Stories of Korans tossed into Gitmo toilets as early as **March 2003**

[VOX]

The scapegoating of Newsweek by BushCo and its mouthpieces stikes me as far too strained and contrived. So much so that I did a Lexis-Nexis search for similar stories, and came up with hits dating from today back to March 2003. So why the meltdown now, and the damning of Newsweek for printing a story that been traveling through the press for more than two years?

There also are multiple stories of other Koran-related indignities at Gitmo, such as stomping on the book, handling it inappropriately,and even sitting on it.

These stories hail from sources as diverse (and reliable) as the The Denver Post, the Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), the Financial Times (London, England), The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Post, among others.

Since these snips are from a Lexis-Nexis search, I can't link to the stories.

Mods, sorry for the long post, but I'm banking on importance. Thanks.
- - - - -
Copyright 2005 The Denver Post
All Rights Reserved
The Denver Post
January 9, 2005 Sunday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT; Pg. F-11
LENGTH: 1088 words
HEADLINE: Nightmare of Guantanamo.... U.S. prison camp in Cuba has become legal black hole, reporter says
BYLINE: John Freeman Special to The Denver Post
<snip>
They were punched, slapped, denied sleep, had seen other prisoners sexually humiliated, hooded and forced to watch copies of the Koran being flushed down toilets. Eventually the pressure proved too much - they gave false confessions that the British intelligence service, MI5, later showed to be untrue. Upon their return to the United Kingdom they were released without being charged.
<snip>
- - - - -
Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)
January 3, 2005 Monday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 27
LENGTH: 177 words
HEADLINE: Koran prayer torture claim
SOURCE: AFP
BODY:
LONDON -- A British detainee claims he was tortured at Guantanamo Bay for reciting the Koran when talking was banned.

Moazzam Begg told lawyers he was tortured using the strappado, in which a prisoner is suspended from a bar with handcuffs, Britain's Observer newspaper said.

Mr Begg alleged he had been shaven several times against his will and a guard had said on one such occasion: "This is the part that really gets to you Muslims isn't it?"
<snip>
- - - - -
Financial Times (London, England)
October 28, 2004 Thursday
London Edition 2
SECTION: THE AMERICAS; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 310 words
HEADLINE: Four Britons held at Guantanamo sue US government
BYLINE: By JIMMY BURNS
DATELINE: LONDON
BODY:
Four British subjects detained without trial for nearly three years in the US military base of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are suing the US government.
In the first legal action of its kind, the former detainees, who were released in March, are alleging torture and other human rights violations.
<snip>
In August Mr Ahmed, Mr Rasul and Mr Iqbal issued a 115-page dossier accusing the US of abuse, including allegations that they were beaten and had their Korans thrown into toilets.
<snip>
- - - - -
USA TODAY
October 18, 2004, Monday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2A
LENGTH: 820 words
HEADLINE: Spy case was a 'life-altering experience' for airman
BYLINE: Laura Parker
DATELINE: FAIRFIELD, Calif.
BODY:
FAIRFIELD, Calif. ---- The day Ahmad Al Halabi, an Air Force translator at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was arrested, he was more puzzled than alarmed.
<snip>
Al Halabi says he did not witness any treatment of prisoners that has now been called into question as abusive. But he says he saw things at Guantanamo that disturbed him. He says guards would purposely mishandle the Koran "just to see the detainees' reaction."

"All I wanted was for them to treat those prisoners like human beings," Al Halabi says.
<snip>
- - - - -
Daily News (New York)
August 5, 2004 Thursday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 34
LENGTH: 320 words
HEADLINE: ABUSED AT GITMO, FREED BRITS CHARGE
BYLINE: BY JAMES GORDON MEEK and DEREK ROSE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
BODY:
THREE BRITONS freed from the terror prison in Guantanamo Bay say they were stripped naked and faced other abuses that mirrored what happened to inmates in Iraq.
<snip>
They say that rats and scorpions had free run of their sweltering cages, loud rock music was used to drown out the sound of prayers, and sleep deprivation was common.

"They would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it," Asif Iqbal wrote.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Independent (London)
August 5, 2004, Thursday
SECTION: First Edition; NEWS; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 729 words
HEADLINE: FATHER CALLS FOR SON'S RELEASE AFTER CAMP DELTA TORTURE CLAIMS BEGG DEMANDS SON'S RELEASE AFTER TORTURE CLAIMS AT CAMP DELTA TORTURE
BYLINE: JONATHAN BROWN Azmat Begg said his son's health was deteriorating Matthew Fearn/PA; Moazzam Begg: Held at Guantanamo for two years
BODY:
THE FATHER of a British man being held in Guantanamo Bay called on the Government yesterday to immediately bring home the detainees following new claims of sexual, physical and psychological torture. Moazzam Begg, who is still in solitary confinement at the United States' military facility in Cuba after two and a half years, was described in a report published yesterday as being "in a very bad way".
<snip>
In the report, released in New York, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul - the so-called Tipton Three - said one inmate was threatened after being shown a video in which hooded inmates were forced to sodomise each other. Guards allegedly threw prisoners' Korans into toilets, while others were injected with drugs, it was claimed.
<snip>
- - - - -
The San Francisco Chronicle
JUNE 20, 2004, SUNDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A17
LENGTH: 3005 words
HEADLINE: THE FILE: PRISON ABUSE;
Since reports first surfaced of abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, other accounts of ill treatment have surfaced in Iraq and at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay.
BODY:
ABUSE
Prisoners have been forced to strip naked -- nudity is a violation of Muslim principles; forced to commit actual or simulated sex acts; prevented from sleeping; threatened with dogs; hooded; given electric shocks; beaten with fists, chains, boots and other objects; forced to maintain painful positions for hours; kept in frigid isolation rooms; subjected to loud music, strobe lights and diets of bread and water; urinated on and prevented from praying or reading the Koran.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Observer
May 16, 2004
SECTION: Observer News Pages, Pg. 8
LENGTH: 2441 words
HEADLINE: Inside Guantanamo Bay: I was in extreme pain and so weak that I could barely stand. It was freezing cold and I was shaking like a washing machine. They questioned me at gunpoint and told me that if I confessed I could go home: As America struggles to come to terms with military abuse in Iraq, similar stories are emerging from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Tarek Dergoul, a Briton released from the camp in March, talks here for the first time about his two-year ordeal. By David Rose
BYLINE: David Rose
BODY:
'THEY HAD already searched me and my cell twice that day, gone through my stuff, touched my Koran, felt my body around my private parts. And now they wanted to do it again, just to provoke me, but I said no, because if you submit to everything you turn into a zombie.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
May 14, 2004
SECTION: Guardian Home Pages, Pg. 1
LENGTH: 564 words
HEADLINE: Guantanamo abuse same as Abu Ghraib, say Britons
BYLINE: Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington, Tania Branigan and Vikram Dodd
BODY:
Two British men who were held at Guantanamo Bay claimed that their US guards subjected them to abuse similar to that perpetrated at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
<snip>
According to a source, who has interviewed them in secret since their release, they were initially too ashamed to talk about it, and are only now starting to give details. The source said: "They are embarrassed about talking about it because they feel humiliated. We have had an account that their religion was used against them, that a copy of the Koran was brought in front of them and pages torn out."
<snip>
- - - - -
The Observer
March 14, 2004
SECTION: Observer News Pages, Pg. 5
LENGTH: 5420 words
HEADLINE: World Exclusive: Inside Guantanamo: How we survived jail hell: For two years the Tipton Three have been silent prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Now, in this remarkable interview with David Rose, they describe for the first time the extraordinary story of their journey from the West Midlands to Camp Delta
BYLINE: David Rose
<snip>
As Muslims, they were shocked when in repeated 'shakedown' searches of the sleeping tents, copies of the Koran would be trampled on by soldiers and, on one occasion, thrown into a toilet bucket. Throughout their stay at Kandahar the guards carried out head-counts every hour at night to keep the prisoners awake.
<snip>
- - - - -
The Washington Post
March 26, 2003 Wednesday
Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A12
LENGTH: 888 words
HEADLINE: Returning Afghans Talk of Guantanamo;
Out of Legal Limbo, Some Tell of Mistreatment
BYLINE: Marc Kaufman and April Witt, Washington Post Staff Writers
DATELINE: KABUL, Afghanistan March 25
BODY:
Afghan men freed today after spending months in legal limbo as U.S. prisoners in the war on terrorism said they were generally well-fed and given medical care, but housed in cramped cells and sometimes shackled, hit and humiliated.
<snip>
The men, the largest single group of Afghans to be released after months of detainment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave varying accounts of how American forces treated them during interrogation and detainment. Some displayed medical records showing extensive care by American military doctors, while others complained that American soldiers insulted Islam by sitting on the Koran or dumping their sacred text into a toilet to taunt them.
<snip>

[Bozita]

1. Good work. KrazyKat! -- frontpage material

Thanks.

[Maple]

2. Thank you!

I was hoping someone had this information!

[KoKo]

3. There are probably Google links to the same stories if you need sourcing

for your snips. This deserves a look and hopefully some folks who can get this out will pick it up. Did you send it to Raw Story, Editor & Publisher, and the Nashua Advocate?

[VOX]

6. Not yet, but that's next...

Have to break for dinner right now (on West Coast).

[KoKo]

11. Also David Brock's "Media Matters!" Here's links if you don't have them

filed away already. What's puzzling is that Mike Issikoff would have access to Lexis Nexis so why couldn't he have backed up his own article. After all he's the "Blue Dress" reporter who leaks to Drudge.

http://mediamatters.org /

http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com /

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp

http://rawstory.com /

[Roland99]

36. ***Here are links to ALL of the stories...***

1st article
http://www.kuwaitifreedom.org/media/pdf/Nightmare%20of%...

2nd article
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Detainee-alleges-US-...

3rd article
http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/uk/3959635.stm

4th article
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-17-halabi_x...

5th article
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/04/guantanamo.abuse.accu... /

6th article
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?...

7th article
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronic...

8th article
http://www.countercurrents.org/hr-rose170504.htm

9th article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1216645,00....

10th article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,13743,1169...

11th article
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=6513&PHPSE...

[im10ashus]

39. Thanks for the links!

And GREAT thread KrazyKat! Kick this!

[outrage]

43. Excellent work...but isn't it a shame that ordinary citizens

have to work so hard to do what our supposed 4th Estate should be doing? The mis-administration and it's corporate controlled press never cease to amaze me with their smoke and mirrors. Now these GOP fools are saying Newsweek should do more than apologize. They should never have apologized in the first place, seeing how these despicable acts are true. No one should apologize for a damn thing EVER until the corrupt bastards in the white house apologize for the whole mess THEY, NOT NEWSWEEK,has created in the Middle East. Whoever is falling for this latest diversionary crap is a slobbering, knuckle-dragging moron.

[Roland99]

66. I'll drink heavily to that!

[AntiCoup2K4]

91. Some of those links are dead already

Damn the history revisionist net scrubbers move fast.

[VOX]

93. Way to dog these down, Roland99!!!

Appreciate it immensely.

[clem_c_rock]

96. Thanks a lot.

Send these out to everyone you know.

[nashuaadvocate]

51. We're on it! Thanks.

The Nashua Advocate

[OKNancy]

4. Wonderful research

good job. Now where shall we send this?

[ladjf]

5. Well, there you have it. All of those papers are going to have

to retract their stories. Great find! It negates the entire nefarious
"Ratherizaion" of Newsweek. It shows it for the illegal farce perpetrated by the White House against Newsweek.

[lonestarnot]

7. Retract! Retract and RETREAT ALL YOU REPUKES!

[understandinglife]

8. Well done. Here is another useful reference.

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/docs/Gitmo-compositest...

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[hector459]

9. Excellent. Send it off to Newsweek. or the WH

I bet the WH will shit a brick!

[Bozita]

12. I sent it to Mike Malloy and Bernie Ward

[VOX]

18. Thanks, Bozita.

[knowbody0]

10. nice work

thank you... we've been reading these stories for two years. we are not paranoid freaks, we are truth seekers. in no way will this new spin work for them. the truths are chasing them and they've danced as well as they can on this.

[Ksec]

13. Im getting this argument from the whackos

Theyre saying the sources are all ex prisoners, not gov officials as is the case in the Newsweek story(although the officials never recanted their story)

So is that true ? I know and you know that all these people are not lying but it just makes me crazy when they wiggle out of a situation like this.

[VOX]

19. Tell the whackos that at Gitmo, **everything** is shrouded in secrecy...

That is the truth. And that Islamic inmates are denied their legal rights.

[rfranklin]

67. Remind them of what the "meaning of 'is' is!"

They are using lawyerly weasel words just like they screamed about when Clinton parsed his testimony.

[Darranar]

14. "Liberal media" indeed. n/t

[Wheezy]

15. Wow. Excellent work--thank you.

[rodeodance]

16. this should be media blasted

[Bozita]

20. Yes, how do we do a media blast? (I really want to know.)

[DeepModem Mom]

17. kick

[rucky]

21. John McCain disagrees and the White House demands a

retraction. to your post.

[clem_c_rock]

22. Once again - a case in point in how we can watch our own media

and check it for validity.

Do you think the NY Times would ever do just what Krazykat did?

Fuck No!!!

GReat work.

[enough]

23. kick

[Nothing Without Hope]

24. Kick! Good work! n/t

[Karenina]

25. Back to ONE!!!

[Disturbed]

26. Good work.

Now the BushFascist can contact all those sources and make them retract their articles. In fact, any stories in the past that were not complimentary to the Bush Fascist have to be retracted and apologized for.

[VLC98]

27. The MSM pretend the allegations are new...

when many of us had heard about them ages ago. We're expected to believe that the newspaper articles you mentioned are unavailable in Afghanistan, but Newsweek is for sale at every market place, probably shipped in by Michael Moore. (Of course Muslims wouldn't believe the claims of detainees anyway).

[MelissaB]

28. Excellent work!

for the other morning people.

[Skinner]

29. Excellent work.

You'd think the media might know how to search this stuff themselves.

[outrage]

56. They know, but obviously are not in the business of disiminating

the truth, but in garnering ratings and pleasing stockholders. Sons of bitches. Thank God for DU and progressive minded folks who don't have their heads up the asses.

[VOX]

59. Thanks, Skinner.

I find the public groveling act by Newsweek very unsettling -- why don't they stand their ground, and simply cite the fact that these stories have been around for more than two years.

The fact that the earlier reports are from inmates (mostly Afghans, in fact) rather than the "unnamed government source" would seem no less inflammatory to Afghan Muslims.

[HamiltonHabs32]

30. Jebus

Nice find

[Spazito]

31. Excellent work!

Thank you for this invaluable post.

[LocalDem]

32. We knew it, you proved it.

Good work.

I couldn't believe that the Bush Administration was playing up the Newsweek retraction. Given the absolute incompetence of these military jails, there was no question in my mind that Quran desecration happened and happened repeatedly. After all, if Lynndie England is making naked pyramids, do you think she would show respect for the Muslim holy book?? God only knows what they did -- or what they photographed.

I fear their idiotic handling of this issue will only make it so much worse when the truth comes to light.

If we impeached presidents for simple incompetence, this guy would have been history years ago.

[Ganja Ninja]

33. "It's all just a librul media conspiracy."

How long before we're going to hear that as the republican talking point. I've already seen the freepers trying to blame the "liberals at Newsweek".

[CornField]

34. Excellent work -- nominated.

I've yet to read the entire Newsweek article. What I would find interesting is if there is any new (previously unreported) information in it. From a logical stance, I can only think of two conclusions:

1) The WH needed a scapegoat for recent violence.

2) The WH needed to discredit the entire Newsweek report by calling into question one aspect of the article.

[Oilwellian]

35. Rawstory did a piece on this yesterday

http://rawstory.com/exclusives/newsweek_koran_report_51...

Great work KrazyKat.

[T-Jeff_Dem]

37. Why now -- seems simple to me

Why now??
1) body count -- if it bleeds, it leads. MSM is still in the $$ business, even if that means sacrificing one of their own -- hyena will be hyena

2) Bushies have so few 'righteous indignation' moments, they gotta push 'em when they see 'em -- what I wonder is when a few dead 'ayrabs' meant so much to them.

3) There is a difference in sourcing -- 'Newsweak' source is US Gov't official -- previous reports were self-reports from detainees or their reps.

4) Don't want the public concerned about judicial nominees now do we??

5) War memo from the UK -- what memo from the UK?

6) Maybe this info. was a plant?? Think maybe they were ready to respond with their indignation? Again, dead 'ayrabs' to these folks are a good thing, and even better if you can score political points while killing 'em.

[VOX]

60. Good analysis. But is that **one** difference in source-citing...

...Inmates vs. the "anonymous government official" -- is that fuel enough to make the stories so inflammatory as to incite Afghan Muslims to riot?

In fact, the larger number of the 2-year-plus-old reports were made by Afghan Muslims. Why didn't they riot in March 2003?

Something is way, way off here.

[T-Jeff_Dem]

64. Can't think it is . . .

what tipped things over by itself. It is a rather subtle distinction for the masses I would surmise. Maybe the env't was just right to blow up anyway and this was the spark. Could have been anything, but this did it.

Unfortunately, given our govt's history of agitation, my conspiracy head allows me to think that this was a scenario the Admin. was waiting to unfold. Feed false info. to a pre-established 'source' to the media when things are getting tough and a distraction is needed . . . a few well placed CIA operatives push that info. with folks ready to go off for a variety of other reasons anyway . . .wait for the excrement to meet the fan . . . blame the media for their murderous indifference to the truth.

[Julius Civitatus]

38. Read this: Rove wants Newsweek to apologize again and again

and "do more to repair damage."

Not content with making Newsweek the scapegoat for this debacle, they are further humiliating the publication. No word yet form the MSM that the allegations of such practices in Gitmo have been published already in the NYT, WP, and foreign press since 2003.

Newsweek Urged to Do More to Repair Damage

WASHINGTON - The White House says Newsweek took a "good first step" by retracting its story that U.S. investigators found evidence interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran, but it wants the magazine to do more to repair damage caused by the article.

Newsweek on Monday retracted the report in its May 9 issue after officials in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department criticized its publication and its use of an anonymous source. Protests in Afghanistan, where more than a dozen people died and scores were injured in rioting, and demonstrations elsewhere in the Muslim world were blamed on the article.

"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."

(...)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050517/ap...

So basically they are accusing Newsweek of murder and to accept it as fact.

The question is how will Newsweek react to this: will they grow some balls and explain the allegations were al;ready out there? On the other hand, will they just further get on their knees, keep apologizing, and promise Rove to write a glossing review of Dear Leader biking skills? Any guess of which way will Newsweek react?

[progressivebydesign]

41. Maybe Bush wants them to lie down under the wheels of AF-1

That worked for Rove during the campaign, didn't it?

[progressivebydesign]

40. Incredible find... you'd think Newsweek would have done the same search.

I read this morning that the White House is demanding MORE of Newsweek... I mean, what's left to do? Prostrate themselves in front of an airplane that the pResident is boarding? Or is that just a Rove trick?

[demo dutch]

45. I am sure they have and the rest of the media knows as well

however they're all afraid of the WH at this point!

[demo dutch]

42. We should let Newsweek and its reporter know this plus

all other media. It's all such bullshit!

[im10ashus]

44. Agreed!

And Kicked!

[TeeYiYi]

55. Agree. Send this to Newsweek. :kick:

TYY

[gordianot]

46. And they wonder why Corporate News is not trusted?

A blogger on DU gets the facts!


This is not only the so called "liberal" press but those who consider themselves "conservative". I have heard "conservatives" use the same arguments used by "Progressives" in complaining about the growing irrelevance of news media.

To me the best line is if it is not asked at a News conference then it is not a big story for MSM. Unfortunately desecrating religious literature will continue to be a big story as long as there are riots and wars over such stupid unnecessary and immoral actions.

I wonder if Newsweek will identify who they cleared this report when they went to the State Department? The criminals who allowed these actions to be committed in the first place will never understand what they have done until it is too late. It's probably too late.

[im10ashus]

47. Kicked!

Edited to add: The Rude Pundit is on topic today.

http://www.rudepundit.blogspot.com

[Julius Civitatus]

48. The Rude Pundit rawks!!

He's quickly becoming one of my favorite bloggers, a daily must-read.

[scdusek]

49. All accounts

...are obviously false. These are all rags...USA Today? Financial Times? Washington Post? Never heard of them. Does Jeff Gannon contribute to any of them?

Seriously, these are the same publications who need to get off their lazy asses and push back against this administration. Newsweek (or is it NEWSWEEK?) is the worst of them all for even considering offering a retraction. Cowards. The media is supposed to report the facts which is what they did.

[im10ashus]

50. I think it's now NewsWEAK! n/t

[BobRossi]

52. re: Stories of Korans.....

Great work! Let's keep kicking this.
Why the F*** can't the MSM do this kind of work?

[im10ashus]

53. WHY?

Because they are in the neo-cons pockets. Amongst other reasons.

[Catherine Vincent]

54. Maybe they did, finally.

And that's why you don't hear the media whores talking about it today.

[goodhue]

57. March 26, 2003, Washington Post no less

[caligirl]

58. these are victims statements, not admissions by the government

which was the point of the Newsweek article. surely they have heard victim accounts of the same treatment. What makes this different is the connection to uncle sam, that they knew they were engaging in this. but the angry people and those who died are suddenly angry about a practice we heard from victim accounts had been going on since 2003? And Bush is suddenly upset by this account? Convenient too convienent, they discredited CBS by sending out the faked documents and then dropping the fake hint to Free Republic who went after CBS. This is too convenient. Why do they need to destroy that reporter and Newsweek? WAr is going badly, they want to control the coverage of it.

[VOX]

61. Right. But would Afghan Muslims care about the specific source so much...

...as to start riots? In fact, the earlier reports that were made by Gitmo inmates -- those guys were Afghan Muslims!

Why didn't Muslims in Afghanistan riot then? You'd think that the stories of Koran desecration would be no less inflammatory back in March 2003.

Something really stinks here, and badly.

[Serial Mom]

62. At least 11 previous stories where this was mentioned!

And NOW they decide to tell the public that Newsweek was wrong

WHAT ARE THEY DISTRACTING FROM NOW??!

[caligirl]

63. exactly, they are manipulating something, destroy credibility

Galloway's testimoney? A poll that came out yesterday with Bush at 43% approval?

[Serial Mom]

65. It is something!

They ALWAYS are waving one hand high in the air saying "look up, over here" while they are doing something wrong with their other hand low and behind their back!

Sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigots!

[cthrumatrix]

73. a campaign to destroy the media ..... propaganda ONLY

[Democracy White]

68. I should show this to my mom

We got into an argument yesterday about the Newsweek incident. I said that it was the Bush assmiminstration that forced them to retract and/or apologize and that something felt funny to me. She said that they shouldn't have printed in the first place because they "didn't have the facts"

How much you want to bet that the magazine did have the facts and that they were bullied by the assministration.

BTW, I knew this kind of shit was going since the begiining of the Afghan war. I guess people just forget to easily.

Dee

[im10ashus]

69. Keep this kicked!

[Democracy White]

70. Keeping this kicked

all the way to the top!

[kimchi]

71. Thanks for all the good info.

Showing the light to idiots is "hard work".

[stevietheman]

72. I'm convinced...

the story is true... as look at who reported it! Not exactly a tabloid here.

These "retractions" look wholly contrived and manipulated from the Bush White House. This has Rove Stench (TM) all over it.

This proves once and for all who is controlling the U.S. news media.

[im10ashus]

78. Agreed and Kicked!

[paineinthearse]

74. Are DU'er brilliant or the corporate media researchers idjuts

or both?

Excellent researching!!

[im10ashus]

75. Kicked! n/t

[Avalux]

76. corporate media DO NOT research at all

they say what they're told to say. That's the problem. If they did their job, this info would have been reported by now.

[im10ashus]

77. I am highly suspect of any MSM after this.

All media. NY Times, Washington Post, NewsWEAK. There is too much corporate and political interest in OUR media. Where does one go for truth now? BBC? Keep this kicked!

[Robworld]

79. American soldiers destroying the Koran doesn't shock me

What do people expect when the Muslim religion was pointed out as the ultimate threat to everything that is the American way. Right wing pundits, the media, plus the events of 911 have made many Americans to believe that the Koran is a book of evil, and must be destroyed.

http://www.dumdumgoestothecircus.com /
Website updated

[VOX]

99. Nail-head. Hammer. Wham.

In a nutshell.

[Tiggeroshii]

80. It almost seems as a show

....In which the White House is desperate to make the media look as damaging to it than ever, and this is the worst it can find. It's funny to hear those accusations from hethe right, "those liberals at newsweek, etc.." the author of this article, has reputedly tried a number of attempts to debunk fahrenheit 9-11, in which he pulled a number of events from Fahremheit 9-11 from his ass and printed them. Forget his name.... =|

[im10ashus]

82. Sort of like wag the dog?

Kicked!

[BrightKnight]

81. Rumsfeld should resign.

This is extreme incompetence. Did they really believe that no one would find out? Have they learned nothing from AbuGreb? America is an open society with a free press. This is not a problem! They appear to be incapable of operating within these constraints. Shooting the messenger will not make the problem disappear.

The “war” on terror should be essentially about winning hearts and minds. Has torturing people and putting the Koran in the toilet really accomplishing anything? Are they trying to cause terrorism? I doubt that many in the Muslim world are going to take the Newsweek retraction seriously. The only real solution to the problem would be for Rumsfeld to resign.

[paineinthearse]

87. Actually, he has offered

But *'s handlers will not let him.

[PATRICK]

83. So WAPO and Newsweek

can't even do this minimal homework to defend themselves(and Journalism) from this RW slobber?

They'd rather be seen by all thinking people as weakneed tools apologizing for essentially doing their job, accepting humbly the need to be a scapegoat for liars and killers?

So how stupid is that? Keeping the hatred of the RW and earning the utter scorn of everyone else(even themselves)... The ONLY thing their cowardly and stupid retraction does is convenience the regime. Everything else other whimpering under the lash and cravenly surrendering is extremely self-defeating. And ALL in service of a lie.

But they keep their jobs and paychecks instead of closing their rags and being turned out into the streets- as this abdication seems to require and richly deserves.

Perhaps it is ultimately the shell economic reality joined like a courtly concubine to the comfort-pain harem overseer, Pavlov Rove- that makes it so easy and reflexive to fall into line with utter insanity and self abasement.

They only care what Bushco says, not what the rest of the universe knows. So go to hell with them, ASAP, for everyone's sake.

[im10ashus]

84. Kicked! n/t

[XemaSab]

85. I didn't think they HAD toilets at gitmo

I thought they all had a bucket in their dog runs.

[Inland]

86. Excellent catch! nt

[im10ashus]

88. Keep this kicked! n/t

[paineinthearse]

89. WP finally posted a story at 10:40PM - 24 HOURS after KrazyKat!!!!

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[VOX]

98. Thanks, paininthearse.

Just doing my part to keep DU ahead of the MSM game.

[Forever Free]

90. How does one exactly flush an entire Koran down the toilet?

[AntiCoup2K4]

92. It's probably a honeybucket as opposed to a flush toilet.

From what I've seen of Gitmo, I doubt they would give the prisoners indoor plumbing.

[Willy Lee]

94. kick

[VOX]

100. Exactly my thought.

No indoor plumbing for inmates. But then, no one knows, because Gitmo is shrouded in secrecy.

[Triana]

95. I presented this to some Repukes for an answer...

...to the question

"So why the meltdown now, and the damning of Newsweek for printing a story that been traveling through the press for more than two years?"

And guess...guess what I got? A half page of personal insults. Period. That's it. No answer - just the usual Republican attempt to divert attention from the subject matter at hand and avoidance of answering the question by hurling personal insults instead. Still no answer. The Repukes can't answer this.

Surprise, surprise. (not)

[VOX]

97. That's all they've got in their arsenal -- rage.

Almost sad, if they weren't threatening the very life of this country.

[Wheezy]

101. Same here.

Unbelievable.

[Triana]

103. Two days later...

..STILL no response. I also presented them with the argument that Newsweek isn't the issue. Abuse and torture of detainees is the issue.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

SILENCE...

InterstinK, I think.

[Ms. Clio]

102. kick n/t