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?"

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It's hard to conceive of the damage that's been caused by the neo-cons.

How did a far right Zionist cabal become so powerful in the politics of the USA?

Part of it is pResident Know-nothing's fault, part the fact that a large segment of the populace have become know-nothings. They believe what hate-spewers like Rush Limbaugh & David Horowitz say because they don't know any better. Don't get me started on the ministers. Post-9/11 I've heard such amazing, stupid, hateful, incorrect things said on "christian" radio stations. Pure fascist politics, the scapegoat: Islam.

This is what you get, attacks on children in a house of worship.

Woe is us. We may be beyond hope, the hope to live in a civil society. The hateful speak loudest, their message comes in the Sunday paper. There's plenty of fault to go around. First off, those speaking. Second, those giving them a platform. The first amendment wasn't intended to protect the screaming, hateful ignorant majority but the calm, peaceful minority.

Things are really fucked up. Measures need to be taken. For one thing, a fairness doctrine needs to be revived. We can't continue to just hear from the far right. They own the media but the 'people' own the airwaves. I don't know what to do about inflammatory DVDs stuffed in the Sunday paper. I'd like to think the 'people' would reject it out-of-hand & the publishers would then know better than to foist off propaganda as 'news'. But people have become soooo stoooopid. I despair....