Danish TV serves grilled imam for dinner

The Danes, who have been the target of a smear by radical Islamist that is, without a doubt, the result of deliberate lies and voluntary cooperation from Middle Eastern governments, are not taking their predicament lightly.

They have been all over the story surrounding the cartoons originally published five months ago in the Danish Gyllands-Posten newspaper, and are aggressively reporting the lies, distortions, and religious bigotry that have resulted in a week of riots in Muslim nations and almost 20 deaths.

Last night, Danish TV aggressively interviewed Ahmed Akkari, one of the Danish imams responsible for concocting the story, and for fabricating these three fake "cartoons" that were never published in any Danish newspaper:

  The interview was nothing more than absurd theatrics:

Interviewer: We have pictures of your predecessor as spokesman from 'Islamisk Trossamfund' who sits in Cairo and shows that the picture has been shown there and says that is one of the worst pictures. Should we see what he is saying in this recording from Cairo?

Unidentified imam with dossier and pig photo: This is one of the worst picture that anyone ever imagine. They imagine our prophets [unintelligible]. [Pointing to the pig-squealing contestant]. The hands of a man praying and the face of a pig.

Interviewer: Recordings from Cairo when you were on tour. There was not much to get wrong: "It is one of the worst pictures." But that wasn't published in Denmark.

Akkari: That picture was not part of the drawings in JP, and everybody knows that.

Interviewer: That is not what I am asking.

Akkari: That is what it is about.

...

Interviewer: Why did you include that picture in your folder?

Akkari: To show what provocations can come from writing articles to [the Jyllands-Posten] . It was some answers to some provocations that had come.

Interviewer: But the picture that you showed your co-religionists has not been publicised in Denmark.

Akkari: Nobody said that.

...

Interviewer: Ahmed Akkari, you are talking in circles, I am sorry to be so blunt. That picture was present in the Middle East and presented as some of the worst shown in Denmark, but it is from a pig-party in France. Is that the truth or is it a lie, what you have shown in the Middle East?

Akkari: The questions you ask now and the way it is presented is not the truth either because it is taken out of context and you don't let people understand what the complete case is about. Because what is is about is to show what anonymous pictures Muslims have received as a provocation. I don't think that anybody has claimed that it is something JP has publicized and you are welcome to travel about and ask.

Interviewer: What do you want to tell Danish people who thinks: That man is sitting and lying.

Akkari: I think they should hold back because we haven't intended to lie in any way. We hope that everybody can take responsibility. If it is shown that there is something wrong, we are willing to correct that misinformation, if it is that which has released all this anger. Let us try to investigate this together, we won't refuse to try to investigate what this case is about, and if it is that which has released the angers, I am going on live TV in a moment and explain that. Let's hope we can do it together.

Sheesh.  Because of their squeamishness toward angering the "Arab street," a large portion of the American press has let this story go largely unreported.  And it doing so, they have just let a golden opportunity for good journalism fly right out the window.  Thank goodness that bloggers and the Danish press have been willing to take responsibility and report this story.

Michelle Malkin also reports:

Akkari claims the pig snout photo and two others pictured at the top of this post were included in anonymous hate mail letters. He has promised to produce them to at least one reporter--FOX News reporter Jonathan Hunt--but despite his pledge to "investigate this together," Akkari refuses to show the letters or name the source of the pictures to anybody. (Maybe the Egyptian Muslim radicals whom Akkari and his delegation visited in December can enlighten us.)

Asked by CBC News why he included the images when they had nothing to do with the published newspaper cartoons, Akkari blamed "somebody" else: "It was taken out of context and somebody is trying ... to give us the guilt for what is happening." (Hat tip: Power Line)

Much more detailed and extensive coverage of the implosion of the Danish imams' credibility at Michelle Malkin.com.