Calling the governments refusal to condemn the cartoons and do anything about them 'a declaration of war' was from a cleric currently residing in Norway and fighting extradition to the US, and not as far as I know the words of any of the leaders of state involved in this.

You can dumb this down if you want. It doesn't help. You can dumb down almost every international incident and playground squabble if you like. It all comes down to acting responsibly. If people were reasonable and responsible about everything there would be no arguments, no wars. It'll never happen.