Newsweek Lied - People Died

Newsweek magazine last week published a story by journalist Michael Isikoff (not a Bush administration admirer) & John Barry which claimed that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed a Koran down a toilet. Newsweek reported that the source was an anonymous "knowledgeable government source" who had previously provided Newsweek with reliable information.

As a result of this story, demonstrations against the U.S. as well as rioting occurred in Afghanistan, which resulted in 15 deaths. Demonstrations were held in Pakistan & other Muslim countries. Muslim clerics called for a Holy War against the U.S. & anti-American feelings swelled.

It turns out that Newsweek was wrong. The "knowledgeable government official" now could not be sure about the desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators.

Newsweek, in a dishonest attempt to do damage control instead of outright admitting a blunder, made excuses for their gross failure of journalistic standards. They pointed out the fact that, "yeah...but our anonymous guy was reliable in the past". They stated they put the story before 2 Defense Department officials who did not refute the story, not saying that these officials could neither refute or admit its voracity because they were not in the loop to know. They cited previous reports of Koran desecration from former Guantanamo detainees to back their story, not saying that these detainees were schooled by Al-Qada to float such incendiary rumors.

In a final bout of chutzpah Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said, "We believed our story was newsworthy because a U.S. official said government investigators turned up this evidence. So we published the item." Whitaker failed to mention that the U.S. official was anonymous & that independent verification was not followed by Newsweek.

"This was reported very carefully, with great sensitivity and concern, and we'll continue to report on it," said Newsweek Managing Editor John Meecham. This in itself is a joke because Newsweek was certainly not sensitive to the outrage from Muslims that their story would create, nor were they concerned with the damage such an unverified story would have on American goodwill in the Muslim countries.

Finally, after failing in damage control & obfuscation, Newsweek officially retracted the story & admitted it was in error. But with a wink & a nod in which a negative can't be proved & which helps assuage Newsweek's culpability, Whitaker told Reuters that Newsweek did not know if the reported toilet incident involving the Koran ever occurred. "As to whether anything like this happened, we just don't know," he said in an interview. "We're not saying it absolutely happened but we can't say that it absolutely didn't happen either." And we at American values are not saying that Whitaker is a transvestite, but we can't say that he absolutely isn't either, wink, wink.

As with the Dan Rather/memogate scandal, this is another example of the mainstream media's sloppy fact-checking process at best or their agenda to disparage the Bush administration at worse. More scandals of this type will follow, we are sure. The mainstream media has lost its professional standards.

As if this makes it better, Newsweek reports, "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst." Not to mention inflaming anti-U.S. hatred & doing immense damage to American interests. Not to mention the deaths that Newsweek caused. They got the whole story wrong. But hey, the story comes first, right or wrong & damn ethics & responsibility.

We recommend you cancel your subscription to this icon of truth.