Posted on 05/17/2005 5:43:42 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
How many stories has Newsweek written about the Bush administration allegedly "skewing intelligence" by relying on raw, insufficiently sourced data? How many times has it lamented that these mistakes have hurt the U.S. abroad? Too many to count.
What would be funny if it weren't so tragic is that some of them were authored by reporters Michael Isikoff and John Barry, the very duo that has itself dealt the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan a blow by stretching poorly sourced information into a false report about the deliberate desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators.
Isikoff and Barry wrote in the May 9 edition: "Investigators probing interrogation abuses at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay have confirmed some infractions alleged in internal FBI e-mails that surfaced late last year. Among the previously unreported cases, sources tell Newsweek: interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet." They continued that "these findings (are) expected in an upcoming report by the U.S. Southern Command [SouthCom] in Miami." Based on the report, destabilizing and deadly anti-U.S. riots broke out in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The report gave the impression that (1) FBI e-mails from Gitmo mentioned the Koran-flushing incident; (2) the incident had been confirmed; and (3) it was about to appear in a U.S. government report. All of these claims are, according to the Pentagon, false (which is not to say that nothing bad ever happened at Gitmo).
No one is perfect — not even the brilliant Mike Isikoff — but this is a telling error. One government official told Isikoff that he had seen the Koran-desecrating incident in the forthcoming Gitmo report. Newsweek tried to confirm this. But a spokesman for SouthCom refused comment because it is an ongoing investigation. Another Defense official attempted to correct one error unrelated to the Koran desecration, but didn't comment on the rest. With this solid nonconfirmation in hand, Newsweek ran with its explosive single-sourced item.
Once people started dying, Isikoff's original source said he couldn't be sure that he had read about the incident in the SouthCom report. Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker issued a weaselly statement saying that "we regret that we got any part of our story wrong," without detailing what the errors were. Nor did he forthrightly apologize — although Newsweek was part of the press pack demanding that President Bush acknowledge and apologize for his errors during last year's presidential campaign.
It is, of course, unfair to blame the magazine for the deadly work of anti-American fanatics abroad. But it can be blamed for its shoddy original work, for its nonapology, and for the media culture of hostility toward the military that makes its mistake so characteristic. That is not to say that any of its reporters or editors harbors personal animosity toward the military. But they work in an industry that has defined its success since the Vietnam War almost exclusively in terms of exposing U.S. wrongdoing. The media collectively want to believe the worst about the military, and in light of Abu Ghraib, they have panted after every possible prison abuse.
During the fallout from last year's CBS forged-documents flap, shrewd Newsweek political writer Howard Fineman said: "A political party is dying before our eyes — and I don't mean the Democrats. I'm talking about the 'mainstream media.'" He argued that the media had been identified with a crusading liberalism since Watergate and Vietnam, but their power was waning in the new political and information environment: "It's hard to know who, if anyone, in the 'media' has any credibility."
It's only getting harder. Back in November 2003, Newsweek complained in a cover story that Vice President Dick Cheney "bought into shady assumptions" leading into the Iraq war, partly because of his "dire view of the terrorist threat." In its Koran story, Newsweek itself bought into shady assumptions, partly because of the media's dire view of the U.S. military. And so the media party continues its decline.
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This "telling error" was in no way accidental.
My, what an interesting disclaimer.
"Telling Error" means one that can be readily observed by a blind idiot.
In fact, the MSM has been publishing things that are treasonous since the war began, and getting away with it.
Aiding and abetting the enemy. In a world where TV and the Internet bring a story that can change public opinion in a nanosecond, the ability of a country to fight a war becomes extremely difficult if the people who are paying for and supporting the troops become disengaged or even acrimonious to the cause.
I think that the proverbial "tip of the iceberg", in that this event is so clearly visible, describes the situation to a tee.
Unfortunately, the MSM will cover NewsWeak's a55 and in a month, the story will go the way of Dan Rather's blatant lies.
Oh, and another thing...
There are DEMOCRATS and even Michael Moore afficianados in the Pentagon who have one objective at this time... destroy the Bush administration.
Even if this means planting a false story with a newsweak reporter anonymously.
I can not believe these guys haven't figured out that there are people with agendas within our government and defense. They can not rely upon the word of a single informant.
That is the crucial point no commentary on the latest episode of MSM treachery is missing! I've been waiting for an article like the following:
NEWSWEEK: A TALE OF TWO STORIES - Veteran Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff - whose well documented and collaborated story on the Clinton Lewinsky affair was "spiked" by his magazine - had an undocumented unconfirmed story against the U.S. military and Bush's war on terror published with no problem. The Clinton-Lewinsky story only came out because Matt Drudge got word, from Isikoff's sources, of the "spike" and went with the story.
Substitute criminal for brilliant and you might be worth reading Rich Lowry. Until then, you read like an enabler on this story
And long, long before this war.
As we know, and many are learning, the MSM was complicit in our defeat in removing Communists from our government and the villification of Senator McCarthy, our losing in Vietnam, and the list goes on.
" ... Unfortunately, the MSM will cover NewsWeak's a55 and in a month, the story will go the way of Dan Rather's blatant lies."
That is the reason society, in order to protect itself, has laws against criminal acts and that those who are charged are given "swift and sure punishment".
Perhaps there should be an addendum that states ... "unless one is a member in good standing with the Left".
In spades.
The bias isn't shoddy or accidental, to be sure. But I don't think the "guard flushed a Koran" story was fabricated from thin air. There is evidence a Koran was flushed. Isikoff jumped to the conclusion that a guard did the flushing.
To me this is all so primary. Maybe my potty is built different than most. There is no way I could flush a book.
Why shouldn't bad things happen at Gitmo? It is full of bad people...
Every lie can be backed by a rumor or report. Don't take the double standard of required proof used by the MSM too lightly - it is the entire story. It is applied deliberately so that a Clinton-Lewinsky story gets "spiked" by Newsweek while they publish the Gitmo-Koran story. The same double standard was found at CBS in the Rather National Guard Memo episode. This is the proof of their bias. [Further examples could fill a book.]
Agreed, I just found the disclaimer funny.
I can see the editor writing that in Lowery's piece saying ... "people may think you are suggesting that Gitmo is the only heaven on earth prison in the universe, and we mustn't mislead them." ;)
BS! They are directly responsible and they don't give a d**n. I wonder if these sh**s will ever wake up to the fact that their blind hatred of W has led to the death of scores of people.
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