Newsweek and the Bell that Cannot Be Unrung - (retired CBS executive; "loose lips sink ships")

Newsweek magazine and reporter-writers, Mark Isikoff and John Barry forgot the most important and one of the oldest clichés in the business, “You can’t unring a bell.” They also forgot one of the most memorable slogans in WW II, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” As a result, over 15 people are dead in Afghanistan and many hurt. Riots continue in Muslim countries. All this is due to that fact that Newsweek reported that U.S. investigators found evidence that interrogators had flushed a copy of Muslim's holy book down a toilet in an attempt to rattle detainees. Just the thought that it is impossible for a book to be flushed down a toilet, without tearing it into shreds first, apparently did not give its editors pause for thought.

When a country is in a war and our troops are risking their lives, media should know that one does not give the enemy any information that it can use to kill Americans or slow down the chance for our troops to finish the job so they can come home! Even if they protest that their readers have a right to know, we have a right to ask, “Know what?” The media was generally on our side during WW II, unwilling to help the enemy. Now, many times we read or view days in advance what may be thestrategies of our military. While we do not want government censorship, prudence and discretion should be the order of the day for the press in time of war.

Sure, we need to know those things that affect us personally in our homes and at work. This is called “information value.” The space or time in media devoted to “news” is determined by importance and value to the readers or viewers. Rumors, gossip and alleged information from an unidentified source do not meet this criterion.

This war is different from any that we have ever faced. Not just because this is a war of terrorism rather than one between nations, but because this is the first war in which we have had so many anti-Americans living among us. Many are scouring our media daily to find anything that can be used to slow us down in the Middle East. Once found, it takes only minutes before it is spread worldwide on the Internet and broadcast over Al-Jazeera.

Dan Feder, a syndicated columnist and a former op-ed writer for nineteen years with the Boston Herald, wrote last month, “A random survey of a dozen mosques in six states and DC (undertaken by Arabic speakers) found 57 documents promoting hatred of Christians and Jews, as well as explaining the imperative to subvert the United States and other Western societies. An article in The Wall Street Journal reported: “The documents stress that when Muslims are in the lands of the unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines. Either they are there to acquire new knowledge and make money to be later employed in the jihad against infidels, or they are there to proselytize the infidels until at least some convert to Islam.”

While Newsweek has retracted its story, the Arabs are already calling it a cover-up. In an apology in this week’s issue of Newsweek, its editor wrote “But 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.”

And yet, the bell-that-cannot-be-unrung peals throughout the Middle East and the world, heard by mourners and Muslims alike.

About the Writer: Lee Ellis is a retired journalist and a former vice president of both CBS and Gannet. He resides in Indio, California, where he write op-eds that appear in several local newspapers. Lee receives e-mail at indiolee@dc.rr.com.

This is what's over on the DU board --

Stories of Korans tossed into Gitmo toilets as early as **March 2003**
Posted by KrazyKat
Added to homepage Tue May 17th 2005, 09:59 AM ET

The scapegoating of Newsweek by BushCo and its mouthpieces stikes me as far too strained and contrived. So much so that I did a Lexis-Nexis search for similar stories, and came up with hits dating from today back to March 2003. So why the meltdown now, and the damning of Newsweek for printing a story that been traveling through the press for more than two years?

There also are multiple stories of other Koran-related indignities at Gitmo, such as stomping on the book, handling it inappropriately,and even sitting on it. These stories hail from sources as diverse (and reliable) as the The Denver Post, the Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), the Financial Times (London, England), The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Post, among others.

Since these snips are from a Lexis-Nexis search, I can't link to the stories.

The Denver Post, January 9
HEADLINE: Nightmare of Guantanamo.... U.S. prison camp in Cuba has become legal black hole, reporter says

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.

Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), January 3, 2005
HEADLINE: Koran prayer torture claim

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?"

Financial Times (London, England), October 28, 2004
HEADLINE: Four Britons held at Guantanamo sue US government

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.

USA TODAY, October 18, 2004
HEADLINE: Spy case was a 'life-altering experience' for airman

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."

Daily News (New York), August 5, 2004
HEADLINE: ABUSED AT GITMO, FREED BRITS CHARGE

"They would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it," Asif Iqbal wrote.

The Independent (London), August 5, 2004
HEADLINE: FATHER CALLS FOR SON'S RELEASE AFTER CAMP DELTA TORTURE CLAIMS BEGG DEMANDS SON'S RELEASE AFTER TORTURE CLAIMS AT CAMP DELTA TORTURE

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.

The San Francisco Chronicle, JUNE 20, 2004
HEADLINE: THE FILE: PRISON 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.

The Observer, May 16, 2004
HEADLINE: Inside Guantanamo Bay

'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.

The Guardian (London) - Final Edition, May 14, 2004
HEADLINE: Guantanamo abuse same as Abu Ghraib, say Britons

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."

The Observer, March 14, 2004
HEADLINE: World Exclusive: Inside Guantanamo: How we survived jail hell

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.

The Washington Post, March 26, 2003
HEADLINE: Returning Afghans Talk of Guantanamo; Out of Legal Limbo, Some Tell of Mistreatment

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.

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