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This all reminds me of the opening line from Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", which I have always remembered, for some weird reason;
"The thousand injuries of Fortunato I bore as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge."

PVO was correct in an earlier comment, saying that the Imams stirred this into a full-fledged controversy.
This from WaPo-
"Government officials and other critics here (Denmark) said Laban's delegations intentionally inflamed Islamic leaders in Egypt and Lebanon by passing off several obscene cartoons of Muhammad as among those published in the newspaper. Laban said those had been sent anonymously to Muslim leaders in Denmark and were shown to the Islamic officials as examples of anti-Muslim feeling in the country. He said no one suggested they had been published in the newspaper."
Notice Laban said that no one had suggested that the obscene cartoons had been published in the newspaper.
No one suggested they weren't, either.
They didn't have to suggest. They just printed them alongside the genuine Danish cartoons and let people make any inference they wanted.
Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

I agree that there's no excuse for this kind of violence...but I'd also like to add that nuking Mecca would be one of the greatest atrocities in world history. If Europe ever does such a thing, then there'll be a lot of blood on their hands.

They're just proving the cartoonist's point. And disproving the "religion of peace" junk that they've said for a long while. Figures. Don't see Catholics doing much when there are FAR more anti-Catholic media...erm...stuff.

They seem to have a whole lot of Danish flags, too. You don't suppose all this was planned? Nah, probably just a coincidence.

Did anyone notice that in the pictures the handwriting on the protest signs all look like they were done by the same person?
I noticed that too. I don't know if it's because there was somebody organizing this, or if it's because there's only 1 person out of the crowd that could write.

"Nuking Islamic holy sites will be the equivalent of trying to plug a hole in a leaky dam with a lit bundle of dynamite."
No, it's more like flailing out madly in the face in the hope that there might be the tiniest chance of survival.... exactly what I have been saying the entire time. I never said that this would be an effective pre-emptive strategy, merely that it would be a possible response.
"Well, our capital city has just been destroyed by a dirty nuke and riots will soon spread throughout the nation, destroying our civilization, but we had better not strike back because it could be interpreted in light of obscure Mahdi predictions, which might encourage the enemy to be hostile.."

I wouldn't call the lesson in Muslim absolutism we're seeing pointless, exactly. Perhaps excessive, but I don't know that anything less would have gotten people's attention.
PVO

"Blaming the newspaper for the riots is unjust."
I agree, and so I don't blame the papers for the riots.
I do blame them for being on the wrong side of the Islamo-fascist issue for years, and then doing something inflammatory, but useless.

Tim J. wrote:

Like in Nazi Germany, it is not necessary that everyone be on board, or even be sympathetic, as long as they can be cowed into silence. The power mongers will drum up enough loyal support to drive forward with their agenda, and fear will keep the rest in line.
I'm afraid we are approaching the point where we will have to forget about diplomacy until after we have squashed the aggressors like a bug, which will require an effort much more comprehensive than the one in which we are currently engaged.

Unfortunately, the Washington Post op/ed page agrees with you in its article "Later Than We Think".
It just takes one person in charge to believe an off-kilter cult (again, comparisons to Hitler abound), and the Chosen People will be chosen for a new Holocaust. (See picture at http://michellemalkin.com/archives/images/holo.jpg)
Pray that God holds back this tribulation.

But why were the cartoons re-run? The riots weren't motivated by what runs in any western paper, as the initially somnolent response to the Danish paper's initial feature.
The news hook to re-run them was the rabble-rousing tour of the Danish imams putting the story back in the news.
So, any way you parse it, a segment of the Muslim populace wanted a riot and went out and whipped up a mob to get it.
Blaming the newspaper for the riots is unjust.
Criticisms of their prudence are fair, but at the end of the day people have to be free to express themselves about Muhammad, including in representational art. Only the most dangerous fundamentalist can object to this principle.
PVO

Oh, and the cartoons were re-run in several Euro newspapers in January, hence the (pretext for) riots.

PVO-
I agree with just about everything you said. The violence is certainly idiotic, evil, etc...
And the press have the right to print anything they wish.
My whole problem is that instead of doing anything substantive, they chose to do something merely insulting. It was originally because the editors thought that artists might be self-censoring (a little too much common sense) that they asked them specifically to do drawings of Mohammed, which they knew to be inflammatory.
But, again, what was the point? That they aren't afraid to make people mad? I wonder, was it a triple-dog dare?
So the Islamo-Nazis respond to these pointless cartoons by acting pointlessly cartoonish. They invite parody. They mug for the cameras. They thoughtfully protest in English. It begs the question, what if they gave a protest and nobody (with a news camera) came?
To keep in form The Danes should now run a huge headline saying "N'yah-h-h..., So's Your Old Man!".

http://www.civitas.org.uk/blog/archives/2006/02/if...
The blog above makes two important points to consider:
1) The cartoons allegedly in question were published four months ago. Why the rioting now? Well, it turns out some radical imams living in Denmark went on a rabble-rousing tour and published a pamphlet in which they included a few more, especially inflammatory cartoons of unknown provenance. Now that the pamphlet has been distributed, we have riots. So the actual cause of the riots was not the Danish newspaper, but rather a handful of imams bent on producing a confrontation.
2) Denmark is in line to chair the UN security council at about the time that Iran's nuclear proliferation comes before it for decision. This episode therefore bears the marks of a political intimidation campaign against Denmark to manage the proliferation debate more sympathetically towards Muslim sensibilities.
PVO

Since Islam is both religion and political system, one cannot criticise its politics because that is criticising it as a religion. Cute isn't it?

"There is a difference between having the spine to take a moral stand, and having the gall to hurl insults.
Absolutely pointless."
I think the violence generated makes an incredibly important point. The Muslim population has a significant percentage of people who have no interest at all in finding any sort of common ground with the West. They will have things entirely their own way and will threaten riots to get them.
Furthermore, the question of a picture of Muhammad being an insult is not, as was pointed out elsewhere, a given. Pictures of Muhammad exist within the Muslim tradition, it's just that a certain interpretation, now widespread, holds that no one can picture him for any reason, although, typically, it is the infidels who will be punished first.
Conceding this issue to that faction would then hand over the entire question of Islam to those who are most willing to foment violence to see their interpretation triumph.
Just pursue this line of thinking to its conclusion. What if I choose to publish an editorial pointing out what I believe are the errors of Islam? If enough mobs threaten violence, have I lost the right to do so?
I grant that the illustrations were not all neutral, but in fact, many were. If neutral expressions are ruled intolerable arbitrarily or only because they were drawn by infidels, then we have to come to grips with the fact that Islam is a universalist religion which touches all facets of life, and an Islam which cannot be criticised or commented upon by infidels but demands the right to regulate all aspects of life according to its own, unilateral, dictates is the essence of tyranny.
PVO

Let us not forget a common Muslim saying, which shows how different that religion is from Islam:
"If someone slaps you, slap them back so hard that they will learn never to slap you again"
I don't know if that is from their Koran, but I've heard it often from Muslim acquaintances.

Very true, but when a promised "European 9-11" hits Paris with a dirty nuke or something of that scale, the possibility of every Muslim holy site (500 mile radius) known to France becoming radioactive seems like a real possibility. Secular Europe can't compete in population rates, personal zeal, or geographic spread. The only thing it can do is strike at the heart of Islam, a religion that still subscribes to the aristocratic principle. Like the pagan Romans and later Christians chopping down oak trees in Gaul and the Gaelic lands, secular Islam may very well seek to prove in empirical terms that Allah will not protect his followers or his holy sites from harm. It's not my logic. It's just a speculation on the response of contemporary European powers faced with a real war within their own borders.
And it's an logic that will just make matters worse, because it will only confirm in the minds of Muslims -- radical or not -- that the comming of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi, is at hand.
Before the appearance of the one who will rise, peace be upon him, the people will be reprimanded for their acts of disobedience by a fire that will appear in the sky and a redness that will cover the sky. It will swallow up Baghdad, and will swallow up Kufa. Their blood will be shed and houses destroyed. Death will occur amid their people and a fear will come over the people of Iraq from which they shall have no rest."

~The 6th Shia Imam, Jafar al-Sadiq
Nuking Islamic holy sites will be the equivalent of trying to plug a hole in a leaky dam with a lit bundle of dynamite.

Once again, Belloc was right.

Looking for Cartoons in the Muslim World

At first blush, the irony of the situation is staggering. The response to cartoons first published in Denmark depicting Muslims as violent terrorists have caused many Muslims to take to the streets, burning embassies and clashing with police. Mahmoud...

I don't think ukok would say that, and I was actually the first to say the cartoons were stupid.
The reasons I think they are stupid I enumerated above.
They do no one any good, except to make a few cartoonists and editors feel relevant for a few days. Got to have free expression, you know. Got to be free to say any idiotic thing that enters my head, even if it costs lives.
There is a difference between having the spine to take a moral stand, and having the gall to hurl insults.
Absolutely pointless.
Gotta be free, gotta be me...

Europeans have absorbed the lesson of that epitome of decadent political orders, the Habsburgs, of always looking to put the fight off until the very last ditch.
I think the last ditch is now in sight, and the Europeans are stirring in their sleep. A few more politicians knifed on the street and they might actually wake up.
And yet some like UKOK will blame the politicians for getting knifed--shouldn't have provoked them, you know.
PVO

Ed-
You are certainly correct that the blame for the violence lies solely with the Islamo-fascists.
That being said, publishing the cartoons was a pointless gesture.
If the secular European press had wanted to do something helpful, they might have (long ago) analyzed in print why the Western European governments were so opposed to removing Saddam Hussein, or why the U.N. deliberated for months before deciding to leave the U.S. high and dry in Iraq, or why NATO did the same.
For years, Western European leaders (save Blair) gave the impression that they just hoped that the whole thing would go away, or at least that the Islamo-Nazis would be content to hate the U.S. and and might cut them a break in return for their silence.
Heck, the terrorists gave Spain a big wake-up call, and the Spanish voters just rolled over and hit the snooze alarm. Maybe it will go away.
Secular Europe cooperated while they were tied up and blindfolded, and NOW that the noose is around their neck, they want to spit in Al Qaeda's eye?
Okay, so, welcome to the party, but you're a little late. We could have used the moral support years ago.

DJ, you'll get no argument about modern journalistics from me (son of 33 year editor), but look, you're not addressing my point. Here: a Jewish paper in 1935 America draws a mean caricature of Hitler. Nazis trash several German Jewsih newspapers and burn the US embassy in Berlin. You blame the insensitive American Jews for Lord-know-what. I blame the Fascists, of whatever generation they are.

Sure, it would have been momentarily gratifying to walk in and destroy the piece,
After researching the Mary covered in dung and porno images thing, I discovered that people have already tried.

Right, bill912.
And, by their reaction, the Muslims only give credibility to those who say they can't be negotiated with. So, the pathetic thing is that the situation caused by the cartoons works to the detriment of all.
The Islamo-fascists only demonstrate their own backwardness by going off on a couple of cartoons.
We American Catholics have been treated to the sight of our Blessed Mother smeared with dung, and didn't react like this. Sure, it would have been momentarily gratifying to walk in and destroy the piece, but with patience we might have the much MORE satisfying experience of watching the National Endowment for the Arts go belly-up.
Now, that would be progress.

By killing people (4 at last count, including one Catholic priest), burning embassies, and threatening a "European 9/11, the Islamo-fascists are making the cartoonist(s) look prophetic.

ukok, you won't be killed by danish editors, but by islamo-terrorists...
I guess I don't see it that way. My dad is an old school reporter and I view the reporting practices of today's media in that light, a light which makes many of today's media outlets look pretty yellow from where I stand.
If ukok is at risk, the news papers in Europe are in part responsible. Especially after the second wave of offensive articles were published. Newspapers, and reporters especially, can very easily have blood on their hands.
If they don't want that responsibility, then they should quit their day job.

I think that if Paris gets hit with a dirty nuke, the French will run up the white flag. Hope I'm wrong.

Oops,
"secular Islam" in the third paragraph should have read "secular Europe."

Yes, Steven, I realize that the relative populations are changing. That is why I used the qualifier 'still' and indicated that the particular advantage is really the only one left.
"It's one thing to point missiles at the Middle East; it's another thing to deal with the threat of months of rioting in your own capital and surrounding areas."
Very true, but when a promised "European 9-11" hits Paris with a dirty nuke or something of that scale, the possibility of every Muslim holy site (500 mile radius) known to France becoming radioactive seems like a real possibility. Secular Europe can't compete in population rates, personal zeal, or geographic spread. The only thing it can do is strike at the heart of Islam, a religion that still subscribes to the aristocratic principle. Like the pagan Romans and later Christians chopping down oak trees in Gaul and the Gaelic lands, secular Islam may very well seek to prove in empirical terms that Allah will not protect his followers or his holy sites from harm. It's not my logic. It's just a speculation on the response of contemporary European powers faced with a real war within their own borders.
Regarding the obligation of all humanity not to depict Islam's holiest prophet in pictoral form, let us not forget that Jesus of Nazareth is a Muslim prophet, too. Let's see how impartial the European Christians (and American Christians, eventually) can be when the Muslims in question (the tiny little minority, blah blah blah) realize that the bad art in their parish church is a representation of God's second most holy prophet. And the crucifix... That's sacrilege of a most serious degree. Let's not pretend that this issue only has to do with Danish newspaper editors.

ukok, you won't be killed by danish editors, but by islamo-terrorists who need no pretext to kill you (besides the fact that you are infidel) to begin with. to say anything else is a denial of their free will. seriously.

I concur with Tim. Printing the cartoon pictures was indeed stupid. In view of our recent history of strained (putting it lightly) relationships with the Muslim community, it was ridiculous to engage in outright provocation.
The Editor of the Newspaper concerned and the cartoonist in question need to make an immediate, thorough and very public apology. This isn't freedom of speech, it's freedom to provoke.
We have Muslims protesting on our ( british)streets telling us to keep looking over our shoulder (yes it's an extreme overeaction to a cartoon, I agree)and this is all due to the gross negligence, insensitivity and deplorable communication skills of a tiny group of people sitting in a newsroom in the middle of a country whose only connection with me is that I eat their bacon occassionally.
Why should I have to worry about my loved ones getting blown up by some crazed-revenge-seeking-lunatic because a couple of guys who get paid more in a week than I do in a year, made some very dim decisions?
It has to be one of the quickest ways to get a price on your head, for assasination.
God Bless.

Did anyone notice that in the pictures the handwriting on the protest signs all look like they were done by the same person?

JA-
I think the stereotypes still reflect a minority of the Islamic world (call me naive), but the point is that it is a large enough chunk to be a critical mass.
Like in Nazi Germany, it is not necessary that everyone be on board, or even be sympathetic, as long as they can be cowed into silence. The power mongers will drum up enough loyal support to drive forward with their agenda, and fear will keep the rest in line.
I'm afraid we are approaching the point where we will have to forget about diplomacy until after we have squashed the aggressors like a bug, which will require an effort much more comprehensive than the one in which we are currently engaged.

On the other hand, secular Europe still has the advantage in firepower. Unless Mecca has a super-powered missile defense system, I wouldn't be provoking utilitarian secular Europe too strongly if I were the Islamofanatic world. Modern European state powers have no problem being very aggressive and very cruel if their interests are at stake.
And that logic works until the Muslim population in Europe reaches a critical mass, and the political will to protect something called Europe from something called radical Islam evaporates in the face of increasingly volatile internal pressures. It's one thing to point missiles at the Middle East; it's another thing to deal with the threat of months of rioting in your own capital and surrounding areas.

Sorry Tim, but the stereotypes aren't bad. The reality they accurately portray is bad.
The growing conflict between secular Europe and radical Islam will be an interesting one. On the one hand, Islam (no, I'm not going to use the qualifier every time) has the manpower (I mean humanpow... oh, nevermind, manpower) and pathological aggression. On the other hand, secular Europe still has the advantage in firepower. Unless Mecca has a super-powered missile defense system, I wouldn't be provoking utilitarian secular Europe too strongly if I were the Islamofanatic world. Modern European state powers have no problem being very aggressive and very cruel if their interests are at stake.

I should point out, in fairness, that we Americans are also reproducing at a rate where we are barely replacing ourselves. We have aborted, what, a quarter of the current generation?
We, too, have allowed large numbers of immigrants in to perform jobs that our kids no longer want to do.
We are blessed, though, in that most of the incoming immigrants are Christian and even Catholic. God works in mysterious ways.

Printing the pictures was stupid. Europe has wallowed in self-loathing for decades, despising their own cultural history and all but ceasing to procreate. They have maintained liberal immigration laws that have allowed large numbers of Muslims (who do not mind reproducing) to displace them.
They invited these folks.
Now they begin to see the demographic crisis and respond with what appears to be glum resentment and impotent racism.
The Muslim reaction has been, sadly, predictable. Like Jimmy said, it only reinforces the bad stereotype that most Westerners already have of Muslims.
What with all the official apologies and editors being fired and all, though, one could argue that Western Christians could learn a little from Muslim response. If the Muslims are successful in making the press and the offending governments back down, maybe we Christians have been taking the wrong tack.
Maybe instead of hurling brickbats, we should just be hurling bricks. Instead of firing off a letter to the editor, maybe we should be firing a few rounds into the air.
I don't believe that, but it will be interesting to see how the response to all the Muslim theatrics unfolds.

Here is the Vatican's offical comments on the controversy:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinami...
--arthur

Did anybody get the irony of the photo? A islamo-terrorist-wannabe, threatening carnage on the innocent, is protected by Western police honoring free speech. Think what would happen to westerner, on a street in take-your-pick-of-about-15 islamic countries, holding up a sign that said, i dunno, "God does not love violence." He'd be slaughtered on the spot.

Just reviewed the pictures of the Muslim protestors.
Well, if freedom of expression is the "end all, be all" that the editors of those European papers are claiming it is, then I suppose they should be pleased that the demonstrators are expressing themselves in such a 'free' and 'unrestricted' way.

Your take on the media bashing of religion is very good. I think there is a Christian angle you are missing, though. You can go here and check it out: http://chronicleofameanderingtraveller.blogspot.co...

"Muslims hold depicting a prophet in art is a form of profanation." Not necessarily. There are piles of depictions of Mohammed in the tradition of Muslim art. Attitudes vary a lot based on sect and era, but it is by no means an absolute prohibition. The Ottoman sultans actively supported the tradition of painting images of Mohammed, to name just one example.
Of course, none of those depictions were satires, like the current cartoons. But it cannot be said that depiction is universally considered a form of profanation.

I should have said:
"Are Muslims more or less likely to be won to Christ by _non-Muslims_ respecting their sensibilities about Muhammad?"
Sorry for the confusion.
PVO

Are Muslims more or less likely to be won to Christ by non-Christians respecting their sensibilities about Muhammad?
That is the question of offence, not whether or not it upsets anyone. If someone wants to persist in sin, they will be upset with anyone who calls them out of their sin.
I think we can preach to Muslims without pictures of Muhammad, but at a certain point we need to be able to be frank about who we think Muhammad was, and that does not include the exalted position Muslims accord him.
So, to what extent do we enable continued commitment to what we have faith is a lie by respecting the exalted status they accord this man? To what extent do we harden them against our message, which ultimately must challenge their image of Muhammad by not according him the respect they feel is his due?
No answers here; just questions.
PVO

There is a Mohammed Cartoon Blogburst. I am afraid I'm responsible. :-)
I can't speak for any other blogger, of course, but Your Humble, Faithful Blogster didn't blog the pictures to offend anybody. I blogged the pictures, Faithful Reader, because I realized this week that if we let Jyllands-Posten and the cartoonists stand apart in the face of an onslaught of violence or the threat of violence in retaliation for free expression, we will all stand together as the Islamofascist horde takes away the rest of our freedoms, one by one, year after year, country after country, until none are left.