Open Mouth, Insert Foot...And Repeat

Riots broke out in Afghanistan over a report from Newsweek that US soldiers were flushing copies of the Koran down toilets at Guantanamo Bay. The report, however, is questionable, as is evident from some pretty big guns on the blogosphere.
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php
http://rogerlsimon.com/
http://www.powerlineblog.com/

NEWSWEEK was not the first to report allegations of desecrating the Qur'an. As early as last spring and summer, similar reports from released detainees started surfacing in British and Russian news reports, and in the Arab news agency Al-Jazeera; claims by other released detainees have been covered in other media since then.

I question the intelligence of Newsweek for even paying attention to this story. The British press has not been kind to us in almost every regard in the GWOT, and Al-Jazeera is a mouthpiece and a shill for our enemies. And it seems that now Newsweek has finally joined that illustrious club of America-bashing. They have proven, time and again, that they are almost an equally greater enemy in the war effort. The MSM was the group that generated, hyped, and drove the non-story of the Abu Ghraib prison abuses. And they are the ones that continue to hype ANY prosecutions of our troops. Nice to see that they sway towards the bad, and overlook the good.

But it seems as though Newsweek now has egg on it’s face, and their non-apology apology it less than adequate for what they caused. The above quote is the very first thing you are greeted with in that "apology". And it almost looks as though Newsweek is literally saying "Do not blame us". Too bad that you should be blamed for such erroneous reporting.

After the rioting began last week, the Pentagon attempted to determine the veracity of the NEWSWEEK story. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers told reporters that so far no allegations had been proven. He did appear to cryptically refer to two mentions found in the logs of prison guards in Gitmo: a report that a detainee had used pages of the Qur’an to stop up a crude toilet as a form of protest, and a complaint from a detainee that a prison guard had knocked down a Qur’an hanging in a bag in his cell.

On Friday night, Pentagon spokesman DiRita called NEWSWEEK to complain about the original PERISCOPE item. He said, "We pursue all credible allegations" of prisoner abuse, but insisted that the investigators had found none involving Qur’an desecration. DiRita sent NEWSWEEK a copy of rules issued to the guards (after the incidents mentioned by General Myers) to guarantee respect for Islamic worship. On Saturday, Isikoff spoke to his original source, the senior government official, who said that he clearly recalled reading investigative reports about mishandling the Qur’an, including a toilet incident. But the official, still speaking anonymously, could no longer be sure that these concerns had surfaced in the SouthCom report. Told of what the NEWSWEEK source said, DiRita exploded, "People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?"

Now, who is that "son of a bitch" I wonder. I sure would like to Isikoff cough up some facts here. He has some explaining to do. And he would be wise not to try and spin his way out of this. We in the blogosphere are not afraid to tear down prominent media people for their journalistic malfeasance. (Anyone pick up Eason Jordan yet, or is he still gainfully unemployed?) And a veteran journalist like Isikoff I would have expected to investigate the claims a bit more before reporting on things like this.

But Isikoff apparently did not do that. Evan Thomas is attempting to handle the situation at Newsweek, but his explanation is weak, at best, and still does not offer a serious apology for the "mistakes" made. But I question whether it really was a mistake. As many of us have noticed, Afghanistan is rarely spoken of in the MSM. Unless it is something absolutely atrocious that occurs there, the media treats Afghanistan the way a vampire treats a garlic necklace.

But the media has been waiting for something like this; an incident to show how much the Aghani people dislike us. The problem, as with Abu Ghraib—which I mentioned above—is that this whole incident is media contrived and driven. What does it say about the media when they have to create stories to report on. It hearkens back to the quote from William Randolph Hearst: "You provide the pictures, and I’ll provide the war." In this case, the media provided both.

So, I do agree with DiRita’s second comment of "How could he be credible now?" Yes, how indeed? And how about the credibility of Isikoff, and Newsweek, in general. No offense, but damage control might not enough. Evan Thomas may have to roll a head or two to right this ship. And if he does not get this under control soon, upper management may launch his head over the bow of the ship. Credibility is king in the news world, and the MSM is taking blow after blow from the alternative media and the blogosphere every time they play fast and loose with the "rules" of the game. How many more blows will they take until they realize they need to straighten themselves out?

The Bunny ;)