Still no Motoon apology from NATO chief Rasmussen

When former Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen was nominated to be the new NATO Secretary General, Turkey threatened to use its veto to stop him, because Muslim feelings were still smarting from the Motoons. Only the diplomatic efforts of Obama persuaded the Turks to agree, by assuring them that one of Rasmussen’s deputies would be Turkish, and that the new chief would apologise to the Muslim world.

But the principled Mr Rasmussen again stopped short of an apology at a conference in Istanbul. Instead, he reiterated his original “sorry you were offended” stance.

I respect Islam as one of the world’s major religions as well as its religious symbols. […]

I was deeply distressed that the cartoons were seen by many Muslims as an attempt by Denmark to mark and insult or behave disrespectively toward Islam or the Prophet Mohammad. Nothing could be further from my mind.

He had earlier ruled out an apology, according to Politiken.dk.

Listen. In Denmark we do not apologise for having freedom of speech. […] You all know that a Danish Prime Minister cannot apologise on behalf of a newspaper

Meanwhile, Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who created the iconic “turbomb” cartoon, has accused the BBC of “appeasement” because it has not broadcast a recent interview with him.

Westergaard told the Daily Mail,

I am disappointed on behalf of the freedom of speech. Every time you are afraid I think you make a step backwards. That is depressing me.

If you have an appeasement policy towards the radical Muslims then you are on a very wrong way and you have to start marching backwards.

A BBC spokesman said that no decision had yet been made regarding the broadcast.


6 Responses to “Still no Motoon apology from NATO chief Rasmussen”

  1. […] a few years ago.  Mediawatchwatch has covered the impact on the NATO General Secretary election (Still no Motoon apology from NATO chief Rasmussen), and has a rather nice quote from Rasmussen: Listen. In Denmark we do not apologise for having […]

  2. Anders Fogh is no longer the Danish prime-minister. Not only should he not apologize, he can not apologize as he no longer represents the Danish people or state.

    It is a pseudo-discussion what Anders Fogh will say, as he isn’t relevant to the controversy anymore.

    The mandate to apologize belongs to our current prime minister Lars Løkke, he will wisely choose to not apologize, as there is NOTHING to apologize for.

  3. Stonygroud says:

    When are the Islamists going to start apologising for their hate preachers, death threats and random mass murdering antics. Many Muslims are fanatically intolerant and yet expect westerners to be tolerant toward them. You don’t think they could be cynically manipulating us by using our more enlightened values against us do you?

  4. The very idea of an apology is ridiculous. If person X exercises her fundamental political right of free speech in a way that offends someone, person Y has no business apologising to that someone, even if person Y is the government. That’s not how it works. In this case, person Y isn’t even the government anymore.

    No one has a right to go through life without ever being offended by the speech of others. It’s really as simple as that.

  5. Mr Gronk says:

    More to the point, when are the Danish imams going to apologise for deliberately forging the two most offensive Motoons? They did this to ensure Muslims would be outraged – their entire stunt was a conspiracy to undermine their own country. There’s a word for that sort of behaviour.

  6. Danny says:

    Mahometans should apologize first for the thousands of people killed, bombed, decapitated, etc., in the name of Allah.