The cartoons that raised such an uproar a few years back might not be much news to most of us in the West who saw them and moved on, but they are apparently still a big deal to the Islamist folks who want revenge on being made to feel....momentarily uncomfortable and a little insulted...so the matter of a bit of ink on paper was matter enough for a 28-year old Somali man to enter the home of one of the dangerous cartoonists with an axe and a knife. I'll let the Mail Online pick up the meat of the story:
The police said the 28-year-old man, who allegedly has links to Al Qaeda, was shot after he broke into the home of Kurt Westergaard on Friday night, wielding an axe and a knife.
Mr Westergaard, 74, whose five-year-old granddaughter was in the house at the time, locked himself in a specially designed safe room and used an emergency alarm
Police who arrived at his bungalow in the Danish city of Aarhus said the suspect was shot in the knee and left arm after threatening an officer trying to arrest him.
The man was treated in hospital and was yesterday carried into court on a stretcher. He was charged with attempted murder and remanded in custody. He denied the charge, but reportedly did admit being at the scene.
The Danish security service PET said the intruder was linked to Somali terror organisation al Shabaab as well as Al Qaeda leaders in East Africa.
Now, regarding the interesting business about his being connected to terrorist groups elsewhere, like al-Qaeda and al Shabaab:
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A man charged with trying to kill a Danish cartoonist was arrested last year in an alleged plot to harm U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, officials said.
The 28-year-old Somali suspect, whose name has not been released, was arrested late Friday for allegedly breaking into the home of Kurt Westergaard, a cartoonist in Aarhus, Denmark.
Westergaard, 74, had angered many Muslims with a series of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, including one with a bomb sticking out of a turban.
The suspect was one of four people arrested last summer in Nairobi in an alleged plot to harm Clinton during her tour of African countries, the newspaper Politken reported.
When I look at guys like this and the "Undie-Bomber", I seriously begin to wonder if these extremist groups mostly recruit amongst the seriously foolish and possibly mentally unwell.
But anyway, the point is that a bit of ink on paper was possibly worth the lives of an old man and his little granddaughter. That is so wrong. wrong enough that I absolutely have to reprise the Westergaard cartoon in question:
Why would anyone ever depict the prophet as incendiary when his followers are so mild, hmm? It is the actions of extremists that are a defamation upon the character of the faith--and the cartoons would be forgotten in an instant if they had not such notoriety. I am well-pleased to reprise them, as is any atheist blogger, if only to show that threatening people doesn't actually silence what they have said. And that might doesn't make right, nor violence make righteousness.
And if they wanted to put these cartoons to bed--they should stop being what they depict! If Islam is a religion of peace--so be it! But embassies have burned and death threats have been made--each step only shows the cartoons were right! And Islam is made a cartoon of itself by its supposed staunch practitioners.
It would be better to let the matter drop-- the violence only gives the memes more currency.
(Although as far as I'm concerned, people can certainly show themselves to be whatever they will. If murder-minded censors, let them admit it--and be the targets for disapprobation they should.)
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