Don't Start a Riot

Remember when I said in this post that I was skeptical of reports that Gitmo guards had flushed a copy of the Quran down the toilet? Well, it looks like I called it.

NEW YORK — In an apology to readers this week, Newsweek acknowledged errors in a story alleging U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran. The accusations, which the magazine vowed to re-examine, spawned protests in Afghanistan that left 15 dead and scores injured.

Responding to harsh criticism from Muslim leaders worldwide, the Pentagon promised to investigate the charges and pinned the deadly clashes on Newsweek for what it described as "irresponsible" reporting.

"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," Editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the apology.

Newsweek reported that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators placed copies of Islam's holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.

These protests have killed more than a dozen people already. Do you really think that the Pakistani and Afghan news outlets will print a retraction? If I were in charge, I'd be trying these Newsweek goons for treason. This is going to be another case like Abu Ghraib, where the actual incident (in this case, an incident that never happened) is absolutely isolated; and yet, it will cost us precious diplomatic capital in the War on Terror.

It's incidents like this that case me to refer to Manda as the world's last remaining legitimate journalist. Also, she's gorgeous, if a bit foul-mouthed.

UPDATE: Well, it's good to know that even the BBC and CNN are acknowledging the Newsweek retraction. Of course, one can't begin to hope that they'll carry the story to the degree that they carried the original.