JTT wrote:Quote:
Newsweek says it was informed by a single Anonymous Source, which it refuses to reveal.
Gunga: And they still act arrogant about the whole thing.
With the facts [Despite Sloppiness, Newsweek Didn't Fabricate Koran Story] staring you full in the face. And you suggest that they're the cretins. Please Gunga. How do you expect anyone but a wingnut to take you seriously?
Reporters Come to Newsweek's Defense, Suggest Story Really True
Following the "fake but accurate" theme espoused by some to defend CBS's use of forged memos to get President Bush, in the wake of Newsweek's retraction late Monday of its claim that a military report would include the charge that a guard at Guantanamo flushed a Koran down a toilet, journalistic colleagues came to Newsweek's defense and contended that the magazine's larger portrait of how the U.S. regards the Muslim region remains accurate. CNN's Anderson Cooper proposed: "Is it beyond the realm of possibility that a tactic like this was used?" CBS and ABC passed along allegations from prisoners. Richard Roth of CBS recalled: "Detainees released in 2003 came home claiming American guards had routinely provoked them by sitting on the Koran, or putting pages in a toilet." ABC's Martha Raddatz argued: "The Newsweek article was not the first time U.S. personnel have been accused of desecrating the Koran. Last year, this British detainee released from Guantanamo said guards 'would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it.'"
Later, on Monday's Nightline, John Donvan reacted to a Defense Department officials denial of the Newsweek story: "'Demonstrably false?" At Guantanamo Bay, almost nothing is demonstrable, especially to the Muslim world. It's a secret prison, for good reason, perhaps. But secret. What really goes on at Guantanamo Bay, no one really knows." Interviewing an expert on the Muslim world, anchor Chris Bury speculated: "Do you think the volume of the protests [from Bush administration officials] is, perhaps, a bit calculated to deflect some attention away from the policies at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo?" Bury followed up: "But given the other abuses, I guess what I'm getting at here is, does Newsweek deserve all the blame," for the violent reaction, "assuming that its story was incorrect?"
On the CBS Evening News, John Roberts asserted that "the report does mirror claims made by former Guantanamo detainees that they were subject to religious harassment," but he at least pointed how that "the White House today suggested those claims were mere propaganda."
Now, a fuller rundown of those stories which aired on Monday night, May 16:
-- CBS Evening News. Following the lead story on Newsweek's retraction (see item #3 below), anchor Bob Schieffer set up a second piece: "In any case, Newsweek's decision to retract the report is not likely to make much difference to outraged Muslims. For them, the damage has been done, and it can't easily be undone. Correspondent Richard Roth now with that part of the story."
Richard Roth began, as taken down by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth: "The rage that swept through Afghanistan and much of the Muslim world lasted almost a week. The fires are out now, but the anger's still burning."
Abdel Bari Atwan, Al-Quds Newspaper: "The denial of Koran not being desecrated by the administration wouldn't actually go very well among the Muslim people simply because Muslims worlds lost trust in the American administration."
Roth asserted: "There have been accusations of abuse from the time American troops began capturing prisoners at Afghanistan more than three years ago, and sending hundreds to Guantanamo Bay. Detainees released in 2003 came home claiming American guards had routinely provoked them by sitting on the Koran, or putting pages in a toilet, an insult not just to an individual, but to a whole faith."
Atwan: "You have actually to respect and preserve this holy book, so to actually flush it in a toilet, this is the maximum insult which can be inflicted on a Muslim."
Roth: "Three Britons released from Guantanamo last year made similar charges. In the past, U.S. officials have dismissed as propaganda the claim the Koran's been desecrated. Today in Afghanistan a spokesman said it would also be wrong."
Colonel James Yonts, U.S. military spokesman: "Any disrespect to the Koran and any other religion is not tolerated by our culture and our values. That goes against our beliefs, and we do not tolerate that."
Roth concluded: "But the issue's touched a nerve, and clerics in Afghanistan are calling for the protest to continue. Richard Roth, CBS News, London."
-- ABC's World News Tonight. Martha Raddatz checked in from the Pentagon: "In the many places where the article caused so much anger, people today were skeptical about the Newsweek admission, feeling the magazine had simply buckled under U.S. government pressure. This man, in Pakistan: 'They are just making an excuse about this news and are trying to hide the truth.' And in Palestinian Gaza, where the articles sparked riots...."
"The Newsweek article was not the first time U.S. personnel have been accused of desecrating the Koran. Last year, this British detainee released from Guantanamo said guards [text on screen] 'would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it.' Others have made similar claims. But none has gotten anything close to the reaction the Newsweek article did."
As Raddatz recited the quote from the former detainee, the on-screen graphic identified him as "Iqbal" and the source as the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is a left wing group.
(Showing the confusion over how to spell, in English, the name of Islam's holy book, the quote from the detainee spelled it "Koran" while the title at the top of ABC's screen declared: "DESECRATING THE QUR'AN.")
-- CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. During a 7pm EDT hour segment with Howard Kurtz from the Washington Post newsroom and CNN terrorism expert Peter Bergen from DC, Cooper proposed: "Is it beyond the realm of possibility that a tactic like this was used? I mean, 60 Minutes reported just recently, one interrogator coming forward saying that, you know, they routinely seem to sort of use religion against some of these prisoners, in one case a woman using fake menstrual blood on a man to sort of defile him. Is it, I mean, is it beyond the realm of possibility?"
Bergen affirmed: "I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility to be honest. It's not just the British detainees who've reported this. Other detainees have reported this. So, you know, I think it's still an open question. I think that there is a great misunderstanding amongst a lot of non-Muslims about how important the Koran is. The Koran is the living word of God. So the Arabic language Koran is such a sacred part of the Muslim culture. And I think a misunderstanding of that has occurred not only at Newsweek but perhaps elsewhere. And that is why we're seeing the reaction we're seeing."
-- ABC's Nightline began with a review of the situation from John Donvan who contended that it is the U.S., not Newsweek, which deserves the wrath the magazine has earned:
"So, what is for sure? Only that credibility can be a hard thing to hold on to. And two parties to this mess are now learning the consequences of lost credibility. One of them is Newsweek. The other is America, in the Muslim world. Newsweek's executives have been out there saying things like this:"
Dan Klaidman on World News Tonight: "Once we've established that we've made a mistake, we decided that the most important thing to do was to get it out there, acknowledge the mistake as quickly as possible."
Donavn: "And all those Americans who believe Newsweek is part of that mainstream media they'll never trust, are just loving this."
Unidentified man on FNC: "You have to look at the editorial chain at Newsweek. Everybody over there practically is a liberal."
Donvan: "But a lot of Newsweek's critics don't really hear or want to hear what these executives are apologizing for. They're not saying that they now know for certain that an incident involving a Koran and a flushed Koran never happened, they're saying they were wrong to report that such an incident will soon be mentioned by army investigators and for basing the claim on just one source who backed off his story. That's a big difference."
Richard Boucher, State Department: "It's appalling, really, that a, an article that's unfounded to begin with, has caused so much harm, including the loss of life."
Donvan, over video of rioting: "It would certainly be convenient to say that all this is Newsweek's fault. The problem is, America also has a credibility problem in the Muslim world. Although the U.S. military on the ground has made serious efforts to show it has learned to respect Islam, deferring to its clerics, avoiding damage to its holy places, except when enemy fighters use them. The humiliations of Abu Ghraib, and the stories detainees bring out of Guantanamo Bay, resonate loudly. Especially when an American who served at Guantanamo, comes out now with a book, saying that he saw insults to Islam."
Eric Saar, co-author, Inside the Wire: "I don't believe there was the proper amount of respect given to Islam, in the camp, especially in the interrogation booth."
Shibley Telhami, University of Maryland: "Every, little incident, that is going to reconfirm people's conceptions, is going to energize opposition and energize resentment of the U.S. That is the problem. It's much bigger than this one incident reported by Newsweek."
Donvan: "Indeed, Newsweek's backing away, has not impressed the Muslin world."
Man, via translator: "It is only pressure on a magazine. Of course, America pressured them."
Donvan: "Where the riots happened in Afghanistan, observes say there were fundamentalist leaders, foreigners, egging them on to the violence. But at bottom people rioted because they find it easy to believe that Americans would insult their faith. Troops who are out there understand that. The BBC radio correspondent in Afghanistan says the U.S. military there is treating this as much more than just a Newsweek problem."
Audio of BBC's Andrew North: "In Afghanistan, at least, it has had, the fact of Abu Ghraib -- it has caused a lot of concern among the U.S. military here about their reputation."
Donvan concluded: "Contrast that with the conclusive-sounding statement made today by Pentagon spokesman, Brian Whitman, to one of the wire services: 'What we know,' he said, 'is that the Newsweek story about a Koran destruction is demonstrably false.' 'Demonstrably false?' At Guantanamo Bay, almost nothing is demonstrable, especially to the Muslim world. It's a secret prison, for good reason, perhaps. But secret. What really goes on at Guantanamo Bay, no one really knows."
Later, anchor Chris Bury brought aboard, via satellite from California, Akbar Ahmed, Chairman of Islamic studies and professor of international relations at the American University.
A Bury/Ahmed exchange:
Bury: "You said that Condoleezza Rice and others in the administration have protested. Do you think the volume of the protests is, perhaps, a bit calculated to deflect some attention away from the policies at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo?"
Ahmed: "I think so. I think there's an element of compensating, if you like....I'm sure christians and jews and people who don't believe in a god, would be outraged that such feelings have been heard across the Muslim world."
Bury: "But given the other abuses, I guess what I'm getting at here is, does Newsweek deserve all the blame assuming that its story was incorrect?"
Ahmed: "No it doesn't because Newsweek deserves all the blame for publishing what is obviously a highly-irresponsible piece of writing...."
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