Boycott Newsweek

[jon]

Newsweek loves taking peoples lives. I haven't touched it since Mike Borda took his life.

[olyclimber]

I would love to take you at your word, but let's hear at few more facts.

[Fairweather]

Fucking Newsweek. The reporters who wrote the Guantanomo Koran-in-the-toilet story....which now appears to be a lie...should face trial and be held accountable for the lives lost. Dan Rather, Jayson Blair, now Newsweek/Isikoff....these guys can't just keep making this shit up with impunity. Someone's gotta pay for this.

 

No anti-military, anti America bias in the print press? C'mon.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7864705/

[olyclimber]

Somebody should pay for lies, not matter whose flag they're waving. You've only mentioned half (or less) of the bullshit Fairweather...

[mec]

 

It's all about selling advertising. Advertising sells when more people are reading it. Let's hope that people do say 'fuk newsweek' and stop reading it, and the advertisers will notice and start pulling ads, or demanding discounts. However, in the past, big shit like this happens, it causes a stir, then a month later everything is back to normal. i only read this shit if I am sitting in a doctors waiting room and the only other magazine to read is 'Shape' or 'Highlight'.

 

Unfortunately, no one will pay for the lies. someone might get fired, but no one is going to stand trial, or any of that. I also agree that beyond firing, there is not much we can do. What can we charge them with? Lying? lying is not a crime, unless under oath, and printing an article in newsweek does not mean you are under oath. However, I do hope they can the ass of whoever wrote and researched that article...

[tomtom]

You guys read Newsweek?

 

WTF?

 

You might as well be watching Dateline for accurate news.

[archenemy]

Even the Business Journal had to apologize for misprinting this story. Are you saying we should stop getting our news due to an error? I agree that better fact-checking would be appreciated, but I am not going to stop reading the J or my Newsweek because they made a mistake. It wasn't their first, and it won't be their last. But ignorance is a far greater mistake.

[foraker]

not to discount Fairweather's point because all reporters are biased one way or another, it's just a matter of extreme. however, i think this is more an example of what we get when we have news media that are driven by the all might advertising dollar which is ratings driven. there is tremendous pressue to, borrow a phrase, publish or perish. often, in the rush to publish before the other guy, fact checking falls by the way side. mind you, i'm not being a media apologetic. i hope they take a big financial hit and rightly so. maybe it will make them pause next time. on the other hand, where's the righteous indignation for the news about the administration cooking the intelligence data? where's the big bad lefty media on that story? no money in it i guess....

Edited May 16, 2005 by foraker

[Stonehead]

This is a smokescreen just like the democracy in Iraq.

 

So, keep focusing on the 'irresponsibility' of the press and the 'freedom' in Iraq.

[mec]

the media are getting a little to anxious to report the big story that they are getting a bit more careless with facts. meeting deadlines and revenue goals are bigger issues for newsweek and the journal rather than reporting the facts. For most stories, it does not matter too much if they make a mistake. However, for big issues, they should make sure of the facts before they print, or at least understand the potential consequences, and be able to take responsibility. I'm all for freedom of press and all that jazz, but people need to be smart about it.

[Peter_Puget]

.... i think this is more an example of what we get when we have news media that are driven by the all might advertising dollar which is ratings driven. there is tremendous pressue to, borrow a phrase, publish or perish. often, in the rush to publish before the other guy, fact checking falls by the way side....

 

Newsweek asserted P. Their attempts at confirmation yielded ~P and Null. They then concluded P. From a standpoint of logic their conclusion was simply wrong.

[foraker]

PP: +1 for having a valid point, -1 for previous unquestioning acceptance of own sources of 'news' and 'facts'

[graupel]

Newsweek Got Gitmo Right

by Calgacus*

*Calgacus has been employed as a researcher in the national security field for 20 years

 

 

Contrary to White House spin, the allegations of religious desecration at Guantanamo published by Newsweek on May 9, 2005, are common among ex-prisoners and have been widely reported outside the United States. Several former detainees at the Guantanamo and Bagram prisons have reported instances of their handlers sitting or standing on the Koran, throwing or kicking it in toilets, and urinating on it. Prior to the Newsweek article, the New York Times reported a Guantanamo insider asserting that the commander of the facility was compelled by prisoner protests to address the problem and issue an apology.

 

One such incident (during which the Koran was allegedly thrown in a pile and stepped on) prompted a hunger strike among Guantanamo detainees in March 2002. Regarding this, the New York Times in a May 1, 2005, article interviewed a former detainee, Nasser Nijer Naser al-Mutairi, who said the protest ended with a senior officer delivering an apology to the entire camp. And the Times reports: "A former interrogator at Guantanamo, in an interview with the Times, confirmed the accounts of the hunger strikes, including the public expression of regret over the treatment of the Korans." (Neil A. Lewis and Eric Schmitt, "Inquiry Finds Abuses at Guantanamo Bay ," New York Times, May 1, 2005.)

 

The hunger strike and apology story is also confirmed by another former detainee, Shafiq Rasul, interviewed by the UK Guardian in 2003 (James Meek, "The People the Law Forgot," Dec. 3, 2003). It was also confirmed by former prisoner Jamal al-Harith in an interview with the Daily Mirror (Rosa Prince and Gary Jones, "My Hell in Camp X-Ray," Daily Mirror, March 12, 2004).

 

The toilet incident was reported in the Washington Post in a 2003 interview with a former detainee from Afghanistan:

 

 

"Ehsannullah, 29, said American soldiers who initially questioned him in Kandahar before shipping him to Guantanamo hit him and taunted him by dumping the Koran in a toilet. 'It was a very bad situation for us,' said Ehsannullah, who comes from the home region of the Taliban leader, Mohammad Omar. 'We cried so much and shouted, "Please do not do that to the Holy Koran."' (Marc Kaufman and April Witt, "Out of Legal Limbo, Some Tell of Mistreatment," Washington Post, March 26, 2003.)

 

 

Also citing the toilet incident is testimony by Asif Iqbal, a former Guantanamo detainee who was released to British custody in March 2004 and subsequently freed without charge:

 

"The behavior of the guards towards our religious practices as well as the Koran was also, in my view, designed to cause us as much distress as possible. They would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet, and generally disrespect it." (Center for Constitutional Rights [.pdf], Aug. 4, 2004.)

 

The claim that U.S. troops at Bagram prison in Afghanistan urinated on the Koran was made by former detainee Mohamed Mazouz, a Moroccan, as reported in the Moroccan newspaper, La Gazette du Maroc. (Abdelhak Najib, "Les Américains pissaient sur le Coran et abusaient de nous sexuellement," April 12, 2005.) An English translation is available on the Cage Prisoners site (which describes itself as a "nonsectarian Islamic human rights Web site").

 

Tarek Derghoul, another of the British detainees, similarly cites instances of Koran desecration in an interview with Cage Prisoners.

 

Desecration of the Koran was also mentioned by former Guantanamo detainee Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost and reported by the BBC in early May 2005. (Haroon Rashid, " Ex-Inmates Share Guantanamo Ordeal," May 2, 2005.)

[chucK]

Does this make any sense?

 

It's either one or the other isn't it? Either Newsweek is wrong and they should apologize, or descecrating the Koran has been systematically been used as an interrogation tactic and Bush should apologize?

 

Though Newsweek for whatever reason, now wants to backtrack on their story, do you rightwing nutcases seriously believe that our guys did not wipe their asses on the Koran? "O.K., let's tie this guy up, dunk his head under the water until he's almost dead, but holy smoke Joe, don't mess with the Koran!"

[Dru]

 

I only get my news from credible sources.

[j_b]

do not worry. the administration is investigating the matter: the truth will come out

 

oh btw: http://www.juancole.com/2005/05/guantanamo-controversies-bible-and.html

[cj001f]

The Bush Administration asserted P. Their attempts at confirmation yielded ~P and Null. They then concluded P. From a standpoint of logic their conclusion was simply wrong.

[mattp]

Though Newsweek for whatever reason, now wants to backtrack on their story, do you rightwing nutcases seriously believe that our guys did not wipe their asses on the Koran? "O.K., let's tie this guy up, dunk his head under the water until he's almost dead, but holy smoke Joe, don't mess with the Koran!"

 

Way to cut to the quick.

[Fairweather]

not to discount Fairweather's point because all reporters are biased one way or another, it's just a matter of extreme. however, i think this is more an example of what we get when we have news media that are driven by the all might advertising dollar which is ratings driven. there is tremendous pressue to, borrow a phrase, publish or perish. often, in the rush to publish before the other guy, fact checking falls by the way side. mind you, i'm not being a media apologetic. i hope they take a big financial hit and rightly so. maybe it will make them pause next time. on the other hand, where's the righteous indignation for the news about the administration cooking the intelligence data? where's the big bad lefty media on that story? no money in it i guess....

 

To lend some context to your assertion: Newsweek and Isikoff were the team that sat on the Monica Lewinski story for over a week while they waited for 'corroboration'. Drudge stole the scoop out from under their then-puritan noses. Why was 'getting it right' so important in one instance and not another? I see only one variable.

[mattp]

I see only one variable.

 

We know.

[Fairweather]

If you see another, matt, feel free to share it with the class.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Fucking Newsweek. The reporters who wrote the Guantanomo Koran-in-the-toilet story....which now appears to be a lie...should face trial and be held accountable for the lives lost. Dan Rather, Jayson Blair, now Newsweek/Isikoff....these guys can't just keep making this shit up with impunity. Someone's gotta pay for this.

 

No anti-military, anti America bias in the print press? C'mon.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7864705/

 

Fucking A, Fairweather...their sources were in the American military, and they knew what the story was. If they're not going to deny the shit, then who's anti-American and anti-military? Assuming that this did not actually happen, then perhaps the military should have been a little more forthright in not letting the press get the idea it did in the first place?

 

Pretty convenient; leak a story to a major media outlet, deny the story is true after it's published, smear the "liberal" media, conveniently calling into question all information from the press, while simultaneously implying that the government/military is the correct source of information. Nice.

[Fairweather]

Ahh yes! The vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. Your paranoia now requires another dose, DFA. Go crawl back to the nurse's station and ask if it's time yet.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Ahh yes! The vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. Your paranoia now requires another dose, DFA. Go crawl back to the nurse's station and ask if it's time yet.

 

Pay attention, toolbag; DFA didn't mention any conspiracy, but let's think about the issue. The military has been thoroughly busted on the prisoner abuse front, and it's abundantly clear that we're willing to torture. Who has something to lose, here? The military.

 

You like to hate on Clinton, so let's use him as an example; you'll like it. Remember when he got busted for swabbing Monica's tonsils? And, within a couple of days, he decides we need to blow up a suspected chemical plant in Iraq? That's what we call distraction, Fairweather, and it's a tactic used by those in power who find themselves in potentially deep shit to keep people like you from thinking about what the powerful may have done wrong.

 

You had your eyes pried open real good about Enron; what's it gonna take to pry them the rest of the way open? Tell you what, the world looks like shit with your eyes open, but at least it looks real.

[chucK]

"Manufactured Outrage

While it's certainly a problem that Newsweek appears to have rushed the Koran story, it seems to me that the real problem, the problem much harder to fix and face up to, is the fact that the story was so believable in the first place. It doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination to conclude that an Administration which would sanction this, would also condone desecrating the Koran. And while it might be easier for certain persons on the Right to blame Newsweek for "ruining" America's image in the Muslim world, it's absolutely ridiculous to pretend as though our image wasn't already ruined because of previously proven abuses of power and a demonstrated insensitivity towards Muslims."

link

 

""So now there's a bunch of right-wingers who are pitching the desecrated Koran riot story with the line "Newsweek Lied, People Died." Get it? It's funny, because it's making fun of what all the anti-war people said when 1,700 Americans were killed based on lies they were warned about but didn't listen to. What, don't you have a sense of humor? This isn't even not caring. It's beyond not caring. It's taking pride in not caring.... how the hell do people like Glenn Reynolds and Jonah Goldberg sleep at night?"

link

 

 

Both links from here