(Newser)
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Not one, not two, but at least 1,489 NYPD officers viewed an anti-Muslim film during their training, the New York Times reports in a disturbing look at The Third Jihad. The film, funded by a nonprofit group, features images including Muslim terrorists shooting Christians and a doctored photo of the White House flying an Islamic flag, as a narrator says that Islam's "true agenda" in America is to "infiltrate and dominate" the country. Reports first came out a year ago that the department had used it during training; at that time, a top police official said it had only been screened by a few officers. A FOIA request, however, shows otherwise.
The title of the film refers to three jihads: the first during Muhammad's time, the second during the Middle Ages, and the third happening today in the West. "Americans are being told that many of the mainstream Muslim groups are also moderate," says the narrator, a Muslim himself. "When in fact if you look a little closer, you’ll see a very different reality. One of their primary tactics is deception." The film, which also includes an interview with Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, was shown for anywhere between three months and a year to officers ranging from patrol officers and detectives to lieutenants and sergeants. It is not clear who approved the video or how it began to be used, as large portions of the internal memos were blacked out. The news comes months after it was revealed that the CIA helps the NYPD spy on Muslims and that the FBI has used similarly anti-Muslim training materials.
