Arabs Angered Over Cartoon
3/28/2006

Muslims have been showing public outrage over a Warner Brothers cartoon that aired in 1957. The cartoon titled Ali Baba Bunny, starred Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck. Also featured in the cartoon were a genie, and an Arab man that went by the name Hassan.

“The Great Sultan of Baghdad and his loyal guard Hassan were defiled by this portrayal of Muslims by the West!”, said Macmous Ali Sayah of Mosel, Iraq. “We are sick of the West portraying us as fanatical mad men with scimitars!” yelled one man carrying an AK-47 and a poster with Bugs Bunny decapitated.

All over Iraq, Sunni and Shiite are coming together in condemning the cartoon as a vile act of blasphemy against all Muslims. Large protests are being held in Baghdad, which is where the fictional Great Sultan of Baghdad commanded Hassan, “Guard well this treasure, or may the jackal grow fat on thy carcass.”

This has rekindled the debate on insensitive cartoons, in regards to the Arab world, after a Dutch newspaper published cartoons in September of last year and caused an outrage among Muslims several months later. With the advent of satellite service in Iraq, more and more Muslims are beginning to watch the satellite channel Boomerang. Muslim clerics have issued a fatwa, declaring death to Bugs Bunny, death to Daffy Duck, and death to the Boomerang

Some Iraqi’s were seen burning Bugs Bunny in effigy. One young Iraqi boy named, Salan Mullah Mohammed Faytiah Hasmah said that Muslims are sick of being shown as violent imbeciles in cartoons, and the news. When the effigies of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were burnt and stomped on until there was nothing left, they were seen breaking and burning Boomerangs, as a symbol of the satellite channel that broadcast the cartoon.

“I can understand there anger of the cartoon, but why go and destroy me symbol of who I am, as an Australian?”, said Jacob Clint of Tancurry, Austrailia.

The outrage has lasted over this weekend, and is predicted to continue.