WASHINGTON, May 10: In an editorial comment published on Tuesday, the Washington Times said that it never intended to insult Pakistan or the Pakistani nation when it published a now controversial cartoon. The cartoon, published on Friday, caused a major stir in Pakistan, but the newspaper said it had meant to be a tribute to the role the country had been playing in the war against terror.

The newspaper also published a letter from a reader, Richard J. Douglas of Kensington, on the editorial page which said that “the cartoon was an insulting depiction of a friendly nation whose people have given lives and treasure to help us find and kill terrorists … it did a disservice to our most important South Asian ally in the ground war on terrorism”.

Referring to the demand for an apology from President Bush, the Washington Times said the US presidents could not prevent newspapers from publishing cartoons because if they could do so, they would have first killed those cartoons that had often ridiculed them.

“Newspaper cartoonists have been insulting, reviling, abusing, affronting and ‘dissing’ presidents for more than a century, and all that presidents can do about it is grin, bear it and ask for the originals for framing and display on desk or wall,” the newspaper said.

The Washington Times pointed out that in the West, a dog was considered a ‘noble’ animal, and ‘great (western) universities invoke him as mascot for their beloved athletic teams’ and even national football teams, such as the Georgia Bulldogs, are named after this animal.

“The most loyal Democrats of yesteryear proudly called themselves ‘yellow dogs’. Loyal Democrats of the present day style themselves the blue dogs,” the paper said.