Westergaard to Dutch: Show the Wilders Film Or Commit Political Suicide

You've really got to admire Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. He started the whole Mohammad cartoon dustup which still has the practitioners of peace burning things every Friday, and today he ups the ante by telling Dutch politicians to man up and show the Geert Wilders film Fitna.

Westergaard has a set of stones on him and should be a role model for politicians of all stripes in the Western world. Too bad most of them are feckless, craven wimps.

The Danish cartoonist behind controversial images of the Prophet Mohammad has urged a Dutch right-wing politician to broadcast a film expected to be critical of the Koran despite fears it might spark violence.

Kurt Westergaard is the author of a series of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed including one showing him with a bomb as a turban which triggered riots in the Muslim world and a boycott of Danish products when they were published in 2006.

Fearing a similar backlash against the Netherlands, the Dutch government has urged politician Geert Wilders not to broadcast a film he has made about the Koran, distancing itself from his views and considering a possible ban.

Westergaard told the Dutch Volkskrant daily on Monday no Danish politician would dare to suggest blocking the film.

"That would mean political suicide. A Danish politician knows that you should not limit freedom of expression. Wilders must just show his film," he said in an interview.

Wilders has given few details about his film, but he has called the Koran a "fascist" book that incites violence. Nobody except Wilders and his producers have actually seen the film.

Wilders said last week he was disappointed that no Dutch broadcaster wanted to show the movie but said he would probably launch it on March 28 at the parliament's press centre in The Hague and make it available on a special Web site.

In the latest protest against the Wilders film and the reprinting of the Prophet Mohammad cartoon, thousands of Afghan students burned Danish and Dutch flags on Sunday and threatened attacks on their troops serving with NATO in Afghanistan.

The cartoon was republished by a number of Danish papers last month to show solidarity with Westergaard after three men were arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill him.

Westergaard, who said he is about to move to a sixth hiding place and expects to need protection for the rest of his life, said he did not regret drawing the cartoons.

"In Denmark we have criticism of everything: the Queen, politicians, religion ... provoking debate is the job of the newspaper and so also of the cartoonist. Muslims have to accept that," he said.

I get the feeling Westergaard isn't going to back down.

Thanks to Hot Air for the links.