Cartoon Rage - the Ripple Effect

Its pure speculation, but has the Muslim frothing over Danish cartoon spilled over to... Dallas?

Following last-minute cries of protest from Muslim leaders last week, a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate in Dallas canceled the premiere of a documentary on the roots of Islamic terrorism.

"The Roots of War: The Road to Peace" was scheduled to air on KERA-TV on Sunday, January 29, but the premiere was postponed by the station's managers after a local Muslim group alleged that the program contains inaccuracies and anti-Muslim bias. The documentary's producers, Niki and Dennis McCuistion, have defended their work; they have refused to make changes.

The Dallas controversy emerged last week just as an international feud reached a boiling point over a Danish newspaper's publication of satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. After the Danish government refused to issue a sanction against the independent newspaper that ran the cartoons, Libya and Saudi Arabia withdrew their ambassadors from Copenhagen and Muslim organizations called for a boycott of Danish goods (see Page 1).

American Jewish community leaders drew a connection between the two controversies, even though Muslim leaders in Texas voiced their protests in terms that were described as respectful by the Dallas station and by the producers.

What a shame.