'I Just Want To Shut It Off'

February 27, 2004

SEATTLE - There's still a lot of fear of more terrorist attacks in our country. In their effort to lure new recruits, terrorist groups are now using a rap video.

It's got a distinctive Middle Eastern beat, and a violent message that reads "kill the crusaders." The song in the music video calls on muslims to wage "jihad" or holy war against the west. The rappers laugh and boast "And they destroyed the two towers, ha, ha ha!"

Aziz Junejo from Seattle shook his head in disgust as he watched the video, "It's just terrible." Junejo hosts an Islamic show, and he wants to remind people the word Islam means peace. It has nothing to do with the hateful message in the video. Yet the music video attempts to entice muslims into the terror network.

It's a song performed by a London-based group that's sympathetic to Osama bin Laden. "Let me pray that this doesn't come to America," said Junejo. But it already has - it's available on the world wide web.

"What he's doing is diametrically opposed to the teachings of Islam," said Junejo, "it's making a mockery of people who've died in battle." Videos like this are part of a disturbing trend. We've seen neo-nazi groups spew messages of hate to recruit new members.

"Lyrics are easier to remember than a long lecture. If they can make it poppy , if they can make it desirable and edgy, youth will turn to it," explained Eric Ward. This latest hate song and video doesn't start with music, but with a news clip where a soldier says "It's a good feeling afterwards (when you kill someone). You're like 'hell that was awesome. Let's do it again!'"

That news clip and the video that follows are meant to inflame emotions. Aziz Junejo has seen enough. "I just want to shut it off," he said after watching a few minutes of the video. Junejo thinks we should all turn it off the next time we hear it.