Posted on 05/17/2005 4:12:54 PM PDT by CHARLITE
"Oops, sorry. It looks like we were wrong." Thus Newsweek apologizes for its story in last week's issue that American intelligence interrogators in Guantanamo desecrated the Koran in front of Muslim prisoners and flushed it down the toilet - an error that has to date cost the lives of 16 people killed in the anti-American riots that the story set off in various parts of the Islamic world.
One wonders why a supposedly responsible magazine like Newsweek didn't manifest a tad less credulity toward a report indicating that American intelligence is run not only by anti-Muslim barbarians, but also by total imbeciles. Who else would think that the way to get a terror suspect to be more cooperative is by treating his holy scriptures as excrement? The strong tendency in today's world to believe that America is in the hands of cretins has, apparently, its supporters in the American media, too.
But one also wonders about something else. Suppose for a moment that the shoe had been on the other foot - that is, that Newsweek had run a story about intelligence interrogators in a Muslim country desecrating the New Testament or the Hebrew Bible in a facility holding Christian or Jewish prisoners. What would have been the reaction?
There would have been angry protests, of course. Perhaps even a few noisy rallies at churches or synagogues. But riots? 16 deaths? It's hard to imagine.
Do Muslims really revere the Koran so much more than Christians and Jews do the Bible? They act as if they do. Think of the Salman Rushdie affair. For years this Muslim-born novelist was threatened with death all over the Muslim world for parodying certain episodes in the Koran. A Christian or Jewish novelist who did the same with the Bible would get yawned at.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
So which of us enterprising Freepers is going to apply for the NEA grant to sponsor "artwork" that consists of placing the Koran in a container of urine?
After all, what's acceptable with respect to Christianity should also be acceptable with respect to Islam, right?
Since many have not been permitted religious freedom, who knows how the prisoners would react to being told that it is "okay" to read up on another faith.
The left knows that it's "cool" to trash Christianity.
Political Correctness is like that.
Don't bet on it.
Hogwash. They have been trying to keep the Middle East unstable for years now.
They are the peanut gallery razzing the adults. They offer no solutions and they know that they will not be held accountable.
During WWII such lies (as with those Kerry told Congress) would be classified as treason designed to rile up the enemy.
Lord Haw Haw and Axis Sally were convicted of treason after WWII. The British got to William Joyce first so he was tried and executed, there are some who feel he would have just been jailed if he could have returned to the US.
funny prisoners can have their regligious books but our school kids can't
Thanks for the new tagline
Figured by now someone would spin it to be "all Bush's fault"! Or did I miss it?
Its all a mater of "indoctrination". The Islamic Zelots are totally indoctrinated, their education is like 100% Koran from early childhood. Their goal is to convert the world and have it controlled by clerics. Mullahs want to keep their jobs and power thus they must keep their program going. Someday we'll all wake up and see that man is destroying mankind, not God.
See drudge now. It's enough to make you never read any newspaper again.
http://drudgereport.com/flash3mi1.htm
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE MAY 17, 2005 18:02:22 ET XXXXX
REVENGE OF THE SITH PRESS: REPORTERS RIP BUSH SPOKESMAN OVER NEWSWEEK MESS
Mainline reporters moved into battle mode today during a White House press briefing -- as one of their own outlets continued to hemorrhage over a now retracted story!
Afghanistan's government said Tuesday that NEWSWEEK should be held responsible for damages caused by deadly anti-American demonstrations after the magazine alleged U.S. desecration of the Quran.
The White House said the United States' image abroad had suffered irreparable damage by the story.
But it was the press's turn to fight back as Bush spokesman Scott McClellan opened his briefing to questions.
[Joined in progess]
Q With respect, who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not telling them. I'm saying that we would encourage them to help --
Q You're pressuring them.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm saying that we would encourage them --
Q It's not pressure?
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, this report caused serious damage to the image of the United States abroad. And Newsweek has said that they got it wrong. I think Newsweek recognizes the responsibility they have. We appreciate the step that they took by retracting the story. Now we would encourage them to move forward and do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done by this report. And that's all I'm saying. But, no, you're absolutely right, it's not my position to get into telling people what they can and cannot report....
Q Are you asking them to write a story about how great the American military is; is that what you're saying here?
MR. McCLELLAN: Elisabeth, let me finish my sentence. Our military --
Q You've already said what you're -- I know what -- how it ends.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm coming to your question, and you're not letting me have a chance to respond. But our military goes out of their way to handle the Koran with care and respect. There are policies and practices that are in place. This report was wrong. Newsweek, itself, stated that it was wrong. And so now I think it's incumbent and -- incumbent upon Newsweek to do their part to help repair the damage. And they can do that through ways that they see best, but one way that would be good would be to point out what the policies and practices are in that part of the world, because it's in that region where this report has been exploited and used to cause lasting damage to the image of the United States of America. It has had serious consequences. And so that's all I'm saying, is that we would encourage them to take steps to help repair the damage. And I think that they recognize the importance of doing that. That's all I'm saying.
Q As far as the Newsweek article is concerned, first, how and where the story came from? And do you think somebody can investigate if it really happened at the base, and who told Newsweek? Because somebody wrote a story.
MR. McCLELLAN: I think Newsweek has talked about it. They took it --
Developing...
OTOH, our kids can be taught Islam in school...
Yup, these are the very same people George W. Bush has said are ready to receive a democratic form of government?
"Bush praised the visiting head of Afghanistan's interim government, Hamid Karzai, as a man of "honor, courage and skill helping to build a new and democratic Afghanistan."
"That journey to democracy and peace deserves the support and respect of every nation," he said at a Rose Garden news conference after a meeting with Karzai, "because free nations do not breed the ideology of terror."
"Coalition forces, including many brave Afghans, have brought America, Afghanistan and the world its first victory in the war on terror," the president said. "Afghanistan is no longer a terrorist factory sending thousands of killers into the world."
Uh-huh. Ri-ight...
Tell us another one, George.
Why?
Because its adherents are ignorant and primitive.
And why are they ignorant and primitive?
They believe in an 'Ignorant' and 'Primitive' religion.
It does NOT MATTER whether these lies WERE written in "good faith" or EVEN IF THEY WERE NOT LIES. This story should NEVER, EVER have been written in the main stream press, EVEN IF TRUE!!!
This information OUGHT to have been brought to the attention of the US gov't, and let them handle it QUIETLY. Inflammatory information like this must be dealt with RESPONSIBLY - in that case (as in Abu Garib) the US must discover the facts, punish perpetrators if any, deal with systemic problems if they exist, and only after that is done, (usually) release the embargo on the story to that reporter or organization who brought it to light.
It was prima facie clear that this, like the overblown Abu story (that the military was already investigating and in the process of punishing), had great potential to harm the United States and our allies (Iraq, Afghanistan, and others); to kill people and injure others - and it is certainly clear that our civilian leadership would condemn such activities if they were occuring. The proper course for responsible news organizations is to let them know behind closed doors what might be going and to allow them time to clean it up. In extreme cases, the story ought to be embargoed forever, but typically it should be released after a period of time.
A RESPONSIBLE news organization might even state a "story" was shopped to them that was found to be UNTRUE after investigation by proper authority - Newsweek COULD have done that in this particular case, and done a great service to our country and the world in exposing how misinformation can attempt to be planted in the media. They blew it, and instead CAUSED MURDERS and Mayhem.
This "shopped" story brings more than shame to Newsweek, though - people are DEAD who ought not be dead.
It is time to bring back wartime censorship of the press.
`\
It will be a waste of perfectly good urine.
I'm thinking I may want to pick up an English translation of this "Koran" and see if it's as tedious reading as the author says it is.
I heard it was mostly knock-knock jokes and recipes for hummus.
Incidentally, I read some passages from one of the "new translations" of the Bible the other day. Sorry, but I'll stick with the King James version. What I enjoy is the lyrical style and archaic language that lends weight to the words - something the new translations are seriously lacking.
"The Bible or koran is just a stack of printed pages."
To Christians, the Bible is the Living Word of God. However, the Word became Flesh, ptl, and as millions of bibles are burned or otherwise destroyed every year in varying parts of the world, we just peacefully keep printing new ones in more and more languages.
Does the "peaceful religion" of Islam promote a more aggressive, violent reaction to the abuse of their holy book? If so, perhaps it is because the Koran's limitation defenselessly can not meet the challenge of becoming flesh, alive, eternal, and invincible. It simply remains "a stack of printed pages."
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