Incendiary Koran claim may be false, editor admits

The Times ^ | May 16, 2005 | Roland Watson

[MadIvan]

THE incendiary account of US interrogators flushing a copy of the Koran down a toilet at Guantanamo Bay may not, after all, be true, the magazine behind the claim said.

The report in last week’s Newsweek sparked riots in Afghanistan that spread across the Muslim world, leading to the deaths of at least 14 people and injuries to more than 120.

In this week’s edition the magazine backtracks. “We regret that we got any part of our story wrong and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the US soldiers caught in its midst,” Mark Whitaker, the Editor, wrote in an editorial.

The report last week said that the claims about the Koran, which previously had been aired by other news organisations, would be validated by an inquiry report into the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. It was based on conversations with a senior American official who said that he had seen mention of the Koran incident in the report.

However, on checking with the source since publication, Newsweek said that the official no longer could be sure that they had remembered correctly.

When told of Newsweek’s new stance, Lawrence DiRita, the Pentagon spokesman, raged: “People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said.”

The Pentagon has been under mounting pressure to get to the bottom of the allegations as anti-American riots spread from Gaza to Kabul to Jakarta. The allegations also drew an official protest from Saudi Arabia, one of America’s most crucial allies in the Islamic world.

Yesterday, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition organisation, demanded that the US apologise, as did Islamic leaders in Bangladesh. In Beirut, Lebanon’s top Sunni Muslim cleric called for an international investigation.

The episode has threatened to give Washington its biggest headache overseas since the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib.

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said that mistreatment of the Koran was “abhorrent” to right-thinking Americans.

Despite Newsweek’s about-turn, the Pentagon has yet to state officially that no mistreatment of the Koran by interrogators took place at Guantanamo Bay, where the US has held 600 detainees in legal limbo for more than three years.

General Richard Myers Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that no evidence has yet been found to support the claims. Such allegations had been raised before Newsweek’s report. A lawyer for some Guantanamo inmates has blamed the attempted suicide of 23 of them in August 2003 on a US guard stamping on the Koran.

[MadIvan]

Now they tell us.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[Gondring]

Ping

[Darkrunner]

Don't know what all the brouhaha is about. They can put a crucifix in a jar of urine and call it art, but these knuckleheads get their panties in a bunch over some ALLEGED goings on.....

[smag999]

Just watched the Washington Bureau Chief of Newsweek on CNN. He was contrite about the deaths but ended his interview basically saying well the report was wrong, but they rioted and murdered because they don't like us because of our war on terror.

These scumballs at Newsweek have to go. They all have to be FIRED starting with the left wing Al Franken buddy Michael Isikoff.

[Guillermo]

So why did they print it?

Oh wait, do I really have to ask that question?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This is beyond "selective reporting."

[RightFighter]

I thought you "opussed". Did you "un-opus"?

[Jet Jaguar]

Dozens dead...

Some heads had better roll.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

“People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said.”

Lawrence, Lawrence! Quit holding back, and let us know how you really feel. It is great to see someone with spine.

[Chgogal]

"Yesterday, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition organization, demanded that the US apologize, as did Islamic leaders in Bangladesh. In Beirut, Lebanon’s top Sunni Muslim cleric called for an international investigation."

Tell you what, come here and try to make me apologize! Lunatics! You were all dancing in the street on 9/11. Muslim Brotherhood you are nothing but a front for terrorists. Sunni Muslims, you knowingly spread poverty, illiteracy, fanaticism, bigotry through Islam around the world. Until you all apologize for your poor performance over the last what 1000 years and say SU.

[abb]

This story has reached critical mass now. The networks have been forced to report it. I predict several firings/resignations in the next couple of days.

[Random Nonsense]

Just to show us how very educated these numbskulls are. Let them slain each other. Maybe members of CAIR should follow their savage behavior and be done with it. Allah and those virgins are waiting for you.

[Old_Mil]

Sue Newsweek for wrongful death. It's time to nail these morons to the wall.

[syriacus]

When told of Newsweek’s new stance, Lawrence DiRita, the Pentagon spokesman, raged: “People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said.”

My first thought, too, when MSNBC metioned this non-retraction/retraction a short time ago.

[RightFighter]

Not that I want you gone - I love your contributions.

[em2vn]

"A lawyer for some Guantanamo inmates has blamed the attempted suicide of 23 of them in August 2003 on a US guard stamping on the Koran."
Pretty sensative terrorists.They would fit in well in the liberal camps of America.
Repeat after me the words of Senator Patrick Leahy. "It's not the evidence but the seriousness of the changes."
If there was indeed a U.S.guard stamping on the Koran and sending 23 terrorist into suicide attemps he should be given a promotion and commissioned if he desired a commissiion.
I think General Geo.Patton would have said to him. " Damn fine work son. Next time use both feet it will have twice the effect."

[GulfWar1Vet]

The fallout of this lunacy will be tremendous...

the beginning of the end of the U.S.?