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Bush rebukes Muslim violence, chides press
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-09 08:52
US President Bush condemned the deadly rioting sparked by cartoons of the
prophet Muhammad on Wednesday, and his secretary of state accused Iran and Syria
of trying "to inflame sentiments" across the Muslim world.
Bush urged foreign leaders to halt the spreading violence and to protect
diplomats in besieged embassies.
The president spoke out about the controversy for the first time, signaling
deepening White House concern about violent protests stemming from the
publication of caricatures in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten and reprinted in
European media and elsewhere in the past week.
"We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed
in a free press," the president said.
At the same time, Bush admonished the press that its freedom comes with "the
responsibility to be thoughtful about others."
Bush commented alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House.
Abdullah, too, called for protests to be peaceful, but he also spoke against
ridicule of Islam's holiest figure.
US President Bush called for an end to
violence, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006, triggered by publication of cartoons of
the Prophet Muhammad, but also said press freedom should be exercised with
sensitivity. Bush made the comments after meeting with Jordan's King
Abdullah II in the Oval Office at the White House.
[AP] | "With all respect to press freedoms,
obviously anything that vilifies the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or
attacks Muslim sensibilities, I believe, needs to be condemned," the king said.
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, police killed four people as protesters marched on
a U.S. military base.
There was increasing talk, both in the U.S. and abroad, that some foreign
governments as well as extremist groups were fanning the violent protests.
At the State Department, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "Iran and
Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their
own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it."
There is little doubt that there is genuine anger throughout the Muslim
world, where images of the revered Prophet Muhammad with a bomb strapped to his
head are considered racist and deeply insulting.
In the post-Sept. 11 world, Muslims already feel the brunt of the war on
terror and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, said Diaa Rashwan, with the
Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, Egypt.
"That only further fueled the anger this time around," he said, the cartoons
releasing bottled-up anger and frustration.
In Afghanistan, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said, "Other
countries are having the same demonstrations, same problems," when he was asked
if al-Qaida and the Taliban may have been involved.
And Zahor Afghan, editor of Erada, Afghanistan's most respected newspaper,
said that "there are definitely people using this to incite violence against the
presence of foreigners in Afghanistan."
On Tuesday, Bush had called Denmark's prime minister to express "our support
and solidarity" in the wake of the violence.
In the midst of a campaign to blunt widespread anti-American sentiment across
the Mideast, Bush sought to balance his remarks by urging the media to be
sensitive to religious beliefs.
"We believe in a free press," the president said. "We also recognize that
with freedom comes responsibilities. With freedom comes the responsibility to be
thoughtful about others."
Sitting alongside him, Jordan's Abdullah said, "Islam, like Christianity and
Judaism, is a religion of peace, tolerance, moderation."
Bush said the furious reaction to the publication of the cartoons "requires a
lot of discussion and a lot of sensitive thought."
"I first want to make it very clear to people around the world that ours is a
nation that believes in tolerance and understanding," the president said. "In
America we welcome people of all faiths.
"One of the great attributes of our country is that you're free to worship
however you choose in the United States of America," the president said.
Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they
could lead to idolatry.
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