Is Newsweek responsible for the death of 16 people?

And U.S. Military soldiers also???

Published on May 16, 2005 By ShadowWar In Current Events

Now I do not normally try to write opinion or editorial articles as I have my own feelings on many things and like to get the overall picture before I make my comments. But I could not stand by and let this pass without trying to get my side of this continued bungling of the role of news media out in the open.

Recently Newsweek’s Magazine in its May 9th issue posted an article by Michael Isikoff and John Barry that U.S. Military Investigators had found evidence that American guards at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba had committed "infractions" in trying to get terrorist to talk by "flushing a Qur'an down a toilet". In a statement printed in their May 23rd Issue the Editor of Newsweek, Mark Whitaker, says that they tried to confirm the information before deciding to print it. They say the information originally came from a "knowledgeable U.S. government source"(who is this?). In trying to confirm the allegations Mr. Whitaker says that they tried to get two separate Defense Department officials to comment on the information. Here is where I have a hard time following Mr. Whitaker's train of thought. He states that one of the officials would not comment and the other "challenged another aspect of the story but did not dispute the Qur'an charge." Does that mean he confirmed the charge or not? Then Mr. Whitaker tries to go on and say that other major news organizations had aired charges of Qur'an desecration, as if this justifies their story.

Now since the story was printed it was picked up in news media around the world and in particular the Middle East. Newspapers in Pakistan and Afghanistan ran the story. After that there were the now news worthy riots and the death of civilians and injury or death of U.S. Soldiers. Several days after the magazine was released, Imran Khan, a Pakistani cricket player read the report to a crowd in an effort to incite opposition to President Pervez Musharraf. Riots soon spread into Afghanistan and resulted in the death reportedly of 15 people. Now Newsweek comes out and says they may have been in error? Wow that’s a big help.

This reeks of the same type of irresponsible reporting as was seen with the Boston Globe incident (May 12th, 2004) where the Boston Globe published what it reported were photos of U.S. Soldiers raping Iraqi women. Problem was the photos were fake. Then the world leader (pun intended) in news, Dan Rather, gets caught using forged/fake documents to try and blast President Bush. Newsweek’s error though is by far the worst as it resulted in the death of people because of their irresponsible reporting. Almost every day I hear the total of deaths of our U.S. Soldiers being reported in the news. The newspaper I read has it updated weekly. The television press make mention of it everytime they get a chance. You have heard it also right, over 1500 U.S. soldiers killed in the war, or 1500 killed in the fighting, or 1500 killed because of the Iraq invasion. This is just one example of misleading the public. The truth is 1207 have been killed in action, not the 1500+ you have heard Link the news media includes the non-hostile deaths in their total. This is to make the situation in Iraq seem even worse than it is. The death of one single soldier is bad enough, but to misrepresent that death to further your own agenda is criminal.

Look around you at the mainstream media. What do you see? Do you see the news or just those things that the news owners (New York Times, ABC, NBC, CBS, Turner Broadcasting, etc.....) want you to see? Let me ask you this, would a balanced and varied report on the events in Iraq and Afghanistan mean news to you? Have you heard about all the good things that are being done in those countries by our soldiers and other civilians? Or are you just hearing about it every time a U.S. Soldier dies? Or Innocent people are killed by a suicide bomber? Why is that? Why only the death and destruction? Is it because it is more news than the other stuff? That depends on the reader. Who are the readers the news is trying to reach by showing only those items that cause hatred and anger? What if a paper posted an article about the fact that the U.S. Military and civilian contractors have repaired over 2,358 schools in Iraq alone, and printed and distributed over 8.5 million science and math text books to school children. You see they don't want you to hear those things and all the other work that is being done. But you have to ask yourself why. Why would they not want me to hear these things, why would a national news organization want to mislead and misinform me?

I will tell you why. Its because they are being led by people who can not stand it when America is doing something good. When America steps up to the plate (The recent Tsunami for instance) and helps others, you don't hear to much of that, as its expected of us. I have to laugh and cry when I hear people, everyday sane people, say that they think the situation in Iraq is terrible, that we are not doing any good but getting our young fighting men and women killed for no reason. I call bringing a better life to millions of people, bringing self government to millions of people, bringing better education, better health care, and better infrastructure to millions of people a GOOD thing. You the American and world people who listen to the television, and read the newspapers and that’s where you get your outlook on the world are sorely misled and misinformed. Your sheep, and your being led by the flock Shepard where they want you to go. They want you ignorant and misinformed because that way you will make misinformed judgments and try to make misinformed voting decisions.

People wake up!! Take everything you read, hear and are fed by the media with a grain of salt. Research it, check out other sources, make your own informed mind up. I no longer trust the mainstream media. They lost me a while back when they were shown to be so biased. I now look at all reports of all the stories I find of interest and make up my own mind. Stop being sheep and start looking out for yourselves, no one else is going to do it, even if they tell you they are. In addition we should be holding our media responsible for the actions they take. I hope that Newsweek has some deep pockets as I see the families of those killed by thier misinformed and misleading reporting lining up at the courthouse to file suit against them, and in this case rightly so.

Comments

Dr Guy

on May 16, 2005

Thank you for your insight and thoughts. As one who is in the thick of it, you opinion carries a lot of weight. As do your insights and stories.

ShadowWar

on May 16, 2005

As a follow up here is the release from the Department of Defense:

May 16, 2005 – There's no evidence to support a recent Newsweek magazine article accusing U.S. personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of desecrating the Muslim holy book, the Koran, a senior Pentagon official noted.

"Newsweek's story about Koran desecration is demonstrably false, and there have thus far been no credible allegations of willful Koran desecration, and Newsweek has produced no such evidence," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today in response to media queries.

A Newsweek story published May 9 reported that American military interrogators at the Guantanamo prison facility had flushed a Koran down a toilet. The article sparked deadly anti-U.S. riots in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries.

The magazine's editor has since apologized for the gaff and now says there's doubt that the article in question was based on fact.

Whitman stated that the Newsweek article "was irresponsible and had significant consequences that reverberated throughout Muslim communities around the world."

The magazine "hid behind anonymous sources, which by their own admission do not withstand scrutiny," Whitman noted.

Whitman stated that Newsweek cannot "retract the damage they have done to this nation or those that were viciously attacked by those false allegations."

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