NEW YORK, Feb 5: The Muslim community in the United States is uncharacteristically silent over the publication of sacrilegious cartoons in European newspapers. Observers ascribe the response to a timely condemnation by the Bush administration of the caricatures.

“We find them (cartoons) offensive, and we certainly understand why Muslims would find these images offensive,” said a State Department spokesman on Friday.

Barring condemnation from Muslim advocacy groups, the community has not taken to the streets over the issue since the American government itself took a strong position.

The decision by major American newspapers not to publish the images also went a long way to appease Muslims here. Representatives of several newspapers said the story could be told effectively without publishing images that many would find offensive.

The electronic media also followed the position taken by major newspapers.

“Readers were well served by a short story without publishing the cartoons,” said Robert Christie, a spokesman for Dow Jones & Company, which owns The Wall Street Journal. “We didn’t want to publish anything that can be perceived as inflammatory to our readers’ culture when it didn’t add anything to the story.”

In a mid-afternoon meeting on Friday, editors at The Chicago Tribune discussed the issue but decided against publishing the cartoons.