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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: February 19, 2006 |
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The top U.S. envoy for public diplomacy on Saturday said caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed were "offensive" and "blasphemous" but condemned violent Muslim protests that have killed at least 29 people across the Islamic world.
Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes also used Muslim anger over the drawings to underline the need for Arab leaders create free societies and denounce terrorism as an "international pariah."
"Many American newspapers chose not to reprint the cartoons depicting the Prophet because they recognize they are deeply offensive, even blasphemous to the precious convictions of our Muslim friends and neighbors," Hughes said at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar.
She declared that protesters had been wrong to endanger lives and damage property and blamed some governments for inciting rage among their people.
In the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States, she said, extremists were using the cartoon controversy to ignite a clash of civilizations.
What's more, said Hughes, the longtime associated of U.S. President George W. Bush, the terror strikes in the United States had forced the American administration to understand that it would not have security inside its borders without ensuring liberty and justice abroad.
"In the aftermath of September 11, America came to recognize that there will be no real security, no lasting peace, until America stands with those brave voices crying out for liberty and justice throughout the world," Hughes said.
After the conference, Hughes will visit two pan-Arab telecasting giants in the Persian Gulf: Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera.
Both broadcasters beam broad coverage of the Middle East and have drawn the wrath of the Bush Administration for reporting events from the Arab point of view. They have far more viewers than Alhurra, an Arabic language service launched by the United States to counter what are seen as negative reports by Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera.
The turmoil over the prophet cartoons is expected to be a major topic in both visits with Arab anger still at the boil.
In her speech, Hughes highlighted recent dramatic changes in the Middle East and Islamic world, including Syria's withdrawal of troops from Lebanon after more than two decades, municipal elections in Saudi Arabia and women gaining the right to vote in Kuwait.
"Throughout the world today, brave leaders...are challenging the status quo, advocating change, seeking to unleash that most powerful force of human freedom to make their societies more just, more honest, more open, more accountable," said Hughes.
She also noted the sweeping victory in Palestinian legislative election by the militant Hamas group, saying Washington had not changed its policy that calls for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. She said Palestinian freedom and independence required Hamas to "renounce violence and terror (and) recognize Israel's right to exist."
Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other armed attacks and has so far refused to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist or to agree that it would negotiate with its leaders.
Hughes' message to the Islamic world on Saturday was clear - terrorism must end.
"We know from their own statements and writings that the extremists' real agenda is take over one or more of the proud nation states in the Islamic world and impose a super-state in which violent extremists would dictate the fate of millions," she said.
"We must do for terror what was done to slavery and make it an international pariah." |
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