Islamist assassin- Panic room saved artist Kurt Westergaard

**DBowden** · 01-03-2010, 10:52 AM

Entire article available at:

Panic room saved artist Kurt Westergaard from Islamist assassin - Times Online

From The Sunday Times
January 3, 2010
Panic room saved artist Kurt Westergaard from Islamist assassin
Matthew Campbell

Just when Denmark thought the worst was over, Islamic fury has come back to haunt it with an assassination attempt on the artist whose cartoon of the prophet Muhammad as a suicide bomber had an explosive impact four years ago on the Muslim world.

An axe-wielding Somali extremist broke into the home of Kurt Westergaard on Friday night as the 75-year-old cartoonist was looking after Stephanie, his five-year-old granddaughter.

Westergaard, whose little ink drawing of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban sparked riots throughout the Middle East in 2006, has received numerous death threats. He pressed an alarm button to summon police when the attacker entered the house in Aarhus, Denmark’s second city, by breaking a window.

He did not have time to collect the child from the living room before locking himself into a “panic room”, a specially fortified bathroom. He said the assailant had shouted “swear words, really crude words” and shrieked about “blood” and “revenge”, as he smashed the axe in vain against the bathroom door.

“I feared for my grandchild,” he told Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that had commissioned the cartoon. “But she did great. I knew that he wouldn’t do anything to her.” He went on: “It was close, really close. But we did it.”

The attacker, who was also carrying a knife, shouted, “I’ll be back”, before going outside to confront police. He smashed a police car window with the axe and was shot in the hand and a knee when he threw the axe at an officer. He appeared in court on a stretcher yesterday to be charged with the attempted murder of Westergaard and the policeman.

Jakob Scharf, head of Danish intelligence, said yesterday the assailant had close relations to Al-Shabaab, a Somali terror group, as well as to Al-Qaeda leaders in eastern Africa. He had been under surveillance by intelligence, although not in connection with any plot against Westergaard.

The attack, Scharf said, “confirms the terror threat directed at Denmark and against Westergaard in particular”.

Angry protesters in Muslim countries in 2006 burnt embassies and stormed several European buildings in a wave of rioting and flag-burning in which more than 100 people were killed. The reaction had come after a dozen “Muhammad cartoons”, including the famous one by Westergaard, were published in several newspapers.

The drawings, which first appeared in 2005, had been intended to contribute to the debate about criticism of Islam and self-censorship. This followed the brutal murder in Holland the previous year of Theo van Gogh, the film maker, by a fanatic who resented his depiction of Islam and slit his throat on a street.

Muslims called the cartoons an insult to their religion and, as well as promoting a boycott of Danish goods, some Islamic leaders issued death threats against Westergaard and his publishers.

**Curt James** · 01-03-2010, 11:29 AM

He left the child?

And Denmark police seem generous. Attack a police car with an axe in the U.S.

I wonder if you'd survive to testify in court.

**min0 lee** · 01-03-2010, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by DBowden

“I feared for my grandchild,” he told Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that had commissioned the cartoon. “But she did great. I knew that he wouldn’t do anything to her.” He went on: “It was close, really close. But we did it.”

Bullshit, how would he know that. He's a coward..plain and simple.

**min0 lee** · 01-03-2010, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by Curt James

He left the child?

And Denmark police seem generous. Attack a police car with an axe in the U.S.

I wonder if you'd survive to testify in court.

They really are overly generous.

Suspect had been arrested in Clinton plot

**maniclion** · 01-03-2010, 01:39 PM

If you're going to have your grand-children over you better have the whole house built as a panic room......they need guillotine windows, that after the glass is broken a body heat sensor picks up the opportune moment to drop a blade on a mother fucker, then a little robot comes out, tosses the half outside and mops up the blood......

**Shillelagh** · 01-03-2010, 04:59 PM

All praise Allah....

**KelJu** · 01-03-2010, 05:15 PM

Wow! What a pussy. He left his grandchild out there to die. All in all, I guess everything worked out, but still. That guy is a total pussy.

Someone should do a cartoon of him locking himself in a bathroom while is grandchild is in danger of an Islamic fundamentalist.

**Curt James** · 01-03-2010, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by min0 lee

They really are overly generous.

Suspect had been arrested in Clinton plot

"The suspect was released from a Kenyan jail in September because of a lack of evidence and returned to Denmark, where he had been living, Sky News reported Sunday."

I guess the Denmark police would have had no option other than to welcome him home? Crazy stuff, though.

**Curt James** · 01-03-2010, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by KelJu

Wow! What a pussy. He left his grandchild out there to die. All in all, I guess everything worked out, but still. That guy is a total pussy.

Someone should do a cartoon of him locking himself in a bathroom while is grandchild is in danger of an Islamic fundamentalist.

And I guess you never know how you'll react in a given situation, but I would damned well hope that I would have pulled the little brat into the panic room with me rather than have to explain to the parents,

"Well, you know, I figured the intruder wouldn't harm a child. My bad."

Wtf?

**min0 lee** · 01-03-2010, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by Curt James

"The suspect was released from a Kenyan jail in September because of a lack of evidence and returned to Denmark, where he had been living, Sky News reported Sunday."

I guess the Denmark police would have had no option other than to welcome him home? Crazy stuff, though.

Someone failed.

**KelJu** · 01-03-2010, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by Curt James

And I guess you never know how you'll react in a given situation, but I would damned well hope that I would have pulled the little brat into the panic room with me rather than have to explain to the parents,

"Well, you know, I figured the intruder wouldn't harm a child. My bad."

Wtf?

True, you don't know. It's easy to be an armchair hero. I have plenty of flaws, but I have total confidence in myself that I wouldn't do what he did. But, I don't have to worry about it, because I'm pretty sure my Ruger is better than his axe.

**maxpro2** · 01-04-2010, 02:42 AM

Originally Posted by Curt James

And I guess you never know how you'll react in a given situation, but I would damned well hope that I would have pulled the little brat into the panic room with me rather than have to explain to the parents,

"Well, you know, I figured the intruder wouldn't harm a child. My bad."

Wtf?

I agree he is a coward, but I don't think this situation is as night-and-day as everyone is making it out to be.

Assuming it was actually impossible (which seems to be the case) to grab the child and then make it to the panic room without the assassin reaching both of them:
1) He is 75. What could he do against an assassin? If the assassin wanted to kill the kid as well, the assassin would have done so easily after he was killed.
2) If he had stayed out to protect the child, he would have died. What we can never know is whether his absence actually saved the child. Imagine the assassin coming in with the cartoonist holding the child to protect him. What would have been the result? Would he kill them both, either intentionally or accidentally?
3) Given that the cartoonist would have been killed had he tried to save the child and the child may or may not have been killed either way... isn't it better than it was guaranteed that one life would have been saved?

**min0 lee** · 01-04-2010, 06:53 AM

Originally Posted by Geared Jesus

Interesting marksmanship training those officers must have. If that was NYC they'd probably of unloaded several magazines on him. They've done worse when someone reaches for their wallet here in the states.

I disagree.....they missed his head.

That would save us tax payers money and would stop repeat offenders.

**maniclion** · 01-04-2010, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by maxpro2

I agree he is a coward, but I don't think this situation is as night-and-day as everyone is making it out to be.

Assuming it was actually impossible (which seems to be the case) to grab the child and then make it to the panic room without the assassin reaching both of them:
1) He is 75. What could he do against an assassin? If the assassin wanted to kill the kid as well, the assassin would have done so easily after he was killed.
2) If he had stayed out to protect the child, he would have died. What we can never know is whether his absence actually saved the child. Imagine the assassin coming in with the cartoonist holding the child to protect him. What would have been the result? Would he kill them both, either intentionally or accidentally?
3) Given that the cartoonist would have been killed had he tried to save the child and the child may or may not have been killed either way... isn't it better than it was guaranteed that one life would have been saved?

I think it was the right thing to do, being that the assassin has one objective, kill the infidel who slandered the Prophet...he had tunnel vision and wanted this old man so bad he tried to hack through the door(probably a thick steel vault door), there could have been a room full of people and he would have ignored all of them like a heat seeking missile, the cartoonist being the hottest target picked up by his sensors.... Had he hesitated and tried to grab the kid, he would have been killed, and the assassin with mission accomplished would have then turned on any other infidel, and since the old man had led him straight to the child it would have been next...and having not made it to the panic room the cops would have never been alerted, which it sounds like they got their really fucking fast....

**maxpro2** · 01-04-2010, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by maniclion

I think it was the right thing to do, being that the assassin has one objective, kill the infidel who slandered the Prophet...he had tunnel vision and wanted this old man so bad he tried to hack through the door(probably a thick steel vault door), there could have been a room full of people and he would have ignored all of them like a heat seeking missile, the cartoonist being the hottest target picked up by his sensors.... Had he hesitated and tried to grab the kid, he would have been killed, and the assassin with mission accomplished would have then turned on any other infidel, and since the old man had led him straight to the child it would have been next...and having not made it to the panic room the cops would have never been alerted, which it sounds like they got their really fucking fast....

From the article, it seems as if he pressed the alarm button and thereafter went into the panic room.

**maniclion** · 01-04-2010, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by maxpro2

From the article, it seems as if he pressed the alarm button and thereafter went into the panic room.

He could have had one of those Medic-Alert remotes around his neck, but still his tactic is similar to what mother deer do when predators lurk about, lead them away from the young....

**Curt James** · 01-05-2010, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by min0 lee

Someone failed.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by KelJu

True, you don't know. It's easy to be an armchair hero. I have plenty of flaws, but I have total confidence in myself that I wouldn't do what he did. But, I don't have to worry about it, because I'm pretty sure my Ruger is better than his axe.

Originally Posted by maxpro2

I agree he is a coward, but I don't think this situation is as night-and-day as everyone is making it out to be.

Assuming it was actually impossible (which seems to be the case) to grab the child and then make it to the panic room without the assassin reaching both of them:
1) He is 75. What could he do against an assassin? If the assassin wanted to kill the kid as well, the assassin would have done so easily after he was killed.
2) If he had stayed out to protect the child, he would have died. What we can never know is whether his absence actually saved the child. Imagine the assassin coming in with the cartoonist holding the child to protect him. What would have been the result? Would he kill them both, either intentionally or accidentally?
3) Given that the cartoonist would have been killed had he tried to save the child and the child may or may not have been killed either way... isn't it better than it was guaranteed that one life would have been saved?

That's his saving grace.

Originally Posted by Geared Jesus

Interesting marksmanship training those officers must have. If that was NYC they'd probably of unloaded several magazines on him. They've done worse when someone reaches for their wallet here in the states.

Originally Posted by min0 lee

I disagree.....they missed his head.

heh Yeah, a head shot would have ended his career in terrorism.

And what was the one New Yorker's name, Bell? Was shot at his bachelor party? Leaving a club and his car bumped a cop? They unloaded on him and his friends. Or do I have that all wrong?

**min0 lee** · 01-05-2010, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Curt James

And what was the one New Yorker's name, Bell? Was shot at his bachelor party? Leaving a club and his car bumped a cop? They unloaded on him and his friends. Or do I have that all wrong?

Mistakes happen, it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys sometimes.

**Curt James** · 01-05-2010, 07:01 PM

That's true, too.

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