I just finished viewing a DVD of the film OBSESSION: Radical Islam's War Against the West. I received it free in my mail yesterday, although I'm not yet sure why. I assume it's because I was on a mailing list of some sort, and they felt I was qualified to receive it. I'm glad I did, and I'm glad I watched it.To be honest, I was a bit cautious before viewing it, as I immediately assumed it was from some ultra-right organization. I am always skeptical of partisan hatchet jobs by either the Right or the Left against any subject they disagree with, but I was surprised to find a very fair and honest approach to the subject, primarily because the makers of the film didn't do any editorializing of their own...they simply let the news clips and the radical clerics speak for themselves. The group behind it, I learned, is a non-partisan foundation that distributed 28 million DVD disks across the country last week. The group is called The Clarion Fund, and it appears they have some cash to play with if they can afford to distribute 28 million free DVDs across the nation.
The movie was frightening, to say the least. It's also the first time I've seen such a collection of footage all together, most of it gathered from mainstream Muslim television and jihadi websites. The film warns us against taking the threat of radical Islam too lightly, as radical clerics and Islamic political leaders openly declare again and again that their objective is the downfall of the West, and nothing less will do.
The makers of the film also warn the West about being too politically-correct to speak out on the subject, but were careful themselves to point out that their film was not aimed at the millions of peaceful Muslims, but only the radical branch which many claimed has hijacked the faith.
The ending was especially powerful, as moderate Muslims plead for other moderate Muslims to speak out against terrorism. In the end, this may be the most effective way to fight radical Islam. Anyone speaking out from the West and the Judeo-Christian countries will find their pleas falling on deaf ears, but if anyone can get the attention of the Muslim world, it will have to be other Muslims. As one Muslim notes in the film, he hopes that the current silence from the moderate community is only from fear of reprisal, and not because they are sympathetic to the cause.
I realize that some people will continue to insist that radical Islam is no threat to the West. Others will continue to see terrorists behind every tree. Regardless of how you view the threat of radical Islam, this is a powerful film worth watching. The evidence speaks for itself, and we know that the hatred expressed in this film is growing around the world. How we deal with the issue will decide the final landscape of the 21st Century.
