DON'T TREAD ON ME

This flag was flown throughout the American Revolutionary War, indicating the courage of the colonists and their commitment to attaining their independence.

Our forefathers and generations of brave Americans following in their footsteps have fought and died to protect our freedoms, including our freedom of speech.

Today, the Muslim World is protesting our liberties and those of the Western World.

In addition to boycotting the products of countries that have published cartoons depicting Mohammed, Muslims are once again protesting with their feet.

In the past, they've stomped on the flag of Israel.



Before the liberation of Baghdad in 2003, a mosaic of George H.W. Walker Bush was the doormat for the Al-Rashid Hotel. After Saddam Hussein was overthrown, U.S. soldiers used hammers and chisels to remove the state-sponsored insult.



An AP account explains:

Taking shoes to the face is not exactly a compliment in any culture, but in the Arab world it's a particular slam. Pointing the soles of one's feet at someone is a grave insult.

So the notion of thousands of Iraqi feet trudging over the patrician features of George Herbert Walker Bush was particularly appealing to Saddam's regime, humiliated by Bush during the 1991 Gulf War to free Kuwait from Iraqi invaders.

Saddam personally picked the Al-Rashid for the insult to Bush senior. The hotel was heavily trafficked by foreign guests and the base of operations for journalists during the 1991 war - and the place where, on the night of the first American air strike in January 1991, Arab guests huddled in the basement and shouted "Death to Bush."

The mosaic, an unflattering portrait of Bush with his teeth bared in a scowl, was installed later in 1991 right in the Al-Rashid's doorway complete with a caption in Arabic and English: "Bush is criminal."

Now, the Danish flag is getting the trampling treatment.


A Palestinian woman steps on a Danish flag outside a shop in Hebron.



Other Palestinians walk all over another Danish flag, also in Hebron.



In Najaf, Iraqi Muslims have fun romping on a painting of the Danish flag.


The Washington Post, the newspaper obsessed with the Bush Administration's supposed assault and crackdown on the civil liberties of Americans, reports on the Muslim World's crackup over the publication of some cartoons.

By Molly Moore and Faiza Saleh Ambah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 3, 2006; A01

PARIS, Feb. 2 -- Protests against European newspapers' publication of cartoons lampooning the prophet Muhammad gained momentum across the Islamic world Thursday as Pakistani schoolchildren burned French and Danish flags and Muslim presidents denounced the drawings. At the same time, more European news organizations printed or broadcast the caricatures, citing a need to defend freedom of expression.

In another day of confrontation between the largely secular nations of Europe and Muslim countries where religion remains a strong force in daily life, Islamic activists threatened more widespread protests and boycotts of European businesses. While some European officials sought to defuse the crisis, many journalists insisted that despite Islamic outrage, religious sensibilities should not result in censorship.

How out of character of the Post's usual hysterical rantings about civil liberties being destroyed!

The paper points out that "secular" Europe is at odds with religious Muslim countries. This is all about the exercise of free speech versus the exercise of religion.

In other words, it's really just a nasty cultural clash, an unfortunate misunderstanding.

The Post hesitates to take a stand in this report. That's highly, highly unusual. The paper's hard news reports typically drip with editorializations and liberal moralizations.

"We would have done exactly the same thing if it had been a pope, rabbi or priest caricature," wrote Editor in Chief Serge Faubert in Thursday's editions of France Soir, one of the newspapers that printed the cartoons.

Mahmoud A. Hashem, a businessman in Saudi Arabia reflecting broad sentiment in Muslim societies, called the cartoons just another example of a "sport to insult Islam and Muslims" after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Under Islamic teachings, any depiction of Muhammad, the faith's founder and messenger of God, is blasphemy, including depictions that are not negative. The cartoons violated that dictum, and many of them also ridiculed the prophet. In one, he is depicted as a terrorist, with his turban holding a bomb with a burning fuse.

Check out the Mohammed Image Archive.

Political analysts from both sides described the newspapers' printing of the cartoons as a dangerous incitement in a conflict that has already alienated the growing Muslim populations of West European nations and hardened extremists in both camps.

Alexandre Adler, author of "Rendez-vous With Islam," criticized the newspapers. "We're at war," he said, citing the Iraq insurgency and the electoral victories of the radical Palestinian group Hamas and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "And sometimes war demands censorship. In this context, anything that might strengthen the hate of the West is irresponsible."

Well, well, well.

"[S]ometimes war demands censorship."

REALLY???

The libs are not on board with that. No censorship.

American elected officials are constantly making speeches that promote the hate of the West. The libs cheer them on for taking a "principled stand" and commend their "bravery."

Are the words of these politicians irresponsible?

I think so, but the Dems and their lib media mouthpieces don't. It's patriotic.

Ask John Murtha.

The European Union's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, said the continued printing of the cartoons was "throwing petrol onto the flames." Acknowledging the desire to stand up for press freedom, he said newspapers must understand "the offense that is caused by publishing cartoons of this nature."

Is this kind of like Michael Isikoff writing that U.S. personnel at Gitmo flushed a Koran down a toilet?

Of course, Isikoff's report was unsubstantiated. In this instance, we know that the cartoons have, in fact, been published. That distinguishes it from a fabricated Newsweek article.

The Old Media's disproportionate coverage of abuses at Abu Ghraib, claiming torture by American troops was rampant, provides another example. They weren't concerned about making an explosive situation worse by printing disturbing photos, far from it. They reveled in it, day after day highlighting the abuses carried out by the soldiers of the Great Satan.

There was no concern whatsoever about the impact such reports might have on the overwhelming majority of U.S. personnel serving our nation with honor.

The Old Media and Dems, like Dr. Dean, Little Dick Durbin, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Russ Feingold, and Ted Kennedy have had no problem with making it seem like prisoner abuse by our troops is widespread and encouraged.

All of these cases are similar in that they cited violence and fanned the flames of an already raging inferno.

Obviously, the double standard is glaring.

Printing cartoons that Muslims may find offensive is inappropriate, something that the Post and other lib outlets are afraid to do.

On MSNBC's site, the cartoons are offered, but with a disclaimer. MSNBC is clearly very concerned about not being offensive, yet they make the images available, probably in the name of providing complete news coverage.



I don't have a problem with MSNBC's approach. However, I do have a problem with their selective sensitivity.

MSNBC didn't hesitate to offend Catholics with Daryl Cagle's recent cartoon.



Where was the warning for this one?
Referring to the Sign of the Cross in this fashion is an insult to Catholics. It's extremely offensive.
Are Catholics considered fair game by MSNBC, but Muslims are not?
That appears to be the case.
Like MSNBC, the very sensitive Washington Post doesn't hesitate to publish material that military personnel and their families are likely to find offensive. Tom Toles' cartoon, berating America and the tremendous sacrifices of American troops, exploiting wounded vets, is a case in point.



Have Catholics rioted over Cagle's cartoon? Have they burned him in effigy?
Has the U.S. Military turned its guns on the Washington Post in response to its tasteless cartoon?
No.
Violence does erupt when Islam is mocked in cartoons. I'm sorry, but that's an overreaction.




The Associated Press reports on tens of thousands of Muslims around the world protesting the cartoons. European leaders are in CYA mode, while angry Muslims display how peaceful they are by committing acts of violence and calling for the beheadings of the infidels behind the cartoons.

Danish Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen, in a meeting with the Egyptian ambassador, reiterated his stance that the government cannot interfere with issues concerning the press. On Monday, he said his government could not apologize on behalf of a newspaper, but that he personally "never would have depicted Muhammad, Jesus or any other religious character in a way that could offend other people."

Early Friday, Palestinian militants threw a bomb at a French cultural center in Gaza City, and many Palestinians began boycotting European goods, especially those from Denmark.

"Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of others in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah chanted.

In mosques throughout Palestinian cities, clerics condemned the cartoons. An imam at the Omari Mosque in Gaza City told 9,000 worshippers that those behind the drawings should have their heads cut off.

"If they want a war of religions, we are ready," Hassan Sharaf, an imam in Nablus, said in his sermon.

About 10,000 demonstrators, including gunmen from the Islamic militant group Hamas firing in the air, marched through Gaza City to the Palestinian legislature, where they climbed on the roof, waving green Hamas banners.

"We are ready to redeem you with our souls and our blood our beloved prophet," they chanted. "Down, Down Denmark."

...Hundreds of Turks emerging from mosques following Friday prayers staged demonstrations, including one in front of the Danish consulate in Istanbul.

"Hands that reach Islam must be broken," chanted a group of extremists outside the Merkez Mosque in Istanbul.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, more than 150 hardline Muslims stormed a high-rise building housing the Danish Embassy on Friday and tore down and burned the country's flag.

Pakistan's parliament unanimously voted to condemn the drawings as a "vicious, outrageous and provocative campaign" that has "hurt the faith and feelings of Muslims all over the world." About 800 people protested in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, chanting "Death to Denmark" and "Death to France." Another rally in the southern city of Karachi drew 1,200 people.

Fundamentalist Muslims protested outside the Danish Embassy in Malaysia, chanting "Long live Islam, destroy our enemies."

DEATH

BEHEAD

DESTROY

BLOW UP

EXECUTE

The idea that Islam is a peaceful religion is getting more and more difficult to accept.

President Bush frequently refers to Islam as being hijacked by militants. At present, it certainly appears that the hijackers are piloting the plane and in complete control.

Frankly, "peaceful" Muslims seem to be in the minority. Without question, they are losing the PR battle.

These silent, peaceful Muslims should be far more outraged over the images that the vocal militant Muslims are giving the world than over any cartoon images of Mohammed.

Does Islam teach violence?

Is there a place for tolerance in Islam?