LONDON, March 28: Former US president Bill Clinton said on Tuesday the world had wasted a ‘phenomenal’ opportunity for a global debate on religious differences after the publication of the anti-Islam cartoons. Mr Clinton, on a trip to London, said few people would have been aware that Muslims found the reproduction of such images so offensive. At the same time, few Muslims were aware of other religions’ sensitivities, such as Jews’ reluctance to write the word ‘God’, he said in a speech on globalisation at the Guildhall.

“We missed a phenomenal opportunity to launch a global conversation on religious differences,” Mr Clinton said. “We blew it, by and large.”

The cartoons sparked violent protests by Muslims worldwide and boycotts of Danish goods after they appeared in Danish and other European newspapers.

Mr Clinton said he did not support the publication of the cartoons because Muslims believed they were blasphemous, but also criticised what he deemed an ‘over-reaction’ to their publication.—AFP