British Daily Telegraph Quotes GP & US Bloggers

David Rennie, Europe Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph since January 2005, is hot on the trail of the fabricated and/or fake cartoons that made their way to the Middle East with Imam Ahmad Abu Laban's delegation...

On the trail of the 'extra' cartoons

...The Muslim delegates insisted they made clear the three extra cartoons were not from "Jyllands-Posten", but were included to show the level of racism faced by Danish Muslims. They say the images came from hate mail sent, anonymously, to Danish Muslims.

There is certainly a problem with this account: every time Danish or foreign reporters asked to meet the Muslims sent those letters, or simply to see the original hate mail, they were told no, or promised they would be made available, only for that promise not to be kept.

To me, the case is inconclusive - definitely worth reporting, but impossible to prove either way. Other voices in the blogosphere have already made up their minds, it seems, declaring the extra three cartoons were faked by the imams themselves.

In the US, lots of bloggers have been linking to Gateway Pundit, which pins the blame on the Copenhagen-based imam, Ahmed Abu Laban, stating as fact that he "faked obscene cartoons on his trip to the Middle East."

Gateway Pundit cites an interview with Abu Laban on the US Fox News network, including the following commentary by the Fox correspondent, Jonathon Hunt: "After the publication the Imam and others toured the Middle East showing the cartoons but adding three more new ones that were far more offensive than anything the paper published.

"He [Imam Ahmad Abu Laban] told us they were from threatening letters but promising to give us copies of those letters, he never did."

Also in the States, American Thinker, says: "these additional pictures were NOT published by the newspaper, but were completely fabricated by the delegation and inserted in the booklet."

The Brussels Journal, a blog which deserves credit for following the story long before the maintsream media, is slightly more cautious, posing the thought as a question. To quote from a recent posting of theirs, the original 12 cartoons were "so inoffensive in fact that alienated Danish Muslim fanatics had to add three truly offensive cartoons (of their own making?) to deliberately incite Islamic hatred against Denmark."

Another much-linked blog, the Counterterrorism blog, merely calls the extra cartoons "fabricated". Or were the images pulled from the internet - either by the imams, if they are lying, or by racist white Danes to create hate mail, if the imams are telling the truth.

One visitor to Gateway Pundit mentions an article in the Norwegian paper, Verdens Gang, which says the images were taken from "Christian fundamentalist websites in the US". This analysis is attributed to a professor at Oslo University. I do not speak Norwegian, but here is the link. More when I have it.

I hope he keeps us posted. It is nice to see a reporter investigating this angle on the story instead of assuming that the 12 original cartoons were the whole story. As this is starting to unfold there is obviously much more to the terror-linked Imam and his trip to the Middle East.

Here's a question- Why was Ahmad Abu Laban banned from some Arab countries before this whole controversy ever bagan?

Austin Bay (via Glenn Reynolds) has more thoughts today on the "row".
Michelle Malkin continues to lead on the story.
Tony Snow at FOX News radio has posted the cartoons.
Human Events Online has also posted the cartoons.

Previously:
Mideast Bloggers Join the Boycott of the Boycott
Muhammad's Pre-Danish Cartoon Career
Islamic Society of Denmark Used Fake Cartoons to Create Story!
Muslim World Rages On Over (4 month old & fake) Danish Cartoons
Muslims Rage, Donkeys Abused
Danish Imam Who Faked Cartoons, Linked to Terror, Cheered 9-11
Danish Embassy Torched in Syria!
Fury Builds, Flags and Buildings Torched at Muslim Protests
Saddam Hussein as Jesus
Muslims Continue Cartoon Rampage, US Threatened
Terror-Linked Danish Imam Behind Cartoon Riots Interviewed
3,000 Danes Protest for Peace and Love
2 Are Dead in Afghanistan in Cartoon Protests!