planning and execution of terrorist activities. Is that what you want in our country? Because that is what the Lame Team will give us.

[LightningJoe]

Amazing revisionism, JoeCrevar -- Sarah Palin should take lessons from you.

Are the Right Wack blogs now saying that the Dems "forced" lenders to relax their standards? It was the deregulation of the housing market, under a Republican Congress, that sent lenders the signal that anything was now fair game. The housing meltdown was pretty definitively a Republican job, hacking government oversight to bloody pieces, for the profit of industry shareholders.

Next, when the ice cap melts, and polar bears are extinct except in zoos, are you going to start complaining that Dems made that happen, too?

I'd be quite entertained, to see you try to defend your position..­.

Ready? Go!

[jonny5000]

if u did your research u would know this is BS