Editorial: Violence in Mideast, Europe

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006 | 12:31 p.m.

Violent and deadly demonstrations in the Middle East and Europe have occurred in the wake of a Danish newspaper's decision to publish cartoons that depicted the prophet Muhammad as a terrorist.

One of the important points to remember about this developing story is that the cartoon was first published in September, and the protests by Muslims, who believe that any illustrations of Muhammad are forbidden, were relatively modest in Denmark several months ago.

It wasn't until after Muslim clerics in Denmark enlisted the help of Egypt's government, as The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, that an organized campaign spread throughout Europe and the Middle East. Governments that have helped fund terrorists, such as Syria, and terror groups themselves, such as al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, are believed to be behind many of the violent demonstrations.

It was poor judgment by the Danish newspaper to print a cartoon depicting Muhammad as a terrorist, if only for the reason that Muhammad wasn't a good choice as a metaphor - he isn't the one carrying out terrorism. But that in no way justifies the violence that has followed, including the attacks against Danish embassies. Once the violence started occurring, European newspapers reprinted the cartoon to show their support for free expression and to demonstrate that they wouldn't be intimidated by such attacks.

To understand just how phony much of this "outrage" against the Danish newspaper is, when was the last time anybody can recall Arabs taking to the streets to protest the multitude of scurrilous, anti-Semitic illustrations or a defamatory commentary published in one of the many extremist Islamic publications? And where was the outrage the last time a suicide bomb killed Israeli men, women and children? Where was the outrage after 9/11, or after the terrorist bombings in Madrid and London?

Some Arabs have spoken out against the violence. The Associated Press reports that Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, while condemning the cartoon, has called "misguided and oppressive" those Muslims whose actions "projected a distorted and dark image of the faith of justice, love and brotherhood." Until Muslims in Europe and the Middle East start speaking out and condemning the violence, the distorted image of Islam that al-Sistani refers to will remain.