Is Islam a peaceful religion...or an angry and violent one?

http://tinyurl.com/yd57q58
Is the Anger of the Muslim Street Justifiable by Islam? By Tawfik Hamid
In the last few decades, Muslims have committed several violent acts because they felt their religion had been insulted or attacked. ****Of course such violence goes back many more decades and centuries but were not too noticeable to the Western world.****These acts ranged from murders and violent riots against Salman Rushdie for writing the "Satanic Verses" to violent riots as a response to rumors of US soldiers insulting the Quran. The aggressive Muslim reaction after the publishing of cartoons of prophet Mohamed by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark is another well-known example of the Muslim world's reactions. Sadly, these acts of violence have resulted in devastating consequences such as the burning churches and the killing many innocent people.
The question many have raised is: are these violent reactions condoned by Islam and the result of Islamic teachings?