I know that my response to the series of demonstrations against the offending caricatures to our prophet Mohammed (PBUH) that have been recently published in Danish papers and the rest of Europe, that took place in Damascus is coming late, and honestly after I read what the other Syrian bloggers have written about it, I don't feel the need to state what I think, but I'd like to add my voice to them.

First of all I need to make some points clear:

1. I indeed believe that caricatures published are really offending, and as a Muslim I totally condemn such actions, freedom of speech does not in any way give these "artists" the right to attack such sacred Islamic believes and symbols, dead or not such actions has directly offended our faith.
2. If the same actions were taken against the Holocaust for example, it would be the end of the paper and would cause troubles to Denmark with no ends.
3. The commercial and diplomatic actions took are for once a civilized reaction, but I'd like to make it clear that I don't totally agree with the way it's carried out, for several reasons that I won't list today.
4. I honestly think that the actions Muslims took around the world are not appropriate, let me explain why. We're talking about a country where journalism is granted total freedom, why didn't we use the same gun they shot us with and defend our believes in the same papers?? Most importantly I see a Salman Rushdie affair starting all over again, and the proof is how other countries journalism was provoked and therefore republished these awful cartoons.

As for the Muslim's reaction in general and the Syrian's in specific that's what I think:

1. There is not in any imaginable way a valid reason to the attacks held against the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish embassies, however I totally understand it. Have you ever heard of marches and demonstrations where violence didn't occur? However it's necessary and very crucial for the rest of the world to understand that these actions do not, I repeat, do not in anyway reflect what the Syrian people really believe, or at least what the elite in here beleive.
2. It's clear that Islam is still the dominant ideology in the Middle East, the proof is the number of the participants in this demonstration in comparison to the numbers that participate in the anti-Mellis campaigns. This is why I personally and strongly believe in the importance of reforming the current non-fundamental Islamic values and believes which are the majority.
3. It's clear that Syrian government has supported these actions and further more were involved in it too, and I'll shortly list what I believe are the reasons behind the Syrian government approval:

   • The Syrian government is using such demonstration to show the westerns and the rest of the world that they're starting to approve democratic actions in the area.
   • They are, as Majd stated, using Islam to strike patriotic powers in Syria.
   • They're also using the situation to show the western world and the Americans in specific, that the stronger alternative present is the Islamist movement which is a potential danger to the Americans' plan in the area, and which in its turn is a message to the western world that they're the only people who were and still capable of containing such movements.

4. Please don't take what I'm going to say as a part of a conspiracy theory, however they were witnesses whom saw armed men wearing all black setting fire to the Danish embassy, which I think are Syrians intelligent agents.

At the end these are my observations, let's see what the future is hiding for us.

Read further more about what other Syrian bloggers believe: the damasceneblog 1 2 3, Omar Salaymeh, Omar Faleh, Yazan, The Syrian Brit, Sara, Dina, Zeina, Majd, Digital Oasis, Ghalia, Brian, Gottfried and Namir.

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