"It's Syria's and Iran's fault!!" - Rice & Rasmussen

[bloom]

It's starting to sound like a "unified" message...

Dane Sees Greed and Politics in the Crisis

Published: February 10, 2006

COPENHAGEN, Feb. 9 —
...He (Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen) said Iran, isolated over its nuclear program, was using the cartoons to generate support in the Muslim world, while Syria, under investigation for the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was trying to cause a distraction. The Palestinian Authority, divided over the recent election of Hamas, was exploiting the cartoon crisis to unite its disparate elements, he said.

"We have religious extremists who exploit the situation and fuel the flames to pursue their own agenda," he said. "Religious extremists aim at destabilizing the situation in the whole region."

The issue will be discussed this week at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Sicily, he said.

Mr. Rasmussen said he believed that Islam was compatible with democracy but argued that it was incumbent on Muslim immigrants in Denmark and Europe in general to embrace the liberal values of their adopted countries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/international/europe/10denmark.html?th&emc=th

yesterday:

Bush Urges Nations to End Violence; Rice Accuses Syria and Iran

Published: February 9, 2006

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — President Bush called on governments around the world on Wednesday to halt the violence that has followed the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran and Syria of fueling the protests for political gain.

Mr. Bush, in an Oval Office meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, said, "We reject violence as a way to express discontent over what is printed in the free press." Hours later, Ms. Rice delivered a far more pointed message, saying that Iran "hasn't even hidden its hand in this." "Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes," she said. "And the world ought to call them on it."

Ms. Rice spoke as she met Israel's new foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. "Nothing justifies the violence that has broken out," she said, noting that the top Shiite religious leader in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and other Muslim leaders had spoken against the rioting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/international/middleeast/09prexy.html?fta=y

Condaleeza Rice is a Liar
Blames Syria, Iran for Inciting Violence over Caricatures of Prophet

Secretary of State Condi Rice on Wednesday blamed Iran and Syria for inciting violence over the Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The problem is that she is lying, and this irresponsible charge is another in a long series of propaganda ploys whereby the Bush administration manipulates public opinion in the United States...

In short, it simply is not true that Syria has whipped up sentiments in the Arab world about the Danish caricatures. Neither the CIA, nor the BBC monitoring, nor any of the wire services, noticed any Syrian official saying anything at all about this matter until the past week! Since Syria is ruled by a secular Arab nationalist Baath regime, this finding is not surprising. And what influence would Bashar al-Asad, a heterodox Alawite Shiite and a secular Baathist, have with his Sunni Muslim or orthodox Twelver Shiite neighbors?

It is being alleged that the Baath regime was behind the burning of the Danish embassy in Damascus, on the grounds that it could not have happened unless the police state allowed it. But things have gotten out of hand before in Syria, sometimes on a large scale. It is likely that the regime allowed the initial demonstration, which radical Sunni Muslims took advantage of to torch the embassy. The Syrian regime hates radical Islam and doesn't like disorder, either. We cannot assume that the embassy burning was directed by the Syrian state. There is no evidence for it, and it actually doesn't make any sense. What would Bashar have to gain from that?

Rice and Bush have decided to get Syria, and are using the current crisis as a stick with which to beat it, and are lying shamelessly to the American public.

posted by Juan @ 2/09/2006 06:39:00 AM

http://www.juancole.com/

A note about Jyllands-Posten - the paper where this all originated:

Merete Eldrup, the managing director of JP/Politikens Hus, the parent company that owns Jyllands-Posten, is married to Anders Eldrup of Denmark, a Bilderberg attendee for the last five years. Anders Eldrup is chairman of Danish Oil and Natural Gas (DONG).?
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=85229

[liberal N proud]

1. You must use the opportunity to turn up the heat on your enemy

That is exactly what Constipated Rice is doing for the regime.
Turing up the rhetoric on Iran & Syria ahead of the attacks.

[bloom]

2. I have a bad feeling about this

being the tipping point.


Just like 9/11 - when so many thought that was an excuse for wars that the neocons wanted all along.

[AntiFascist]

4. Exactly - Condi lies again and again....

just as she played her role in the lies that led to the war in Iraq.

[bloom]

3. French President Jacques Chirac wasn't going along with the line...

"French President Jacques Chirac, however, focused on the European media, condemning decisions to republish the cartoons as an "overt provocation".

---

and Flemming Rose went on a leave of absence.

http://www.cphpost.dk/get/93855.html

---

Meanwhile:

Many moderate Muslims in Denmark have been shocked by the violence and deaths around the world prompted by the row over Danish cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

Rabih Azad-Ahmad, chair of the Multicultural Association, said the row had become too confrontational.

"Now, we have to demonstrate that we are proud of being Danish and that we are supporting Danish values," he said.

In an unexpected turn, the reaction to the attacks on Danish embassies could help promote integration in Denmark.

"I didn't know there were so many Muslims in Denmark who are supporting Western values," said Soren Espersen, an MP for the populist Danish People's Party.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4692318.stm