Saturday, June 04, 2005
White House Integrity Down the Toilet
Remember when the White House and Pentagon firmly denied rumors that the Quran had been flushed down the toilet and accused Newsweek magazine of damaging the U.S. image abroad?
Turns out that desecration of the Quran did, in fact, occur.
From the Associated Press:
"A Pentagon report detailing incidents in which U.S. guards at Guantanamo Bay prison desecrated the Quran is creating another public relations challenge for President Bush.
Two weeks ago, the White House was thrown on the defensive by a now-retracted Newsweek report alleging that U.S. interrogators at the detention center for alleged terrorists in Cuba had flushed a Quran down a toilet.
'While the news organization got an example wrong, they got the practice right. Certainly the public is within their right, in this case, to believe they were misled.'"
The Pentagon confirmed Friday evening — after the networks' evening news shows had aired — that a U.S. soldier had deliberately kicked a prisoner's holy book. The report also said prison guards had thrown water balloons in a cell block, causing an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet; a guard's urine had splashed on a detainee and his Quran; an interrogator had stepped on a Quran during an interrogation; and a two-word obscenity had been written in English on the inside cover of a Quran."
But thank goodness that the Quran wasn't flushed down the toilet. Gee, remember when the media was all over Clinton's "depends on what the meaning of 'is' is?"
White House Plays Down New Quran Reports - Yahoo! News
Turns out that desecration of the Quran did, in fact, occur.
From the Associated Press:
"A Pentagon report detailing incidents in which U.S. guards at Guantanamo Bay prison desecrated the Quran is creating another public relations challenge for President Bush.
Two weeks ago, the White House was thrown on the defensive by a now-retracted Newsweek report alleging that U.S. interrogators at the detention center for alleged terrorists in Cuba had flushed a Quran down a toilet.
'While the news organization got an example wrong, they got the practice right. Certainly the public is within their right, in this case, to believe they were misled.'"
The Pentagon confirmed Friday evening — after the networks' evening news shows had aired — that a U.S. soldier had deliberately kicked a prisoner's holy book. The report also said prison guards had thrown water balloons in a cell block, causing an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet; a guard's urine had splashed on a detainee and his Quran; an interrogator had stepped on a Quran during an interrogation; and a two-word obscenity had been written in English on the inside cover of a Quran."
But thank goodness that the Quran wasn't flushed down the toilet. Gee, remember when the media was all over Clinton's "depends on what the meaning of 'is' is?"
White House Plays Down New Quran Reports - Yahoo! News
