Crunch-Crunch-.Crunch! I was munching a Danish cookie and watching beautiful cartoons drawn by a Danish cartoonist. Cookies are not good for my health--too much fat and cholesterol, which is not safe for a person with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I will finish this box anyway. If our Muslim brothers can blow themselves up for the sake of Islam, I can be a martyr, too, by eating cookies and showing solidarity with those who are fighting for freedom of speech and exposing Islam. 

For some unknown reason, every time I eat a Danish cookie, I envisage acres of green pasture where white cows with large black spots are grazing. After watching these cartoons, another character has been added to my vision; I see Mohammed in a large baggy dress and red ball eyes chasing those innocent cows with a sharpened knife. 

These cartoonists are professionals; a few strokes of brush spoke volumes. I could make thousands of cartoons based on the Quran and Ahadith if I had creative talent like these cartoonists. I have to write what I draw; otherwise no one would understand my art. People could confuse a car with a cow. Interested cartoonists should read those Islamic books to discover that they are the gold mines of cartoons. 

I was busy with those cartoons but something caught my attention; it was the TV. The newsreader of CNN was talking about Muslim's achievement--how they have successfully torched the Danish embassy in Syria. I always thought CNN should change their name to PCNN (Politically Correct News Network). They have declined to post those famous cartoons on their Web site because it will bleed Muslims' heart. 

Anyway, the next scene that popped up on the screen was rather hilarious. It showed a group of Muslims protesting in London with placards and one of them reads, "WAR ON TERROR IS WAR ON ISLAM". It showed for a brief moment but the message was clear. 

We have been shouting the same slogan for years: "Islam is Terror." I was happy to see the confession came from our Muslim brother, who evidently put terror and Islam on the same level.  

Forget the propaganda of Muslims: "Islam means peace". The new message should be "Islam means terror", not because both words contain five letters but the architect of this ideology was a terrorist and Islam was established through terror. Many Muslims believe that the ongoing war on terror is nothing but an attempt to eradicate Islam. I wish their understanding had been true. Reality is that the leaders of the Western world are fighting with terror, planting democracy in Islamic countries and expecting Muslims to reform their religion. 

Freedom of speech and the ability of accepting constructive criticism are the fundamentals of democracy. In a free world, critiques are invited and often encouraged before launching a project. It should have been Muslim cartoonists drawing those cartoons and not Kafirs from Denmark, finding flaws of Islam and pointing out problems, if Muslims had been sincere about reforming Islam. 

Why are these cartoons hurting Muslims? The simple answer is truth hurts and the cartoon depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban is the image of real Islam. There is a direct link between Mohammed and terrorism, a fact that all Muslims know very well. What if the same cartoon would show Buddha or Jesus? Would anyone care? There might have been some protest but everyone knows very well that a bomb with a lit fuse does not match with these two characters. 

Real Muslims, replicas of Osama Bin Laden, have the right to go crazy because they are the true followers of Islam and they have successfully obtained the honorable 'Terrorist' degree from the Western world. It's normal if they throw a few bombs here and there to honor their prophet, but what about the so-called moderate Muslims? One may think they should be tolerant. 

The parable of sheep and shepherds goes very well with moderate Muslims. However, a contemporary illustration will give details of their characteristics. In developed countries, shoppers use shopping carts (a devise approximately three feet high with four small wheels) for their shopping. These carts are always left behind in the parking lot and seldom returned to the designated place. Employees collect these carts and bring them back inside of the store. It's a long line of carts and quite impossible for a person to push them. They use a small-motorized vehicle at the end of the carts. The employee steers the front cart and uses a remote controller to run the motor at the back.

In this scenario, the majority of Muslims (including moderates) are the lifeless carts, Islam is the motorized vehicle and Imam or Islamic scholars (conman Zakir Naik, Harun Yahia et al.) represent the employee of the store. They are not able to make the judgment call, nor do they have the ability to think. Think about all those protests in Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Middle East countries. A very few have access to the Internet and Danish newspapers, along with a bottle of a milk delivered in the morning. So, it's highly unlikely that any of them have seen those cartoons, yet they have declared Jihad against Denmark.

What about our Muslim intellectuals? They should understand the significance of freedom but they, too, are acting weird as if a raccoon is trapped in their underpants. Obviously, they are not honest and their talk about reforming Islam is only a smokescreen. They belong to 'Ummah', the universal Islamic association whose ultimate goal is: 'Islam will rule the world'.

Many Muslim countries have boycotted Danish products. How about the Muslims of Denmark? Are they boycotting Denmark and leaving the country en masse?

In the news, Palestinians have surrounded the EU office. It's the same European Union who feeds Palestinians with chunks of money every year. Will these people ever wake up and see the danger of Islam?

Despite many flaws, we can learn one valuable lesson from Islam. Hold on; don't fall off of your chair!

The cause of Islam is not just; more accurately, it's evil but all Muslims are united when Islam is under attack despite their own conflicts and habitual killing of each other. Sunnis are killing Shiites, Shiites are chasing Ahmediyas, Ahmediyas are poking Bahais, yet they all scream when Islam is scrutinized. Yes, I am talking about unity. It's sad that people of the free world cannot get together when their freedom is at stake. 

Only a few newspapers in the US, such as New York Sun and Philadelphia Inquirer have supported the courageous effort of the Danish newspaper and put a link to those cartoons but the rest of the media went numb and were afraid to show their team spirit. One editor of a French paper was fired for publishing those cartoons. Is that how they will safeguard their freedom of expression? 

When asked about the unwarranted silence, Leonard Downie, Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post reasoned, "They wouldn't meet our standards for what we publish in the paper." Should I be ashamed or proud of their standard? They did not mind publishing Abu-Gharib pictures, which was obscene compared to these cartoons. 

Jim Michaels of USA Today acknowledged the news value of the cartoons but he believes offensive nature has overshadowed the news value. Since when are cartoons made to please someone? It's been a tradition of all USA newspapers for 100 years to mock its political parties and the president. Are they intended to praise or ridicule the subject? The truth is that cartoons are made to irritate someone with an intention to point out the shortcoming. It works effectively and many political parties, as well as the president, learn from these cartoons to better themselves.

Why is it hush-hush about these cartoons? Are these editors afraid of something? I heard a rumor that sheikhs and princes of the Middle East are planning to buy most of the news media of the US. The Arabic word 'Al' means 'the'. Imagine, the new name of The Washington Post would be Al Washington-Jazeera and USA Today will be called Al USA. Most likely, The L.A. Times will keep the same name with a different abbreviation, i.e., Literature of Allah. Maybe editors are scared of losing their jobs and preparing themselves to appease their new owner. Just to hide their cowardice, they are talking about respecting the religion.

The biggest mistake in life for anyone is considering Islam as a religion. These people will never see the true color of Islam until they wake up one day after being poked by a sword and forced to pay Zijya tax. 

Did these learned editors ever read the Quran? Do they know how Mohammed established this cult? Do they have any idea how Islamic countries respect other religions? It's their shortsightedness that has blinded them from understanding the danger of Islam. They shy away from the truth, complaining any point of view against Islam is extreme. Those who are fighting Islam intellectually do not have any extreme view; it's the subject itself that is extreme.

Isn't psychological warfare better than physical warfare? The way everything is shaping up, it's evident that a physical war is unavoidable. Iran's nuclear capacity, Osama's desire to have a piece of nuclear arms, the win by Hamas in Palestine all lead to the possibility of a horrendous clash.

Why are they afraid of offending Muslims? As if Islamic countries are in love with the US and will be sending tons of flowers on Valentine's Day. The truth is all Islamic countries hate the USA; although respective governments maintain a typical liaison for the sake of their economy. However, devoted citizens of all Islamic countries hate the US more than anything else. As a matter of fact, the unofficial national anthem of Islamic countries is "Death to America." So, the news media of the US has nothing to lose and nothing to fear. The mentality of those countries will not change unless everyone decides to convert to Islam. That's the only solution, if they prefer to do it.

The US government should not get involved in religious business. In fact, all governments must stay away from religion, be it in a positive aspect or negative. I don't expect any Western country to declare Jihad against Islam, but the media should act responsibly. Of course, hiding the truth is not a sign of responsibility, exposing the truth is.

If freedom of speech carries any value to the media, if they feel the responsibility to seek the truth, they should start digging into Islamic books. They should do it for the sake of civilization and the free world. If humiliating Islam helps to cure this disease, they should start publishing the true picture of Islam and have professional cartoonists make more caricatures similar to the Danish cartoons.