Yes, you see, it's always the fault of the accused insulter. Never the fault of the sword-wielders, fatwa-issuers, fire-setters and blood-lusters.

It's always the fault of the Western "extremists." Never the fault of the "moderate" followers of jihad.

The deaf and blind will dismiss this latest episode of manufactured Muslim outrage as a marginal outburst. But Rushdie, the target of death threats dating back to 1988 over his book "The Satanic Verses," has seen enough performances of Jihad Theater to take proper precautions. He has requested police protection after an Iranian group put a $150,000 bounty on his head. Forouz Raja'ee-Far, secretary general of the Headquarters for Honoring the Martyrs of Islam World Movement, offered the prize because, after all, "it is an obligation for all Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie even if he repents from the bottom of his heart and becomes the pious man of the time."

What does the Council on American-Islamic Relations have to say? Their website has a special "incitement watch" and "action alerts" section for its (dwindling number of) members -- but as of Tuesday afternoon, not a peep about the incitement of hatred and violence against Rushdie. They'll eventually pay lip service to The Religion of Peace, but do not forget Rule No. 5 in the jihadi's guide to etiquette: "You can lie if you do this for jihad."

Pakistani government officials are bleating about the need for "interfaith understanding" and sensitivity. In Washington for meetings with the Bush administration, Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri cooed: "When we talk of a globalized world, we have to be sensitive to each other's concerns."

As anyone with their eyes open through Rushdie's ordeal, the deadly Mohammed cartoons riots, the calls for beheading the Pope, Oriana Fallaci, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and defiant, ex-Muslim apostates around the world knows: "Sensitivity" in the jihadi world is a one-way, dead-end street.