Carol, if you read what I wrote, you should realize that 1. I didn't claim that the timeline was comprehensive, merely that it was a bit more comprehensive than the one you listed (which, indeed, it is) and 2. I did not "post" the timeline, I linked to it. When tackled on the lack of comprehensiveness in your own timeline, you then go on to claim that it doesn't need to be comprehensive, because you're talking about a specific point, rather than the matter as a whole. So, you claim for yourself the right to be selective, while at the same time berating me for linking to a timeline that doesn't list every little whinge uttered by a Muslim along the way? You're accusing me of bias, while at the same time reserving for yourself the right to be exactly that; biased. To write a fully comprehensive timeline, you could probably write from now and till kingdom come, and there'd still be points left out.

"The timeline you posted only addresses violence committed by extremist Muslims..". Well, had there been any violence committed against extremist Muslims, I reckon it would have been in the timeline, too, but there hasn't been any, has there? The violence has been pretty one-sided, hasn't it? I've seen posters shouting "Behead those who insult the Prophet", but I haven't seen any with "Behead those who burn Danish flags and embassies" ..

"It doesn't say anything at all about anger on the part of non-extremist Muslims when they couldn't get their letters to the editor published." I've seen a fair number of letters to the editor written by people with "Arabic sounding" names. Some were very much against the cartoons, others were against the violence in response to the cartoons. One paper here stated, that at the height of the controversy they received 200+ letters a day, so obviously some had to be left out.

You talk about the time "in between" being important. Well, the proper way of doing it would have been to take the matter to the courts, have the police investigate whether or not a breach of law had been committed. For that to happen, all that was needed was for someone to go to the police and file a complaint. That done, the police would have had to investigate. But this didn't happen. Instead the lying imams started on their tour of the Middle East with their cargo of drawings from various sources - including a photo of an entirely innocent French pig squealer. When asked later, why they didn't file a complaint first, they merely replied that they "didn't know that was possible". And that's passing strange, because it has been done before - by radical Muslims dissatisfied with something or other in the papers..

No, Carol, I just don't buy that argument. Someone wanted to stir up trouble, and that's exactly what happened.

"The fact that you don't seem to know about these larger issues and the feelings of non-extremist Muslims about them, and the peaceful efforts of moderate Muslims to get their grievances addressed through non-violent means, shows that the media in your country is not reporting these things." So, I'm just a country bumpkin who willingly believes anything the media tells me? Who only reads Danish news? Either that, or we're back to the difference between the rights that you reserve for yourself as opposed to those you grant to others. You reserve the right to select the things you find important and comment only on those, but if I do the same, I've been poorly informed by the media? I'm too stupid to get the "full" picture?

Mr. Laban was interviewed by the police for 5 hours yesterday about the things he'd been saying on candid camera (his possible knowledge of someone willing to commit a suicide bombing). Afterwards he spoke to the Danish press - in English, because after 22 years in this country Mr. Laban still hasn't made the effort to try to learn the language of the "natives". He said, that he wanted respect from the Danes, and that the Danes don't understand him. Well, in my book respect is something you earn, not something you can claim as of right, and as for understanding, then maybe it would help, if he made the effort to communicate in the language of the country he lives in?

Respect goes both ways.

Best wishes,

Bente