International Terror behind Muslim "Outrage"?

Now who would have thought so?

Terror Link To Muslim Cartoon Riots?
Feb. 8, 2006



Afghan protesters burn a Danish national flag during a demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006. (AP)




Fire burns at a window of the Norwegian Embassy, started with a firebomb thrown by an Iranian protester, in a protest against drawings of Islam's Prophet Muhammad published in European newspapers in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006. (AP)

(CBS/AP) A U.S. military spokesman said the United States and other countries are examining whether extremist groups may be inciting protesters to riot around the world because of the cartoons that have been printed in numerous European papers.

CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports U.S. officials are looking to determine if there's a pattern of global incitement.

"The United States and other countries are providing assistance in any manner that they can ... to see if this is something larger than just a small demonstration," Col. James Yonts told reporters when asked whether al Qaeda and the Taliban may have been involved in days of violent demonstrations in Afghanistan.

Hundreds rioted outside the U.S. military base in the southern city of Qalat on Wednesday, throwing rocks at Afghan police. Police tried to clear the crowd by firing shots in the air, then were forced to fire into the crowd, said Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, the provincial police chief.

The Afghan protests have involved armed men and have been directed at foreign and Afghan government targets, fueling the suspicions there's more behind the unrest than religious sensitivities.

"You have a combination of legitimate and deeply foul religious objection with political opportunism and part of this growing problem between the western world and Islamic world," Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said on CBS News' The Early Show.

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If I remember correctly, the riots started after the "righteous outrage" over the cartoons proved to be insufficient and some of the European media, including countless small bloggers, refused to be bullied and published and re-published the cartoons. This is not about religion. It's about power, pure and simple. The placards at the rallies tell it as it is.