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I believe the reason the moderate Muslims' apathetic reaction to not condemn and oppose the violence perpetuated by their brethren is due to this single fact, which is also written in the Koran and pounded into every Muslims' head:

From the article:

I was told: "Muslims cannot love the enemies of God, and those who do will get no mercy in hell." As a young woman, I visited a Christian friend in Cairo during Friday prayers, and we both heard the verbal attacks on Christians and Jews from the loudspeakers outside the mosque. They said: "May God destroy the infidels and the Jews, the enemies of God. We are not to befriend them or make treaties with them." We heard worshippers respond "Amen".

There was no reaction when the cartoons were initially published in September 2005, until recently, when the cartoons were hijacked and disseminated in Iran and Syria... the purpose of this, is clearly stated here:

Indeed, with Denmark set to assume the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, the flames of the cartoon controversy have been fanned by Iran and Syria. This is critical since the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to refer Iran to the Security Council and demand sanctions. At the same time, Syria is under scrutiny for its actions in Lebanon. Both Iran and Syria cynically want to embarrass the Danes to achieve their dangerous goals.