Controversal Topic?

What do we think about Muslim's around the world protesting the Danish cartoon?

Are they justified or over-reacting?









Danish Leader Warns of 'Global Crisis' Over Protests
NATO Troops Open Fire After Base Attacked in Afghanistan
By DANIEL COONEY, AP

KABUL, Afghanistan (Feb. 7) -- NATO peacekeepers exchanged gunfire with protesters who attacked their base Tuesday in another day of deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, officials said. Three demonstrators were killed.


In neighboring Pakistan, 5,000 people chanting "Hang the man who insulted the prophet!" burned effigies of Denmark's prime minister and a cartoonist.

Denmark Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the protests "a growing global crisis" and appealed for calm. The Danish paper Jyllands-Posten was the first to publish the drawings, in September.

"It now is something else than the drawings in Jyllands-Posten," he said. "Now it has become an international political matter."

A prominent Iranian newspaper said it was going to hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust in reaction to European newspapers recently republishing the prophet drawings. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the Muhammad drawings were an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over the victory of the militant Hamas group in last month's Palestinian elections.

The European Union, in turn, warned Iran that attempts to boycott Danish goods or cancel trade contracts with European countries would lead to a further deterioration in relations. Those relations already are strained by concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

President Bush called Fogh Rasmussen to express "solidarity and support" in the wake of the violence, the White House said Tuesday. Spokesman Scott McClellan said the leaders agreed that all sides must move forward "through dialogue and tolerance, not violence."

The drawings -- including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb -- have touched a raw nerve partly because Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.

NATO forces and protesters exchange gunfire in Maymana as hundreds demonstrate. Three protesters are killed and dozens are hurt. Thousands turn out for protests in other cities, including Kabul.


The most violent demonstrations were in Afghanistan, where thousands of rioters clashed with police and NATO peacekeepers across the country.

About 250 protesters armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the NATO base in the northwestern town of Maymana, burning an armored vehicle, a U.N. car and guard posts, said a Maymana Hospital doctor.

Some in the crowd fired light weapons and threw stones and hand grenades, and the Norwegian troops responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and warning shots, said Sverre Diesen, commander of Norwegian forces.

Three protesters were shot to death and 25 others were wounded, while some 50 others were hurt by tear gas fired by the peacekeepers, said Sayed Aslam Ziaratia, the provincial deputy police chief.

Seven NATO soldiers were hurt, Diesen told reporters in Oslo.

It was not clear who killed the protesters.

The United Nations pulled its staff out of Maymana, near Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan, and NATO peacekeepers rushed reinforcements to the remote town. Two Norwegian aid groups began pulling international staff out of Afghanistan after Tuesday's attacks.

In the capital, Kabul, police used batons to beat stone-throwing protesters outside the Danish diplomatic mission office and near World Bank offices. Police arrest several people, many of them injured.

More than 3,000 protesters threw stones at government buildings and an Italian peacekeeping base in the western city of Herat, but no one was injured, witness Faridoon Pooyaa said.

About 5,000 people clashed with police in Pulikhumri, north of Kabul, police commander Sayed Afandi said.

Four people died and 19 were injured Monday in demonstrations.

Muslim anger has been directed at Denmark. Danish missions have been attacked and boycotts of Danish products launched in many Muslim countries.

The cartoons have been reprinted by media outlets in Europe, the United States and elsewhere -- sometimes to illustrate stories about the controversy but also by some who say they were supporting free speech.

In India's portion of the disputed region of Kashmir, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters. At least six protesters and two police were injured in the clash, a police said.

The protest by 5,000 people in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar was the largest to date there against the drawings. There were no reports of violence.

Chief Minister Akram Durrani, the province's top elected official who led the rally, demanded the cartoonists "be punished like a terrorist."

"Islam ... insists that all other religions and faiths should be respected," he said. "Nobody has the right to insult Islam and hurt the feelings of Muslims."

Danish citizens were advised to leave Indonesia, where rowdy protests were held in at least four cities.

The Iranian newspaper Hamshahri invited foreign cartoonists to enter its Holocaust cartoon competition, which it said would be launched Monday. The newspaper is owned by the Tehran Municipality, which is dominated by allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Tehran mayor known for his opposition to Israel.

Last year, Ahmadinejad provoked outcries when he said on separate occasions that Israel should be "wiped off the map" and the Holocaust was a "myth."

An aid group that provides food to tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Chechnya suspended its operations after Chechen officials banned all Danish organizations.

The EU's executive office warned Iran that attempts to boycott Danish goods or cancel trade contracts with European countries would lead to a further cooling of relations.

EU spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said the bloc was trying to confirm comments reportedly made by Ahmadinejad advocating a boycott of Danish products.

"A boycott of Danish goods is by definition a boycott of European goods," Laitenberger said. "A boycott hurts the economic interests of all parties."

Ahmadinejad also ordered his commerce minister to study scrapping all trade contacts with European countries whose newspapers published the caricatures, Iranian media reported.

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Definitely an Overreaction

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You can protest it and be disgusted by it but you can't hold a countries leaders responsible in a where their is a free press.

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I think the reaction is disgusting. Violence solves nothing and gives the religion a bad name!

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In neighboring Pakistan, 5,000 people chanting "Hang the man who insulted the prophet!" burned effigies of Denmark's prime minister and a cartoonist.

This is sick...I think they have been raised & taught to see things in this way and it makes it hard for anyone to understand this mentality. We are used to freedoms that they aren't, it's scary that these people would even chant this.

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I think they have every right to protest something they think is offensive. Economic embargos are their right.

I would hope that they respect the right of others to protest too because frankly- there are a lof of offensive things that some Muslims say about others, especially Americans.

But I don't think they have the right to hold a country responsible for the actions of their free press.

I also don't think that resorting to violence is acceptable. The amount of violence that has erupted from this is insane and not justified AT ALL!

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But somehow this makes it better ...

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I have a story to share.

I went to a lecture of a former PLO terrorist. During the Q &A, one of the members of the audience shared his story. He was raised Muslim in Asia. A man was visiting his family who happened to be Jewish. They had lunch and the man went on his way. About 20 minutes later, a bunch of his neighbors came by asking, "where's the Jew? We have to kill the Jew." The man asked why? His neighbors told him that it was their job as Muslims to kill all the Jews.

This is how they think.

Oh- and you want to know what "deragotory term" they call American Soldiers in Muslim countries (like in WWII, we called Germans - "Krauts" and French "Frogs")- They call them "Jew".

And they think its OK to kill people over a cartoon which portrayed an image of Mohammed which is forbidden in their religion? Come on!

Re: Controversal Topic?

This is so horrible. I can't even fathom the idea of wanting to kill another humna bieng just because of their race.

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Message edited 2/7/2006 2:56:10 PM.

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Yes, I think it is a complete overreaction. Not the being upset about it and protesting - but the violence! I don't understand how people can believe that this is the way to handle something - something as stupid as a freaking CARTOON! Be angry, be offended, be upset - but to be attacking and getting people killed over it. Just so stupid. and so SAD!!

Shelly, that story is so depressing!

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I understand them being upset and offended over it, but there is no need for violence. Honestly, they are just perpetuating the beliefs that led to the cartoon in the first place!

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I just feel that these people (whoever they are - fundamentalists? fanatics? I'm not sure how exactly to classify them) will never ever ever understand peace and never understand how the world works in the 21st century ... Iran & Iraq could be powerful countries with booming economy's if they would just work with other countries.

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I think that Elbee and Jax430 hit the nail on the head - I couldn't agree more re: "they don't understand the difference between legally wrong and morally wrong ... it's one in the same to them."

Message edited 2/7/2006 4:44:01 PM.

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The way I see it is....hmmm...someone makes a controversial cartoon about us, so let's trash our country...that makes sense!

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Heidi, maybe you are right, maybe it's not "understand" ... maybe they don't want to? I struggle with that, because I cannot comprehend why they would want so much hate surrounding themselves instead of living in peace like the Muslim religion dicates. They are hyprocrates to their own religon.


I think the problem is that many things are taken out of context. I speak to my mom about this because she has read the Koran and no where there does it say that Mohammed says it's ok to commit suicides and behead people.

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