It's been widely reported that the Danish imams who toured the Middle East to stir up trouble over the twelve cartoons that were published in a Danish newspaper brought three more pictures with them. These were supposedly images that had been sent to Danish Muslims as "hate mail," but had never been published my any news outlet. These three images were much cruder and more offensive than the ones actually published by the Danish paper.

The first of those pictures has now been identified by Neander News; here it is, as it was shown by the imams, who said it depicted Mohammed with a pig snout:

If you think it doesn't look much like Mohammed, you're right. It's actually a slightly altered picture of Jacques Barrot, a contestant at the French Pig-Squealing Championships in Trie-sur-Baise’s annual festival. This photo accompanied an AP news story last August:

It's possible, I suppose, that someone sent a Danish Muslim an altered photo of a pig-squealing contest, but it seems more likely that it is a crude hoax perpetrated by the imams, who have failed to produce the alleged letters or to identify their recipients.

Thanks to the excellent Gateway Pundit for the tip.

Crazy as this may seem, the stirring up of hate against westerners by the Danish imams and other clerics has had deadly consequences. Michelle Malkin notes that the murderer of Father Andrea Santoro, a Catholic priest who was shot in Turkey over the weekend, has been apprehended. The murderer was a Muslim high school student who was upset about the cartoons, likely including the ones that were added by the imams:

The student told police he was influenced by cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad, NTV commercial television said. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

The state Anatolian news agency said the student, aged 16, had been carrying a 9 mm pistol when he was captured in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where Andrea Santoro, 61, was gunned down on Sunday while praying.

A Vatican embassy spokesman in Ankara told Reuters on Monday the gunman had shouted "Allahu Akbar" (Arabic for "God is greatest") as he shot Santoro.

Posted by John at 05:35 PM  |    |