Redstate

You know, this was reckless.

So I read in the paper that Tomas of the local governing council is rumored to have called the Nelsen family the offspring of swine and Germans. No greater insult is possible.

I've long had a grievance with Tomas and his high-handed followers from that side of town. I rage against him for the slur, run berserk and kill 12 people in the district he represents.

The paper then retracts the story. Seems he never said that. Honest error, and yes, we were a little sloppy. Sorry.

Who's to blame for the mayhem?

Newsweek learned from Rathergate that it is important to come out quickly with an apology and retraction (even if you really do neither).

It is obvious though, that they will stonewall and stand by the content of their story quietly - so as not to further infuriate Muslims and our own soldiers.

Just like CBS, they are basically claiming and will continue to claim that the story is fake but accurate.

Apparently no one even bothers saying any more that the rioters were a limited group. We now just accept as inevitable any bad behavior coming from the Arab world.

We don't accept it when domestic criminals blame their crimes on "society". Why do we accept it when foreign terrorists blame their crimes on us?

The irony here is that most of those standing in line to attack Newsweek are the same people who recoiled at the suggestion that 9/11 was a direct result of US policy.

I thought that Newsweek didn't retract the STORY, just the part that claimed that there was gov't documentation of it.  They are sticking with the story about the desicration, just not the official evidence.  There have always previously been claims from the detainees that that sort of thing happened.

It strikes me as amazing that these multi-million dollar organizations, chocked full of ethical guidelines, professional standards, and disdain for those rogue bloggers continue to screw up so, so badly.

Perhaps they are taking the lead from their government?

Iraq WMD? Saddam ties to 9/11? anyone?

Iraq WMD?

Saddam Hussein, as part of the ceasefire imposed at the end of Operation Desert Storm, was required to come absolutely clean about his WMD program. No stupid games regarding access, just 100% cooperation.

He refused to show that cooperation right up to the opening of OIF.

Now, in the cold light of postwar analysis, it seems that he was trying to engage in nuanced strategic ambivalence.

On 9/10/01, that was barely tolerable--although, IMNHO, we were far too indulgent of the SOB for far too long.

On 9/11/01 et seq, it was absolutely intolerable.

The world changed. Saddam didn't. Think of it as evolution in action.

Saddam ties to 9/11?

Two words for you: "Salman Pak."

Denial.

And you're too deep in it to reach, so I won't bother thanks.

Denial.

Yes, the left is in extreme denial.

And you're too deep in it to reach, so I won't bother thanks.

Translation: ol' Poohbah veni vidi vici'd you so badly, you're going to walk away from it.

Bottom line: the onus was on Saddam to demonstrate that he was playing nice with others.

He didn't.

Well what's worse? The media and governments failure to get anything right about Operation Iraqi Liberation or Newsweek reporting what still appears to be true?

Clearly, there is plenty of evidence that the Koran was used to torture inmates. This same incident, and many others along the same vein, have been reported for OVER A YEAR. In many, many different publications.

"It's one thing to be free of government interference, it's another thing to have a press that is slavishly adherent to a certain ideological view"

I assume you guys are trying to spin this as a liberal media kind of thing? Do you do any freaking research at all? (rhetorical) This article, which I still believe is true, was written by a conservative, one who attacked Clinton for years.

"Beyond that, the Newsweek incident should cause one to question whether or not we truly have an independent press in this country"

Yes, a good point! What we have here is an administration trying to pin the blame on the media for a story it didn't approve of. It's censorship from this administration. You are right on. We are torturing inmates from Uzbekistan to Iraq to Cuba, and this is a shiny object that is simply distracting from the real issues. And you are taking the bait.

-JP

becuase I enjoy reading their magazine and I think they're usually pretty fair and cautious about what they write.  Seems they didn't take the necessary precautions for this one.  If they got it wrong, they need to admit it.

Clearly, there is plenty of evidence that the Koran was used to torture inmates.

"Newsweek said, it must be so!"

This same incident, and many others along the same vein, have been reported for OVER A YEAR. In many, many different publications.

Is that the new standard? "Many, many different publications" equals some sort of proof?

I guess we really DID recover a few dozen crashed flying saucers over the years...

The city of Los Angeles has elected its first Hispanic mayor since the pioneer days of the 19th century.

Antonio Villaraigosa, a son of a Mexican immigrant, defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Hahn, a fellow Democrat.

For more information go to:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4554873.stm

We all know about the double standard, what if the shoe were on the other foot, but that should not be our point, the point is that good journalism does not report potentially dangerous news without good corroboration of the facts. If Newsweek did not think about the consequence of their story in the extremist world of Islam they are merely ignorant, even if responsibility for the deaths lie with the rioters, but if we reveal that patterns in the newsrooms are driven by ideology, not truth or journalistic integrity, expose their motive, not the injustice of how they are treated when the screw up, but that their standard has become `disprove our stories,' rather than taking on the journalistic responsibility of proving their stories to readers. How many of these manufactured stories slip through if this is their standard? That is the question to ingrain in people's heads not a blame standard.

When Newsweek published the story about the Qur'an at Guantanamo without verifying the story, they contributed, through their negligence, to the death of over a dozen people, the wounding of many others, and the erosion of the War on Terror. There should be greater outrage over this, and there should be consequences. Read my opinions on Opinion Salad.