News & Politics - Newsweek retracts Quran story

WalkingOnSunshine · 05-17-2005, 08:04 AM

Quote:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Newsweek magazine issued a retraction Monday of a May 9 report on the alleged desecration of the Quran at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The report, which said American interrogators put copies of the Quran on toilets or in one case, flushed one down a toilet, was blamed for anti-American riots in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world last week.

"Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay," Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

Newsweek published the item in its May 9 issue. In the May 23 issue, it reported that its senior government source had backed away from his initial story, and Whitaker wrote that "we regret" that any part of the story was wrong.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapc...ran/index.html

Quote:

Newsweek's admission of error in publishing the story, which was followed by protests by Muslims around the world and riots that resulted in at least 15 deaths in Afghanistan, came after a day of sharp criticism from the Bush administration.

"It's appalling that this story got out there," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters en route home from a trip to Iraq. "The sad thing was that there was a lot of anger that got stirred by a story that was not very well founded."

Earlier in the day, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with President Bush in West Point, Va., that he found the magazine's initial decision not to issue a full retraction "puzzling."

"The report had serious consequences. People have lost their lives," McClellan said.

Later Monday, he called the full retraction "a good first step. ... We encourage Newsweek to work diligently to help undo the damage that has been done. They need to clearly explain to the Muslim world how they got it wrong and report that it is the policy of our military to treat the Holy Koran with the utmost respect."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...eek-usat_x.htm

Quote:

‘We are retracting ...’
Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine decided to publish the short item after hearing from an unnamed U.S. official that a government probe had found evidence a Quran had been flushed down a toilet by interrogators.

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 looked into other charges by detainees that the Quran had been desecrated and found them to be “not credible.”

The Pentagon also 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.”

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

“Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay,” Whitaker said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7864705/

Having a story go to print that is false and causes the deaths of numerous people is simply inexusable. I saw Dan Klaidman, Newsweek DC Bureau Chief, on Fox this morning and he said that no one will be fired because the story was written in "good faith". Well, perhaps it was, but when dealing with such sensitive
subject matter you cannot be anything but totally thorough.

I think that Newsweek should have their apology on their front cover and exhaust all possible resources for explaining to the world how and why this happened.

VU&NICO · 05-17-2005, 08:18 AM

I knew it...( but Bush admnistration's crimes are true).

AlexEvans · 05-17-2005, 09:12 AM

Newsweek has caused a lot of damage this time. They're supposed to report news, not make it - both in the sense of false news stories, and in terms of the very real tragedies that follow their false reporting.

Newsweek is also the origin of the false report that the Czech Republic backed off the Prague meeting between Al Qaeda and Iraqi intelligence. The Czech Republic has never wavered in that assertion.

Newsweek can't repair the damage it has caused. But I agree that putting an apology on the cover of the next issue would be a first step.

All this is not to excuse the murderers who rioted over (false) reports of desecration. That remains totally unjustifiable. American flags are burned all the time (for real) without causing riots. Canadian flags have been burned (in Quebec) without causing riots. A lot of people would condemn the burning of bibles. but I don't think there would be any murders over it.

Milt Palacio · 05-17-2005, 09:22 AM

The claim hasn't been proven false at all. The White House/Karl Rove put intense pressure on Newsweek to retract the story. The government controls the media when it wants.

The reporter put in his resignation but the magazine won't accept it.

ceilirose · 05-17-2005, 09:29 AM

Have the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff (Myers) and the Commander of the Combined Forces in Afghanistan retracted their statements of last week that the Newsweek article did not cause the riots?

Quote:

Afghan Riots Not Tied to Report on Quran Handling, General Says
Army investigating allegations of mishandling at Guantanamo Bay facility

By Jacquelyn S. Porth
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff says a report from Afghanistan suggests that rioting in Jalalabad on May 11 was not necessarily connected to press reports that the Quran might have been desecrated in the presence of Muslim prisoners held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Air Force General Richard Myers told reporters at the Pentagon May 12 that he has been told that the Jalalabad, Afghanistan, rioting was related more to the ongoing political reconciliation process in Afghanistan than anything else.

According to initial reports, the situation in Jalalabad began on May 10 with peaceful student protests reacting to a report in Newsweek magazine that U.S. military interrogators questioning Muslim detainees at the Guantanamo detention center “had placed Quran s on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book.” By the following day the protests in the city had turned violent with reports of several individuals killed, dozens wounded, and widespread looting of government, diplomatic and nongovernmental assets.

However, Myers said an after-action report provided by U.S. Army Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, commander of the Combined Forces in Afghanistan, indicated that the political violence was not, in fact, connected to the magazine report.

Meanwhile, Myers said the U.S. military has assigned Army General Bantz Craddock to investigate allegations about the handling of the Quran at Guantanamo. Craddock brings the full weight of his responsibility as commander of the U.S. Southern Command to this effort.

Myers said the International Committee of the Red Cross has approved the edition of the Quran that has been distributed to Muslim detainees in Guantanamo. Craddock has been investigating the claim that proper respect was not given to the Koran. There are now some 550 enemy combatants at the military installation, which is designed to isolate individuals whom the military has identified as likely to have valuable intelligence about international terrorism.

Craddock and his team have examined the prisoner interrogation logs and Myers said “they cannot confirm yet” that there ever was a case of a U.S. interrogator flushing a Quran down the toilet. He did say there is another unconfirmed log reference to a guard report that a detainee tore pages from the Quran and flushed them in an attempt to flood the holding area as a form of protest.

Myers answered questions about the alleged Quran incident on the same day that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed the issue during an appearance before the House International Relations Committee.

She said disrespect for the Quran will never be tolerated by the United States and such disrespect “is abhorrent to us all.” Pakistan has voiced its concerns about the alleged incident, and Rice said the United States understands and shares the concerns of its Muslim friends. She went on to voice this request: “I am asking that all our friends around the world reject incitement to violence by those who would mischaracterize our intentions.” (See related article.)

http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/Archi...anlid=washfile


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