For once, I'm going to be a stereotypical "blogger" and do a new-media-critiques-old-media thing. Specifically I wish to address the latest brouhaha about the Newsweek "Periscope" item reporting that U.S. jailkeepers in Guantanamo Bay have been desecrating (kicking across the floor, throwing into a toilet) the Koran as part of their interrogations.
Many folks in Islamic countries, it seems, still put a lot of stock in "old media," and the item caused riots which resulted in the deaths of 17 people.
Newsweek was called on the carpet by the Pentagon (and blamed for the violence the report engendered) and has now, in a fit of pusillanimity, retracted the story, following the lead of CBS when they were similarly attacked for reporting on George Bush's military service (or lack thereof) using what has turned out to be a forged document as the centerpiece of their report.
Tina Brown, in today's Washington Post (syndicated elsewhere, I assume) is right to say about this incident that "the conjunction of 21st-century Internet speed and 12th-century fanaticism has turned our world into a tinderbox." But neither she nor anyone else is saying that, in fact, Koran desecration in the U.S. Gulag is nothing new. It has been confirmed and reported on in Great Britain, after British citizens were released from the U.S. hospitality of Guantanamo.
The Center for Constitutional Rights has documented a number of cases of Koran abuse, and even more extensive religious humiliation of prisoners at Guantanamo. Their reports also show consistent stonewalling on the part of Pentagon and White House officials when faced with accusations of abuse.
Check it out for yourself at the CCR website:
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/home.asp
It would be lovely to see Newsweek retract their retraction but I'm not holding my breath.
Posted by jeb at May 19, 2005 6:57 PM | TrackBack