Is this what they do when they hear a rumor of the Koran being desecrated?
Is this how they want to behave?
I won't take it.
I won't fight a sensitive war.
These are the enemies of the world.
They deserve only to be ridiculed and atomized.
Insult your enemy. Hate them and destroy them.
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Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article.
Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.
The report sparked angry and violent protests across the Muslim world from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan to Indonesia to Gaza. In the past week it was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.
On Sunday, Afghan Muslim clerics threatened to call for a holy war against the United States.
"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday.
The weekly news magazine said in its May 23 edition that the information had come from a "knowledgeable government source" who told Newsweek that a military report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay said interrogators flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet in a bid to make detainees talk.
But Newsweek said the source later told the magazine he could not be certain he had seen an account of the Koran incident in the military report and that it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts.
Whitaker told Reuters that Newsweek did not know if the reported toilet incident involving the Koran ever occurred. "As to whether anything like this happened, we just don't know," he said in an interview. "We're not saying it absolutely happened but we can't say that it absolutely didn't happen either."
INCIDENT UNDER INVESTIGATION
The acknowledgment by the magazine came amid heightened scrutiny of the U.S. media, which has seen a rash of news organizations fire reporters and admit that stories were fabricated or plagiarized.
The Pentagon told the magazine the report was wrong last Friday, saying it had investigated earlier allegations of Koran desecration from detainees and found them "not credible."
Newsweek reported that Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita reacted angrily when the magazine asked about the source's continued assertion that he had read about the Koran incident in an investigative report. "People are dead because of what this son of a ***** said. How could he be credible now?" DiRita told Newsweek.
The May 9 report, which appeared as a brief item by Michael Isikoff and John Barry in the magazine's "Periscope" section, had a huge international impact, sparking the protests from Muslims who consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
Desecration of the Koran is punishable by death in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Newsweek, which said opponents of the Afghan government including remnants of the Taliban had used its report to fan unrest in the country, said it was not contemplating disciplinary action against staff.
"This was reported very carefully, with great sensitivity and concern, and we'll continue to report on it," said Newsweek Managing Editor John Meecham. "We have tried to be transparent about exactly what happened, and we leave it to the readers to judge us."
U.S. officials opened an investigation but maintained that members of the Guantanamo security force were sensitive to the religious beliefs and practices of the detainees in U.S. custody.
U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley earlier on Sunday stressed the report had not been confirmed. "If it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible," Hadley said on CNN's "Late Edition."
Newsweek's Whitaker said that when the magazine first heard of the Koran allegation from its source, staff approached two Defense Department officials. One declined to comment, while the other challenged a different aspect of the May 9 story but did not dispute the Koran charge.
The magazine said other news organizations had already aired charges of Koran desecration based "only on the testimony of detainees."
"We believed our story was newsworthy because a U.S. official said government investigators turned up this evidence. So we published the item," Whitaker said.
"Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Koran incident in the report we cited," he wrote.
If the statement had been made concerning the Holy Bible then you'd be up in arms. Well maybe not you but many Christians would be up in arms.
What happened here is that an American News Magazine may have started a Holy War by printing false or rumored information. Surely the international community should want them held responsible. 99% of American military are believers in God and the Holy Bible. They would never stand for desecration of any Holy book including the Koran.
Newsweek never verified the story, never vetted the source. The military tried to investigate it and found nothing to investigate. The story was just plain FALSE.
Even if it was flushed down the toilet (The Bible or Koran), burning buildings and killing people is no response. Christian churches in Kosovo have been burnt to the ground ever since Clinton's actions on behalf of the Muslims in 1999.
Newsweek magazine wimped out under pressure of the US gov't. Their original story IS true. The interregators at Gitmo have very likely done things that make Abu Ghraib look like a fancy resort by comparison. Of course, this information never gets out, unless it's from a former detainee, and who's gonna care what they say?
These are the enemies of the world.
They deserve only to be ridiculed and atomized.
Insult your enemy. Hate them and destroy them.
I am not taught to do that...and if it's true that 99% of the military is Christian...then that's not the way either.
And when faced with a gun to my face by my enemy, I do believe I would choose my life over theirs.
But still, you don't instigate them into more violence and American hating with a rumour in Newsweek, for crying in the night.
What's wrong with the media? Do they want more bloodshed and violence so that they can write some more putrid articles? Is their sales down because of the internet?
Truly this was an irresponsible action on the part of Newsweek.
I will never read their drivel again...even when it's the only thing sitting on the table at the doctor's office. I'd rather pick at my cuticles, thank you very much.
Ron Ackerman said this in post #6 : Just like CBS and the fake National Guard memos, they shouldn't have done the story even if it was true which it isn't.
It's just an anti-Bush agenda plain and simple. Does Newsweek care about anyone actually being killed? Heck no they don't.
Why pray tell would I ever vote for a party that acts this way?
When I watch an interview with a democrat or a left supporter, I am always reminded of my children when they were young. Why is that? because children say and do things without forethought or reprocussions.
It's like they're all programmed with the same rhetoric.
"America deserves this because of no WMD". What a bunch of idiots.
The best they can come up with is Kerry and Hillary. Whew, talk about dejection and panic. Just like little children.
"Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those who say this are witless." ~Ayatollah Khomeini
05-16-2005 01:36 AM
