“The Cartoon Wars Revisited” — my latest article in FrontPage

Last week, for example, the government of Indonesia denounced as “very inappropriate” two online drawings of the Prophet Mohammed. Many Muslims believe it is forbidden to depict Mohammed under any circumstances, let alone in “sexual situations,” as these cartoons reportedly do. The country’s communications minister asked the website to remove the drawings or face being shut down by its internet service provider.

Now comes a report from a Jordanian news service of “New Danish Anti-Islamic Drawings to be Published Soon,” in a book of political satire co-authored by Kurt Westergaard. Westergaard drew the most notorious of the original “Mohammed cartoons”: a bearded man wearing a bomb instead of a turban.

In a case of history repeating itself, one Muslim leader hurried to denounce the new illustrations, sight unseen. A Danish imam, Abdel Wahed Pederson remarked ominously:

“It seems that Kurt has not learned anything over the past three years. I don’t know how he thinks. Is he really thinking of the safety of the Danish society?”

(…)

For his part, Westergaard – who’s received death threats regularly for the last three years – told reporters last week, “I am 73 now and at this age I have nothing to fear. I want to be brave; otherwise one can not live his own life.”