Althouse: The man who drew Muhammad wearing a bomb turban hid behind a bathroom door that an attacker struck repeatedly with an axe.

January 2, 2010

The man who drew Muhammad wearing a bomb turban hid behind a bathroom door that an attacker struck repeatedly with an axe.

He survived because the bathroom was a fortified "safe room."

46 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Mohammed's murderers are getting riled up now that Obama has told them for a year that he will respect them no matter what they do to sacrifice more victims on the religious legalism alter to their eternally angry god.; 1/2/10, 5:27 PM
Ralph L said...: -er?; 1/2/10, 5:29 PM
fivewheels said...: It's strange that the story linked here appears to say he abandoned the child, which seems unthinkable. The CNN and ABC reports I saw say that he got them both into the panic room.; 1/2/10, 5:32 PM
Anonymous said...: He survived because all levels of Danish law enforcement were on guard for another attack on Westergaard, which they regarded as inevitable. The defensive preparations were tested here and they worked...

Incidentally, there's a nice picture of the back entry of Westergaard's house here on the website of the Danish newspaper Politiken.; 1/2/10, 5:45 PM
Lyle said...: Man, it's been a bad couple of weeks for Muslims.; 1/2/10, 5:59 PM
Big Mike said...: Only some stinking European would leave his granddaughter in jeopardy while he ran for cover.

Or maybe some stinking New York liberal.; 1/2/10, 6:04 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Thx Ralph. Fixed.; 1/2/10, 6:09 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @fivewheels It's even got a quote from him about how he thought the kid would be okay. Hard to believe this version is the wrong one.; 1/2/10, 6:10 PM
mariner said...: It's too bad this story doesn't read:

"Kurt Westergaard killed an axe-wielding Somali extremist who broke into his home ..."; 1/2/10, 6:11 PM
Harsh Pencil said...: You would think he would be packin.; 1/2/10, 6:13 PM
Photog714 said...: They should now strike the attacker repeatedly with an axe.; 1/2/10, 6:13 PM
Dark Eden said...: " It's too bad this story doesn't read:

"Kurt Westergaard killed an axe-wielding Somali extremist who broke into his home ..." "

Mr. Westergaard should move to Texas and get a welcome mat printed in Arabic.

In all seriously I'm glad he came through it okay... and this right here is the price of freedom. I hope I have as much courage as him if/when it becomes necessary.

wv: dingo. Things that eat your baby.; 1/2/10, 6:15 PM
Jason said...: Heeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!!!; 1/2/10, 6:16 PM
Anonymous said...: @Big Mike- You have no idea of how things transpired in that house. In particular, you have no idea how he was situated-- and where his granddaughter was situated-- in relation to the intruder's entry point.

Also, it's entirely plausible that the child was never in any danger.

And I'm pretty certain that "stinking European" has done more for the cause of free speech than you ever will!

Oh, wait... You just wanted to manufacture an opening for a completely unrelated snide attack on "New York liberals". Typical right-wing patheticness!; 1/2/10, 6:16 PM
fivewheels said...: I'm thinking the writer misunderstood, and Westergaard probably meant that she did well in coping with the scary situation while behind the door of the panic room and might have been spared if the attacker had gotten through. Hope so.; 1/2/10, 6:18 PM
themightypuck said...: I wonder if the granddaughter was safe. What is the rule in fatwahs. Can you kill family members?; 1/2/10, 6:24 PM
Fred4Pres said...: But Islam is The Religion of Peace™?

How could this be?; 1/2/10, 6:25 PM
rhhardin said...: At the moment, Islam is whatever the most gangsterish believer says it is.

Once there's an enlightenment in a religion, the gangsters don't rule any longer. They get shot.; 1/2/10, 6:26 PM
john said...: I read the story this way:

The Danish government, in its effort to protect select citizens from the effects of the islamification of Europe, and without wanting to do anything difficult (such as addressing the cause of such islamification), now will install concrete bathrooms for for anyone who wants them.; 1/2/10, 6:28 PM
1775OGG said...: Twenty questions, anyone?; 1/2/10, 6:29 PM
Anonymous said...: What is the rule in fatwahs. Can you kill family members?

Yes, all infidels.; 1/2/10, 6:33 PM
Anonymous said...: @john- Do you know anything about Denmark? They have taken a harder stance against Islamification than any other European country. They've made it incredibly difficult for Muslims to get a Danish residency visa. They've instituted "Westernization" programs, the latest being where they will force children as small as 1 year old to attend Danish preschool so as to de-Islamify them. They've strongly focused police efforts on neighborhoods where Islamic immigrants live. They've been practicing preventative detention. There's much more if you look it up. The Islamists in Denmark and their stupid ignorant young supporters (what we might call "liberals" here) are furious about these measures.; 1/2/10, 6:36 PM
Big Mike said...: @Julie.

(1) No, I don't know how things transpired in that house. I just know that in the past I've been in positions where I had to physically place myself between a loved one and danger, and it happened -- in fact it happened so fast and with so little thought that I swear I must have teleported. And I think most Americans are like me. Over in Europe things aren't that way. I've been there and I've seen it.

(2) It's indeed plausible that the child was never in danger. But when a crazy guy batters down your door with an ax that's not the way to bet.

(3) He may have done more for free speech than I, but I've had my role to play in counterterrorism. Hopefully I'll have a chance to do more.

(4) You are seeing right through me at last. I really don't like the New York breed of liberal. They don't just lack elementary common sense, but they're snooty about it. Way more of them than I'd like have moved into my county and are pushing the politics left. Wish those a**holes would realize that the reason why where I live is a better place than the one they left behind is because we have a real two-party system. Republicans can't get carried away, and Democrats have to be more centerist and not nearly as looney as they'd no doubt like to be. Now that's changing.; 1/2/10, 6:37 PM
Synova said...: What is truly shocking to me is how few people rise to defend the cartoonists. Rather, we're supposed to be tolerant and sensitive and do our best not to offend.

Free speech as a principle is so abandoned that people in this country do not even know that the cartoons re-distributed (along with a large supply of Danish flags) had differen't pictures in it than the Danes published. Because publication after publication in the US chose to care more about offending than they cared about telling the truth and facts that actually mattered.

None of the Danish cartoons pictured Mohammad as a pig or a dog fucking a praying Muslim man, but those were included in the pictures that caused the riots.

It's a far far different, and damning of the Imams who arranged and caused the riots that cost lives, if the actual pictures are shown.

Of the Danish cartoons, the bomb in the turban was actually the worst.

But the manufactured riots are illustrated perfectly by it.

And once we figure out free speech in this case, perhaps we can work on some outrage with Chavez shutting down radio stations, hm?; 1/2/10, 6:39 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: When they showed Westergaard on TV, an old man, graying beard, messy desk, and I imagined him drawing Muhammad with a bomb for a turban and how incensed that made Islamists, I burst out laughing. For some reason that struck me as insanely funny. Does that make me bad?; 1/2/10, 6:40 PM
Synova said...: Julius...

The fastest way to radicalize someone is go after their children.

Really.; 1/2/10, 6:41 PM
john said...: Julius,

That's well and good. The passiveness evident in the story line (hiding out in a specially built bathroom) was what had gotten me so upset. I would have preferred that Westergaard had been given a shotgun than a bathroom.

No, I had not known that Danish government had taken those steps. I tip my hat to them, and to you for sharing this.; 1/2/10, 6:47 PM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Please, the real danger out there are those 70-year old tax protesters in walkers and wheelchairs disrupting townhall meetings.

Damned fanatic teabaggers.

Whiff of the Weimar, it is.

Or maybe it's Ben-Gay.; 1/2/10, 6:51 PM
Alex said...: Sorry grandpa, but ditching the little girl to save your sorry ass makes you a very pathetic loser!; 1/2/10, 6:59 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: If it were me, I'd draw another cartoon; and this time Muhammad would have an axe.; 1/2/10, 7:02 PM
Ralph L said...: IIRC, Denmark was the only country occupied by the Nazis that didn't turn over its Jews.

He smashed a police car window with the axe and was shot in the hand and a knee when he threw the axe at an officer
I would hope American police would have killed him for that.; 1/2/10, 7:10 PM
Kirby Olson said...: There was an episode on Numb3rs last night in which an animal rights terrorist was going to shoot a bunch of professors doing animal research when the police sent a dog into the room. The berserker completely melted over the dog (he was all like animal rights) so then the police could nail the terrorist.

I think this cartoonist has a pretty sound mind and he realizes the other side has its own logic, and it doesn't include killing children except of course as collateral damage (if they happen to be an on airplane, for instance, that you've decided to take into the World Trade Center).

Westergaard I think does understand those who want to kill him.

Has there been anyone in the Muslim world who's been on Westergaard's side? People keep saying there is a "moderate" Islam, but to me at least it seems to be ALL or NOTHING. Are there Muslim intellectuals somewhere who believe that it's ok to be satirical about Islam?

There probably is, but I don't think I've seen it.

Has anyone else?

Has anyone with any authority in the Islamic world come out in favor of freedom of speech in the Rushdie case?; 1/2/10, 7:20 PM
Alex said...: He simply got lucky. Muslims have no compunctions about slaughtering little kids as witnessed in places like Algeria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon, etc...; 1/2/10, 7:28 PM
Unknown said...: Julius Ray Hoffman said...

@john- Do you know anything about Denmark? They have taken a harder stance against Islamification than any other European country. They've made it incredibly difficult for Muslims to get a Danish residency visa. They've instituted "Westernization" programs, the latest being where they will force children as small as 1 year old to attend Danish preschool so as to de-Islamify them. They've strongly focused police efforts on neighborhoods where Islamic immigrants live. They've been practicing preventative detention. There's much more if you look it up. The Islamists in Denmark and their stupid ignorant young supporters (what we might call "liberals" here) are furious about these measures.

Something went wrong somewhere. How many of these "assaults" have taken place? Better yet, how many of the violent faithful have been deported?

What Dark Eden said about Texas is a valid point; in the Lone Star State, this animal would have been shot on the doorstep, and, if he had succeeded, he would be awaiting a date with Ol' Sparky as a neat little object lesson. The Moslems dig object lessons.

Mike's point, "Only some stinking European would leave his granddaughter in jeopardy while he ran for cover.", is not to be dismissed lightly. It reflects the cancer of the socialist state. Westergaard almost certainly did think the state would take care of everything. A few years ago, hundreds of elderly French died in a heat wave, partly because their children didn't bother to check on them, thinking the "state" would do it.

Ralph L said...

IIRC, Denmark was the only country occupied by the Nazis that didn't turn over its Jews.

Apparently, their cartoonists are more expendable.

On a serious note, you're partly right. Turning over the Jews (or gypsies or Jehovah's Witnesses) wasn't optional. Some, like the Vichy French, went at it with more of a will; Denmark's Jews were saved by a "little ships" spontaneous effort similar to that which pulled the British Army off the beaches of Dunkirk; 1/2/10, 7:29 PM
Mark O said...: I'm sayin' the system worked.

I'm also grateful I know how to handle a gun.; 1/2/10, 7:30 PM
blake said...: I think that's the best of the cartoons.; 1/2/10, 7:41 PM
mariner said...: Muslims have no compunctions about slaughtering little kids as witnessed in places like Algeria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon, etc...

... Beslan!; 1/2/10, 7:50 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Well, that attacker really showed him! Some Muslims are violent my foot.; 1/2/10, 8:01 PM
amba said...: I thought he took his granddaughter into the safe room with him???; 1/2/10, 8:14 PM
amba said...: What strikes me funny is that the reaction to the cartoon validates the cartoon.; 1/2/10, 8:20 PM
Dark Eden said...: "What Dark Eden said about Texas is a valid point; in the Lone Star State, this animal would have been shot on the doorstep, and, if he had succeeded, he would be awaiting a date with Ol' Sparky as a neat little object lesson."

I'm reminded of Cedric the Entertainer's bit about hope and wish.

Europeans hope that Islamofascists don't invade their home.

Texans wish they would.

Which is actually not completely just macho bluster.; 1/2/10, 8:52 PM
paul a'barge said...: Kill all the Islamist extremists. And those who fail to out them. And stack them like cord wood.; 1/2/10, 9:25 PM
jr565 said...: Considering this reaction on viewing a piece of art I can see why the art therapy didn't work too well on our Gitmo detainees.; 1/2/10, 9:32 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/2/10, 9:37 PM
Anonymous said...: You guys who would belittle Denmark for not having Texas gun rules are jumping to conclusions, at least with regard to Westergaard.

You can get a gun for protection in Denmark. You need to pass a psychiatric exam and take training classes and, in some cases, be a member of a gun club. If it is not for hunting, then you also have to demonstrate the need for one.

Since 2006, Al Queda has promised to kill Kurt Westergaard. It's hard to have a better demonstrable need than that!

Westergaard could have had a gun available to him if he wanted it. It's also likely that he did indeed have a weapon waiting on the other side of the bathroom door for Mr. Muslim Terrorist had the intruder gotten through. But Westergaard isn't going to go around saying that he carries a gun for protection, because if he does then he looses an advantage over the next Islamomaniac who tries something like this. He's also a genuinely low-key guy who doesn't seem to have any desire to brandish his Texas cred.

Also: He was offered an on-site 24/7 police bodyguard after the 2006 riots. He refused because he wanted to live normally. So its likely that he was trained/wargamed by the Danish police and PET (Denmark's equivalent to the CIA) on what to do in exactly this case. He likely followed the protocol as best he could considering the limited time available to make decisions. If you read some of the news accounts, Westergaard seems remarkably relaxed for a guy who was just attacked by an axe-wielding Muslim terrorist.

Note too that the terrorist had an axe, not a gun. Why? Odds are that he couldn't get a gun.; 1/2/10, 9:44 PM
Big Mike said...: @Julie, there's no such thing as a country where it's impossible to acquire a black market handgun. Probably he didn't have the money to buy one, but that doesn't mean he couldn't buy one.; 1/2/10, 10:00 PM