March 09, 2010
Seven Arrested In Ireland For Plotting To Murder Lars Vilks
UPDATE: An American was involved in the plot to kill Lars Vilks -- Colleen "Jihad Jane" LaRose!
(CNN) -- Irish police arrested seven people Tuesday suspected of plotting to commit a murder abroad, they announced.Here is the offending image.Irish media reports said the target was Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who drew a cartoon of the Muslim prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog in 2007, prompting al Qaeda to offer $100,000 to anyone who killed him -- plus an extra $50,000 if the killer slits his throat. The Irish press reports cited unnamed police sources.
Ireland's national broadcaster RTE said the suspects are originally from Morocco and Yemen, but are all living legally as refugees in Ireland.
Vilks said his drawing was a calculated move, and he wanted it to elicit a reaction.
"That's a way of expressing things. If you don't like it, don't look at it. And if you look at it, don't take it too seriously. No harm done, really," he said.
When it's suggested that might prove an arrogant -- if not insulting -- way to engage Muslims, he is unrelenting, even defiant.
"No one actually loves the truth, but someone has to say it," he says.
