From the New York Times, At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystallized [registration required]:

“At first, the agitation was limited to Denmark. Ahmed Akkari, 28, a Lebanese-born Dane, acts as spokesman for the European Committee for Honoring the Prophet, an umbrella group of 27 Danish Muslim organizations to press the Danish government into action over the cartoons.

“Mr. Akkari said the group had worked for more than two months in Denmark without eliciting any response. ‘We collected 17,000 signatures and delivered them to the office of the prime minister, we saw the minister of culture, we talked to the editor of the Jyllands-Posten, we took many steps within Denmark, but could get no action,’ Mr. Akkari said, referring to the newspaper that published the cartoons. He added that the prime minister’s office had not even responded to the petition.”

Here we have a fundamental misunderstanding about the way government should work. We have a group called the “European Committee for Honoring the Prophet.” It should more properly be called the “European Committee for Policing People’s Thoughts So We Don’t Get Offended (Honoring the Prophet Chapter).” I exaggerate. It is perfectly legitimate to have a group like this. What is not right, as I stressed yesterday, is that group attempting to pressure the government to stifle the free press. It’s not the government being unresponsive to the people; it’s as if Christian groups attempted to force the US government to apologize over something the New York Times wrote.

It is rather unfortunate that European newspapers published the comics. It was a bad move. The Islamofascists try to say that this is a concerted attack by the West against Islam. We must do well to remember that it is not.

In fact, after mulling over it for a while, one of the better responses the Bush administration could have released could’ve said something like, “We recognize that a Danish paper published offensive images. However, the US government has no authority to issue an apology over something an independent paper printed. The offensive comics were created by individuals. They do not represent the West anymore than suicide bombers represent Islam.”

I think I made it longer than it needed to be but basically it says what I want it to say. It notes the offensiveness of the comics, but it doesn’t concede the freedom of the press.

Before I finish up this entry, I must reinforce the label of Islamofascism. These leaders who whip up outrage against the Western governments because of the comics are for the most part fascists. They are saying people cannot be trusted with free speech because they may defame Islam. Unfortunately, people saying offensive things is a part of free speech. However, you have the power to ignore them. What you can’t do is get the government to shut them up. That’s fascism. That’s wrong.