Sam Ayres . com - POLITICAL CARTOONS by Sam Ayres

In what seemed like overt baiting and provocation, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. The reaction across the globe, however, has been far more harmful to the face of Islam than the original, somewhat anodyne cartoons.
The debate, which has turned violent, has highlighted the occasional conflict among free speech, religious respect, and religious toleration.

Unbeknownst to most Americans, the free speech of cartoons is not just an issue in the Middle East, but here at home as well. Tom Toles of the Washington Post, (who won the Pultizer Prize in 1990), recently published this cartoon, drawing heavy fire from the U.S. Military. It depicts Rumsfeld telling a soldier amputee "I'm listing your condition as 'battle hardened.'" In response, all six of the Joint Chiefs wrote a letter of protest to the Washington Post attacking the "reprehensible" and "callous" nature of the cartoon. Fox News (of course) picked it up and said it was "not dissent," and was harmful and offensive to our troops.

Politicians today are echoing Boss Tweed's damning indictment against Thomas Nast's cartoons: "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can't read. But, damn it, they can see pictures!"

To see the original Mohammad cartoons, go here or here.
For an insider look at the issue, read about it on Cagle's Professional Political Cartoon site.
For information on Islam's rules governing the depiction of Mohammad, go to the BBC and Slate.
Why the original cartoons are offensive.
This cartoon on the YDN website.