The Newsweek "scandal"

Americablog says it better than i could:

Newsweek gets the Koran story wrong? Bull

I don't buy it.

Chris and I have been talking about this (I'm still in Paris), and we think President Bush placed a little call to the head of Newsweek, asking him to beg off the story since riots are now spreading across the Middle East. I simply refuse to believe anything the Bush administration says about anything at this point. And the administration's assurances that they "investigated" the story and found it not true - well, let's talk about WMD, let's talk about "no evidence of widespread abuse" of prisoners at US facilities around the world.

I say, bull. As Joe alread noted, this is not the first time the story has been reported about US authorities flushing the Koran down the toilet at Gitmo. And let's not forget everything else they've been doing to the detainees, at Abu Ghraib and beyond. Newsweek is backing down to help Bush out, and it's sad.

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Facing fierce White House criticism, Newsweek now retracts Koran story

Okay, this thing is getting more and more bizarre. The White House spent the day attacking Newsweek. Apparently, it worked. AP is now reporting that Newsweek has retracted the Koran story.

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White House: It's all Newsweek's Fault

Well now we know why the Muslim world hates us. It's all because of Newsweek. And, according to the Associated Press, Scott McCLellan says they better do something about it:

"The report had real consequences," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Monday. "People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged. There are some who are opposed to the United States and what we stand for who have sought to exploit this allegation. It will take work to undo what can be undone."

McClellan said a retraction was only "a good first step" and said Newsweek should try to set the record straight by "clearly explaining what happened and how they got it wrong, particularly to the Muslim world, and pointing out the policies and practices of our military."

So, it's all Newsweek's fault. Nothing else has caused problems for the U.S. But, Scott, what specific policies and practices of the military are you talking about? Before you answer, read the Associated Press story today about Spc. Sabrina Harman:

Harman, a former pizza shop manager from Lorton, Va., appeared in several of the most notorious photos taken at Abu Ghraib, and she was found guilty of taking other pictures.

The photos showed prisoners chained together in sexual poses, piled on the floor naked and forced to form a nude human pyramid.

In one picture, Harman posed with Graner behind a group of naked detainees. In another, she was shown with a prisoner on whose leg she is accused of writing "rapeist."

In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors said Harman and other guards conspired to physically hurt and sexually humiliate the prisoners under their watch.

"They were all acting together for their own amusement," Capt. Chris Graveline said.

Be careful what you ask for, Scott McClellan.

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Speaking of single, anonymous, unreliable sources

From ThinkProgress:

QUESTION: Does it concern the President that the primary source for the intelligence on the mobile biological weapons labs was a guy that U.S. intelligence never every interviewed?

MCCLELLAN: Well, again, all these issues will be looked at as part of a broad review by the independent commission that the President appointed? But it's important that we look at what we learn on the ground and compare that with what we believed prior to going into Iraq.

Yeah, it really sucks that by relying on a single, anonymous, unreliable source Newsweek got us into a war that was based on a lie, has killed over 1,500 US servicemembers and untold numbers of innocent Iraqi civilians, and has put America at further risk from terrorism.

Oh.

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McClellan caught lying about impact of Newsweek article

Like this was the first time that the US did anything to hurt its image in the Arab world. Give me a break. The reason they're rioting isn't because of Newsweek - hell, even their own general said the riots were unrelated to Newsweek (funny how Bush has suddenly forgotten this nice little fact). From the NYT:

Mr. McClellan and other administration officials blamed the Newsweek article for setting off the anti-American violence that swept Afghanistan and Pakistan. "The report had real consequences," Mr. McClellan said. "People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged."

But only a few days earlier, in a briefing on Thursday, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said that the senior commander in Afghanistan believed the protests had stemmed from that country's reconciliation process.

"He thought it was not at all tied to the article in the magazine," General Myers
said.

The riots are the result of 5 years of neglect and disdain from an administration of liars who launched a war based on a lie, killing thousand of their and our citizens. Then Bush decided to start torturing innocent Muslims in Cuba and Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan. Gee, I'll bet none of that has anything to do with the riots.

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New York Times & Raw Story confirm that Koran story has been reported by numerous witnesses for years

Let's not forget that numerous witnesses have reported that US troops have been trashing the Koran, the story is hardly new. We deserve to know why this story keeps popping up, though God knows we can't trust Bush to tell us the truth about any of this. He wants to stop the riots - resign.

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From Crooks and Liars :

More on Newsweek

Howie reports :Whitaker said that a senior Pentagon official, for reasons that "are still a little mysterious to us," had declined to comment after Newsweek correspondent John Barry showed him a draft before the item was published and asked whether it was accurate, adding that the magazine would have held off had military spokesmen made such a request. Whitaker said Pentagon officials raised no
objection to the story for a week after it was published, until it was translated by some Arab media outlets and led to the rioting.

The item was principally reported by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek's veteran investigative reporter. "Obviously we all feel horrible about what flowed from this, but it's important to remember there was absolutely no lapse in journalistic standards here," he said. "We relied on sources we had every reason to trust and gave the Pentagon ample opportunity to comment. . . . We're going to continue to
investigate what remains a very murky situation."

Why didn't the Pentagon raise a red flag? Why didn't they say hold on while we check those facts? Newsweek didn't blind side the Pentagon. They acted in good faith by giving the Pentagon access before they ran the story. The first reported incident made it seem like they printed the story with no notification. That's not the case.

Didn't the "senior" Pentagon official have an idea what might happen? This doesn't excuse Newsweek, but the mayhem that ensued could have been averted.

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Will Michelle Malkin have blood on her hands?

If people get hurt because of her headline "NEWSWEEK LIED*. PEOPLE DIED" that is spreading through the freeper ranks that's causing protests, causes injuries?

MM says: Didn’t think I needed to s-p-e-l-l i-t o-u-t, but some readers asked for clarification. Newsweek was reckless and sloppy and wrong. But I do not think the magazine “lied.” Just thought it a very appropriate moment to do a boomerang on the moonbats’ most dishonest and annoying meme."

Huh? So you lie because you think others like to use the phrase.

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Olbermann: an honest report on the Newsweek retraction

Last Thursday, General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Donald Rumsfeld’s go-to guy whenever the situation calls for the kind of gravitas the Secretary himself can’t supply, told reporters at the Pentagon that rioting in Afghanistan was related more to the on-going political reconciliation process there, than it was to a controversial note buried in the pages of Newsweek claiming that the government was investigating whether or not some nitwit interrogator at Gitmo really had desecrated a Muslim holy book.

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Scott McClellan wants to be the editor of Newsweek

Ed Henryreports from the press briefing today that Scotty said he wants the magazine to reach out to the Muslim world and point out that the U.S. military respects the Koran and does not desecrate it.

A reporter asked: Have you appointed yourself the editor of Newsweek? What business does the White House have in telling Newsweek what to do...

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This whole "Scandal" looks a lot like the "Rathergate" "scandal" - the story is true even though a source might be in question. But once this administration questions any part of the "liberal media", the story will be completely retracted and no one will ever investigate it again. So sad what we've come to these days...