WASHINGTON — The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations asked the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday to investigate whether the nonprofit Clarion Fund has violated laws governing its tax-exempt status by its September distribution of 28 million DVDs of a film titled “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.”
The discs were included as advertising supplements in newspapers including The Denver Post and via direct mail.
The council, which calls the film anti-Muslim hate speech, said in its letter to the IRS that the DVD is an obvious attempt to intervene in the 2008 presidential election in support of Republican Sen. John McCain.
The Clarion Fund denies any attempt to influence the election and and says the DVD is being distributed to educate Americans about national security.
