The most recent Hajj occurred during the first half of January 2006.
There were a number of stampedes, called "tragedies" in the press, during the Hajj which killed several hundred pilgrims.
These were not unavoidable accidents, they were the results of poor planning by the Saudi government.
And while the deaths of these pilgrims was a mere blip on the traditional western media's radar, it was a huge story in the Muslim world. Even the most objective news stories were suddenly casting Saudi Arabia in a very bad light and they decided to do something about it.
The 350 pilgrims were killed on January 12 and soon after, Saudi newspapers (which are all controlled by the state) began running up to 4 articles per day condemning the Danish cartoons.
There rarely is a clearer case of "Death to the West" being used to divert attention away from local problems.
