The U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, directly accused Syria and Iran of masterminding the violence in the global protests that have killed at least 10 people around the world, sparked by the series of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed.
"Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes, and the world ought to call them on it," she said at a joint news conference with Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, according to CNN.
Furthermore, it has been reported by CNN that Syria's Ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, denied Rice's accusation and blamed the violence on Israeli and US policy decisions unrelated to the cartoon row.
"We in Syria believe anti-Western sentiments are being fueled by two major things: the situation in Iraq and the situation in the occupied territories, the West Bank, and Gaza," Moustapha was quoted by CNN.
He added, "We believe that if somebody would tell Secretary Rice that Syria is not the party that occupies Iraq and is not the party that occupies the West Bank and Gaza, then probably she would know it is not Syria who is actually fueling anti-Western sentiments."
On Wednesday it was reported that the death toll from the global outrage had reached at least ten, after Afghan police shot and killed several of the 600 protesters trying to rattle a US military base.
On a more positive note, it has been reported that President Bush appeared with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday morning, and both of them urged leaders in the affected nations to step in and curb the violence.
"I call upon governments around the world to stop the violence, to be respectful, to protect property and protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas," Bush said, referring to the attacks on Danish and other European embassies in several capitals, according to CNN.
Meanwhile, the cartoons have prompted boycotts of Danish goods throughout the Muslim world, and there are already some sluggish signs showing up in the Danish economy. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, travel agents said travelers were not booking flights to Denmark or Norway, sighting a further slump in air travel, there being no signs of a reduction in the violence.
Moreover, French President Jacques Chirac asked the media to avoid offending people's religious beliefs and condemned obvious provocations, while Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, also urged an end to the violent protests and called for a balance between free expression and respect for religion and culture.
The cartoons were originally published in September in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, but lethal protests increased drastically later after the caricatures were reproduced in German, French, Norwegian, and Jordanian newspapers.
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