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In 1955, a young black man was apparently lynched, or otherwise murdered, in the US after a story went around that he whistled at a white woman, or something like that. Obviously whistling is not a crime, and the blame for the murder lies with those who committed it. The same could be said for the Newsweek situation. My only point was that Newsweek had to have known it was "stirring the pot" with an inflammatory story on skimpy, or no, evidence. Not only is it irresponsible, but past a certain point such actions appear DESIGNED to evoke some kind of response - disdain for the US effort at the very least - because the consequences are so foreseeable.

Maybe the analogy is strained, I don't know. I could also ask whether it's ironic that the press runs with stories like these after trashing the Bush administration for itself (allegedly) not being thorough enough in vetting stories about WMDs in Iraq.