Reuters announces that everything is okay in Denmark

I found intriguing a Reuters story entitled “Imams in Denmark seek to cool cartoon row.”  Based on that headline, I thought it would be a story in which thoughtful Imams, looking at the anarchy abyss their followers created during the cartoon riots, stepped back from the precipice, and urged their followers to behave more rationally when offended.  Something along the lines of “Remember, we’re now living in a Western society.  It is our duty to speak up to defend ourselves when people attempt to impose racially restricted laws against us, and we’re welcome to use words to object when we feel offended, but no more riots, violence, and threats of violence.”  Boy, was I wrong.
In fact, it turns out that the Imams were doing more of a “good doggy” to Denmark, as in:  “Good doggie to come to heel when we threatened you.  As long as you continue to understand that we’re in charge through violence, we’ll refrain from using force against you.”

Just so you can draw your own conclusions, here’s the part of the Reuters story that led me to conclude that the Reuters’ headline, intentionally or not, completely misrepresents the facts.  My comments are in green.

Muslim clerics in Denmark praised the Danish government’s condemnation of the latest group of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad and at Friday prayers urged increased respect for religion.  [E.g., Muslim clerics praised Danish leaders for towing the line and abandoning free speech.  In this regard, I’ll remind everyone that free speech includes offensive speech.]

In a Copenhagen mosque, Ahmed Turki, a guest imam from Egypt visiting during Ramadan, addressed several hundred Muslim men and called for Danes and Muslims to build bridges. Freedom of speech should not mean a religion could be insulted, he added.  [I would point out to the Rev. Turki that, in the West, free speech is supposed to mean free speech, without exclusions for specific religions.  By the way, if you go here, you can read a few insults from an Egyptian cleric regarding religion — the Jewish religion, of course.]

“Our duty is to have a dialogue about definitions and to find common ground. In the end, the Danish people are the ones who have to bear the consequences,” he said.  [And what consequences would those be?  It sounds like a threat to me.]

So, the way I read Reuters’ “good news” article about conciliatory Imams, is that the Imams are reasserting the fact that no one can criticize them, they are praising Denmark for towing the line, and they are making a veiled threat that, if Denmark does not continue to tow this Dhimmi-line, it will have to suffer the consequences.  The only way it “cools” the “row” is by understanding it to mean that the Imams are saying “Okay, boys, we won.  You can stop fighting now.”

Never believe an MSM headline.  The truth is always buried in the article.