Posted by
Rich on Thursday, February 14, 2008 10:50:16 AM
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) met with Attorney General Bill McCollum to protest his showing of the documentary "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" to all of his 500 employees.
CAIR
demanded that AG McCollum repudiate the film Obsession and stop showing
it, let CAIR "re-educate" those staff who saw Obsession, and let CAIR
be part of an advisory group that can help law enforcement work with
Muslims.
AG McCollum categorically rejected the first two requests and accepted the third with conditions.
According to Central Florida News 13,
"The [CAIR] leaders complained the [Attorney] general has given what
they call a prejudicial movie more play. State House majority leader
Adam Hasner said that was exactly the point.
In April 2007, Hasner held a widely-attended viewing party of his own in a Tallahassee theater.
"It
starts off by saying, 'This is not a movie about all Muslims.' It's a
movie about radical Islam, and so I think it's very clear it's not
propaganda, and I think the groups that are making this an issue are
really showing themselves to be sympathizers with radical Islam,"
Hasner said.
In spite of it all, McCollum said he had no
regrets. Far from hosting what critics call a propaganda movie hour, he
argued it was directly connected to state business.
"It's the only film that I'm likely to show like that, but if another one comes along, we'll show it," McCollum said.
We
are proud of the positions taken by our Florida political leadership on
the showing of a documentary that presents a true and accurate picture
of the evil posed to the world by radical Islam. Just read the stories
or watch TV and you will see daily examples of radical Muslims killing
innocent men, women and children.
A comprehensive article
by the Counterterrorismblog.org states, "CAIR was named an unindicted
co-conspirator in the case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief
and Development. The Washington Times reports that since 2000 CAIR’s
membership has dropped from 29,000 to 1,700. American Muslims have
effectively rejected CAIR’s bid to be their leader. This speaks well
for the American Muslim community and its readiness to distance itself
from those linked to terrorism."