| Publish Date: Wednesday,8 February, 2006, at 09:47 AM Doha Time |
Washington’s initial reaction to the firestorm sparked by the cartoons, which were first published in a Danish newspaper and later reprinted in several European publications, was to blast the drawings as incitement to religious hatred.
But as the violence escalates, with Western embassies being torched by Muslim protesters and people being killed, the administration of US President George W Bush has toned down its criticism.
On Monday it said that while it understood the anger sparked by the cartoons, it also urged Muslims to condemn frequent anti-Semitic and anti-Christian “hate speech” in the Islamic world.
Analysts said the cautious US approach to the controversy reflects its struggle to find a middle ground between the bedrock democratic principle of free speech and tolerance for diverse religious beliefs.
Muslims consider the cartoons — one of which shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban — blasphemous. Islamic tradition strictly forbids showing images of the Prophet.
“President George W Bush’s administration is clearly in a bind because they believe both in free speech and not gratuitously offending people and inciting people to violence,” John Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank, said.
He said the administration was forced to tread carefully in dealing with the issue so as not to offend and appear to be taking sides.
“There is a perception in the Muslim world that the West believes in free speech as long as people are speaking in tune with what they hold dear,” Alterman said. “But you get an issue like the Holocaust and people (who question it) are thrown in jail.
“So the context in which this is seen is ‘well you say free speech as long as it’s offending Muslims but if it starts offending Jews you throw people in jail’,” he said.
Duncan Clark, a professor of international relations at Washington’s American University, said the US response to the cartoon controversy was also dictated by America’s negative image among many in the Middle East, especially in the aftermath of the Iraq war.
“Fundamentally the administration certainly does not want to pour gasoline on a fire that is already raging in the Middle East, much of it due in no small part to US policies and practice,” Clark said.
“It’s quite clear that throughout most of the Islamic world, this is a hot potato so I’m not surprised the administration tilted the way it did.”
Others noted that it was evident the Bush administration did not wish to wade too much into the controversy and was fine-tuning its reaction as the situation evolves.
“It seems as if they’re getting there in fits and starts,” said Stephen Hess, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution. “But again, nations respond when it directly affects them.
“When they start burning American flags or ransacking American embassies, then things will take a different turn.” – AFP
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