MaxedOutMama
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Just One Question
I have a question for you all.
What would you think if someone told you that Nancy Pelosi had become so angry at the religious right that she had flushed a Bible down a toilet at a democratic fundraiser as a demonstration of her disgust?
This GA woman's first response would be "I've never seen a Bible that could fit down a toilet!" Her second would have been "I don't think the Democrats hold fundraisers in public restrooms --- you've been put on."
And you know, that's exactly how I reacted when I first heard about the charge a Gitmo interrogator flushed a Koran down the toilet to harass a detainee. What, did the interrogator drag the detainee in the toilet with him or her? According to news reports, the detainees did not have en suite toilets in their spacious accommodations, and I'm sure they still don't. I would have found "stomped on", "tore up" etc etc credible (although reprehensible), but this doesn't even sound plausible to me.
Tom Carter notes that Newsweek appears to have been wrong when it printed this particular allegation and spawned a series of riots and deaths across the Islamic world. Not, mind you, that they're admitting that they were really wrong. They just might have been in error:
What would you think if someone told you that Nancy Pelosi had become so angry at the religious right that she had flushed a Bible down a toilet at a democratic fundraiser as a demonstration of her disgust?
This GA woman's first response would be "I've never seen a Bible that could fit down a toilet!" Her second would have been "I don't think the Democrats hold fundraisers in public restrooms --- you've been put on."
And you know, that's exactly how I reacted when I first heard about the charge a Gitmo interrogator flushed a Koran down the toilet to harass a detainee. What, did the interrogator drag the detainee in the toilet with him or her? According to news reports, the detainees did not have en suite toilets in their spacious accommodations, and I'm sure they still don't. I would have found "stomped on", "tore up" etc etc credible (although reprehensible), but this doesn't even sound plausible to me.
Tom Carter notes that Newsweek appears to have been wrong when it printed this particular allegation and spawned a series of riots and deaths across the Islamic world. Not, mind you, that they're admitting that they were really wrong. They just might have been in error:
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.Is that not mush-mouthed? So the orginal source was wrong, and you can bet that credible sources have told them that. My question is this: Why couldn't they have thought for a moment in the first place? Tom's post has links both to the retraction and his original post, which also contains the original Newsweek report. I don't think these professional journalist even thought twice about the credibility of what they were printing with this one.
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Because the fanatic segment has tantrums when criticized?
Newsweek handed the extremists a big weapon. They have been trying to keep the portion of the Islamic world that is under their control ignorant and propagandized that the US is a fanatic anti-Islam evil nation. Newsweek just reinforced that impression.
Sympathy? I have no sympathy with Newsweek. I think it has shown its irresponsibility quite openly. I think it should be boycotted.
Newsweek handed the extremists a big weapon. They have been trying to keep the portion of the Islamic world that is under their control ignorant and propagandized that the US is a fanatic anti-Islam evil nation. Newsweek just reinforced that impression.
Sympathy? I have no sympathy with Newsweek. I think it has shown its irresponsibility quite openly. I think it should be boycotted.
Doc, the reason the media, for the most part, are so ready to tear down the U.S. while they ignore Islamic fanaticism is they're stuck in an ideology that won't let them look beyond their preconceived notions.
I would think they just ripped the pages out of the bible and flushed the pages. I wouldn't be surprised at all of the allegations, especially after using fake menstrual blood in their interrogations. I'm sorry, but after all the things that have been used as interrogation tactics, little would make me bat an eye.
Dingo, I won't touch the issue of whether they should have printed it or not if it were true. You know I have strong feelings about freedom of the press.
The question is whether they reasonably believed it. The contention apparently comes originally from a detainee. According to one of the reports, it was a detainee who blocked up a toilet with sheets from the Koran. I wonder how much checking they really did.
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The question is whether they reasonably believed it. The contention apparently comes originally from a detainee. According to one of the reports, it was a detainee who blocked up a toilet with sheets from the Koran. I wonder how much checking they really did.
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