i think that freedom of speech is important, but it is not the issue with these rather childish caricatures. the issue is that the danes thought that freedom of speech includes freedom from the consequences of what one says. nowhere is there anything like that. not for nothing freedom of speech stops where one hurts the other person. libel, lese majesty or insults to religion are sanctioned in not few jurisdictions around the world (i'll reserve my opinion about that for another discussion).

of course anybody who so feels should have all the freedom of the world to go to the cathedral and accuse, before his congregation, the bishop of their town of being a childfucker and a reactionary moron, but they should be ready to face the consequences. most fights on schoolyards are because somebody calls somebody else names. most of these fights end in the office of the director and everybody looking a bit stupider than before. this is not different, just the consequences are different.

the wise thing to do would have been to apologize back when the issue was a minor idiocy comitted by some reactionary rag consumed by the danish proletariat. obviously politicians and the journaille dont count wisdom among their virtues.

the other issue is about governments using stupidity to further their control over the sheeple. some accuse european govts of deliberately pushing the issue so as to stoke the flames of hatred against everything muslim (those barbarians dare to burn our embassies because we have freedom of speech !) and make an attack on iran easier to justify. of course, that the saudis would use the issue to distract from their inept management of the hajj shouldn't surprise anybody either.

i dont know if all this is true but i see it as plausible. such behavior is natural to govts of all stripes. european and arab alike.