On Newsweek

OOPS, they did it again. The mainstream media have made another of their honest mistakes that just happen to hurt the Bush administration, or impugn the integrity of the U.S. military, or undermine our foreign policy, or-as in this case-all three.

Newsweek reporters Michael Isikoff and John Barry infamously reported that FBI e-mails complaining about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay included a report that a U.S. interrogator had flushed a Koran down the toilet, and that this allegation was confirmed in a forthcoming report by the U.S. Southern Command (SouthCom) in Miami, responsible for Gitmo. Both of these claims are false. Anti-U.S. fanatics seized on the report to stir up riots that have left more than a dozen people dead in Pakistan and Afghanistan and destabilized the Karzai government. Newsweek should not be blamed for the violence, but its May 9 “Periscope” item was irresponsible, and telling.

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OOPS, they did it again. The mainstream media have made another of their honest mistakes that just happen to hurt the Bush administration, or impugn the integrity of the U.S. military, or undermine our foreign policy, or-as in this case-all three.

Newsweek reporters Michael Isikoff and John Barry infamously reported that FBI e-mails complaining about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay included a report that a U.S. interrogator had flushed a Koran down the toilet, and that this allegation was confirmed in a forthcoming report by the U.S. Southern Command (SouthCom) in Miami, responsible for Gitmo. Both of these claims are false. Anti-U.S. fanatics seized on the report to stir up riots that have left more than a dozen people dead in Pakistan and Afghanistan and destabilized the Karzai government. Newsweek should not be blamed for the violence, but its May 9 “Periscope” item was irresponsible, and telling.