First U.S. Newspaper to Print a MoToon

***UPDATE***
My bad: Dianna West reminded me that this was not the first instance of an American newspaper printing a MoToon. Back in 2006, the (fearless) Philadelphia Inquirer printed them all:

The Philadelphia Inquirer today [that was February 7 2006] became the first major US newspaper to publish one of the 12 controversial Mohammed cartoons originally published by Danish paper Jyllands Posten…

Amanda Bennett, editor of The Inquirer explained: “We’re running this in order to give people a perspective of what the controversy’s about, not to titillate, and we have done that with a whole wide range of images throughout our history.”

The Inquirer is not the only US paper to have re-printed a cartoon, New York daily The New York Sun published two of the cartoons last Thursday.

It was previously believed that Jordanian tabloid Al Shihan was the only Arab paper to have published any of the cartoons. The Guardian reports that another Jordanian paper Al-Mihwar published some of the cartoons in November.

The editors of both papers pleaded not guilty to charges of ‘harming religious feelings’ over the weekend.

Ms. West says she thinks The Weekly Standard put them all out about the same time in 2006.

Anyway, it turns out that there were two previous instances of maybe three cartoons in all being published, plus the Standard's examplary spread showing all of them. I'll dig through their archives to see if they're still available.

FURTHER NOTE: The Weekly Standard archives are only available for the last two years.


Following up on the foiled plans to assassinate Kurt Westergaard and Fleming Rose, the Chicago Sun Times has the story whihc includes Mr. Westergaard’s famous drawing:

The most controversial of the 12 cartoons depicted Mohammed wearing a bomb with a lit fuse as a turban. That cartoon was drawn by Kurt Westergaard, 78 -- who was targeted for assassination, authorities said.

But Headley’s phone calls were wiretapped and his e-mails were under FBI review. When he tried to board his Pakistan-bound O’Hare flight Oct. 3, the FBI arrested him.

Headley, 49, then confessed to agents about the plot, authorities said.

…Rana, 48, a native of Pakistan and a Canadian citizen, was arrested Oct. 18 at his West Rogers Park home.

In October 2008, Headley used his birth name, Daood Gilani --which he changed in 2006 to avoid suspicion while traveling -- when posting a message to a Yahoo group called “abdalians,” authorities said. [see previous reports which stated that the planning started in January 2008]

“Everything is not a joke . . . We are not rehearsing a skit on Saturday Night Live,” Headley said in the posting. “Call me old-fashioned, but I feel disposed towards violence for the offending parties.”

You have to wonder how swift this guy was when his idea of super-spy terrorism is to advertise on an internet forum. Besides, these two already knew one another as former classmates at a military school in Pakistan.

Headley began his surveillance of targets in Denmark in 2008 and visited two of the newspaper’s offices in January under the pretense of taking out an ad for a new business, authorities said.

Headley told agents the plot recently focused on Westergaard and the paper’s cultural editor, Flemming Rose, “whom Headley felt were directly responsible for the cartoons,” the criminal complaint states.

Diana West notes with great surprise and pleasure that the Sun Times is the first U.S. newspaper to actually show a picture of the infamous “Turban Bomb” MoToon.

The cartoon one of several drawings which caused thousands of Muslims to go berserk after they were expertly prodded and poked by imams - including one from Denmark - to express their “outrage”.

The picture they show is actually a picture of a picture: it features a photo of Mr. Westergaard holding his lap top and on the screen is an image of his Turban Bomb MoToon. See for yourself.

Nonetheless, it is a step forward for the MSM since until now they’ve refused to show anything at all. The Sun Times will no doubt hear from the Loony Left for encouraging Islamophobes.

Meanwhile, back at the plot:
- - - - - - - - -

When [Headley- Gilani] was arrested, FBI agents found a memory stick on him that contained 10 surveillance videos, including footage of the newspaper office and Danish military barracks, the complaint said.

What remains a mystery is how they actually planned to get their explosives and weapons to Denmark to carry out their various plans for killing people and blowing things up. Do you think they had Danish immigrant helpers? The reports have mentioned that three other men are involved.

Westergaard was told Tuesday of the alleged plot to kill him.

“I feel confident and safe in my private life,” Westergaard said. “I’m angry because I have to live with threats, just because I have done my job. PET [police intelligence] has advised me to keep a low profile and don’t give statements. I will follow that, but I’m allowed to say that I’m angry.”

It turns out that the “Canadian” Pakistani native was prosperous:

Rana owns several businesses, including First World Immigration Services, which has offices on Devon Avenue in Chicago, New York and Toronto, as well as a meat-processing plant in Downstate Kinsman. That plant is used to slaughter goats and sheep per Muslim religious requirements.

Isn’t that special? He was obviously concerned to follow the halal requirements of The Religion of Peace.

And now a word to “the community”:

Rana’s attorney asked the community to reserve judgment.

“Mr. Rana is a well-respected businessman in the Chicagoland community. He adamantly denies the charges and eagerly awaits his opportunity to contest them in court and to clear his and his family’s name,” said attorney Patrick Blegen. “We would ask that the community respect the fact that these are merely allegations and not proof.”

Now what particular “community” is supposed to reserve judgment here? Is it Mr. Westergaard’s and Mr. Rose’s community perhaps? Or perhaps the community of workers employed by Jyllands Posten who were going to be blown up?