Posted on 05/18/2005 1:31:55 AM PDT by publius1
To the Editor:
Re "Newsweek Says It Is Retracting Koran Report" (front page, May 17):
I find it ironic that the White House is demanding more than a retraction from Newsweek over its report that American interrogators at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had tried to unnerve detainees by desecrating the Koran.
Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said: "The report had real consequences. People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged."
Mr. McClellan said Newsweek's retraction was a "good first step."
As a 9/11 widow who witnessed worldwide support of the United States after 9/11, now, I witness wide hatred of America.
Such hatred has little to do with the Newsweek article. It has everything to do with the Bush administration's pre-emptive war in Iraq. A war based on dead wrong intelligence that has cost thousands of lives. A war based on faulty reasons that have never been retracted, let alone fully explained to the American people or the world.
Mr. McClellan speaks of journalistic standards. How about executive-branch standards that should be met before taking a country into a false war, a war that has made the entire world less safe?
I am all for accountability and retractions. But such things need to start at the top.
Kristen Breitweiser
•
To the Editor:
The White House show of anger at Newsweek is disingenuous.
The press policy of the Bush administration is to withhold access to information it feels might have a negative effect on its carefully crafted image.
This policy has caused news organizations to rely heavily on anonymous sources.
The White House can't have it both ways. If it wants news organizations to rely less on anonymous sources, then it must open up true lines of communication with the press.
Robert Dillon Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Dear chief Democratic drama queen of 9/11 (Oh I know you're a registered "Republican"...yeah right), get some counseling and move on....
Those spots for Kerry as a better CIC worked oh so well for you didn't they?
Kristen Breitweiser works for AlQaida doesn't she? I mean, like they helped make her quite rich!
It's become the "excuse de jour" for the followers of the RoP that interrupted their regular "peaceful" programing of demos, hostage taking, throat slitting, car bombing, suicide belt detonating, Jew killing, Kuffar hating and general terrorist supporting activities.
It's as if we are to accept this kind of barbaric behavior as the norm for them... I would go on, but I know both you, and Robert Spencer have done a great job of covering this in depth.
that's what the liberal agendas in colleges and univesities have promoted for decades.
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