Danish prime minister blamed for cartoon uproar

Copenhagen: Two Danish writers accused Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a book launched on Tuesday of mishandling the crisis over the cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) that were first published in a Danish newspaper.

Toeger Seidenfaden, editor in chief of leading Danish newspaper Politiken, and writer Rune Engelbreth Larsen, criticised the premier but also defended Denmark's imams, saying the Muslim leaders tried to defuse the situation.

Their 336-page book, The Caricature Crisis: An Investigation into Background and Responsibility, explores Denmark's largest foreign policy challenge since the Second World War.

The authors contend Fogh Rasmussen bears the "main responsibility for the eruption and escalation of the crisis" the country endured in late January and February.

The 12 cartoons, first published in the Jyllands-Posten daily in September, were reprinted by dozens of newspapers and Web sites in Europe and elsewhere.

Jyllands-Posten said it published the drawings to challenge what it perceived was self-censorship among artists dealing with Islamic issues. Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depiction of the Prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.

Muslims worldwide denounced the drawings. Furious anti-Danish protests spread across the Muslim world and rioters torched Danish embassies.

The Danish government refused to apologise and failed to grant Muslim ambassadors in Denmark a meeting with the prime minister, arguing that the government could not be held responsible for an independent newspaper's actions or interfere with press freedom.

For months, Fogh Rasmussen "misled and manipulated Danish public opinion, by giving false information about the demands actually made by the diplomatic representatives of Islamic countries", Seidenfaden and Engelbreth Larsen wrote.

The diplomats had demanded the Danish government take legal steps against the daily.