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Danish Newspaper At Heart of Controversy Rejected Drawings
Lampooning Jesus Christ
Editor of U.S. Daily Explains Why He Published Mohammed Cartoons
As Muslim Outcry Grows, Questions of Rights vs. Responsibilities
Come To the Fold
Fired CBS Producer Stands By Documents Showing Bush Neglected
National Guard Service
Danish Newspaper At Heart of Controversy Rejected
Drawings Lampooning Jesus Christ
Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper at the heart of the
cartoon controversy, has staunchly defended its decision to
run the images, which included depictions of the prophet Mohammed
with a bomb. On Monday, the Guardian of London revealed the
newspaper refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ.
We take a look at Jyllands-Posten with Brandeis University
professor Jytte Klausen. [include rush
transcript]
Muslims are continuing to stage protests around the world
following the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
_> Earlier today about half a million Muslims in Lebanon
peacefully protest against the cartoons. In Afghanistan, police
shot four protesters dead on Wednesday bringing the death
toll to 10 over the past three days. In the West Bank, demonstrators
stormed the headquarters of international observers stationed
in Hebron. Over the past week, protests have broken out in
dozens of cities across Europe, the Middle East and parts
of Asia.
In Washington Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused
Syria and Iran of using the controversy to incite anti-West
sentiment.
- Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, February 8th, 2006.
On Wednesday President Bush discussed the situation publicly
for the first time during a public appearance with Jordan's
King Abdullah.
- President Bush, speaking February 8th, 2006.
Meanwhile the New York Times is reporting the outrage over
the cartoons largely grew out of a meeting of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference held in Mecca in Saudi Arabia in
December - three months after the cartoons first appeared
in a Danish newspaper. Attending the summit were the leaders
of the world's 57 Muslim nations.
The leaders issued a closing communique that expressed "concern
at rising hatred against Islam and Muslims and condemned the
recent incident of desecration of the image of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad in the media of certain countries."
In Britain Muslim leaders gathered on Wednesday to discuss
their response to the printing of the cartoons.
Sheikh Fiaz Siffiqi of the Muslim Action Committee compared
the publication of the cartoons to Salman Rushdie's novel
The Satanic Verses which was banned by several Muslim nations
for its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
- Sheikh Fiaz Siffiqi, Muslim Action Committee.
On Monday, the Guardian of London revealed
that the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons
refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ. In April
2003, a Danish illustrator submitted a series of cartoons
dealing with the resurrection of Christ. He received an email
back from the paper's editor which said: "I don't think
our readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact,
I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will
not use them."
- Jytte Klausen, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics
at Brandeis University. Her most recent book is "The
Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe."
Editor of U.S. Daily Explains Why He Published Mohammed
Cartoons
D. Reed Eckhardt, Managing Editor of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
of Cheyenne, explains why his paper recently ran three of
the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. [includes rush
transcript]
As Muslim Outcry Grows, Questions of Rights vs. Responsibilities
Come To the Fold
As protests continue around the world, two analysts say
Muslims have been as angered by the cartoons as they have
by the hypocrisy behind their publication.
- Rahul Mahajan, editor of the website EmpireNotes.org
and author of the books "The New Crusade: America's
War on Terrorism" and "Full Spectrum Dominance:
U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond."
- Behzad Yaghmaian, Iranian-born author living in the United
States. He is the author of the book Embracing the Infidel:
Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West. It is based
on two years of traveling in the Middle East and Europe
following migrants from Muslim countries. He is also a professor
at Ramapo College in New Jersey.
Fired CBS Producer Stands By Documents Showing Bush
Neglected National Guard Service
Mary Mapes, longtime television news producer and reporter
who worked for CBS for fifteen years, tells the story that
brought down CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather and prompted
CBS to force out four of its top journalists - including Mapes.
In the report, Rather charged that President Bush had received
preferential treatment in the National Guard in the early
1970s. We look at the story that brought down CBS Evening
News anchor Dan Rather and prompted CBS to force out four
of its top journalists. On September 8th, 2004, the Wednesday
edition of 60 Minutes aired a report critical of President
Bush's service in the National Guard. In the report, Dan Rather
charged that President Bush had received preferential treatment
in the National Guard in the early 1970"s and used as
evidence copies of memos that had been provided to the network
by a confidential source.
Almost immediately, the validity of the memos and the credibility
of the source came under attack. The source turned out to
be retired Texas National Guard officer, Bill Burkett.
Initially, Dan Rather defended the story but then 12 days
later, Rather apologized on the national CBS Evening News
broadcast for what he called a mistake in judgment.
- CBS News, September 20, 2004.
On that same broadcast, Rather played an interview he had
conducted with Bill Burkett just days before.
- Dan Rather interviewing Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, September
20, 2004.
Also in that broadcast, Rather announced that CBS was convening
an independent panel to investigate the controversy, and that
the network would make the findings public. The investigation
was headed up by the CEO of the Associated Press Louis Boccardi
and former U.S Attorney General Dick Thornburgh who had served
in the Presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan and George
Bush Senior.
In January of last year CBS released the findings of the
investigation and promptly fired four producers involved with
the story, including the lead producer, Mary Mapes. Dan Rather
resigned from his anchor position a few months later.
Mary Mapes is a long time television news producer and reporter
who worked for CBS for 15 years. In 2004, just a few months
before the Texas National Guard story aired, she uncovered
the photos of torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison bringing
worldwide attention to the practices there.
Mapes has always stood by the National Guard story and maintains
that the documents in question were never found to be false.
She condemned the CBS investigation as politically biased
and has said that she was fired because the Chief Executive
of Viacom, which is the corporate parent of CBS, feared regulatory
retaliation by the Bush administration. CBS maintains that
Mapes was fired because of faulty reporting. Mary has written
a book about her experience titled, "Truth and Duty:
The Press, The President and the Privilege of Power."
- Mary Mapes, former CBS producer. Author of "Truth
and Duty: The Press, The President and the Privilege of
Power."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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