Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the alleged leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, has put a bounty of 100.000 dollars on the head of Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who made a drawing of the prophet Mohammed as a dog. The threat was broadcasted in a 30 minute taped speech.

”We are calling for the killing of the cartoonist Lars Vilks who allowed himself to insult our prophet (peace be upon him) and we promise a reward of 100.000 dollars during the generous month of the Ramadan to the man that kills this criminal,” said the alleged leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

The Swedish news agency TT reports that the editor of a local newspaper that published Vilks’ drawings also was threatened by Al Qaeda. The bounty on the editor’s head is 50.000 dollars.

Lars Vilks was confronted with the threats on a visit to Kassel, Germany.
”Only 100.000 dollars. I thought it was 200.000. Nice to know your worth,” he replied to Dagens Nyheter.

Vilks added that he feels confident that the Swedish authorities will take care of his security, and he called on moderate Muslims to come out in his support.
”I hope to get support from all the moderate Muslims that have to protest this development. They have to show unambigiously where they stand. This is no small group of extremists.”

Vilks is being asked if he thinks a round-about-dog of Mohammed was worth all the trouble and threats.

”Yes,” he answers, ”One has to test where things stand. And people have to join in to play down this kind of ideas. We cannot imagine a world in the West in which we have to adapt our norms to what Al Qaeda and other extremist groups are thinking.”

Two thumbs up for Mr. Vilks. He is doing just great.

The story took off in August when three art institutions in Sweden refused to put Vilks’ drawings on show referring to security concerns. It raised a debate about self censorship, and the newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published the drawings as part of the debate. The drawings were republished by other newspapers in Scandinavia including Jyllands-Posten. In Sweden the Iranian-Swedish magazine Mana has decided to publish the drawings in its next issue and the magazine is criticizing the publications and art institutions that declined to publish them for displaying a discriminating bias against Muslims.

”Obviously, they think Muslims can’t cope with this kind of images, they think Muslims are a security threat, this is crazy” the editor said.

On the anniversary of 9/11 a host on Danish Public Broadcasting that is financed by taxpayers, said about the attack on America:

”I am a little embarassed to admit it, but I thought: Hey, it’s the Americans, now they get spanked, they really deserve it.”

This outrageous comment didn’t have any consequences for the host. He was just mildly reprimanded by his boss who – surprise, surprise – stated that this kind of comments violates Danish Public Broadcasting rules for what employees are allowed to say on air.

The host, Jens Blauenfeldt, later issued the following statement:

”I am absolutely not anti-American og it wasn’t my intention to express anything of the sort. Now, when I see my words on print I understand that they can be interpreted politically. That was not my intention, I am sorry.”

In an otherwise interesting piece in Time Magazine former CIA field officer Robert Baer wrongly predicts that Europe is on the verge of waking up to the terrorist threat. He writes:

”Bin Laden should know that if he does manage a terrorist attack, the only thing he should count on is a hardening of America nad its allies’ positions. Especially in Europe. An attack there, such as the foiled plot in Germany, would sweep away European unhappiness about secret prisons and Guantanamo, once again lining Europe behind the U.S in its war against Al-Qaeda.”

If recent history is any guide, Baer overestimates a possible reaction by the Europeans in case of an attack. Back in 2002 I spoke to a former official in the Clinton administration. The offcial, who by the way is an eminent expert on Europe, expressed frustration with Washington’s European allies who were reluctant to support the Bush-administration’s doctrine of preemption in the war on terror. I am afraid, the official said, that we’ll have to witness an attack on Europe before the Europeans will come around and show any understanding of our position.

Since then Europe has been subject to several attacks, but we haven’t seen any substantial change in Europe’s attitude to the war on terror: Madrid 2004, London 2005, Glasgow 2007, the killing of Theo van Gogh on the streets of Amsterdam in 2004, cartoon riots in 2006 and several other incidents. Add to this list an unknown number of foiled plots across the continent. In the case of Spain, one may even argue that Spanish voters handed the terrorist behind the March 11 attacks a victory by electing a socialist government whose first action was to withdraw troops from Iraq.

So I don’t think Americans should look for a fundamental change in Europe’s approach even if more attacks are to follow.