Newsweek Apologizes for Quran Story Errors

[igloo]

The media, in all their fucking anti-war, anti-Bush wisdom, better start acting more fucking responsible.....and stop undermining the U.S. effort every fucking chance they fucking get.......enough is enough


Newsweek Apologizes for Quran Story Errors

NEW YORK - Newsweek magazine has apologized for errors in a story alleging that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran, saying it would re-examine the accusations, which sparked outrage and deadly protests in Afghanistan.

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Fifteen people died and scores were injured in violence between protesters and security forces, prompting U.S. promises to investigate 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 in a note to readers.

In an issue dated May 9, the magazine reported that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators placed copies of Islam's holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.

Whitaker wrote that the magazine's information came from "a knowledgeable U.S. government source," and before publishing the item, writers Michael Isikoff and John Barry sought comment from two Defense Department officials. One declined to respond, and the other challenged another part of the story but did not dispute the Quran charge, Whitaker said.

But on Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told the magazine that a review of the military's investigation concluded "it was never meant to look into charges of Quran desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them 'not credible.'"

Also, Whitaker added, the magazine's original source later said he could not be sure he read about the alleged Quran incident in the report they cited, and that it might have been in another document.

"Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we," Whitaker wrote.

Following the report, demonstrations spread across Afghanistan, and Islamic leaders gathered to pass a resolution calling for anyone found to have abused the Quran to be punished. Many of the 520 inmates at Guantanamo are Muslims arrested during the U.S.-led war against the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies in Afghanistan.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said in an interview for CNN's "Late Edition" that the allegations were being investigated "vigorously."

"If it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible," he said

[igloo]

May 16, 2005, 8:37 a.m.
Deadly Mistake
Newsweek’s erroneous report and apology demonstrates journalistic cluelessness.

By Paul Marshall

The shakily sourced May 9 Newsweek report that interrogators had desecrated a Koran at Guantanamo Bay is likely to do more damage to the U.S. than the Abu Ghraib prison scandals. What is also deeply disturbing is that the journalists who put the report out seem somewhat clueless about this reality.


Since the story was published there has been outrage and mayhem in much of the Muslim world. Demonstrations erupted in Pakistan after Imran Khan, a former cricket player and now opposition political figure, read sections from the article at a press conference.

Riots broke out throughout Afghanistan, mobs attacked government and aid-organization offices, and 15 people have died so far. Anti-American demonstrations have taken took place from north Africa to Indonesia.

Sheikh Sayed Tantawi, the head of Al-Azhar in Cairo, the major center of Sunni learning, called the purported desecration “a great crime,” while Egypt’s mufti, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, called it “an unforgivable crime” and “aggression” on Islam’s “sacred values.” The Gulf Cooperation Council, a set of American allies, called for the “harshest punishment” so that “the dignity of Muslims” could be preserved. Officials in Gaza and Iran also waded in.

This weekend, Abdul Fatah Fayeq, the senior judicial figure in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan Province, read out a statement from 300 Muslim clerics stating that President Bush should hand the culprits over to an Islamic country for punishment or else “we will launch a jihad against America.”

Meanwhile, in the face of Pentagon denials, Newsweek has begun backtracking. Newsweek seemed to have had doubts about the report from the beginning, since they ran it not as a straight news story but as a squiblet in the “Periscope” section. Now, in the May 23 issue, editor Mark Whitaker admits that their sourcing was suspect and stated “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.” In the same issue, Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas is more forthright, asking “How did NEWSWEEK get its facts wrong?”

Equally disturbing is the fact that Newsweek reporters seemed to have little idea how explosive such a story would be. While noting that, to Muslims, desecrating the Koran “is especially heinous,” Thomas looks for explanations, including “extremist agitators,” of why protest and rioting spread throughout the world, and maintains that it was at Imram Khan’s press conference that “the spark was apparently lit.” He confesses that after “so many gruesome reports of torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, the vehemence of feeling around this case came as something of a surprise.”

What planet do these people live on that they are surprised by something so entirely predictable? Anybody with a little knowledge could have told them it was likely that people would die as a result of the article. Remember Salman Rushdie?

The spark was lit not by Imram Khan but by Newsweek itself on May 9 when apparently none of its reporters or editors was aware of the effect such a story would have. There seems to have been nobody there that knew that death is the penalty for desecrating a Koran in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Egypt is milder, there one would be sentenced to several years in prison under Article 161 of the penal code for “publicly insulting Islam,” or perhaps Article 98, “inciting sectarian strife”; similar patterns are followed in more moderate Muslim countries.

In Pakistan, Article 295-B of the penal code calls for life imprisonment for desecrating the Koran or any extract from it. Last September, mentally handicapped Shahbaz Masih was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, convicted of tearing up some leaflets that contained verses from the Koran. In 2003, the same judge sentenced Ranjha Masih (no relation) to life in prison for allegedly throwing a stone at a Muslim signboard with a Koranic verse on it during a bishop's funeral procession. Dozens of other Pakistanis have met similar fates.

In all of these countries, the greatest danger is not from the courts, but from vigilantes and mobs. In Pakistan in 1997, Shantinagar, a Christian town of some 10,000 people, was burned to the ground after a man there was accused of tearing pages from a Koran. In the Netherlands last fall, the documentary producer Theo Van Gogh was butchered after he produced a documentary Submission featuring Koranic verses on women’s bodies.

Even if Newsweek publishes a full retraction, the damage is done. Much of the Muslim world will regard it merely as a cover-up and feel reconfirmed in the view that America is at war with Islam. It will undercut the U.S., including in Afghanistan and Iraq, far more than Abu Ghraib did. “We can understand torturing prisoners, no matter how repulsive” Newsweek quotes one Pakistani saying, “But insulting the Qur’an is like torturing all Muslims.”

It would be charitable to think that if Newsweek had known how explosive the story was it may have held off until it had more confirmation. If this is true, it is an indication that the media’s widespread failure to pay careful attention to the complexities of religion not only misleads us about domestic and international affairs but also gets people killed.

— Paul Marshall is senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom and editor of the just released Radical Islam's Rules: the Worldwide Spread of Extreme Sharia Law.

[raver_mania]

yeah, this was definitely not very smart, without confirming the story.

[raver_mania]

Though with all the shit they've done I wouldn't be surprised at all if this really happened. In fact, after reading reports of such from the human rights watch document, I'm leaning toward the fact that it could have happened.

[igloo]

Though with all the shit they've done I wouldn't be surprised at all if this really happened. In fact, after reading reports of such from the human rights watch document, I'm leaning toward the fact that it could have happened.

For the hardened terrorists and Al Qaeda murderers there, I could care less if we took a cactus, lit it on fire, and shoved it up their ass.............if that is what it takes to get information, so fucking be it...do these people respect the Koran?

Interesting too that the Muslim world is more offended by a story about the U.S. desecrating the Koran, than what Al Qaeda, radical Muslim clerics,, terrorists, etc have done in the name of Islam, and justified their murderous actions by twisting and perverting the Koran.............

The innocent Iraqis and fellow Muslims who are being indiscrimately murdered by those who pervert Islam and the Koran.......funny, how some of these Imans and clerics don't have a problem with that....

ANd let's not lose sight of this particular issue...Newsweek, like they always have had, has an antiwar, anti-Bush agenda, and Newsweek, like many media outlets and politicians, and liberals, are not doing anything constructive, but simply UNDERMINING U.S. efforts (because those efforts are led by Bush), and people are getting killed for it...bottom line.

NEWSWEEK fucked up. Case closed. No further discussion.

I am fucking sick and tired of people waxing poetic about these detainees in Guatanamo Bay, and I am sick and fucking tired of the media overblowing and exploiting every fucking issue, even when there is none, and taking any trangression, and portraying it as the norm, without any accountability or thought about consequences. Yes , Journalists are to discover the truth, but they are to doso, and report so, responsibly.


Raver--"could" have happened and "did" happen are two very diifferent things, and in this particular situation, the implications are enormous........NEWSWEEK should have been certain beyond fucking belief, and even if they were, the consequences of what they were reporting should have been considered when lives are on the line..........this is indefensible......


BTW-(late edit) NEWSWEEK has completely retracted this now.

Newsweek acknowledged problems with the story and its editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized in an editor's note in this week's edition. The accusations spawned protests in Afghanistan that left 15 dead and scores injured.

Whitaker wrote in an editor's note that "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."

But after the White House criticized Newsweek's response to the story, Whitaker released a statement later Monday through a spokesman saying the magazine was retracting the story.

"Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay," Whitaker said.


And in addition, the more accurate report is detainees, YES DETAINEES, ripping out pages of the Koran and stuffing it down the toilets to overflow in an act of protest......

Once in a while Raver, it is OK to give our guys the benefit of the doubt

[siceone]

IF you're a muslim why does it anger you more that so called infidels are flushing Korans down a toilet alledgedly. and not angry about mujahadden endangering mosques and copies of the Quran and in effect having them burned to ashes. This story was a bullsit story but the response is even more bullshit they are pissed about something else and they used this as an excuse.

[chris817]

IF you're a muslim why does it anger you more that so called infidels are flushing Korans down a toilet alledgedly. and not angry about mujahadden endangering mosques and copies of the Quran and in effect having them burned to ashes. This story was a bullsit story but the response is even more bullshit they are pissed about something else and they used this as an excuse.

B/C there will always be a large portion of the muslim population that no matter what we do will always hate us
They are just looking for an excuse to blow themselves up

[igloo]

This should be posted on this thread

Rioting, killing in the name of Islam?

The Quran itself raises questions, as does the possibility it was defiled; let's not lose our heads


BY IRSHAD MANJI
Irshad Manji is author of "The Trouble With Islam Today," recently published in paperback. This previously appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

May 18, 2005


So Newsweek has retracted its report about the defiling of Islam's holy book, the Quran, by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay.

But it's too late. Muslims everywhere are questioning America's respect for all religions. Journalists are wondering what standards allowed the charge to be printed without proof.


Foreign policy analysts are asking how the riots incited by the charge will affect the war on terrorism. Still, at least one more question needs to be asked: Even if the Quran was mistreated, are riots justified?

"What do you expect?" my critics will declare. "Abusing the Quran is like abusing basic human rights. If you're a good Muslim, your identity and dignity are bound up in r*****ng the Quran. It's the literal word of God. Unsullied. Unedited. Unlike the other holy books."

Sorry. That argument just doesn't wash. One can appreciate the Quran's inherent worth, as I do, while recognizing that it contains ambiguities, inconsistencies, outright contradictions - and the possibility of human editing. This is not simply a reform-minded Muslim speaking. This is Islamic tradition talking.

For centuries, philosophers of Islam have been telling the story of the "Satanic Verses." The Prophet Muhammad accepted them as authentic entries into the Quran. Later, he realized they deify heathen idols rather than God. So he belatedly rejected the verses, blaming them on a trick played by Satan - which implies that the prophet edited the Quran.

Let's push this point further. Because pious Muslims emulate Muhammad's life, those who compiled the Quran's verses after his death might have followed his example of editing along the way. The compilers were, after all, only human - as human as Muhammad himself.

Moreover, they collected the Quran's verses from sundry surfaces such as bones, stones and bark. How did the passages get there? According to Islamic lore, the prophet, an illiterate trader, couldn't personally record them. His companions served as scribes, often writing from memory. Given so much human involvement, isn't it possible that errors infiltrated the "authoritative" Quran?

In asking this question, I'm neither impugning the allegorical wisdom of the Quran nor inviting a fatwa on my life. I'm saying that Muslims have to get comfortable asking such questions - and not merely whispering them - if we're going to avoid a further desecration of human life.

Riots in Afghanistan have already resulted in at least 14 deaths. Aid workers have been attacked, their offices burned. How does this benefit the cause of dignity - for anyone?

Many will insist that I'm undermining the dignity of Muslims by challenging a pillar of their identity. By urging my fellow Muslims to consider these questions, I'm showing faith in their capacity to be thoughtful and humane. I'm appealing to their heads, rather than only their hearts. Ultimately, I'm fighting not Islam but the routinely low expectations of those who practice it.

Contrast that with the strategy of Imran Khan, the Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician who rallied his countrymen to express rage based on one paragraph in Newsweek. A fierce rival of Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Khan objects to cooperating with the United States on security matters. He knew his comments about Newsweek would feed the most reflexive of Muslim impulses - to treat the Quran with uncritical veneration.

Such lazy tactics remind me of those used to drive the Miss World Beauty Pageant out of Nigeria in 2002 after a columnist suggested that the prophet would have taken its winner as his wife.

When people believe that certain aspects of religion are off-limits to questions, it doesn't take much to incite violence - or to withhold forgiveness. Even though the offending Nigerian newspaper apologized three times, Muslim protesters set its offices ablaze.

Muslims worldwide are scheduling demonstrations for the end of this month against those who insult Islam. They'll peacefully protest not just the possibility of the Quran's desecration at Guantanamo but the proved torture at Abu Ghraib and civil-rights violations suffered by ordinary U.S. Muslims. They have every right to condemn these injuries.

Will they also speak out against the bloody, fiery riots that, in the name of honoring Islam, are killing an increasing number of Muslims and non-Muslims? It's worth asking.

[mursa]

..Their source could not be fully trusted, it doesnt mean MI's didnt degrade the Quran . ..
..
..
....The Pentagon said that it was looking into protocall into this matter .


lets use common sense : The Us has resorted to physically/mentaly humiliate Islamic detainees (abu ghraib , guantanamo ) in the hope of twarting a possible future attack ..getting intelligence..... therefore this Quran story is def. believable .

[bxbomb]

so newsweek gets alleged misinformation and 17 people get killed over it and the administration and neocons want heads to roll at newsweek demanding apologies etc.
but bush goes to war over his supposed misinformation about WMD and doesnt apologize to the familys of the thousands of soldiers killed ??


"undermining our war effort"? igloo you sound little to much like mark levin there bud

[mursa]

but bush goes to war over his supposed misinformation about WMD and doesnt apologize to the familys of the thousands of soldiers killed ??

Exactly .....but hey, America never has to say im sorry , you know why ?? ..bECAUSE WE ARE THE ULTIMATE GOOD OF THE UNIVERSE AND ALL ITS 3 DIMENSIONS ! .


ps.. don't mind igloo too much , he's the equivalent of a republican septic tank .

[siceone]

Exactly .....but hey, America never has to say im sorry , you know why ?? ..bECAUSE WE ARE THE ULTIMATE GOOD OF THE UNIVERSE AND ALL ITS 3 DIMENSIONS ! .


ps.. don't mind igloo too much , he's the equivalent of a republican septic tank .

there are 10 dimensions

[igloo]

..Their source could not be fully trusted, it doesnt mean MI's didnt degrade the Quran . ..
..
..
....The Pentagon said that it was looking into protocall into this matter .


lets use common sense : The Us has resorted to physically/mentaly humiliate Islamic detainees (abu ghraib , guantanamo ) in the hope of twarting a possible future attack ..getting intelligence..... therefore this Quran story is def. believable .

Read, or get an adult if you need help, mental midget:

Rioting, killing in the name of Islam?

The Quran itself raises questions, as does the possibility it was defiled; let's not lose our heads


BY IRSHAD MANJI
Irshad Manji is author of "The Trouble With Islam Today," recently published in paperback. This previously appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

May 18, 2005


So Newsweek has retracted its report about the defiling of Islam's holy book, the Quran, by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay.

But it's too late. Muslims everywhere are questioning America's respect for all religions. Journalists are wondering what standards allowed the charge to be printed without proof.


Foreign policy analysts are asking how the riots incited by the charge will affect the war on terrorism. Still, at least one more question needs to be asked: Even if the Quran was mistreated, are riots justified?

"What do you expect?" my critics will declare. "Abusing the Quran is like abusing basic human rights. If you're a good Muslim, your identity and dignity are bound up in r*****ng the Quran. It's the literal word of God. Unsullied. Unedited. Unlike the other holy books."

Sorry. That argument just doesn't wash. One can appreciate the Quran's inherent worth, as I do, while recognizing that it contains ambiguities, inconsistencies, outright contradictions - and the possibility of human editing. This is not simply a reform-minded Muslim speaking. This is Islamic tradition talking.

For centuries, philosophers of Islam have been telling the story of the "Satanic Verses." The Prophet Muhammad accepted them as authentic entries into the Quran. Later, he realized they deify heathen idols rather than God. So he belatedly rejected the verses, blaming them on a trick played by Satan - which implies that the prophet edited the Quran.

Let's push this point further. Because pious Muslims emulate Muhammad's life, those who compiled the Quran's verses after his death might have followed his example of editing along the way. The compilers were, after all, only human - as human as Muhammad himself.

Moreover, they collected the Quran's verses from sundry surfaces such as bones, stones and bark. How did the passages get there? According to Islamic lore, the prophet, an illiterate trader, couldn't personally record them. His companions served as scribes, often writing from memory. Given so much human involvement, isn't it possible that errors infiltrated the "authoritative" Quran?

In asking this question, I'm neither impugning the allegorical wisdom of the Quran nor inviting a fatwa on my life. I'm saying that Muslims have to get comfortable asking such questions - and not merely whispering them - if we're going to avoid a further desecration of human life.

Riots in Afghanistan have already resulted in at least 14 deaths. Aid workers have been attacked, their offices burned. How does this benefit the cause of dignity - for anyone?

Many will insist that I'm undermining the dignity of Muslims by challenging a pillar of their identity. By urging my fellow Muslims to consider these questions, I'm showing faith in their capacity to be thoughtful and humane. I'm appealing to their heads, rather than only their hearts. Ultimately, I'm fighting not Islam but the routinely low expectations of those who practice it.

Contrast that with the strategy of Imran Khan, the Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician who rallied his countrymen to express rage based on one paragraph in Newsweek. A fierce rival of Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Khan objects to cooperating with the United States on security matters. He knew his comments about Newsweek would feed the most reflexive of Muslim impulses - to treat the Quran with uncritical veneration.

Such lazy tactics remind me of those used to drive the Miss World Beauty Pageant out of Nigeria in 2002 after a columnist suggested that the prophet would have taken its winner as his wife.

When people believe that certain aspects of religion are off-limits to questions, it doesn't take much to incite violence - or to withhold forgiveness. Even though the offending Nigerian newspaper apologized three times, Muslim protesters set its offices ablaze.

Muslims worldwide are scheduling demonstrations for the end of this month against those who insult Islam. They'll peacefully protest not just the possibility of the Quran's desecration at Guantanamo but the proved torture at Abu Ghraib and civil-rights violations suffered by ordinary U.S. Muslims. They have every right to condemn these injuries.

Will they also speak out against the bloody, fiery riots that, in the name of honoring Islam, are killing an increasing number of Muslims and non-Muslims? It's worth asking.

[igloo]

"undermining our war effort"? igloo you sound little to much like mark levin there bud

If you can't understand that, than you are a complete imbecile. A complete imbecile. I don't give a fuck if you are Republican, Democrat, Green Party, Independent, Michael Moore's Vagina Warts, etc........if you can't understand that, you are an imbecile.

ANd if Mark Levin said that, God Bless him for being right on the mark. Just to repeat one more time, if you can't comprehend how this Newsweek bullshit, and similar bullshit, undermines the war effort, you are a complete imbecile.

Maybe one day, you schmucks will realize we are in a war (and not just Iraq peabrains).

[bigpoppanils]

"undermining our war effort"?

it is. this false report caused uprisings against the government of Afghanistan.