Posted on 02/09/2006 5:55:38 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, second from left, was among the Middle East leaders at a meeting in December in Mecca, where Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad were discussed.
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 8 As leaders of the world's 57 Muslim nations gathered for a summit meeting in Mecca in December, issues like religious extremism dominated the official agenda. But much of the talk in the hallways was of a wholly different issue: Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad. The closing communiqué took note of the issue when it expressed "concern at rising hatred against Islam and Muslims and condemned the recent incident of desecration of the image of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the media of certain countries" as well as over "using the freedom of expression as a pretext to defame religions."
The meeting in Mecca, a Saudi city from which non-Muslims are barred, drew minimal international press coverage even though such leaders as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran were in attendance. But on the road from quiet outrage in a small Muslim community in northern Europe to a set of international brush fires, the summit meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the role its member governments played in the outrage was something of a turning point.
After that meeting, anger at the Danish caricatures, especially at an official government level, became more public. In some countries, like Syria and Iran, that meant heavy press coverage in official news media and virtual government approval of demonstrations that ended with Danish embassies in flames. In recent days, some governments in Muslim countries have tried to calm the rage, worried by the increasing level of violence and deaths in some cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Imagine that! How could anyone develop any hatred against people that show nothing but hatred and intolerance for us? I must be missing something.
"...as well as over "using the freedom of expression as a pretext to defame religions."
No Muslim would ever do anything like that, of course!
I would make one modification to the title:
At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystallized
They could just keep that handy, on file, at the ready, because every meeting seems to have outrage.
I'm sure W was aware of the fact that they might stab him in the back. You're making the same mistake most libs do by thinking he's a dunce. He's not.
I believe he went primariy because he realized it was his duty as President to go. The attacks were just a generous bonus to him and the Republicans.
There is an added benefit to us once the Dems decided to make the funeral political. We picked up a bunch of voters out of her funeral.
That's not what funerals are for, but since the left has a tin ear and is perpetually and willfully ignorant, all the hoopla adds to our 2006 vote count.
Can you imagine the landslide we'd have if Jesse Jackson died this September? Even incumbant Dems would campaign in fear.
The seeds were planted here for the cartoon war.
Thanks for posting.
Hey guys and girls, did you see this one?
I've heard them blaming Israel and the US for the cartoons already.
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