Posted on 05/15/2005 3:54:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Muslims in Afghanistan gave Washington three days to offer a response to a Newsweek story that claimed the Islamic holy book was desecrated at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, but the magazine apologized Sunday for the report, which prompted deadly riots across Afghanistan last week.
Reaction across the Islamic world has been strong, with daily demonstrations since the May 9 story came out. At least 15 people died in Afghanistan after protests broke out Tuesday following the report that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed Qurans in washrooms to unsettle suspects, and in one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."
Many of the 520 inmates at Guantanamo are Muslims arrested during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. In both Afghanistan and Pakistan, insults to the Quran and Islam's prophet, Muhammad, are regarded as blasphemy and punishable by death.
"The American soldiers are known for disrespect to other religions. They do not take care of the sanctity of other religions," Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the Pakistani chief of a coalition of radical Islamic groups, said Sunday.
Ahmed's comments came a day after 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.
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.
But Newsweek apologized in an editor's note for Monday's edition and said they were re-examining the allegations.
"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," Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker wrote.
Newsweek's source later said he was unsure about the origin of the Quran allegation, and a top Pentagon spokesman told the magazine that the military "had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them 'not credible.'"
Meanwhile, President Bush's national security adviser said Sunday the allegation was being investigated "vigorously."
"If it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible, Stephen Hadley said in an interview for CNN's "Late Edition."
Ahmed, the religious leader in Pakistan, said Islamic groups in Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Britain and Turkey would hold protests on May 27 against the alleged desecration.
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.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah urged Muslims and international human rights organizations "to raise their voices loudly against the American behavior, which is hostile to Islam and Muslims."
In a statement faxed to The Associated Press, Fadlallah called the alleged desecration a "brutal" form of torture.
"This act is not an individual act carried out by an American soldier, but rather it is part of the American behavior of intellectual and psychological education in disrespecting Islam and smearing its image in the souls of Americans," Fadlallah said.
You see, dear friends, there are really two ways of getting a story "wrong".
(1) is to make an honest mistake trying to put together a valid and balanced story, even though one had thoroughly crosschecked with multiple, credible sources, or
(2) is for all-out anti-American zealots to fortify a non-story with internationally inflammatory fiction hoping that it will be damning to the U. S. military. Then, when caught, passively toss out some vague "regret" while blaming others and saying nothing about romantic politicism driving the (alleged) news, and chuckle while you and your MSM pals change the headlines briefly to something unrelated, and wait for the story trail to cool off.
I'm thinking that Whitaker's biggest "regret" might be that of getting caught.
.
My impression of Isikoff is that he is not as smart as he thinks he is.
Works for me.
"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," Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker wrote."
That and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee.
How about "If it turns out to be true or false, obviously we will take action against those responsible, Stephen Hadley said in an interview for CNN's "Late Edition."
Legally, what can the government do?
...zealous Taliban soldiers wielding pickaxes hacked an ancient Buddhist complex to rubble, scrawling graffiti on the walls, a Taliban guard said. "We confront the idols of non-Muslims and destroy them," read one message etched in a wall in Pashtu, the language of Afghanistan's majority Pashtun ethnic group.
Arriving packed aboard four pickup trucks, the soldiers spent several days swarming over the complex, built in tiers up the side of a hill from the second to seventh centuries, said Mullah Saeed Jan, a Taliban guard at the site. An ancient baked clay statue of Buddha...
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3aae70912253.htm
And they shall apologize for their actions when?
Yeah? And THEN what?
These losers can take their precious koran and stick it where the sun don't shine as far as I'm concerned! In fact, the editors of Newsweek can stick their poor excuse for a publication in the same place!
Maybe Newsweek could give everyone in Afghanistan a free Frosty like Wendy's.
That's the best response I've heard so far - and the only one that would make me happy. >:-(
By whom? The government?
I wouldn't throw out our Constitution over a dozen fanatical Islamic diaper heads dying in some turd world country. I much prefer the market forces making Newsweek a better magazine or if they continue to be a mere propaganda tool of he left, they can die a natural death.
BTW, You're not living up to your screen name.
Do we have email addresses? Telephone numbers? Fax numbers? Newsweek needs to be taken to the shed for this one.
There are two things in this world that concern me today. One: Clerics (the leaders) of the Muslim world inciting violence and riots because of some stupid news article. Two: Half the people in the US would sooner stop the spread of human rights and democracy in the middle east than see President Bush get an important political victory.
Here's the truth: There is a powerful movement amongst many in the Muslim world (not all, not even most, but many) that is violent, oppresive, and an immediate threat to freedom as we know it. I don't care if the President is Clinton (Mr or Mrs), Bush, or Mickey Mouse. It's time for all of us to put the petty crap aside (Today I'm speaking to the Dems. In a few years it might be the Repubs).
If it helps, I too wish there never was an Usama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein (and his two nice little boys), several hundred clerics, and thousands and thousands of everyday muslim who want us all dead. But, there is. Stop whining. It's big boy time,now.
As for the apology from Newsweek it won't change their minds about either of groups above or the U. S. They hate our guts and want us dead, slaves or Islamic.
Islam and it's followers is an evil power mad death cult.
"If it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible, Stephen Hadley said in an interview for CNN's "Late Edition.
Good thing the Koran wasn't put in a jar of piss like it was a crucifix or something.
Good thing there's a separation of Church and State in the US unless we're talking about Islam....
"The American soldiers are known for disrespect to other religions. They do not take care of the sanctity of other religions," Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the Pakistani chief of a coalition of radical Islamic groups, said Sunday.
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Actually, to me, this quote is ACLUesque is that is what the socialist want.
From my perspective, many socialist and secularist would pay to flush a copy of the Bible down the toilet and all but burn down each and every church in America if it meant removing religion from society.
To these people (secularist), religion is a threat to their way of life.
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