So much to write — So little time: Therefore, I won’t waste words.

The fallout from the apparently erroneous reporting in Newsweek on May 9th, that a Koran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo during prisoner interrogations, is really hitting the fan. First, some quotes from the LA Times (reg. req.) and then from the not quite a retraction from the Newsweek.

Newsweek magazine acknowledged Sunday that there were errors in a story reporting that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Koran while attempting to extract intelligence from Muslim prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The report led to a series of violent anti-American protests and at least 14 deaths in Afghanistan.

In its issue set to hit U.S. newsstands today, Newsweek said its source for the story backed away from an assertion that investigators had concluded that military personnel had flushed a Koran down a toilet. The finding was supposedly included in an upcoming report.

Newsweek apologized and expressed regret about the violence that followed the story. But the magazine defended its reporting and said it was continuing to investigate allegations that U.S. personnel had desecrated the Muslim holy book.

Mark Whitaker from Newsweek writes:

Last Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told us that a review of the probe cited in our story showed that it was never meant to look into charges of Qur’an desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them “not credible.” Our original source later said he couldn’t be certain about reading of the alleged Qur’an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. 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.

Bottom line on this one, whether true or not, and it looks less likely to be true with every new release of information, in a time of war, the news media needs to have some level of restraint. The carelessness, or callousness, of the Newsweek writers and editors have cost lives this time, and set back tenuous relations with the Afghanis and caused even more rancor among Muslim populations everywhere. Sure hope they are proud of that accomplishment.

Laer, another SoCal Bloggers’ Alliance member, writes about this at Cheat Seeking Missiles:

Their apology is not enough, not by a long shot. There should be congressional hearings immediately on this matter, with everyone at Newsweek and all their sources forced to answer congressional subpoenas and testify under oath.

Also, a grand jury should be convened so the possibility of bringing manslaughter charges against the reporters and editors at Newsweek and their sources can be evaluated.

With freedom comes responsibility, and that goes for freedom of the press, too.

Don’t miss his link and reference to how the Newsweek article plays into the hands of Al-Qaeda, looking very much like a pre-planned exercise directly from their terrorist’s play book.

Captain Ed also takes Newsweek to task:

Remember this when the Exempt Media gets on its righteous high horse and instructs us on their superior system of checks and balances. Newsweek ran an explosive story based on a single, unnamed source that it knew would cause a huge effect on the Muslim world, at precisely the moment when we need to ensure that people understand that we’re not at war with Islam.

Michelle Malkin has a pretty comprehensive set of links to many that are blogging about this.

One of my personal favorites, The Anchoress has many thoughts on the validity of Newsweek as well, including comparing their behavior regarding the Clinton/Lewinsky story to how they have proceeded with this Korangate disaster.

Yep. Kinda interesting, what Newsweek will spike and what it won’t. If it might hurt their guy, a story gets spiked. If it might hurt the other side’s guy…and get 15 or so people killed, btw…eh, we can let that get printed.

You go girl! Radioblogger pretty much wraps it all up with this observation:

Maybe, especially since we are in a war, you might want to think real hard before running a piece that can be considered aid and comfort to the enemy.

Newsweek joins a very infamous group of news agencies that have shown that the mainstream media isn’t just liberal, biased & agenda-driven, but it can be so blindly anti-American interest as to actually get people killed.

[Update: The story referred to below is pretty much refuted by later news reports, plus direct accounts by the parents and students involved -- see the followup here.]

BTW — I have been in email contact with one of the parents of a student in Gunnison, Utah that supposedly was involved in witnessing the “vivisection”, “surgery”, “dissection”, or whatever actually happened to the poor dog involved. She has suggested quite strongly that the news media has totally inflamed this story and gotten it completely wrong, that nothing untoward happened to the dog, and that the students that attended the science lesson session and their parents all are in agreement with this.

I will be trying to contact her by phone later today, and hope to interview a few of the other parents as well as the teacher, if possible and will bring you guys the real story, if I can get it. I was pretty hard on the substitute teacher, Bjerregaard, and the school administration the other day. If they don’t deserve it I’ll say so. The media is sticking with their story so far; however, that may not mean much — Can you say Dan Rather? (db)

[Update: 04:16pm — Well, as per Diane’s suggestion I checked for her phone number via the Internet, and low an behold, it’s unlisted! I could pay a fee and track her down, there’s only 61 Diane Johnsons listed to sort through using Gunnison, UT as the search criteria, but I don’t have the time for that, and since she didn’t care enough to supply a way to contact her, I no longer care. She sounds as wacky as the sub. Check out her initial comment on the dog story, pretty much out there, that’s for sure. Case closed . . . With Newsweek finally detracting the flushed Koran story (but no apology, why aren’t we surprised?) and the constitutional option along with the Bolton nomination both before the Senate this week, nothing more need be said about one dead dog in Utah! (db)

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