I don't think that was such an important reason to start with, but it's likely to come into play now, at least at the popular level.
The way this is developing is likely to turn out to be one of those ironies. The European press reprinting those cartoons has made Europe the focus of ire, despite the huge majorities opposed to the war in Iraq. The British press has not -- The Times even putting out a decent editorial as far as the issue narrowly conceived is concerned, from my very quick scan of it -- nor has the US press (as far as my cursory monitoring goes), although there are plenty of right-wing blogs on the matter.
But perhaps not so ironic after all, given the heavy-handed way that Europe seeks to manage its Muslim population.
kj khoo