WAR: Koran Flushing & Abuse - Newsweek Retracts, Washington Post Digs Deeper

Again, my point on this is, many people were claming that we should have been more patient, even giving months or years more to Saddam/Iraq because war is nothing to be taken lightly.

Knowing that the first report on this caused so much outrage, when it was still a rumor. Shouldn't the WP have exercise more caution with this also?

We did not find stockpiles of missiles with wmd pointing at the US, but the evidence is more than convincing that Saddam in fact had working wmd programs in Iraq before the war... Even the wmd were probably moved, and there is a lot of info also that supports this. There are more than just rumors of this... some people just don't want to accept the evidence that has been provided over the years.

Or perhaps people like myself don't think such "evidence" is sufficient. Honestly, I don't think reasons for the war matter anymore seeing as we're already there. The techniques employed by the government to justify the invasion is what people are more concerned about.

But back to the original topic. How do you think the WP could have handled this differently?

If in fact this did go on, then heads should roll.

By releasing information before it is confirmed, all that will happen is more riots in which people get killed.

The people who will suffer due to this are not the people responsible for the desecration, but rather everyday citizens of Muslim countries which were the locations of the riots.

By spouting off about this before it's confirmed, brilliant outlets like the Washington Post are doing nothing but killing innocents. They are doing NOTHING to bring any real culprit to justice. If their desire was to bring someone to justice they would assemble a bulletproof case and rip them to shreds. Instead they dabble in uncorroborated claims and do nothing but sell papers. What's the rush? This didn't happen yesterday. Research your claims, prove them, and rid the world of the people who did it. But no, instead we must sell papers and get attention. At the expense of people's lives. Absolute idiots.

Research your claims, prove them, and rid the world of the people who did it. But no, instead we must sell papers and get attention. At the expense of people's lives. Absolute idiots.

Are we talking about a newspaper or the League of Superheros?

They only exist to report news, not rid the world of evildoers... There will always be sensitive stories that can spark violent reactions, but freedom of speech and freedom of the press are central to our constitution and the idea of democracy that we're using to justify this entire campaign.

If you want your news censored, don't worry it'll be here soon enough. Until then, don't shoot the messenger.

I don't want news censored. I want it true.

That's not too much to ask is it?

Before you report on a story (especially a highly controversial one) that will have great impact on people's lives, why not make sure it's true?

Newsweek is a regime-obedient joke of a news magazine. The editors should be replaced immediadetely on grounds of obvious corruption and criminal association. Also Condoleeza Rice should step down for lying in public shortly after the newsweek retraction "the US would never ever do such a thing, we would never treat the holy Quran disrespectfully"


Djarums, what's your problem ?



[edit on 26-5-2005 by Moretti]

Problem with what?

All I was asking was for news media outlets to be careful about releasing hastily written articles before making sure their sources were true.

What problem are you referring to? I was responding to a statement by a prior poster.

by Moretti
Also Condoleeza Rice should step down for lying in public shortly after the newsweek retraction "the US would never ever do such a thing, we would never treat the holy Quran disrespectfully"

Don't be absurd. She was expressing her own values here. She cannot possibly speak for every single American citizen.

She is secretary of state, that is the officialy empowered exterior representative of the usa. What a secretary of state says is believed in many circles. If it turns out to be wrong, she looses her credibility towards foreign governements and will not be able to conduct diplomatic negociations in the future. She looses the prerequisite for her function.




[edit on 26-5-2005 by Moretti]

And she is responsible for what every person in the states does?...

Very convinient.... We might as well not believe anyone from any government at all then...

It is unrealistic to believe that any leader of any country can directly account for the conduct of their hundreds of thousands of armed services personnel.

Now that you mention it though... you're right... if an official says something and it turns out to be a load of crap, they do look stupid, and their credibility suffers. I agree!

But the same is true for press as well, isn't it?

For people who cannot imagine how to flush a Koran or other holy scripture, here are detailed instructions:


1. Hold the Scripture in your hand.

2. Throw it in the toilet bowl.

3. Push the flush button.


The desired impact is in the visual statement and cultural offence that it causes, not in the efficient use of the S-bend and sewage system.

As much as I dislike bringing up World Net Daily, they do offer some questions and details surrounding allegations of riots ensuing from the Newsweek article.

Virtually every major news agency in the world has reported without verification that between 15 and 18 Afghanis were killed in the riots.

There's just one problem. There is no more evidence for these deaths than there is that a U.S. interrogator flushed a Quran down the toilet.

Not a single name of even one victim has been released. No details of the circumstances of the riots were released from any official sources – either U.S. or Afghan.

...

No U.S. officials contacted can provide any corroboration for any deaths. And Afghan officials uniformly clam up with apprehension at the mere asking of questions.

www.worldnetdaily.com...

More in the AP syndicated article here:

news.yahoo.com...


"Flushing" is still denied/unsubstantiated, but five cases of "mishandling" (nice euphemism) that were not contrary to standard operating policy are confirmed.

Of more interest is what is going on today.



[edit on 26-5-2005 by MaskedAvatar]

Who cares about flushing a koran i guarantee you they dont care about flushing bibles. Of course we dont march in the streets and kill people and act like savages over a book.

Masked Avatar....perhaps you don't realize that if it was "standard procedure" and that military guards "were told by US officials to flush Korans" as you claim, there would have been more than one story from one man saying guards flushed a Koran... And no, you can't flush a small book in a toilet... even with your instructions...

Probably the worse that happened was that a guard either put the Koran too close to the toilet and it fell as he/they were searching the cell for weapons or anything illegal, or one guard did throw it in the toilet for spite.... It would have been the act of one man... but flushing a book, even a pocket size book?..... please...

Anyways your allegations that US officials were behind this are unfounded, you have no proof for this.

[edit on 26-5-2005 by Muaddib]

Muaddib

I am now convinced you speak a different form of English to me, a form which is free of certain nuances and interpretations of things between the lines and the S-bends.

Therefore I counsel you that you must repeatedly flush the holy scriptures down the toilet, along with all ATS posts that you do not approve of, repeatedly I say, until all trace of them is gone, so that your world can continue to be sanitized of truth.

Try a Japanese toilet with seven flush settings if the inferior western models are incapable of the requisite flush PSI pressure. Or try one with a wider outlet. Or a talking one, that encourages the user as it potty trains.


(Translation: He missed the point).

Sanitized of truth?..... ok...whatever Masked.

You are bit too obssesed to even notice that you change the truth here and there so it can fit your little world. You are basing your points on assumptions and claims which you can't corroborate. You keep claiming this was warranted by US officials, when in fact it was done once according to the same evidence you posted here, and part of that same evidence says that special orders were given so that nothing like this would happen.

And you still don't want to address the fact that you don't seem to care if something like this will cost the lives of other people again...

I thought you wanted to save lives and have a peaceful world and everything..... Obviously you will do anything to try to prove your little obssesion, even if it costs the lives of other people, and all of this based on assumptions and information which hasn't been corroborated and mysteriously appeared in a week or less after the first article of Newsweek.

No outcries from you to wait a bit more so this can be corroborated and perhaps even save some lives...as this will create more violence and probably more death...

---edited so it can fit Masked's world---

[edit on 26-5-2005 by Muaddib]

No, no... not at all.

You will notice I said "sanitized of truth".

Different entirely.

[edit on 26-5-2005 by MaskedAvatar]

There, it was fixed....

Is it better now?...