Kaare Quist, a journalist at the Danish daily Ekstra Bladet, who has been reporting on the story for a number of weeks, says the group [including Abu-Laban] found a number of highly placed officials in the Arab World keen to listen to its message. Quist told SPIEGEL ONLINE they included representatives of the Arab League, Egypt's grand mufti and other high-level officials. The trip the group made, Quist believes, helped to raise attention to the political cartoons in Jyllands-Posten and prejudices against Denmark's Muslims. some 270,000 of Denmark's 5.4 million population are Muslim, making up 5 percent of the population. Quist says the dossier they shared in Egypt may have been far more damaging than the Jyllands-Posten episode -- and it may have further exacerbated misgivings between Denmark and the Arab world. In addition to the now notorious caricatures published by the newspaper which have now spread like wildfire in the blogosphere, it also included patently offensive anti-Muslim images that had been sent to the group by other Muslims living in Denmark. The origins or authenticity of the images haven't been confirmed, but their content was nevertheless damaging. Quist says the dossier included three obscene caricatures -- one showed Muhammad as a pedophile, another as a pig and the last depicted a praying Muslim being raped by a dog.

that said, the only religion that condones physically violent responses to these offending items is, well, islam. at least, in its present form.

If, as the author suggests, there is no ban on images of the prophet within the body of islamic law

I believe what you have just done would be called "Swiftboating" if the messenger was John Kerry instead of a "neo-con lapd

Face it, Squeak, you are simply a professional protestor, and you will climb onboard any protest which you see as being against this administration.

Do I condone it? Not hardly. (wrong-wingers typically think because we are not surprised at a reaction that we condone it.)

"The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams. Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon? And the whole world saw and heard but it didn't respond."

Only an idiot would publish such gratuitously inflammatory material in this day and age. The publishing of these cartoons has exactly zero to do with "freedom of speech" and everything to do with a stupidly naive provocation.

I would never have imagined that anyone could top George W. Bush as a recruiter for jihadists, but these cartoonists have him beat all to hell.

I support the rights of every soul to worship as they please, they should support my right to enjoy satire as I please. I won't bring my satire into their churches, and they shouldn't bring their churches into my satire.

I assume you are writing about the Toles cartoons published by the WaPost.

It is being alleged in some quarters that the controversy over the Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad is somehow artificial or whipped up months later by the Saudis. This is not true. The controversy began in Denmark itself among the 180,000 Danish Muslims. It was taken up by the ambassadors of Muslim states in Copenhagen. Then the Egyptian foreign minister began making a big deal of it, as did Islamist parties in Turkey and Pakistan.

...the allegation that this thing was fanned by Saudi Arabia does not seem to be substantiated by the FBIS record, which shows Egypt's secular foreign minister to have been among the main fanners of the flame.

In fact it seems that the more terror we stir up the more power the chimp gets.

The link came from OpinionJournal, not Fox. Lord, no wonder you can't get your head on straight; you can't even read.

justpaul's link from the WSJ editorial section is by and Iranian ex pat

this is a liberal news magazine, not a left-wing site.

I would also note that you are running away again. Rather than answer the obvious question of what exactly the Danes have doen to muslims other than print these cartoons

Let me get this straight John Mann, if the "repercussions" of a cartoon are rioting and mayhem, the newspaper should not publish said cartoon?

But Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his government had nothing to apologize for. "I think everybody should realize that neither the Danish government nor the Danish people can be held responsible for what is published in a free and independent newspaper," he told CNN.

...There are 1.5 billion Muslims. A lot of Muslim countries saw no protests at all. In some places, as in Pakistan, they were anemic. The caricature protests are resonating with local politics and anti-imperialism in ways distinctive to each Muslim country. The protests therefore are probably not mostly purely about religion.

The protests therefore are probably not mostly purely about religion.

Got a link or two to back that up, Squeak? What is this about. Please be specific. You claim you know what's really going on, so please enlighten me.

Now we know these riots are clearly caused by the Imams of Denmark and England. Since their actions have obviously caused deaths and great property damage, shouldn't we arrest them and turn them over to the World Court? What say you, Johnny?

Only problem with that argument is that it is not a bar, it is not a place "filled" with any specific race other than Danes, no?

SU - Makes no sense to me. "It will cause people to behave like idiots, so don't do it."

The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore ... unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible ... it is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors ... to meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.

The wise man travels to discover himself.

As for the idiots that are burning sh*t and going crazy, well I agree that it is even stupider to design policy around appeasing extremists.

What's the matter? Aren't the Imams good enough to be tried by the World Court?

During his visits with Muslim leaders, Akkari also showed images that had not been published in any newspaper, but were part of hate mail sent to his colleagues. Those drawings show the Prophet as "a pig, a dog, a woman and a child-sodomizing madman," says the Globe. He said the images were not meant to be mistaken for cartoons published in newspapers, but protesters have cited the drawings during their rallies.

I didn't know the gun was loaded And I'm so sorry my friend I didn't know the gun was loaded And I'll never, never do it again But one night she made a slip Shot the sheriff in the hip So the law it took a hand And made Effie take the stand

Are you saying that they haven't brokem the law? Incitement to riot with 8 deaths as a consquence? Destruction of personal property in the millions of dollars?

We don't need an amendment to ban desecrating the flag. What we need is an amendment which states that if you desecrate the flag, you give up all rights to sue if you get the crap beat out of you by people who object to you desecrating the flag. Let them have their "free speech". Just give us the right to try and persuade them differently...

The fact is, of course is that entire Muslim community, to a certain degree, is getting tarred with the same brush because of a few. There are approx. 180,000 Muslims in Denmark. A very small number, from congregations composing 2-3% have been very visible the past couple of years -- in particular a handful of imams, two of which I should name, Abu Laban and Mohammad Fouad Albarazi have been very visible. What can I say of them? Sort of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell wannabes, I guess. Anyway they sent delegations to the Middleeast -- and misrepresented the character of the drawings....

It would have been nice if Cole had told the Dane that it would have neen helpful if the Danish Moslems were demonstrating against the actions of the rioters...