Thursday, February 09, 2006
The Mohammed Cartoons, Islam, Ahmadinejad, al-Assad and the Muslim People – Supporting Evidence
Perhaps the biggest piece of supporting evidence for my theory is the timeline of the whole event. When these cartoons were released in September, there was some minimal outcry from the Danish Muslim population. But most accounts that I have found show this as a few letters being written to the editor, and a petition. When Jyllands-Posten ignored the protests, most people gave up the issue. But a few began writing to, and finally speaking to, Muslim leaders. For months, they got minimal response. That is, until they were received personally 3+ weeks ago by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran.
Two days after the conference, Ahmadinejad went on a planned trip to meet with Bashar al-Assad of Syria, and it was immediately apparent that the two hit it off. Syria came out vocally for Iran’s nuclear program, and supported the Iranian president’s call for an inquest into the Holocaust. And Ahmadinejad supported al-Assad against claims al-Assad assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Today Condoleezza Rice accused Iran and Syria of instigating this crisis, and I can’t help but wonder if the two leaders didn’t decide two weeks ago to use the cartoon controversy to move Islamic people to protest around the world.
"Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes, and the world ought to call them on it," Rice said at a joint news conference with Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni.
Syria’s response to Rice’s accusations illustrates another supporting argument for my treatise: that Iran, Syria, and terrorist groups are direction where the violence is pointed, further showing their power and defiance of the West:
"We in Syria believe anti-Western sentiments are being fueled by two major things: the situation in Iraq and the situation in the occupied territories, the West Bank and Gaza," Imad Moustapha Syrian ambassador to the United States, said. “We believe that if somebody would tell Secretary Rice that Syria is not the party that occupies Iraq and is not the party that occupies the West Bank and Gaza, then probably she would know it is not Syria who is actually fueling anti-Western sentiments."
This statement is clearly telling protestors that the target should be the US. No surprise then that protestors marched on a US military base in Southern Afghanistan yesterday, spouting the propaganda of the Iranian and Syrian regimes.
The U.S. base was targeted because the United States "is the leader of Europe and the leading infidel in the world," said Sher Mohammed, a 40-year-old farmer who suffered a gunshot wound while taking part in the demonstration in the city of Qalat." They are all the enemy of Islam. They are occupiers in our country and must be driven out," Mohammed said.
Note that when Ahmadinejad called for a rebuttal cartoon series, he didn’t attack Europe or Christianity; he attacked the Jewish people by calling for cartoons about the Holocaust. Nothing links this issue to the Jewish people, but by controlling where the frustration is being vented, Ahmadinejad is proving that he is in control of a massive violently-protesting force.
It also appears that Iran and Syria were not alone in instigating these attacks. Members of Al Qaeda are now reportedly being linked to the instigation of various specific incidents of violence, using mass media to organize protests. Hundreds of Muslims in Denmark received a text message saying that Danish people were planning to burn the Koran in a specific day in Copenhagen’s City Hall Square. The text message was false, but hundreds of people showed up and violence, logically, ensued. Similar techniques appear to have be used in a variety of Muslim communities, and the messages are being traced back, in some cases, to Al Qaeda.
In Afghanistan, the cartoons have never been published or broadcast. Most of the Afghani protestors have never seen the cartoons. But the radio has been consistently talking about the cartoons, and has been inciting the Afghani people to riot. Violence in Afghanistan over the issue has been extreme. A website, alghorabaa.net, features photos of beheadings and calls for an embassy burning day to protest the Mohammed Cartoons. It further offered wording supporters could use in a text message urging people to throw Molotov cocktails and storm embassies.
Finally, it must be noted that these are not the first cartoons of Mohammed, and that many of the cartoons have been created by Muslims. Some have been less than flattering, including the very disparaging South Park episode from a few years back, and none has ever incited these types of protests. To me it is obvious that someone wants these protests to occur now, and I believe that the protests are desired because it will elevate the stature of the people behind the protests, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bashar al-Assad, and to some extent Al Qaeda.
Posted by Scottage at 3:26 AM /
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