White House Attacks Newsweek, Doesn't Deny Charges About Korans

By DHinMI

Now Scott McClellan is a journalism professor?

The White House said on Monday that a Newsweek report based on an anonymous source had damaged the U.S. image overseas by alleging that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay...

Newsweek's editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized to the victims on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.

"It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not."...

McClellan complained that the story was "based on a single anonymous source who could not personally substantiate the allegation that was made."

"The report has had serious consequences," he said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."

Note the rhetorical trickery at play here.  What McClellan is evoking is a belief that Newsweek's claim that US interrogators desecrated Korans is incorrect, when all he's really claiming, and all Newsweek has admitted to, is not being able to substantiate the claim that interrogators desecrated Korans.  McClellan isn't wrong to criticize Newsweek for printing something based on one anonymous source whose story is shaky.  (Although I don't remember the RNC complaining when Michael Isikoff allowed himself to become, in his words, "a player--one of the acts in the [Clinton] scandal circus.")  But their reaction appears to me like a preemptive strike to so confuse everyone that if in fact somebody at Gitmo did desecrate Korans, that it won't have the full effect on public opinion.  In fact, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the allegations are being investigated "vigorously," and "if it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible."  That's far from a denial that desecrating Korans was an interrogation practice at Gitmo. 

What the White House is ignoring, of course, is the ease with which people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries could believe that the US would desecrate Korans while interrogating Muslim prisoners.  Some of that willingness to believe the worst about the US is inherent in those societies, and existed prior to 9-11.  But the fact that that the Bush administration not only failed to take advantage of the shock and horror at the attacks of 9-11 within most Muslim societies, but committed acts that have made our image even worse is the underlying fact that needs to be remembered, and which Scott McClellan and his masters in the Bush administration will do everything they can to make you forget.

Comments

[Crab Nebula]

From my reading of the NYTimes piece, Newsweek is being defensive and not handling this well. Their professional reputation is at stake, and they're defensive. Big mistake.

[Meteor Blades]

I woke up groggy on Saturday and decided to inject some adrenaline directly into my brain with my first visit to Little Green Footballs in six months. Call me twisted. I knew I wouldn't be disappointed, and I wasn't. Amid all the comments about how Newsweek "obviously" made up the story were hundreds saying the Koran OUGHT to be desecrated, and dozens suggesting exactly how this should be done. But the best comment of all was this little gem:

Lets not forget that Evan Thomas, Newsweek's assistant managing editor's grandfather was Norman Thomas, who ran on the Socialist ticket in the 1930s.

Thats all you need to know folks.

Of all the megamedia pundithuggery on this subject today, Bob Novak on Crossfire cracked me up the most, demanding that Donna Brazile agree with him that even if the Koran story were true Newsweek shouldn't have published because it would harm America's image. (She didn't agree with the great patriot.)

[DHinMI]

This morning on NPR they made the good point that 11 days passed before the WH complained about the report. And apparently Newsweek even ran the story by the Pentagon or White House before it was printed, and they didn't dispute it.

I think what's going to happen is that on some Friday a year or two from now confirmation of this story will be burried in a footnote of some voluminous report, and hardly anyone will notice...except maybe Norman Thomas' commie-pinko grandson.

[Jim McCulloch]

It's interesting that the Administration is willing to believe that a presumably fanatical Muslim captive would rip pages out of the Koran to stop up a toilet, but says, and I am paraphrasing of course, "no, our guys wouldn't do stuff like that, hence Newsweek lied and people died."

[DHinMI]

I haven't followed the story today (other than listening to a report this morning on NPR, but as of last night I hadn't seen the administration saying that Newsweek had lied because the desecration hadn't happened, I think they were saying that Newsweek lied because of how they attributed their sources and the credibility of their sources.

[MS]

Molly Ivins says Don't Blame Newsweek in an article that details the many places the Koran desecration stories have previously appeared.