New NATO Chief Addresses Muslim Concerns

April 6, 2009: The newly appointed chief of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, allayed concerns from the Muslim community regarding his position on religious defamation:

"I would never myself depict any religious figure, including the Prophet Muhammad, in a way that could hurt other people's feelings," he said during the Alliance of Civilisations forum, a conference sponsored by Turkey and Spain to promote understanding between the Muslim world and the west. "I was deeply distressed that the cartoons were seen by many Muslims as an attempt by Denmark to mark and insult or behave disrespectively towards Islam or the Prophet Muhammad. Nothing could be further from my mind," Rasmussen said.

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