"What!"
Posted on 02/04/2006 11:31:17 PM PST by anymouse
DAMASCUS, Syria - Thousands of Syrians enraged by caricatures of Islam's revered prophet torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday — the most violent in days of furious protests by Muslims in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
In Gaza, Palestinians marched through the streets, storming European buildings and burning German and Danish flags. Protesters smashed the windows of the German cultural center and threw stones at the European Commission building, police said.
Iraqis rallying by the hundreds demanded an apology from the European Union, and the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas called the cartoons "an unforgivable insult" that merited punishment by death.
Pakistan summoned the envoys of nine Western countries in protest, and even Europeans took to the streets in Denmark and Britain to voice their anger.
At the heart of the protest: 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in September and reprinted in European media in the past week. One depicted the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. The paper said it had asked cartoonists to draw the pictures because the media was practicing self-censorship when it came to Muslim issues.
The drawings have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Aggravating the affront, Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said repeatedly he cannot apologize for his country's free press. But other European leaders tried Saturday to calm the storm.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said she understood Muslims were hurt — though that did not justify violence.
"Freedom of the press is one of the great assets as a component of democracy, but we also have the value and asset of freedom of religion," Merkel told an international security conference in Munich, Germany.
The Vatican deplored the violence but said certain provocative forms of criticism were unacceptable.
"The right to freedom of thought and expression ... cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers," the Vatican said in its first statement on the controversy.
The United States called the burnings "inexcusable" and blamed the Syrian government for security failures.
" Syria must act decisively to protect all foreign embassies and citizens in Damascus from attack," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement. "We will hold Syria responsible for such violent demonstrations since they do not take place in that country without government knowledge and support."
But Denmark and Norway did not wait for more violence.
With their Damascus embassies up in flames, the foreign ministries advised their citizens to leave Syria without delay.
"It's horrible and totally unacceptable," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said on Danish public television Saturday.
No diplomats were injured in the Syrian violence, officials said. But Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds — whose country, along with Chile, has an embassy in the same building — said she would lodge a formal protest over the lack of security.
In Santiago, the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Chilean Embassy in Damascus was also torched but nobody was injured.
The demonstrations in Damascus began peacefully with protesters gathering outside the building housing the Danish Embassy. But they began throwing stones and eventually broke through police barricades. Some scrambled up concrete barriers protecting the embassy, climbed into the building and set a fire.
"With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!" the demonstrators chanted. Some removed the Danish flag and replaced it with a green flag printed with the words: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God."
Demonstrators moved onto the Norwegian Embassy about 4 miles away, also setting fire to it before being dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannons. Hundreds of police and troops barricaded the road leading to the French Embassy, but protesters were able to break through briefly before fleeing from the force of water cannons.
Amid the furor, Syria's Grand Mufti urged calm, noting the demonstration had started in a "nice and disciplined way," but then turned violent because of "some members who do not understand the language of dialogue."
"We never expressed our anger in such a way, and we believe that dialogue should be done through guidance and teaching, not through killing, harming and burning," Sheik Ahmed Badr-Eddine Hassoun said in remarks carried by state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, or SANA.
In Gaza, masked gunmen affiliated with the Fatah Party called on the Palestinian Authority and Muslim nations to recall their diplomatic missions from Denmark until the government apologizes.
In the West Bank town of Hebron, about 50 Palestinians marched to the headquarters of the international observer mission there, burned a Danish flag and demanded a boycott of Danish goods.
"We will redeem our prophet Muhammad with our blood!" they chanted.
Mahmoud Zahar, leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, told the Italian daily Il Giornale the cartoonists should be punished by death.
We should have killed all those who offend the Prophet and instead here we are, protesting peacefully." he said.
Hundreds of Iraqis rallied south of Baghdad, some carrying banners urging "honest people all over the world to condemn this act" and demanding an EU apology.
Anger swelled in Europe, too. Young Muslims clashed briefly with police in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, and some 700 people rallied outside the Danish Embassy in London.
A South African court banned the country's Sunday newspapers from reprinting the cartoons.
Iran's president ordered his commerce minister to study canceling all trade contracts with European countries whose newspapers have published the caricatures, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the caricatures showed the "impudence and rudeness" of Western newspapers against the prophet as well as the "maximum resentment of the Zionists (Jews) ruling these countries against Islam and Muslims."
The leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan denounced the publication of the caricatures. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned nine envoys to lodge protests against the publication of the "blasphemous" sketches.
The burka of "the religion of peace" has just had a big rip tear through its backside and the World is getting a view of how ugly she really is.
Actually no answer is necessary ......unless someone wants to post the word 'hypocrites' in HUGE letters! (Colored Green ofcourse ....it is the Islamic color, and I do not want to 'offend' them and have a Fatwa edict against me).
Seriously though, these people are just messing themselves up in Europe. Already a good part of Europe is tired of them (ranging from Austria to the Netherlands), and all the stuff they are doing now just makes it even worse for them.
This is the most stupid form of self-sabotage I have ever seen. I guess the good thing is that it will wake any Europeans who are still asleep about the danger in their midst.
Anyways, all the people protesting (and burning things,and threatening violence, and .....) are HYPOCRITES. Each and every one of them.
Wait your turn Syria........wait your turn. Iran was in line ahead of you......we'll get to you soon enough.
Mohammed and his father, Satan. Pizz be upon him.
Things are strangely quiet on the French front...
The Muslims can dish it out...but sure as hell can't take it.
Thus proving the caricatures to have been correct. They're upset by them, yet their response proves them to be an accurate depiction. Do they realize how idiotic they look?
How do the cartoons help us in the fight against the nutburgers? What do we gain by insulting them?
it is the christians fault.
Oh wait, no christians in denmark.
"We" gain the rest of the world (the sane part) understanding that Muslim fanatics are not just those few nutjobs sawing the heads off of innocents. Instead, it is becoming undeniable that muslims around the world are just plain nuts. It is becoming undeniable that muslims, as a rule, cannot exist peacefully in civilized society. They cannot be simply "tolerated".
What's unacceptable is terrorism....murdering thousands of innocent people. THAT'S unacceptable!
"The right to freedom of thought and expression ... cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers," the Vatican said in its first statement on the controversy.
So, where does the Vatican stand on a Crucifix in a jar of urine being called "art"? How about elephant dung smeared on a picture of the Virgin? Those offenses are ok? Christians and Jews are targets for torture and murder by these "believers". They believe in darkness and death. The Holy Catholic Church cannot stand with evil. God help us.
No doubt our Muzzie friends would stand up for Christians with equal valor if the tables were turned. /s
I read somewhere else that they tried to go after the British and US embassies, but both were too heavily guarded.
Golly, you are a scary fellow.
You said that Muslims can`t exist in a civilzed society.
WOW, that`s some statement.
Should we gas them, nuke them, or what?
KEWL! Thanks for posting this. I'm wondering where the French moosies are? They are sounding real quiet, seems like.
"What!"
Genocide is not the answer.
Deporting them all to wherever they can't murder anyone except themselves would be an option.
Preferably, a location where they could not cripple the world's economy, i.e., anywhere no oil reserves could be found.
If rehabilitation could be applied, those that successfully break the bonds of Koranism could be reintegrated with the rest of the world.
As it stands now, a large portion of Mohammedans seem to be begging for extinction in a nuclear exchange.
I would prefer they stop their ways long before any additional death, on either side, however I'm not hopeful.
Of course not. But we stop ignoring the fact that islam is front for a global terror organization that openly advocates the violent overthrow of anyone who isn't muslim. Just like we don't have to welcome drug cartels, ethnic gangs, or violent racist organizations into our society, we do not need to welcome islam. As western nations begin to accept that islam is NOT a peaceful religion, and that islamic organizations are conduits of violence and terror, it will become increasingly difficult for islamic terror groups to operate freely in most western countries. We will all be better off.
Internment, rehabilitation will probably work as well as it does on sex offenders, but I really expect more promising results from reincarnation.
Ah, yes; the religion of peace strikes again.
According to AP last night, after the crowd had torched and looted the Norwegian embassy, they went on to the French one.
Since then I have heard nothing.
I presume the police managed to finally control the mob.
But that blathering old fool Jimmah Carter said we should give Hamas a chance to prove they're "partners in peace"!! This doesn't sound "peaceful" to me. Sounds more like a terrorist organization. Oh, wait. . . .
Hey, here`s how to do it, lets use insulting cartoons to stop Ben Lousing! That`s going to work, right?
Don`t think our guys in Iraq think you have the right idea.
I have to wonder-how can such a warped culture have managed to survive for so long?
Interesting that Muslims are strictly monotheistic (even the concept of the trinity rankles them), but they are treating Muhammad like a god with their cries to avenge him. I wonder what Allah would say about the rioting and murders? Is the rage over the depictions of Muhammad what Allah would want? Seems like they are putting the concerns over their prophet's likeness being drawn over the will of Allah. Jesus said by their fruits ye shall know them, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Rioting and murder in my estimation are evil. The counsel to turn the other cheek stands in stark contrast to the Muslim reaction to these drawings. The Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet; too bad that they don't follow more of his teachings.
exellent point, while everyone seems to be cheering the muslims acting stupid and they certainly are, let us not forget we have plenty of young men and women in that part of the world at grave risk regarding this issue. im with you on this one. i loathe islam, but this will be seen down the road to have been a costly cartoon. costly to us that is.
Muhammad was a violent murderer who gained his initial fame through his brutality. I think he'd like what his modern followers are doing.
My non-scientific study has shown that virtually all Muslims whom I encounter (including coworkers, former roommates, vendors) become somewhat "unhinged" when discussion turns to terrorism, blame for 9/11/01, Israel, or Muhammad cartoons.
~ Blue Jays ~
Sorry. I really didn't realize that you had been appointed to represent our guys in Iraq. But, on the other hand, I believe that when our guys in Iraq understand that all moosies read and believe in a book that says everyone but moosies are their enemy, and that they get 72 virgins for killing non-moosies, and it is the duty of all moosies to kill infidels, which they define as "non-moosies", then I really believe that most of our guys in Iraq probably do "get it".
CNN International had an interesting remark about this...it was, I believe, a Danish commentator who noted that Syria was a police state and did not have "spontaneous" demonstrations...
Note the demonstrators...and the countries which are "allowing spontaneous demonstrations"...
And remember: The most inflammatory cartoons were invented by an Islamofascist extremist group...
Essentially this is propaganda being fanned and exploited by certain people who want a war of civilizations...
I feel sorry for the average Muslim, who like Christians just want to raise their family in peace, being manipulated into hatred of the West by these bastards...
Actually they are not helping us fight them ....what is happening is that they are fighting themselves. Think of it this way .....they have always used Europe as a place where they can espouse their various forms of angst and ire, where they can use to the maximum the freedoms inherent in those nations. After all the Europeans have always been so tolerant. However in the last couple of years the tide of popular opinion has been turning against them, especially after the murder of the Dutch film-maker, and there is spreading awareness that the significant numbers of Muslims immigrants in Europe are not willing to assimilate into the larger culture. And not only that, but they want to actually turn the culture they found in Europe into some semblance of Islamic decorum.
For instance take MAAD (Muslims against advertising), who have been going about in Britain defacing billboards that they feel are 'immoral.'
Here is a link on MAAD: Link to MAAD
That is just one example (I have others, including some with links, if one cares to see them).
Anyways, Europe is, far and large, waking up to the core issue they have within their midst. Not one of immigration, or even one of Islam ....but rather one of immigration where the migrants are:
- not willing to cohere with the native culture,
- try to change the native culture,
- use the freedoms innate in the native culture to disseminate hate (and even terror).
Everytime something occurs that doesn't please the muslim immigrants they tend to resort to unabated violence, and people are simply tired of it.
How does this help us? Well, it is not meant to help us .....this is 100% the doing of those people who cannot control their rage. Who seek to influence (actually not influence but more along the lines of bring to submission) the culture into which they have immigrated.
I also do not take it as an insult to them .....it would only have been an insult if they had protested against it in a peaceful manner and stuck to civil propriety. However the moment they started threatening kidnap, threatening murder, and burning down embassies it became a great insult ....a great grave insult. However the insult was that the muslims doing this were insulting THEMSELVES.
Crude analogy: If someone says I am a brigand and a scoundrel, I can easily take that as an insult. However, if my reaction to that assertions is to go forth and start robbing and pounding on people passing by, and I am claiming that Iam sticking up people because I am 'protesting' the insult of being called a robber, then serious questions need to be asked.
Some time back a crucifix was put in a jar of urine, and it was called art. In another 'art' exhibition the virgin Mary was smeared with dung.
What happened? People protested, and others decided to not attend the 'art' exhibits. However there were no threats of kidnap, no threats of murder, no masses of people walking around with placards such as these:
If they do not like the free speech in Europe (and for that matter America) then they (and everyone, including myself ...an immigrant BTW) is FREE TO LEAVE. However one cannot come as a guest/migrant to a foreign nation, and then try to change the very bastions that made that nation what it is! It would be like someone coming to my house and telling me I HAVE to become a vegan, chant Daoist mantras while doing Hindu mudras, stick brussel sprouts up my nose and count backwards in Chinese. If that happened I would kick that persons @r$e out of my house with all the strength (and malice) I could muster.
Same thing here .....if it was a simple (and peaceful) protest then all would be 100% ok. And it would be an insult. However when all these violence stuff starts then a whole new beast is born.
The ironic thing is most playground age kids could tell this people what they are doing is silly. After all, in kindergarten most kids know that if Billy insults Jane what she should do is report him to teacher. They also know that if Billy insults Jane, and then she takes a rock and tries to shove it up Billy's nose, that suddenly the teacher (and the parents) will be all over Jane like a bad rash, and Billy's statements (insult or not) will not even matter. Someone needs to hire a very good PR person for the muslims who would find a cartoon worth violence.
Anyways, we do not gain anything. However the radical muslims may VERY well have lost Europe. This has most probably sealed it for them.
We may not have gained a darn thing, but they surely have lost a lot.
Except insane.
We have discovered the enemy's soft underbelly!
DRAW MORE CARTOONS!!!!!!
HUH?
If I understand what you are trying to say, all those Iraq`s that are working with our guys are really the enemy and that our guys understand that?
"...We have discovered the enemy's soft underbelly! Draw More Cartoons!
You are 100% correct. These insane Muslims can operate on a combination of adrenaline and seething anger for only so long. If a couple of lame cartoons get them this riled-up, we can physically exhaust them by bombarding them with more "offensive" literature. They will literally exhibit physical/medical disability at some point.
~ Blue Jays ~
bttt
No doubt AP will now start referring to Jesus Christ as 'Son of God', or at the very least, "revered as the Son of God by Christians". /sarc
Man, do I hate AP and Reuters, they are so hypocritical!
Somebody should tell the rioters that there was an error in the translation...
"..gas them, nuke them, or what?"
I'll go for a "nuke them", next.
"STOP! STOP! I will tell you everything just stop abusing the holy book"
What do we gain by insulting them?
its called, drawing out the enemy
Very well said!
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