You may have encountered the recent story–floated by Newsweek–that interrogators down at Gitmo have been desecrating the Qur’an and, in one case, flushing it in order to get cooperation from interogees.
Doesn’t sound very plausible, does it? Not the kind of tactic a seasoned interrogator would want to use.
I mean, if I saw somebody desecrating the Bible that way, would that make me want to cough up info for them, or would it make me more resolved not to give them info?
I think the latter.
Newsweek, on the heels of a hot story, though, couldn’t think things through this far (perhaps because Newsweek has no sense of what it’s like to be a religious person) and they published the story.
INSTANT RIOTING OVER YONDER IN THE MUSLIM WORLD!
I mean, everyone over in the Muslim world knows that us Americans are just eeevil, right? So why let reason get in the way of passion and stop a good riot?
Trouble is, folks get killed in riots.
EXCERPTS:
Reaction across the Islamic world has been strong, with daily demonstrations since the May 9 story came out. At least 15 people died in Afghanistan after protests broke out Tuesday following the report that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed Qurans in washrooms to unsettle suspects, and in one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."
"The American soldiers are known for disrespect to other religions. They do not take care of the sanctity of other religions," Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the Pakistani chief of a coalition of radical Islamic groups, said Sunday
Ahmed’s comments came a day after Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, both allies of Washington, demanded an investigation and punishment for those behind the reported desecration of the Quran.
Newsweek apologized in an editor’s note for Monday’s edition and said they were re-examining the allegations.
"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," Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker wrote.
Newsweek’s source later said he was unsure about the origin of the Quran allegation, and a top Pentagon spokesman told the magazine that the military "had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them ‘not credible.’"
A SECOND STORY CONFIRMING NEWSWEEK’S ERROR HERE.
Now, I dunno from my own experience that the charge is false. I could come up true, after all. So it’s a bit premature to say "Newsweek lied." In fact, I doubt very much that Newsweek did knowingly and deliberately print a falsehood with intent to deceive, so the title of this post is hyperbole in regard to the first part.
But not the second.
People died.
People died on account of what Newsweek irresponsibly printed. To be sure, the Yahoos who would be so foam-at-the-mouth nuts as to start a riot (rather than a peaceful demonstration) so violent that folks would get killed deserve a share of the blame.
But so does Newsweek.
Their irresponsible behavior has not only resulted in the deaths of particular individuals but also in a major international incident at a time of war against terrorists when the U.S. very much needs to improve its image in the Muslim world.
You don’t go to press with anything other than rock-solid verification with a claim like that at a time like this.
Newsweek, you’re despicable.
