Posted on 02/21/2006 7:08:27 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
FORMER US president Bill Clinton has urged western and Muslim leaders to hold talks following the recent outrage over cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed.
Violent protests have been held around the world following the publication of a series of cartoons initially printed in a Danish newspaper depicting Mohammed.
The protests resulted in several deaths and buildings being firebombed.
Mr Clinton today said it was important to find out what was behind the cartoon and the reasons for their publication.
"I think that we ought to have such an attempt to take all of this brouhaha (about the cartoons) ... and use it to force a dialogue," Mr Clinton told a global business forum in Sydney.
"Does anybody here know whether that cartoonist knew that it was blasphemous when he did the picture of Mohammed?
"We could use this thing to build bridges instead of burning them and we need to do that more." Mr Clinton made the comments following a wide-ranging speech to about 1000 business men and women in Sydney.
He spent almost two hours addressing the conference despite complaining of feeling unwell.
In his speech, Mr Clinton said there was a need for countries to work closely to tackle the problem of global warming, just as many nations had done in fighting terrorism.
He also took several questions from the floor, covering topics including terrorism, Australia's trade relationship with the US, allied troops in Iraq, and whether his wife Hillary Clinton would be in the race for the White House in 2008.
Mr Clinton told the audience he believed there was a chance of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, but no chance of the US striking any deal with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
And the former president joined Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to announce the provision of up to $25 million to strengthen efforts to deliver HIV/AIDS treatment in the Asia Pacific.
Now, Now - maybe Bill is the guy for this job.
He did get rid of Joe Camel after all....
#*&^%+><@?!!!!!!!!!!
Group hug everybody.
LOL!
Much of the fallout from the Cartoon Intifada has been obvious: a boycott throughout much of the Islamic world of Danish products; riots in the streets of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia; attacks on consulates and western businesses.
But for Mecca Cola, the United Arabic Emirates-based company that competes head to head in Muslim populations with Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola, the fallout has been positive, with a ripple effect on their donations to Palestinian organizations linked to terror.
They have seen sales of Mecca Cola products triple since the outcry over the cartoons began.
According to Mecca Cola World Co. chairman Taoufik Mathlouthi "Growth came with these Danish caricatures. It's crazy but our sales multiplied by three. We cannot supply all the demand we have right now.
In fact, business is so good that they have launched a new energy drink called Mecca Power with the slogan get the Halal power. Halal is an Arabic word that means permitted or lawful and is used to indicate something that is permissible under Islamic law.
This is good news for Palestinian charities in Gaza and the West Bank, which receive 10% of the proceeds of every can of Mecca Cola sold.
A press release on their website says:
Mecca-Cola says that it definitely will give money to charity and has gone to great pains to assure that its donations don't go to terrorism.
Ten percent will go to buy books and school equipment for Palestinian children, and the other 10 percent will go to local charities in France, Mathlouthi said. It is important for the Mecca-Cola boss to donate goods and not cash, states Mathlouthi: "We don't want people to think that we support soldiers or terrorist groups, only suffering children."
The Mecca Cola website includes an undated image of the charities that receive donations at http://www.mecca-cola.com/en/beneficiary.php. The document, which lists the charities and certifies their charitable status, is signed by Dr. Mousa Zabout.
But a United Nations, Division of Palestinian Rights, document published in 2003 describes Zabout as follows: Moussa Zabout, a Gaza physician with ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And at least two of the charities on the list of recipients were temporarily shut down by the Palestinian Monetary Fund under pressure from the US as fronts for PA rival Hamas.
Weve requested a current list of charities from the Public Relations Department at Mecca Cola, and have received no reply.
The question needs to be answered.
Does Mecca Cola continue to fund Hamas-linked charities from sales of their products, not just in the Islamic world, but in the UK, France, and other parts of Europe?
Neither did we. He only got 42% of the vote.
I don't WANT bridges to the Muslim world, thanks.
Isolation and containment sound so much better.
Another sad ending to the diplomatic efforts of the Loony Left.
This is the ticket. Let Clintoon smooth over the cartoon wars. He can talk his way out of a wet (fill in the blank).
I just saw that my industry's annual conference has the Toon as it's speaker this year. It's revolting. We have had the likes of Tommy Franks, Guiliani, and Colon Powell in recent years, so there is no bias issue. It is hard to stomach, none the less.
Your industry must have plenty of money to throw around.
The only thing that's not cheap about BJ is his price!
Thanks for the ping!
I couldn't care less about this issue, but the headline was irresistable. Cartoon talks....Bill Clinton...appropriate.
It's just the only way William the Bent knows how to face social crises in the manner of the liberal.
Remember how he had a "gang summit" in the early nineties? Sure made a big difference in the gang problems in the country didn't it?
(/sarc.)
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