A simple question for any Muslim experts out there

From what I understand of Islam, the restriction on creating images of Mohammed was an order from Mohammed himself, as a way to prevent his followers from idolizing him instead of Allah, and in the stricter forms of Islam, this ban extends to all images, of anything. This leads me to ask three questions:

1. As an outsider looking in, how is the Muslim fixation on Mohammed, including having to say a little blessing after even mentioning his name and the extreme reaction to anything portraying him as anything short of perfection itself, not a form of worship of 'the prophet', picture or no picture?


2. Do the cartoons published by the Danish paper truly violate the spirit of Mohammed's orders since they are not being used as focus points for his idolization?
   


3. For those who follow the more hard lined Wahhabism which forbids any type of portraits of anything, unless you are in fact 'worshipping' Mohammed yourself, why would these cartoons be any more of a violation of your faith than the millions of pictures printed every day around the world?
   

Christians have the same belief that no person should be placed above God, but as we believe that Jesus was not only a prophet but also the son of God and a part of the Holy Trinity and therefore God himself, we can idolize him all we want and not violate that rule*; hence the abundance of Jesus related memorabilia such as MacDaddy's 'Jesus pencil toppers' he has on his desk.


*Of course that doesn't explain the Catholic churches fixation on Saints and Mary or for that matter the Pope, but that's a topic for another post, though I would appreciate examples of Biblical backing for the religious authority assigned to any of them if anyone happens to have any .