Newsweek article comes under fire
The Pentagon has attacked as “irresponsible” an article in Newsweek magazine where US soldiers were accused of flushing the Koran down the toilet. Newsweek apologized, although they refused to admit any wrong-doing.
“We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the US soldiers caught in its midst,” the apology read.
The story sparked protests across the Islamic world. In Afghanistan at least 17 people died and more than 100 were injured in the worst street violence the country has seen since US troops ousted the Taliban in 2001.
The chief spokesman at the Pentagon, Lawrence Di Rita, called the apology “very tepid and qualified,” adding: “They owe us all a lot more accountability than they took.”
But in an interview, the Newsweek editor, Mark Whitaker, mounted a robust defence of his staff, insisting the magazine would not make any retraction, that it did nothing “professionally wrong”, and that nobody at the title would be disciplined over the report.
Mr Whitaker said the magazine had gone to unusual lengths to ensure the accuracy of the original article, including showing a pre-publication draft to a US official, who chose to neither confirm nor deny the essence of the story.
“We’re not retracting anything. We don’t know what the ultimate facts are. Everybody did what they were supposed to do. We were dealing with a credible source… we approached officials for comment… we fully disclosed the whole chain of events so the public could reach its own conclusions.
One Pakistani man interviewed by Newsweek said “We can understand torturing prisoners, no matter how repulsive. But insulting the Koran is like deliberately torturing all Muslims. This we cannot tolerate.” Under pressure from the Pentagon, Newsweek is now backing off some of its original reporting. The magazine hasn’t retracted the claim but acknowledged there were errors in the report. However this is not the first time such accusations surfaced about US guards desecrating the Koran. In August 2003, 23 Yemeni detainees reportedly tried to commit mass suicide after a guard stomped on the Koran. In addition, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights reported former detainees said they saw the Koran being thrown into the toilets. A former interrogator has confirmed to the New York Times that copies of the Koran were once tossed on the floor in pile and mistreated. Meanwhile a report from last year issued by the Center for Constitutional Rights also cited Koran abuse. A former British detainee said “The behavior of the guards towards our religious practices as well as the Koran was also, in my view, designed to cause us as much distress as possible. They would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet, and generally disrespect it.”
The United States is investigating the most recent claims.
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