Today, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen issued one of those political non-apology apologies we’ve come to know so well, intended to mollify the Islamic world while giving himself a way to argue that he didn’t really apologize at all.

And also intended to smooth the way for his position as secretary general of NATO.

Rasmussen gave his 2009-take on the cartoons earlier today. “I respect Islam as one of the world’s major religions as well as its religious symbols,” Rasmussen said during a panel discussion at a conference in Istanbul.

“I was deeply distressed that the cartoons were seen by many Muslims as an attempt by Denmark to mark and insult or behave disrespectively towards Islam or the Prophet Mohammad. Nothing could be further from my mind,” he added.

At least he didn’t bow.