09 February 2006

be careful what you wish for...

It seems that a 31-year old Danish man of Lebanese descent, Ahmed Akkari, is responsible for the fiasco of the cartoons. He brought a book of cartoons to a number of clerics in the Middle East since the Prime Minister of Denmark failed to take action over the cartoon. What did he expect the prime minister of a democracy to do about something dealing with free speech. Slap wrists? Change the law to destroy freedom of the press? Turn Denmark into a theocratic country? Destroy multiculturalism?

And he's surprise at the reaction around the globe!

"Yeah, it has been more violent than I expected," he said. "I had no interest in any violence. ... It is bad for our case because it's turning the picture completely from what this should be about, to something else _ and this is a dangerous change now."

Well, what did he really expect? The entire Islamic world seemed to be aflame before the cartoon, and when you add more kindling to the fire it gets hotter, brighter and larger. He fell right into someone's hands.

...isn't hindsight wonderful?

The full story here:

'It is not what I want to happen', Scripps Howard News Service.

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