A conservative U.S. clothing outlet is stoking Muslim fury over the Muhammed cartoons by selling shirts on the Net printed with the image of the Prophet wearing a bomb on his head.
"This is a perfect example of why Americans are hated around the world," the Pakistan Daily Times wrote yesterday on its Web site. "Finding humor in the desecration of another's religious symbol is wrong."
But the company, MetroSpy, insists it is protecting free speech - and fighting terrorism - with its shirts, which retail for $19.99 each.
"We can't let the terrorists win. We cannot encourage this uncivilized behavior by caving in to their wishes," Nate Thomas, product manager for MetroSpy, said of the protests and embassy torchings that have erupted across the Muslim world.
"We wanted a simple way to exercise our freedom of speech and to stand up to the terrorists. This design was perfect," said Thomas.
The latest twist in the cartoon saga came as protests continued around the Muslim world.
Ultranationalist Turks, chanting "vengeance," pelted the French Consulate in Istanbul with eggs as about 2,500 pro-Islamic demonstrators shouted "Down with America, Israel and Denmark." And at least 30,000 protesters denounced publication of the drawings, which appeared first in Denmark, in a rally in southeast Turkey.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi called on Denmark and U.S. Secretary of State Rice to apologize.
"What happened was a natural reaction," Asefi said, adding that "an apology could alleviate the tension."
But Rice said it is Iran and Syria that need to account for their behavior, blaming the regimes in the two nations for urging its citizens to engage in violence.
"If people continue to incite it, it could spin out of control," she said on ABC's "This Week."
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The shirts are being sold by what is self described as politically conservative.
http://www.shopmetrospy.com/