Reply #40: The NEWSWEEK - WH issue has nothing to do with Koran flushing

[MADem]

...per se. It was just PAINTED to APPEAR that way. To rile the ole base, to put the press on the defensive, to shut up the left, yet again.

The actual whining had to do with whether or not the Koran flushing assertions had appeared in a classified SOUTHCOM report on detainee abuse. The guy who intially said he saw it, later, after the fact, said he wasn't positively SURE that he saw the allegation IN that particular report.

When the second source was asked to comment on the blurb, he corrected one item, but DID NOT correct the allegation that the Koran flushing allegations appeared in the SOUTHCOM report. Isikoff, et al, took that as a YES.

The fact that these allegations have appeared elsewhere is IRRELEVANT. The White House wanted the dumb people who don't follow along closely to think that NEWSWEEK either gave away a state secret, or made up a BIG LIE, depending on your political persuasion.

When will we know the truth? When the SOUTHCOM report is declassified. When will that happen? Who the fuck knows........?