"How about telling Muslims that they need to understand that our laws and cultural values allow the publication of such images without the creator or publisher being subject to prosecution or a fatwah?"
It was delivered in typical State Department mush:
"We all fully recognize and respect freedom of the press and expression but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."
No mention of the fact that freedom of the press is enshrined in our Constitution, which does not mention blasphemy. No criticism of those who wish violence upon those who published the cartoon.
Nah, bash those engaging in Western values of free speech while kowtowing to the fatwah types.
I'm glad we didn't have these guys around during WWII. They would have apologized for how we represented Germans and Japanese in popular culture:
"While freedom of speech allows someone to sing You're a sap, Mr. Jap, we also should not condone such ethnic characatures."