After more than 100 persons were killed, others kidnapped, embassies attacked, boycotts staged and outrage vented by Muslims offended and agitated over cartoons published by the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten just two years ago, a group called دولة العراق الإسلامية Islamic State of Iraq (basically an off-shoot of al-Qaeda, as far as I can tell) is now offering $100,000 for the murder of Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks and another $50,000 for killing his editor, Ulf Johansson. Vilks crime: drawing a cartoon of a dog with a man's (Mohammad?) head:

Sure looks like Vincent Van Gogh to me...

Of course, an al-Qaeda affiliate in the hell that is Iraq today can hardly be expected to turn the kinder, gentler cheek of Islam, but in what fucked world do you kill people in the name of God over a cartoon?!! It will be interesting to see who else gets on the band wagon. (Predictably, Iran and Pakistan already have). Still, the timing is odd. Mr. Bush has just announced a reduction of US troops in Iraq, Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has resigned, Syria seems to have smuggled in nuclear fixin's from North Korea, the Lebanese have again announced that the Syrians are not complying with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the summer 2006 war and are continuing to smuggle in weapons and arms to Hizballah in Lebanon. Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to smuggle-weapons grade explosives in from Egypt from which they build Qassam rockets and fire them from Gaza into Israel (wounding 69 people last week). Khaled Mashaal, who directs Hamas activities from the (relative) safety of his home in Damascus says that Israel is the cause of heightened unrest in the Middle East.

Maybe someone is thinking it's time for a little diversion. Cartoon hysteria sure drew people's attention last time...


"The more things change, the more they remain the same," said the French journalist, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (who died 117 years ago this month).

YNet article on the new cartoon debacle here

Tags: al-qaeda, al-sadr, alphonse karr, egypt, iran, iraq, jyllands-posten, lars vilks, pakistan, syria, van gogh
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