For the past several weeks, we’ve seen Muslim rage acted out in numerous streets across the world. The anger has been directed at Western countries whose newspapers have published the Mohammed cartoons and at the U.S. and U.K., whose papers have not.

The bombing of the Samarra mosque was an outrageous act. Will Muslims take to the streets to protest the destruction of a religious shrine? Will Muslim governments condemn the perpetrators? Which sin is worse: cartoons of the prophet or the destruction of a sacred place of worship? The answers to these questions will tell us whether the “moderate Muslim” is a myth or not and whether Muslim governments will use anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism to explain or excuse any act, no matter how nefarious.

Thus far, the indications are far from positive.

In an editorial, The Times despairs:

The reaction has been as depressing as it is familiar. Most of the Arab world, so angrily denunciatory of the insult perceived in the Danish cartoons, has remained silent. Iran’s deluded President has gone further: the destruction of the golden dome at the Askariya shrine was the work of “defeated Zionists and occupiers”, he ranted to a crowd, insisting that the Americans had bombed the mosque because “they oppose God and justice”.

Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei reacted this way:

This is a political crime and its roots have to be traced in the intelligence organizations of the Iraqi occupiers and the Zionists. The aggressive powers that perceive the political and social conditions in Iraq as contrary to their objectives devise ominous plans in their heads, some of which to intensify insecurity and create sectarian strife.

The Iranian press, not surprisingly, toes the line. For instance, the Tehran Times avers that

This is a critical juncture for the vigilant Islamic world. Shias certainly know that such moves are not the work of their Sunni brothers but are directed by the hands of the enemies of Islam . . . Another issue that should also not be ignored is the fact that the occupier U.S. regime, which has turned Iraq’s security to insecurity with its 150,000 troops and military equipment, is the main element responsible for these criminal acts.

Egypt’s Al-Jumhuriyah also blames the occupiers:

The deterioration of conditions in Iraq from bad to worse indicates that the foreign hands which directed the invasion, landed their forces in Iraq and planted their agents in powerful positions seem to be ready to sacrifice everything to continue the occupation.