On the one hand I agree, but on the other hand, what do you think the reaction would have been like in the US if a newspaper had responded to the Catholic child-abuse scandals by running cartoons of Jesus molesting children? Probably no buildings would have been set on fire and no one would have been killed -- probably, but remember that the people who firebomb abortion clincs think of themselves as good Christians just as surely as the members of Al Qaeda think of themselves as good Muslims -- but the level of rhetoric would have been much the same.

I don't think either that hypothetical reaction, or the actual reaction to the Danish cartoons, is acceptable, of course. But before we label others barbaric, we should check to make sure our own houses aren't made of glass.