Newsweek backs off its Koran report

[LostInSpace]

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Story that sparked riots questioned

Allegation an Islamic holy book was flushed down a toilet by a U.S. soldier can't be proved, Newsweek editor says

May 16, 2005

Newsweek has partially backed off its report that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran, a story that sparked furious riots last week that killed at least 15 people in Afghanistan.

The May 9 Newsweek item reported that a pending U.S. military investigation had found evidence that interrogators placed Qurans in washrooms to unsettle suspects and in one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."

While stopping short of retracting the entire story, the magazine apologized and said it would re-examine the accusations after a Pentagon spokesman questioned the reported source of the charges and called similar allegations by detainees "not credible."

Newsweek's error was in asserting that the claim of desecration came in the pending military investigation into FBI e-mail messages describing prisoner abuse at Guantanamo, and in suggesting there was evidence supporting the claim.

"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 the magazine's May 23 edition, out today.

The story that sparked the furor was a short item in Newsweek's Periscope section.

Reaction in Afghanistan was strong, likely compounded by angry denunciations by foes of the U.S.-friendly regime of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and by public discontent in general.

A story on the report, also in today's Newsweek, says the magazine's original information came from a senior U.S. government official who was a "longtime reliable source" and was familiar with the abuse investigation by the military's Southern Command, which runs the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Before publishing the item, reporters Michael Isikoff and John Barry sought comment from senior defense officials, Newsweek said. 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, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita told Newsweek that it was wrong and that the Pentagon had found no credible evidence to support the allegations of Quran desecration.

Whitaker said the magazine's original source later said he could not be sure he read about the alleged Quran incident in the upcoming Southern Command report Newsweek cited. "Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we," Whitaker wrote.

Journalism experts expressed concern about the incident.

"It's disturbing," said Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. "Obviously, the reaction to the report tells you just how damaging and dangerous careless reporting can be. ... You can't know what the impact of anything you report is going to be, and for that reason it seems to me that the verification process has to be as stringent for a one-paragraph story as for a thousand-paragraph story."

Paul Levinson, chairman of the department of communications and media studies at Fordham University, agreed.

"I think, given the incendiary nature of our world, the height of the tensions that are running through the Islamic world against Americans, that our journalists have to be extra careful in publishing stories that inflame those tensions," he said. "I think Newsweek did some damage in publishing the story initially, and I also commend them for stepping up now and admitting their mistake."

This story was supplemented with wire service reports.

How the magazine story broke

May 2: Newsweek reports that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that American guards in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had committed infractions in trying to get terror suspects to talk, including in one case flushing a Quran down a toilet. The story is in the May 9 issue, on newsstands May 2.

May 10: Afghans protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

May 11: Protests turn violent in Jalalabad, with mobs stoning U.S. troops and smashing foreign consulates and other government and aid offices. At least four are killed.

May 12: More are killed as protests spread. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls any act disrespectful of the Quran "abhorrent" and promises to punish any offenders.

May 13: A top Pentagon spokesman tells Newsweek its story was wrong and that a review of the probe cited in its story showed that 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."

May 16: Newsweek apologizes, saying the source for its original story is no longer certain where he read the allegation of the Quran's desecration.

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[LostInSpace]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Newsweek magazine backed away Sunday from a report that U.S. interrogators desecrated copies of the Quran while questioning prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base -- an account blamed for sparking violent riots in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan were skeptical after a U.S. magazine backed away from a report that U.S. interrogators desecrated copies of the Quran while questioning prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

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Fox Five News

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Newsweek Retracts Koran-Desecration Story

Monday, May 16, 2005

By Jane Roh

Two Marines, 23 Rebels Killed in Afghan Battle

NEW YORK ÔÇö Newsweek on Monday retracted a story alleging interrogators at Guantanamo flushed the Koran down a toilet in front of detainees.

"Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay," editor Mark Whitaker (search) said in statement released Monday evening.

Earlier, Whitaker acknowledged the story was problematic in an apology to Newsweek's readers, but said there was no reason to retract the story.

"We're not retracting anything. We don't know what the ultimate facts are," he told The New York Times.

Newsweek did not say what caused the turnabout.

In the apology, Whitaker said that its lone source for a story accusing U.S. interrogators of flushing the Koran (search) down the toilet to rattle a detainee later said he could not recall where information about the alleged incident came from.

"We believed our story was newsworthy because a U.S. official said government investigators turned up this evidence," Whitaker wrote. "But 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."

Protesters took to the streets in several Afghan cities last week after Newsweek published its report. American flags were burned, relief organizations were attacked and at least 16 people were killed and scores injured in clashes with police.

Angry Bush administration officials were out in force following Newsweek's admission.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called the report demonstrably false, and that investigators at the FBI and the Southern Command have not found any evidence to support it. SouthCom is based in Miami and oversees operations at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"You can't go back and undo or retract the damage that has been caused not only to this nation, but to those who have been attacked, injured or killed as a result of these false allegations," he said.

The White House, said to be outraged over the report, stopped short of outright demanding a retraction. However, a spokesman implied the magazine should take back the story.

"It's puzzling. While Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refuse to retract the story," press secretary Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met. In this instance it was not.

"This was a report based on a single anonymous source that could not substantiate the allegation that was made," McClellan added. "The report has had serious consequences. People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged. I just find it puzzling."

Whitaker said that writers Michael Isikoff (search) and John Barry (search) had shown their story to two Defense Department officials but that neither commented on the alleged Koran incident. Whitman implied on Monday that no Defense officials were contacted prior to publication.

Whitaker, however, did not say that the allegations in the story were wrong, but that the Newsweek reporters' source could not pinpoint where the source obtained his or her information. He also implied that the story had no causal effect on the recent riots in Afghanistan, in which 16 people have died and dozens have been injured.

"The riots started and spread across the country, fanned by extremists and unhappiness over the economy," Whitaker wrote.

The allegations by the "knowledgeable U.S. government source" were to be included in an upcoming SouthCom review, Isikoff and Barry reported in the May 9 issue.

Defense Department officials said there are no such charges in the SouthCom report.

It was unclear if the Pentagon was going to pursue a probe into the alleged incident or drop it in light of Newsweek's admission. A SouthCom spokesman said the investigation was still open, but Whitman said he did not know if it had been closed.

While the Pentagon denies uncovering any information whatsoever about the allegations, Justice Department officials told FOX News that they shared a report with Defense about one such incident.

In the summer of 2002, a Guantanamo prisoner told an FBI agent that an interrogator there flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet. The FBI did not confirm the allegation, but passed a report containing the detainee's statement to the Department of Defense, Justice Department officials said.

On Friday, Whitman said the Pentagon did not receive the report, and that even if Newsweek's source was based on that statement, it would be "substandard" journalism to report on a detainee's uncorroborated statement.

Eric Burns, a media analyst and host of "FOX News Watch," agreed that Isikoff and Barry should have tried to back up their source.

Journalists are supposed to "get multiple sources for printing something incendiary," and if the source's information did come from a military report, "they should have gotten a copy of that report," Burns said.

That the reporters did not find any U.S. officials who could confirm their source's information makes the "knowledgeable U.S. government" source's credibility even more dubious, Burns said.

"Who was this official they went to? Was he in a position to know?" Burns wondered.

Burns said he understood why Newsweek, in light of the Abu Ghraib scandal, was eager to go forward with the story, and that Isikoff, who has "a hell of a reputation" in journalism, was no Jayson Blair (search).

But, "The charge here is that an erroneous report led to death. If that's what actually happened and can be causally established, then there is no more serious charge you can make against a news organization, and no more bizarre explanation from one," Burns said.

He cautioned that it might be pushing it to blame Newsweek for the ongoing violence in Afghanistan, saying that despite the news weekly's blunder, "there are people who are looking for reasons to hate us ... it will have no effect on people abroad who do not care for this country's behavior."

Many of the inmates at Guantanamo were captured during the U.S.-led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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[paranide]

Well,the problem is:the average arabian believing in the islam wouldn't trust the back off,he would rather suspect Newsweek being forced by the U.S government to deny the story about the koran.

Or he wouldn't be able to read Newsweek at all,and would only have the "translation"done by his religios leader.And why should those be more believing that the story was fake?

It is very sad that both sides,the western nations and the (middle)eastern nations have already prejudice against each other,this prevents to establish a culture of tolerating each other,or even exchanging the different aspects of our different ways of living.According to that,even a fake story as printed in NEWSWEEK,can lead to an outburst of violence and hatred.

[Freyar]

Can't these guys make up thier mind? We retract the story, we don't retract the story... geez..

[LostInSpace]

NY POST: MAG DEAD WRONG

[jamotto]

FBI Records Cite Quran Abuse Allegations