At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystallized

Recent violence in response to the infamous cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed may have not been as spontaneous as initially thought. At a December meeting in Mecca of Muslim leaders, Saudi, Iranian, Syrian and Lebanese officials thumbed through a dossier of the Danish cartoons. Ahmed Akkari, a Danish immigrant leader, brought the folder to the Middle East after appeals for redress to the Danish government went unanswered. Critics in the Middle East now suspect that the cartoons provided an opportunity for governments in the region to kill two birds with one stone. Undemocratic states could suggest to restive citizens that democracy defames religion. At the same time, governments could undercut Islamists by robustly attacking the cartoons, thus appearing as stalwart defenders of the faith. Political expediency, not simply inflamed passions, led to the torching of Danish missions in Damascus, Beirut and Tehran. – YaleGlobal