Newsweek Pulls A Rather!

[DrMaddVibe]

By DINO HAZELL, Associated Press

NEW YORK - In an apology to readers this week, Newsweek acknowledged errors in a story alleging U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran. The accusations, which the magazine vowed to re-examine, spawned protests in
Afghanistan that left 15 dead and scores injured.
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Responding to harsh criticism from Muslim leaders worldwide, the
Pentagon promised to investigate the charges and pinned the deadly clashes on Newsweek for what it described as "irresponsible" reporting.

"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," Editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the apology.

Newsweek reported that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators placed copies of Islam's holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.

Whitaker wrote that the magazine's information came from "a knowledgeable U.S. government source," and writers Michael Isikoff and John Barry had sought comment from two Defense Department officials. One declined to respond, and the other challenged another part of the story but did not dispute the Quran charge, Whitaker said.

But on Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told the magazine that a review of the military's investigation concluded "it was never meant to look into charges of Quran desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them 'not credible.'"

Whitaker added that the magazine's original source later said he could not be sure he read about the alleged Quran incident in the report Newsweek cited, and that it might have been in another document.

"Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we," Whitaker wrote.

Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Daniel Klaidman said the magazine believes it erred in reporting the allegation that a prison guard tried to flush the Quran down a toilet and that military investigators had confirmed the accusation.

"The issue here is to get the truth out, to acknowledge as quickly as possible what happened, and that's what we're trying to do," Klaidman told the "CBS Evening News" on Sunday.

Many of the 520 inmates at Guantanamo are Muslims arrested during the U.S.-led war against the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies in Afghanistan.

In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the original story was "demonstrably false" and "irresponsible," and "had significant consequences that reverberated throughout Muslim communities around the world."

"Newsweek hid behind anonymous sources, which by their own admission do not withstand scrutiny," Whitman said. "Unfortunately, they cannot retract the damage they have done to this nation or those that were viciously attacked by those false allegations."

After Newsweek published the story, demonstrations spread across Afghanistan and Muslims around the world decried the alleged desecration.

In Afghanistan, Islamic scholars and tribal elders called for the punishment of anyone found to have abused the Quran, said Maulawi Abdul Wali Arshad, head of the religious affairs department in Badakhshan province.

Arshad and the provincial police chief said the scholars met in Faizabad, 310 miles northeast of the capital, Kabul, and demanded a "reaction" from U.S. authorities within three days.

Lebanon's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric on Sunday said the reported desecration of the Quran is part of an American campaign aimed at disrespecting and smearing Islam.

In a statement faxed to The Associated Press, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah called the alleged desecration a "brutal" form of torture and urged Muslims and international human rights organizations "to raise their voices loudly against the American behavior."

On Saturday, Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, both allies of Washington, demanded an investigation and punishment for those behind the reported desecration of the Quran.

The story also sparked protests in Pakistan, Yemen and the
Gaza Strip. The 22-nation Arab League issued a statement saying if the allegations panned out, Washington should apologize to Muslims.

National Security Adviser
Stephen Hadley said in an interview for CNN's "Late Edition" that the allegations were being investigated "vigorously."

"If it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible," he said.

Associated Press Writer Stephen Graham contributed to this report from Kabul, Afghanistan.


What's the death toll from this? I think 15-16 people confirmed dead due to rioting! WTG!

Their blind hatred and rush to a story yet again rips the veil ot journalism apart and exposes the frauds for what they are!

[BigBadBrian]

I wonder how many Americans this liberal rag is going to kill because of this inaccurate, American-bashing story. :mad:

[DrMaddVibe]

BBB, not to mention the innuendo that they'll be spewing!

Talk about gutless writing. Just because somebody doesn't comment on a portion of a story doesn't make it factual or real! All basic forms of journalism are being thrown out the window.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

I used to be a Newsweek subscriber back when I was a student in the end of the 80s, beginning of the 90s. I liked reading their columns.

Sure it's a huge, serious mistake they've made. But I'd blame the whole media for that (Newsweek on top, OK). What wouldn't they ALL do so as to boost sales?
Facts show that professional ethics are but a doormat many journalists "dutifully" sweep their feet on...

[Nickdfresh]

That's piss poor! Whatever happened to basic fact-checking? Oh yeah, it gets in the way of the big "scoop."

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
That's piss poor! Whatever happened to basic fact-checking? Oh yeah, it gets in the way of the big "scoop."

I had believed that Newsweek was reliable so far. I've dedicated most of my reading to satyric papers for years now. What are the best American underground newspapers?
Here we have 2 vitriolic weekly mags, "Le Canard Enchaîné" (the chained duck :) ) and my fav, Charlie Hebdo. They both are real fun but serious at the same time. They're free from the received speech and reveal the naked truth. We know it is, because they are rarely sued. :cool:

[FORD]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
That's piss poor! Whatever happened to basic fact-checking?

It disappeared once the media became corporate whores.

The only reason NewsWeak retracted this story was because the BCE ordered them to do so.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by FORD

The only reason NewsWeak retracted this story was because the BCE ordered them to do so.

Uh huh. :rolleyes:


I guess the fact that the story wasn't true had nothing to do with it.

[Nitro Express]

There never has been such a thing as unbiased news. I had a job where I had to do a lot of international traveling and it's amazing to see how local news has it's own take on international events.

You can say Newsweek started the casba rocking but hey, those Muslims were just looking for an excuse to do what they wanted to do to begin with. If a little news snippet in one magazine can make that many people go completely ape shit then you know they were primed and ready before they hear what Newsweek had to say.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
There never has been such a thing as unbiased news. I had a job where I had to do a lot of international traveling and it's amazing to see how local news has it's own take on international events.

You can say Newsweek started the casba rocking but hey, those Muslims were just looking for an excuse to do what they wanted to do to begin with. If a little news snippet in one magazine can make that many people go completely ape shit then you know they were primed and ready before they hear what Newsweek had to say.

True enough. :gulp:

[DrMaddVibe]

Gen. Myers: Detainee Flushed Koran Pages

Newsweek magazine's decision to apologize on Sunday for reporting last week that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a copy of the Koran down the toilet wasn't the first hint that the story that has outraged Muslims worldwide may not be true.

On Thursday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers told reporters that the only evidence of any Koran desecration unearthed so far was a log notation describing a Muslim prisoner tossing pages from his holy book into the toilet.

"A detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of a Koran and putting them in a toilet to stop it up as a protest," Gen. Myers said, in quotes picked up by the Washington Times. "But not where the U.S. did it."

The top military man said that a review of interrogation logs offers no evidence "that there was ever the case of the toilet incident" as reported by Newsweek.

The magazine's misreport prompted anti-American riots in Afghanistan that have so far resulted in the deaths of 17 people - not to mention demands for an apology from President Bush.

Muslim clerics in the Middle East have yet to comment on Gen. Myers' revelation that it was likely one of their own who treated the Koran like toilet paper.





The plot thickens!

[McCarrens]

Originally posted by FORD
It disappeared once the media became corporate whores.

The only reason NewsWeak retracted this story was because the BCE ordered them to do so.

You don't live in the same reality the rest of us do, do you?

[DrMaddVibe]

Source: Reuters
By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday an inaccurate Newsweek report based on an anonymous source had damaged the U.S. image overseas by claiming U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay.

At the same time, the Pentagon said an investigation remained open into allegations contained in Newsweek's May 9 report that triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 16 people were killed.

Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker apologized to the victims on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.

"It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not."

"The report has had serious consequences," McClellan said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."

"It has certainly caused damage to the credibility of the media as well, and Newsweek itself," he added later.

The U.S. image had already been tarnished in many parts of the Arab world, and Washington has labored to rebuild trust among Muslims following last year's disclosures that U.S. guards at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison physically and sexually abused Iraqi prisoners.

The report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. In the past week the reported desecration was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, returning from a trip to Iraq, said, "I do think it's done a lot of harm."

Muslims in Afghanistan were skeptical about the turnaround on Monday.

"We will not be deceived by this," Islamic cleric Mullah Sadullah Abu Aman told Reuters. "It comes because of American pressure." Aman was the leader of a group of clerics who vowed to call for a holy war against the United States.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a close U.S. ally, said the report had caused a public outcry that enabled enemies to orchestrate violence. He was displeased with the magazine's acknowledgment of error, his spokesman said.

Newsweek said in its May 23 edition that the information had come from a "knowledgeable government source" who said a military report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay found interrogators flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet in a bid to make detainees talk.

But 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, Newsweek said.

A conservative media watchdog group, Accuracy in Media, said in a news release that "blood is on the hands of Newsweek magazine" for the story. AIM editor Cliff Kincaid expressed incredulity that "nobody at Newsweek has been fired or even reprimanded."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman was asked whether the Pentagon could say definitively that U.S. personnel never threw a Koran in a toilet at Guantanamo.

"You know, I never get into the business of saying never," Whitman said. "What I'm saying is that this allegation that Newsweek made ... about Koran desecration is demonstrably false. And there have thus far been no credible allegations of willful Koran desecration."

The Pentagon made available a January 2003 memo setting out rules for "handling and inspecting of detainee Korans" at Guantanamo. It said U.S. personnel must "ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas."

Whitman said, "The unfortunate part about it is you can't go back and undo or retract the damage that they've done not only to this nation but to those who have been attacked, injured and some even killed because of these false allegations."

Jon Summers, the representative in Afghanistan for the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation, said the report exacerbated tensions that already existed.

"There are a whole range of issues and frustrations that build up and then you get a hot-button issue like this as it originally came out and it triggers a response," he said. (Additional reporting by Will Dunham, Paul Eckert, David Morgan and Arshad Mohammed)

[Nitro Express]

To be honest, I've read the best stories regarding politics, economics, sports, and culture in general in Playboy. One of the few magazines that hasn't changed. It's still Playboy and that's why Heff still has 80 million subscribers when his major competitor Penthouse went out of business. I used to get Penthouse to masturbate to and read the dirty stories, but when I wanted to think I reached for Playboy. LOL!

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
I used to get Penthouse to masturbate to and read the dirty stories, but when I wanted to think I reached for Playboy. LOL!

:D Smart-style wanking...LOL :D

[FORD]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Uh huh. :rolleyes:


I guess the fact that the story wasn't true had nothing to do with it.

Wrong again Busheep....

Not only is the story true, but NewsWeak isn't the first to mention it.....
-----------------------------------
From a Lexis-Nexis search (thanks to KrazyKat at Democratic Underground)

Copyright 2005 The Denver Post
All Rights Reserved
The Denver Post
January 9, 2005 Sunday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT; Pg. F-11
LENGTH: 1088 words
HEADLINE: Nightmare of Guantanamo.... U.S. prison camp in Cuba has become legal black hole, reporter says
BYLINE: John Freeman Special to The Denver Post
<snip>
They were punched, slapped, denied sleep, had seen other prisoners sexually humiliated, hooded and forced to watch copies of the Koran being flushed down toilets. Eventually the pressure proved too much - they gave false confessions that the British intelligence service, MI5, later showed to be untrue. Upon their return to the United Kingdom they were released without being charged.
<snip>
- - - - -
Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)
January 3, 2005 Monday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 27
LENGTH: 177 words
HEADLINE: Koran prayer torture claim
SOURCE: AFP
BODY:
LONDON -- A British detainee claims he was tortured at Guantanamo Bay for reciting the Koran when talking was banned.

Moazzam Begg told lawyers he was tortured using the strappado, in which a prisoner is suspended from a bar with handcuffs, Britain's Observer newspaper said.

Mr Begg alleged he had been shaven several times against his will and a guard had said on one such occasion: "This is the part that really gets to you Muslims isn't it?"
<snip>
- - - - -
Financial Times (London, England)
October 28, 2004 Thursday
London Edition 2
SECTION: THE AMERICAS; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 310 words
HEADLINE: Four Britons held at Guantanamo sue US government
BYLINE: By JIMMY BURNS
DATELINE: LONDON
BODY:
Four British subjects detained without trial for nearly three years in the US military base of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are suing the US government.
In the first legal action of its kind, the former detainees, who were released in March, are alleging torture and other human rights violations.
<snip>
In August Mr Ahmed, Mr Rasul and Mr Iqbal issued a 115-page dossier accusing the US of abuse, including allegations that they were beaten and had their Korans thrown into toilets.
<snip>
- - - - -
USA TODAY
October 18, 2004, Monday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2A
LENGTH: 820 words
HEADLINE: Spy case was a 'life-altering experience' for airman
BYLINE: Laura Parker
DATELINE: FAIRFIELD, Calif.
BODY:
FAIRFIELD, Calif. ---- The day Ahmad Al Halabi, an Air Force translator at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was arrested, he was more puzzled than alarmed.
<snip>
Al Halabi says he did not witness any treatment of prisoners that has now been called into question as abusive. But he says he saw things at Guantanamo that disturbed him. He says guards would purposely mishandle the Koran "just to see the detainees' reaction."

"All I wanted was for them to treat those prisoners like human beings," Al Halabi says.
<snip>
- - - - -
Daily News (New York)
August 5, 2004 Thursday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 34
LENGTH: 320 words
HEADLINE: ABUSED AT GITMO, FREED BRITS CHARGE
BYLINE: BY JAMES GORDON MEEK and DEREK ROSE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
BODY:
THREE BRITONS freed from the terror prison in Guantanamo Bay say they were stripped naked and faced other abuses that mirrored what happened to inmates in Iraq.
<snip>
They say that rats and scorpions had free run of their sweltering cages, loud rock music was used to drown out the sound of prayers, and sleep deprivation was common.

"They would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it," Asif Iqbal wrote.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Independent (London)
August 5, 2004, Thursday
SECTION: First Edition; NEWS; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 729 words
HEADLINE: FATHER CALLS FOR SON'S RELEASE AFTER CAMP DELTA TORTURE CLAIMS BEGG DEMANDS SON'S RELEASE AFTER TORTURE CLAIMS AT CAMP DELTA TORTURE
BYLINE: JONATHAN BROWN Azmat Begg said his son's health was deteriorating Matthew Fearn/PA; Moazzam Begg: Held at Guantanamo for two years
BODY:
THE FATHER of a British man being held in Guantanamo Bay called on the Government yesterday to immediately bring home the detainees following new claims of sexual, physical and psychological torture. Moazzam Begg, who is still in solitary confinement at the United States' military facility in Cuba after two and a half years, was described in a report published yesterday as being "in a very bad way".
<snip>
In the report, released in New York, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul - the so-called Tipton Three - said one inmate was threatened after being shown a video in which hooded inmates were forced to sodomise each other. Guards allegedly threw prisoners' Korans into toilets, while others were injected with drugs, it was claimed.
<snip>
- - - - -
The San Francisco Chronicle
JUNE 20, 2004, SUNDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A17
LENGTH: 3005 words
HEADLINE: THE FILE: PRISON ABUSE;
Since reports first surfaced of abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, other accounts of ill treatment have surfaced in Iraq and at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay.
BODY:
ABUSE
Prisoners have been forced to strip naked -- nudity is a violation of Muslim principles; forced to commit actual or simulated sex acts; prevented from sleeping; threatened with dogs; hooded; given electric shocks; beaten with fists, chains, boots and other objects; forced to maintain painful positions for hours; kept in frigid isolation rooms; subjected to loud music, strobe lights and diets of bread and water; urinated on and prevented from praying or reading the Koran.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Observer
May 16, 2004
SECTION: Observer News Pages, Pg. 8
LENGTH: 2441 words
HEADLINE: Inside Guantanamo Bay: I was in extreme pain and so weak that I could barely stand. It was freezing cold and I was shaking like a washing machine. They questioned me at gunpoint and told me that if I confessed I could go home: As America struggles to come to terms with military abuse in Iraq, similar stories are emerging from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Tarek Dergoul, a Briton released from the camp in March, talks here for the first time about his two-year ordeal. By David Rose
BYLINE: David Rose
BODY:
'THEY HAD already searched me and my cell twice that day, gone through my stuff, touched my Koran, felt my body around my private parts. And now they wanted to do it again, just to provoke me, but I said no, because if you submit to everything you turn into a zombie.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
May 14, 2004
SECTION: Guardian Home Pages, Pg. 1
LENGTH: 564 words
HEADLINE: Guantanamo abuse same as Abu Ghraib, say Britons
BYLINE: Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington, Tania Branigan and Vikram Dodd
BODY:
Two British men who were held at Guantanamo Bay claimed that their US guards subjected them to abuse similar to that perpetrated at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
<snip>
According to a source, who has interviewed them in secret since their release, they were initially too ashamed to talk about it, and are only now starting to give details. The source said: "They are embarrassed about talking about it because they feel humiliated. We have had an account that their religion was used against them, that a copy of the Koran was brought in front of them and pages torn out."
<snip>
- - - - -
The Observer
March 14, 2004
SECTION: Observer News Pages, Pg. 5
LENGTH: 5420 words
HEADLINE: World Exclusive: Inside Guantanamo: How we survived jail hell: For two years the Tipton Three have been silent prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Now, in this remarkable interview with David Rose, they describe for the first time the extraordinary story of their journey from the West Midlands to Camp Delta
BYLINE: David Rose
<snip>
As Muslims, they were shocked when in repeated 'shakedown' searches of the sleeping tents, copies of the Koran would be trampled on by soldiers and, on one occasion, thrown into a toilet bucket. Throughout their stay at Kandahar the guards carried out head-counts every hour at night to keep the prisoners awake.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Washington Post
March 26, 2003 Wednesday
Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A12
LENGTH: 888 words
HEADLINE: Returning Afghans Talk of Guantanamo;
Out of Legal Limbo, Some Tell of Mistreatment
BYLINE: Marc Kaufman and April Witt, Washington Post Staff Writers
DATELINE: KABUL, Afghanistan March 25
BODY:
Afghan men freed today after spending months in legal limbo as U.S. prisoners in the war on terrorism said they were generally well-fed and given medical care, but housed in cramped cells and sometimes shackled, hit and humiliated.
<snip>
The men, the largest single group of Afghans to be released after months of detainment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave varying accounts of how American forces treated them during interrogation and detainment. Some displayed medical records showing extensive care by American military doctors, while others complained that American soldiers insulted Islam by sitting on the Koran or dumping their sacred text into a toilet to taunt them.
<snip>

Now who's gonna tell me NewsWeak didn't cave to BCE pressure?

[FORD]

Desecration of Koran Had Been Reported Before

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 18, 2005; A12

Newsweek magazine's now-retracted story that a military guard at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet has sparked angry denunciations by the White House and the Pentagon, which have linked the article to Muslim riots and deaths abroad.

But American and international media have widely reported similar allegations from detainees and others of desecration of the Muslim holy book for more than two years.

James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the prison who was investigated and cleared of charges of mishandling classified material, has asserted that guards' mishandling and mistreatment of detainees' Korans led the prisoners to launch a hunger strike in March 2002. Detainee lawyers, attributing their information to an interrogator, have said the strike ended only when military leaders issued an apology to the detainees over the camp loudspeaker. But they said mishandling of the Koran persisted.

Erik Saar, a former Army translator at Guantanamo Bay who has written a book about mistreatment of detainees at the military prison, said in interviews and in his book that he never saw a Koran flushed in a toilet but that guards routinely ignored prisoners' sensitivities by tossing it on the ground while searching their cells.

And numerous detainees, whose stories are uncorroborated, have said to various media outlets that at detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, the Koran was stepped on, tossed on the floor and placed in latrines.

"They tore the Koran to pieces in front of us, threw it into the toilet," former detainee Aryat Vahitov told Russian television in June 2004.

Under fire from the White House, Newsweek on Monday retracted the May 9 article in which it reported that a government investigation had confirmed an instance of a Koran being put in the toilet. Newsweek editors now say their source, a senior government official, is no longer sure that the alleged incident is confirmed in the investigation.

Yesterday, the administration called on Newsweek to explain how it got the story wrong and to report about U.S. military efforts to ensure that the Koran is handled with respect. The White House, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have cited the damage done to the United States' reputation in the Muslim world by Newsweek's original report.

Yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence T. Di Rita said previous detainee allegations have not been considered credible.

"I'm not aware that we've ever had any specific, credible allegations to investigate. We certainly didn't investigate detainees' lawyers on television saying, 'This is what happened to my detainee,' " he said.

But he added that "in the wake of the Newsweek piece, we thought it useful to go back and review to be sure."

To Muslims, the Koran is a sacred text that should never be dropped, defiled or ridiculed. When Newsweek's report was reprinted in the Arab media, it sparked public protests and riots in Afghanistan and other countries that left 16 people dead.

Several lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees contended yesterday that other forms of alleged mistreatment of detainees, some reported in e-mails by FBI personnel stationed at Guantanamo Bay, have helped fuel anti-American sentiment in Arab countries. They accused the White House of being disingenuous about the insults it has already acknowledged occurred at the base.

The government has acknowledged that two female interrogators have been reprimanded, one for making sexually suggestive remarks to a detainee, and the other for smearing fake menstrual blood on a captive. Detainee lawyers said the purpose of the tactics was to cause stress based on the prisoners' religious beliefs that they would be unclean and could not pray.

FBI allegations of harsh treatment of captives are under investigation by the Pentagon.

"It's a measure of how deeply our global credibility has suffered that this inflammatory allegation was given immediate credence," said Joseph Margulies, an attorney for former detainee Mamdouh Habib. "You are only prepared to believe this if the U.S. reputation has fallen so badly. If you learned that a female interrogator smeared fake menstrual blood on a detainee, as we did learn, then, of course, you're going to believe that they could throw a Koran in a toilet." Dozens of detainees have said in declassified court records that Guantanamo Bay detention officials and military guards engaged in widespread religious and sexual humiliation of detainees. Detainees said the goal was to make them feel impure, shake their faith and try to gain information.

Yesterday, several former detainees said they witnessed military police and guards at Guantanamo Bay throwing their copies of the Koran on the ground, stomping on them with their feet, and tossing them into buckets and areas used as latrines.

Former detainee Abdallah Tabarak told a Moroccan newspaper in December that he saw guards throw Korans in the toilet, according to a BBC translation of the article.

"When I wanted to pray, they would burst into my cell with police dogs to terrorize me and prevent me from praying," he said. "They also would trample the Koran underfoot and throw it in the urine bucket. We staged protests in the prison about the desecrating of the Holy Koran, so the management promised us that they would issue orders to the American soldiers not to touch the copies of the Koran again."

The Pentagon issued those rules on Jan. 19, 2003, requiring that the Koran not be placed on "the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas."

Researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

[DrMaddVibe]

Interesting....they never rioted or killed each other with the other headlines.


What up with dat?

[FORD]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Interesting....they never rioted or killed each other with the other headlines.


What up with dat?

What's up with that is that the BCE is starting to build their artificial case for attacking Iran.

I don't remember whether or not anyone posted this over here, but a group of Iranian mullahs supposedly declared a"holy war" against "Great Satan America" the other day if Bush did not hand over the Koran abusers for a trial before a Muslim tribunal. It was the next day that NewsWeak "retracted" their story, most likely at the BCE's suggestion.

So if Iranians actually do anything about this, the BCE/PNAC will use it as the justification to start attacking Iran....... right on schedule in June.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by FORD
Wrong again Busheep....

Not only is the story true, but NewsWeak isn't the first to mention it.....
[/i]

It doesn't surprise me whose word you would take.

Anyway, I wonder how the Bible is treated in Iran?

Gas up the bombers, baby!

:gun:

[DrMaddVibe]

By Ann Coulter Wed May 18, 7:01 PM ET

When ace reporter Michael Isikoff had the scoop of the decade, a thoroughly sourced story about the president of the United States having an affair with an intern and then pressuring her to lie about it under oath, Newsweek decided not to run the story. Matt Drudge scooped Newsweek, followed by The Washington Post.
ADVERTISEMENT

When Isikoff had a detailed account of Kathleen Willey's nasty sexual encounter with the president in the Oval Office, backed up with eyewitness and documentary evidence, Newsweek decided not to run it. Again, Matt Drudge got the story.

When Isikoff was the first with detailed reporting on Paula Jones' accusations against a sitting president, Isikoff's then-employer The Washington Post -- which owns Newsweek -- decided not to run it. The American Spectator got the story, followed by the Los Angeles Times.

So apparently it's possible for Michael Isikoff to have a story that actually is true, but for his editors not to run it.

Why no pause for reflection when Isikoff had a story about American interrogators at Guantanamo flushing the Quran down the toilet? Why not sit on this story for, say, even half as long as NBC News sat on Lisa Meyers' highly credible account of
Bill Clinton raping Juanita Broaddrick?

Newsweek seems to have very different responses to the same reporter's scoops. Who's deciding which of Isikoff's stories to run and which to hold? I note that the ones that Matt Drudge runs have turned out to be more accurate -- and interesting! -- than the ones Newsweek runs. Maybe Newsweek should start running everything past Matt Drudge.

Somehow Newsweek missed the story a few weeks ago about Saudi Arabia arresting 40 Christians for "trying to spread their poisonous religious beliefs." But give the American media a story about American interrogators defacing the Quran, and journalists are so appalled there's no time for fact-checking -- before they dash off to see the latest exhibition of "Piss Christ."

Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas justified Newsweek's decision to run the incendiary anti-U.S. story about the Quran, saying that "similar reports from released detainees" had already run in the foreign press -- "and in the Arab news agency al-Jazeera."

Is there an adult on the editorial board of Newsweek? Al-Jazeera also broadcast a TV miniseries last year based on the "Protocols of the Elders Of Zion." (I didn't see it, but I hear James Brolin was great!) Al-Jazeera has run programs on the intriguing question, "Is Zionism worse than Nazism?" (Take a wild guess where the consensus was on this one.) It runs viewer comments about Jews being descended from pigs and apes. How about that for a Newsweek cover story, Evan? You're covered -- al-Jazeera has already run similar reports!

Ironically, among the reasons Newsweek gave for killing Isikoff's Lewinsky bombshell was that Evan Thomas was worried someone might get hurt. It seems that Lewinsky could be heard on tape saying that if the story came out, "I'll (expletive) kill myself."

But Newsweek couldn't wait a moment to run a story that predictably ginned up Islamic savages into murderous riots in
Afghanistan, leaving hundreds injured and 16 dead. Who could have seen that coming? These are people who stone rape victims to death because the family "honor" has been violated and who fly planes into American skyscrapers because -- wait, why did they do that again?

Come to think of it, I'm not sure it's entirely fair to hold Newsweek responsible for inciting violence among people who view ancient Buddhist statues as outrageous provocation -- though I was really looking forward to finally agreeing with Islamic loonies about something. (Bumper sticker idea for liberals: News magazines don't kill people, Muslims do.) But then I wouldn't have sat on the story of the decade because of the empty threats of a drama queen gas-bagging with her friend on the telephone between spoonfuls of Haagen-Dazs.

No matter how I look at it, I can't grasp the editorial judgment that kills Isikoff's stories about a sitting president molesting the help and obstructing justice, while running Isikoff's not particularly newsworthy (or well-sourced) story about Americans desecrating a Quran at Guantanamo.

Even if it were true, why not sit on it? There are a lot of reasons the media withhold even true facts from readers. These include:

# A drama queen nitwit exclaimed she'd kill herself. (Evan Thomas' reason for holding the Lewinsky story.)

# The need for "more independent reporting." (Newsweek President Richard Smith explaining why Newsweek sat on the Lewinsky story even though the magazine had Lewinsky on tape describing the affair.)

# "We were in Havana." (ABC president David Westin explaining why "Nightline" held the Lewinsky story.)

# Unavailable for comment. (Michael Oreskes, New York Times Washington bureau chief, in response to why, the day The Washington Post ran the Lewinsky story, the Times ran a staged photo of Clinton meeting with the Israeli president on its front page.)

# Protecting the privacy of an alleged rape victim even when the accusation turns out to be false.

# Protecting an accused rapist even when the accusation turns out to be true if the perp is a Democratic president most journalists voted for.

# Protecting a reporter's source.

How about the media adding to the list of reasons not to run a news item: "Protecting the national interest"? If journalists don't like the ring of that, how about this one: "Protecting ourselves before the American people rise up and lynch us for our relentless anti-American stories."

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
It doesn't surprise me whose word you would take.

Anyway, I wonder how the Bible is treated in Iran?

Gas up the bombers, baby!

:gun:

I think I've heard that Iranian Christians are a protected minority, though they do face discrimination. Before the Crusades, it was customary for Mulims to protect Christians & Jews in the Holyland.

Gas up which bombers? The car bombers?

[aesop]

Originally posted by Jérôme Frenchise
I used to be a Newsweek subscriber back when I was a student in the end of the 80s, beginning of the 90s. I liked reading their columns.

Sure it's a huge, serious mistake they've made. But I'd blame the whole media for that (Newsweek on top, OK). What wouldn't they ALL do so as to boost sales?
Facts show that professional ethics are but a doormat many journalists "dutifully" sweep their feet on...

You should read a REAL mag like "US News and World Report". They still beleive there's some rules for Professional Journalism.

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
You can say Newsweek started the casba rocking but hey, those Muslims were just looking for an excuse to do what they wanted to do to begin with. If a little news snippet in one magazine can make that many people go completely ape shit then you know they were primed and ready before they hear what Newsweek had to say.

This is very true. And has anyone asked exactly WHO died in this carnage? Cause if they were just going apeshit and stampeding each other, then I for one don't even give a shit.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
I wonder how many Americans this liberal rag is going to kill because of this inaccurate, American-bashing story. :mad:

Probably 1,600 fewer than Bush:mad:

[lucky wilbury]

:D

[DrMaddVibe]

BAWHAHAHAHAHA!

[DrMaddVibe]

By Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff
Newsweek

May 30 issue - What really happened at Guantanamo? Last week, amid the heat of the controversy over NEWSWEEK's retracted story, new details about the issue of alleged mistreatment of the Qur'an emerged.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it had provided the Pentagon with confidential reports about U.S. personnel disrespecting or mishandling Qur'ans at Gitmo in 2002 and 2003. Simon Schorno, an ICRC spokesman, said the Red Cross had provided "several" instances that it believed were "credible." The ICRC report included three specific allegations of offensive treatment of the Qur'an by guards. Defense Department spokesman Lawrence Di Rita would not comment on these allegations except to say that the Gitmo commanders routinely followed up ICRC reports, including these, and could not substantiate them. He then gave what is from the Defense Department point of view more context and important new information.

It is clear that in 2002, military investigators became frustrated by the unresponsiveness of some high-profile terror suspects, including one who had close contact with the 9/11 hijackers. At the time, fears of another attack from Al Qaeda were running high, and the Pentagon was determined to make the terror suspects talk. The interrogators asked for, and received, Pentagon permission to use tactics like isolation and sleep deprivation. Less clear, however, is what happened to more run-of-the-mill detainees among the 800 or so housed at Guantanamo at the time.

According to Di Rita, when the first prisons were built for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo in early 2002, prison guards were instructed to respect the detainees' religious rituals. The prisoners were given Qur'ans, which they hung from the walls of their cells in cotton surgical masks provided by the prison. Log entries by the guards indicate that in about a dozen cases, the detainees themselves somehow damaged their Qur'ans. In one case a prisoner allegedly ripped up a Qur'an; in another a prisoner tore the cover off his Qur'an. In three cases, detainees tried to stuff pages from their Qur'ans down their toilets, according to the Defense Department's account of what is in the guards' reports. (NEWSWEEK was not permitted to see the log items.) The log entries do not indicate why the detainees might have done this, said Di Rita, and prison commanders concluded that certain hard-core prisoners would try to agitate the other detainees by alleging disrespect for Muslim articles of faith.

In light of the controversy, one of these incidents bears special notice. Last week, NEWSWEEK interviewed Command Sgt. John VanNatta, who served as the prison's warden from October 2002 to the fall of 2003. VanNatta recounted that in 2002, the inmates suddenly started yelling that the guards had thrown a Qur'an on or near an Asian-style squat toilet. The guards found an inmate who admitted that he had dropped his Qur'an near his toilet. According to VanNatta, the inmate then was taken cell to cell to explain this to other detainees to quell the unrest. But the incident could partly account for the multiple allegations among detainees, including one by a released British detainee in a lawsuit that claims that guards flushed Qur'ans down toilets.

In fewer than a dozen log entries from the 31,000 documents reviewed so far, said Di Rita, there is a mention of detainees' complaining that guards or interrogators mishandled their Qur'ans. In one case, a female guard allegedly knocked a Qur'an from its pouch onto the detainee's bed. In another alleged case, said Di Rita, detainees became upset after two MPs, looking for contraband, felt the pouch containing a prisoner's Qur'an. While questioning a detainee, an interrogator allegedly put a Qur'an on top of a TV set, took it off when the detainee complained, then put it back on. In another alleged instance, guards somehow sprayed water on a detainee's Qur'an. This handful of alleged cases came out of thousands of daily interactions between guards and prisoners, said Di Rita. None has been substantiated yet, he said.

In December 2002, a guard inadvertently knocked a Qur'an from its pouch onto the floor of a detainee's cell, Di Rita said. A number of detainees protested. That January, partly in response to the incident and partly to provide precise guidelines for new guards and interrogators, the Guantanamo commanders issued precise rules to respect the "cultural dignity of the Koran thereby reducing the friction over the searching of the Korans." Only chaplains or Muslim interpreters were allowed to inspect detainees' Qur'ans. "Two hands will be used at all times when handling Korans in a manner signaling respect and reverence," the rules state. "Ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas..."

Di Rita said that the Pentagon may look further into the reports found in the logs. The Pentagon is not ruling out the possibility of finding credible reports of Qur'an desecration. But so far, said Di Rita, it has not found any.

With Michael Hirsh in Washington
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

[BigBadBrian]

There you have it.

:gulp: :)

[Nickdfresh]

I think you guys are way overstating the partisanship issue.

Michael Isikoff is universally reviled by a lot of Democrats for his exposes' of the CLINTON White House. On CNN, Liberal Paul Begaulia denounced him as scum of scum. Oh yeah, Begaulia worked in the CLINTON White House!

[Nickdfresh]

You guys are right! That lousy bastard Michael Isikoff is a lying Anti-American bastard! ;)

Look at the lies he spouted about patriots Michael Moore and Bill Clinton! Cunt!:mad: ;)

More Distortions From Michael Moore
Some of the main points in ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ really aren’t very fair at all
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 6:26 p.m. ET June 30, 2004

June 30 - In his new movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,� film-maker Michael Moore makes the eye-popping claim that Saudi Arabian interests “have given� $1.4 billion to firms connected to the family and friends of President George W. Bush. This, Moore suggests, helps explain one of the principal themes of the film: that the Bush White House has shown remarkable solicitude to the Saudi royals, even to the point of compromising the war on terror. When you and your associates get money like that, Moore says at one point in the movie, “who you gonna like? Who’s your Daddy?�

More at:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5335853/site/newsweek/

And these lies about CLINTON are outrageous!!:mad:

Meet Newsweek

Michael Isikoff, Investigative Correspondent

Michael Isikoff joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in June 1994. He has covered the Whitewater scandal, the Oklahoma City bombing, campaign finance abuses, presidential politics and other national issues. He has been a news analyst for MSNBC and a frequent guest on NBC's "Meet the Press," PBS's "Charlie Rose," and nationally-syndicated radio talk shows.

Isikoff's exclusive reporting on the Monica Lewinsky scandal gained him national attention in 1998, including profiles in The New York Times and The Washington Post and a guest appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman." His coverage of the events that lead to President Clinton's impeachment earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award in the Reporting category in 1999. Isikoff's reporting also won the National Headliner Award, the Edgar A. Poe Award presented by the White House Correspondents Association and the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Reporting on the Presidency.

Isikoff is the author of "Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story," a book that chronicled his own reporting of the Lewinsky story and was hailed by a critic for The Washington Post-Los Angeles Times news service as "the absolutely essential narrative of the scandal with revelations that no one would have thought possible." The book was an instant New York Times bestseller.

http://www.msnbc.com/m/nw/nwinfo_isikoff.asp

Lying anti-American traitor! Rot in hell you bastard Isikoff! I hate you!;)


BTW, does anyone have NEWSWEEK, can we get the actual article?

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
I think you guys are way overstating the partisanship issue.

Michael Isikoff is universally reviled by a lot of Democrats for his exposes' of the CLINTON White House. On CNN, Liberal Paul Begaulia denounced him as scum of scum. Oh yeah, Begaulia worked in the CLINTON White House!

I'm not aware of any Paul Begaulia working for Clinton. :D ;)

I am aware of this fellow working for Clinton, however. He now works for CNN on Crossfire.

Paul Begala
Paul Begala is co-host of Crossfire, CNN's political debate program. Begala and co-host James Carville provide insight and commentary "from the left," as they square off against conservatives Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. Crossfire's co-hosts debate the hottest issues of the day with the nation's top newsmakers and political figures. The show airs live from George Washington University's Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington, D.C.


Begala first entered the national political scene after his consulting firm, Carville & Begala, helped elect President Bill Clinton in 1992. Serving in the Clinton administration as counselor to the president, he helped define and defend the administration's agenda and served as the principal public spokesman.


Carville & Begala's other well-known electoral successes include the 1991 Senate victory of Harris Wofford in Pennsylvania, the 1990 gubernatorial victories of Georgia's Zell Miller and Pennsylvania's Robert P. Casey and the 1998 re-election of Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.


Previously, Begala co-hosted with Oliver North MSNBC's political talk show, Equal Time. Author of the best-selling book Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush, he also recently co-authored the current best-seller Buck Up, Suck Up and Come Back When You Foul Up with Carville. Begala helped John F. Kennedy, Jr. launch George magazine, where he served as a contributing editor and wrote the Capital Hillbilly column. He has also written numerous articles and op-eds for numerous publications.


A native of Texas, Begala earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, where he taught before his work at the White House. After leaving the Clinton administration, Begala joined Georgetown University's staff as a research professor of government and public policy.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/images/Begala.Paul.jpg

[Nickdfresh]

Thanks for pointing out how I misspelled his name, I didn't have time to google him. And I don't watch Crossfire much anymore.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Thanks for pointing out how I misspelled his name, I didn't have time to google him. And I don't watch Crossfire much anymore.

C'mon man, I'm just having a little fun. If I can't bust your chops, who can? No harm intended.

:gulp:

[Nickdfresh]

Would you have busted my chops if it were James Karvill or Tukar Karlsun?:)

Is that show even on as an independent program anymore?