A post on a radical Islamic Internet forum provided details on how to poison supplies in Denmark, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in Europe in retaliation for the publishing of cartoons that satirized the Prophet Mohammed. The Jamestown Foundation’s Global Terrorism Analysis in September reported that the posting on the radical Al-Ekhlaas.net web site caused an intense debate among readers of the site on whether the suggested attacks are justified.

The plan called for using a decoy to distract the security services of the targeted country and using a blonde-haired operative with light skin. Some readers of the forum discussed how best to carry out the attack and discussed various poisons that could be used. One even asked for information on how to obtain an aerosol distribution system that could be used to spread the poison through the air.

While the majority of the forum’s readers supported the plot, a minority argued that it was unjustified and required a fatwa, or an Islamic religious ruling, to permit the large-scale killing of civilians. Others also took issue with the fact that Muslims would inadvertently die in such an attack. The report noted that the debate showed the struggle between radical and moderate Muslims.

“[Moderate Muslims] often succeed in dissuading indecisive Islamists in the forums from carrying out extremist violence by challenging the militants with strong arguments they cannot refute,” the report stated, “unfortunately, moderates rarely jump into debate with extremists for fear of being accused of apostasy.”