WAR: Newsweek May Have Erred in Koran Desecration Report

Oh pleeeeze, Ace of Base, yes you are 100% correct. What is sooooo hard to beleive about tossing THEIR bible into the toilet, or using it as toilet paper?
This is just insane. Sure it would be done. Are you saying we are totally above that? What about the abuse? Did you forget that?

Now, before you jump all over my already irritated carcus I want to say who the heck do THEY think they are??????????????

They are always burning our flags. I swear somebody has mass produced American flags over there JUST SO THEY CAN B BURNED.
Whats good for the goose is good enough for the gander.
I would have used their Koran as toilet tissue myself.

You don't remember the indignation? Where the hell have you been? This board alone has been screaming about it since day one. Big Media enjoys trotting it out every week or so.

Big Media loved screaming about so-called false intelligence-Intel that the Soviets even today claim was *not* erroneous.

But go ahead with the blinders. The press was caught once again with it's pants down. Best defense-"but I claim others did it too!"

If you recall correctly, it was also Big Media "reporting" these claims of lies. Just like Rathergate and now this made up #e. So logically, perhaps you should start doubting your original assumption, and perhaps Big anti-Bush Media concocted/spun that up too.

Just like they insist on misrepresenting sarin gas and chem labs and centrifuge hardware and missiles that were located in Iraq over the years. Just like they seemed to miss the "oil for food" scandal until it had been brought out completely open by truly independent news outlets.

before you go about accusing people of only believeing what they want, check your own core beliefs, and where they came from. I'll bet these beliefs were in place long before the war even started.

Originally posted by curme
I don't remember all of this indignation towards the press during Bush's rush to war, when the mainstream meda failed to scrutinize an action that led the US to invade a nation. Where are the cries for accountability now? When the half-truths and lies of the Iraq invasion and occupation are common knowledge? Why do people pick and choose when they want to start complaining about the press? I think some need to explore thier anger at a lazy press. Are they angry about the lies? Or just the lies they don't believe?

I was just discussing this w/ my significant other carbon unit and we came to the simultaneous conclusion this is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog.

for Newsweek

Newsweek shouldn't have even reported it, in interest of National Security. What the hell is the matter with these people (Newsweek)? They knew they would be adding gas to the fire! I will never read a Newsweek Magazine again and propose that everyone else do the same.

**** Boycott Newsweek! ****



[edit on 16-5-2005 by Event Horizon]

Yeah why dont you get all the copies of Newsweek and make them into a huge pile and burn them. Have a patriotic rally in Washinton around the burning stack of magazines!

Originally posted by subz
Yeah why dont you get all the copies of Newsweek and make them into a huge pile and burn them.

Better yet flush them down the toilet!

Ahh, but that's probably too good a treatment for this rag of a paper.

LMFAO great call there

Originally posted by Matyas
.....
Isn't this what the ME folks are really mad about?
.....

Not really, radical Islamists are trying to use anything as an excuse to attack the US.

The following is an example of what I am saying.

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- A group of Afghan Muslim clerics have threatened to call for a holy war against the United States in three days unless it hands over military interrogators reported to have desecrated the Quran.
.........................
The clerics in the northeastern province of Badakhshan said they wanted U.S. President George W. Bush to handle the matter honestly "and hand the culprits over to an Islamic country for punishment."

"If that does not happen within three days, we will launch a jihad against America," said a statement issued by about 300 clerics, referring to Muslim holy war, after meeting in the main mosque in the provincial capital, Faizabad.

Excerpted from.
www.cnn.com...

They actually want the people that supposedly desecrated the Quran to be handed over so that they can be punish according to Sharia law, or Islamic law.

That I know off desecration of the Quran means a penalty of death.

In many countries around the world, some of them Islamic countries, bible are burned and the faithfull from other religions are killed or harrassed, yet no real violence comes from those countries which are Christian/Catholic.


[edit on 16-5-2005 by Muaddib]

Nice to see your bias against Islam showing its head Muaddib, its getting quite boring.

Well gee, subz, can't be no worse then when you go into your ever-present anti-American bias, can it?


As to the topic, anyone been fired at Newsweek yet?



seekerof

Originally posted by subz
Nice to see your bias against Islam showing its head Muaddib, its getting quite boring.

So it wasn't Muslim clerics who proclaimed this?.....

I gave a direct quote as to what those 300 clerics are saying....

There is a difference in this and your rethoric agaisnt the US subz, give it up already while you still have some face to save.

BTW... i did say some Islamic countries....there are other countries which are not Islamic and also do this...



[edit on 16-5-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Muaddib

Originally posted by Matyas
.....
Isn't this what the ME folks are really mad about?
.....

radical Islamists are trying to use anything as an excuse to attack the US.

right you are on the radical part. It is my understanding these mainstream religions such as Judaism and Islam do not condone or encourage violence as a means to an end. These other elements are like a cancer.

I think this kind of thing happens often to advanced societies. Take Choco Canyon for example, the culture fractured and eventually crumbled away because behavorial sinks like these gained control of key positions. Any country that would let someone get control of a national forum like CNN and liken the Democrat's appointment process to the senate to going to Nazi death camps and picking out prisoners for the furnaces is facing an internal rot that will destroy the country from the inside out as surely as a malignant cancer can kill you or I.

But I am wandering. These are different subjects, other than for the common denominator of surliness toward our own kind.

I think pro War on Terror-ists should be glad that the media has completely avoided bringing up the 2002 Downing Street memo. Talk about news that would incite violence. Diplomacy is out of the question concerning U.S. aggression at this point and all muslims who read that information would also come to similar conclusions and realize that fighting is the only method out of war given to them.

[edit on 17-5-2005 by Frith]

Update
The White House has stated that the retraction was a "good first step", but is asking Newsweek to publish an explanation.

Newsweek Urged to Do More to Repair Damage
"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."

McClellan said a retraction was only "a good first step" and said Newsweek should try to set the record straight by "clearly explaining what happened and how they got it wrong, particularly to the Muslim world, and pointing out the policies and practices of our military."

The most interesting part:

U.S. officials did not deny the report when it first appeared.

Here's what I think is most suspicious right now. How many deaths are we up to after this story? A lot - anybody got the up-to-date number?

Why hasn't this reporter been in court yet? This is not a matter of freedom of speech. There has to be a firm, discoverable accounting to this. People have died and a world of hurt threatens becaue of this story. Why hasn't this reporter been requested, under threat of contempt, to provide all documents and sources that he used for this article? I don't care if he has decided they weren't reliable. He must account. He must prove that there was a source. The lack of judicial action since Newsweek said "Our bad!" is weird. What are they waiting for? For the source to have time to allegedly get killed?

[edit on 5-17-2005 by Valhall]

Valhall, that would be a nasty precedent to set by the U.S government at this stage.

Remember the deaths related to the "Iraqi WMD's" error? That is an acknowledged mistake in sources and intel. If the Newsweek reporter who erred here can be held legally responsible for inadvertantly/purposly promoting false information resulting in deaths then the same charges should be leveled at those responsible for presenting false intel in relation to the WMD's. That includes Powell, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Bush. Not a precedent that they really should be pursuing if I were them.

Originally posted by subz
Valhall, that would be a nasty precedent to set by the U.S government at this stage.

Remember the deaths related to the "Iraqi WMD's" error? That is an acknowledged mistake in sources and intel. If the Newsweek reporter who erred here can be held legally responsible for inadvertantly/purposly promoting false information resulting in deaths then the same charges should be leveled at those responsible for presenting false intel in relation to the WMD's. That includes Powell, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Bush. Not a precedent that they really should be pursuing if I were them.

Well, see? The advantages to this are endless aren't they! lol

Originally posted by Valhall
Here's what I think is most suspicious right now. How many deaths are we up to after this story? A lot - anybody got the up-to-date number?

Why hasn't this reporter been in court yet? This is not a matter of freedom of speech. There has to be a firm, discoverable accounting to this. People have died and a world of hurt threatens becaue of this story. Why hasn't this reporter been requested, under threat of contempt, to provide all documents and sources that he used for this article? I don't care if he has decided they weren't reliable. He must account. He must prove that there was a source. The lack of judicial action since Newsweek said "Our bad!" is weird. What are they waiting for? For the source to have time to allegedly get killed?

[edit on 5-17-2005 by Valhall]

I haven't followed this (mostly because media talking about media is a gravitational pit from which no light ever escapes), but I have heard interviews saying the source was a government employee and a Pentagon official was shown the final story for comment prior to publication and didn't raise a single eyebrow at the Koran thing. The only people criticizing Newsweek at this point are competitors and angry mobs. They're just fallguys at this point.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
Update
The White House has stated that the retraction was a "good first step", but is asking Newsweek to publish an explanation.

Newsweek Urged to Do More to Repair Damage
"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."

McClellan said a retraction was only "a good first step" and said Newsweek should try to set the record straight by "clearly explaining what happened and how they got it wrong, particularly to the Muslim world, and pointing out the policies and practices of our military."

The most interesting part:

U.S. officials did not deny the report when it first appeared.

See, if I were a conspiracy theorist (oh) this would stink of a hit on media credibility given the government source and prior Pentagon approval.

But it's not like we have a pattern for that sort of thing.

Edit: Remember, news outlets have NO responsibility for the material they print. They are legally allowed to lie, and in fact, can fire employees for refusing to lie. Remember the FOX case. Legally, Newsweek is perfectly within its rights to print stories that aren't truthful.

This could just be another double standard..allowed to lie in favor of the government (at the cost of public health) while not allowed to lie in favor of the opposition. Not that I favor lies, I'm just sensing a pattern of increased advantage on the side of government, and that's nothing new, but now it's officially sanctioned and there is precedent to back up the lying, government-stooge media.

I doubt Newsweek just decided to buck the trend of government control just to let this slip...

I am almost completely sure that this story was leaked for a reason, it was released to fan the flames, and drive us even closer to holy war.

The two sides are chomping at the bit! They're eager for bloodshed, and it's playing into the machinations of people behind the scenes. As much as our respective governments convey the appearance of being run by zealots, the truth is a little more complicated I believe. Religion is bad for business, that's always been the case. The fewer religious people in the world, the more money there is to be made, and the greater the degree of control over society.

Religion has always competed with the secular state for the obedience of the people, it's history. Anyway, if the Christians and the Muslims wipe each other out, or become so marginalized by their shared extremism, the remainder of the world will be easy picking for any prospective masters of destiny waiting in the wings.

And for those who said Christians don't overreact this way, I got news for you: WRONG! As we speak there are Christian militias operating, using child soldiers, killing tens of thousands, looting and raping like savages! The Muslims don't have exclusive rights to cruelty and stupidity.

It's always the same tune, every time a story pops up claiming Muslims are doing something bad, Christians appear like magic and start shouting about how much better they are, about how this NEVER happens in reverse, about how all muslims must be out of control. As if to say, "look, see, I told you they were evil! They're not even human, don't you see?"

It's really tiresome, because there's not a grain of truth to it. You're simply caught up in the whirlwind of religious zealotry, and nobody else can help you. I can't help you, not even Jesus can help you. You have to help yourself..to some common sense and objectivity.

You are them, when it comes right down to it. You have dehumanized each other for centuries, and spent untold amounts of effort to wipe the other side off the face of the earth. And you want my support?

Hah. Given the choice between aligning myself with either of two bass-ackward armies, I choose a lawn chair, the sidelines, and a bag of popcorn every time.



[edit on 17-5-2005 by WyrdeOne]