One of the most egregious depictions of violent Muslims just prior to 9/11 is found in Rules of Engagement (2000), a movie produced in cooperation with the US Marine Corps and the US Department of Defense (DOD). Early in the film, we see a horde of Muslims demonstrating outside the US embassy in Yemen. Veiled women, bearded men, and children chant, wave anti-American banners, and hurl rocks and firebombs. Helicopters deliver marines to the embassy to protect it. Under attack from a few snipers, a colonel orders his soldiers to open fire on the crowd. The soldiers succeed in killing eighty-three protestors. The attack initially seems unjustified. An investigation ensues, revealing that the protestors were in fact armed with weapons and fired first on the marines. What seemed like a brutal slaughter of civilians was actually an act of self-defense. The investigator even uncovers an audio recording of a Muslim prior to the attack proclaiming: "[This is a] declaration of Islamic Jihad against the United States. . . . We call on every Muslim who believes in God . . . to kill Americans and their allies, both civilian and military. It is the duty of every Muslim, everywhere . . . to kill Americans." The movie portrays all Muslims in the crowd, even the children, as ruthless, anti-American terrorists driven by religious extremism. We are meant to cheer for the Marines as they are vindicated in their killing of the Yemeni men, women, and children. The film's director, William Friedkin, affirmed as much: "I've seen audiences stand up and applaud the film throughout the United States."

QUESTION: Was this depiction genuinely a mainstream trend, or an outlier shaped by Pentagon production involvement?

Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Intro…, loc. 543