WASHINGTON, February 4, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The United States has backed world Muslims against European newspapers that reprinted blasphemous caricatures of a man assumed to be Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

"Anti-Muslim images are as unacceptable as anti-Semitic images, as anti-Christian images or any other religious belief," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters on Friday, January 3, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Last September, Denmark's mass-circulation daily Jyllands-Posten published twelve drawings that included portrayals of a man assumed to be Prophet Muhammad wearing a time-bomb shaped turban and showed him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

Several European newspapers, in the name of freedom of the press, reprinted some or all of the blasphemous cartoons, further enflaming the sentiments of infuriated Muslims across the globe.

"These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said.

"We all fully recognize and respect freedom of the press and expression, but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."

Former US president Bill Clinton has condemned the cartoons as "appalling" and "outrageous" and warned of rising anti-Islamic prejudice that could be compared with anti-Semitism.

The State Department's reaction "was a strong statement in support of Muslims around the world," said Hooper.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the leading US Muslim rights advocacy group, applauded the US position.

The State Department's reaction "was a strong statement in support of Muslims around the world. It's a reflection of the concern felt by millions of Muslims and I think it will be appreciated," he said.

The American response contrasted with many European governments, which have tended to acknowledge the tension between free speech and respect for religion but have generally accepted the newspapers' rights to print the cartoons.

The United States, which before the 9/11 attacks was criticized for insensitivity to the Islamic culture, has become more attuned to Muslim sensibilities.

James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute, said Washington avoided drawing the ire of Muslims in this dispute, but it would take an overhaul of its policies to begin to improve its smeared image in the Muslim world.

"It's a sound response on this issue that escapes the fire. But repairing the US standing in the Muslim world is already so out of reach that this move can't provide any help," he told Reuters.

Reports last year that US personnel at the notorious Guantanamo prison desecrated the Noble Qur’an sparked deadly riots across the Muslim world and placed the Bush administration in a tight corner, forcing it to launch a charm offensive.

"Now Islamophobia seems to be an acceptable form of public discourse in Europe," said Shora.

Tempered reaction among US Muslims to the cartoons can be attributed to their fears of FBI raids and harassment, according to minority leaders.

"People are scared," Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News in the state of Michigan, told AFP.

"We have a government saying it is spying on us and it's scaring the living daylights out of people. But they still feel the same about this issue and are very angry."

Siblani blasted the cartoons as proof of the West's insensitivity to Islam and double standards in dealing with the Muslim world.

"The other day the president of Iran made a statement about the Holocaust and the whole world condemned him," he said.

"Here you have a statement offending 1.3 billion people around the world. Why don't we see condemnation?

"There is one set of rules for the West and another set for everyone else," he maintained.

"Where do we draw the line on your freedom of speech and hurting my feelings and principles and irritating the hell out of me?"

Kareem Shora, of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), said the cartoons controversy "echoes the historical problems" that Europeans had with anti-Semitism.

"Now Islamophobia seems to be an acceptable form of public discourse in Europe," he told AFP.

Shora said that instead of encouraging constructive integration, the cartoon controversy "does nothing but add to the divide and perception that there is an us-versus-them mentality."