The magazine Newsweek recently published an article on the alleged desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators in Guantanamo Bay's detention center. The report that U.S. agents flushed the Muslim holy text down the toilet led to riots in many predominantly muslim countries, bouts of rapid anti-Americanism, and increased hatred of America at a time when the nation already has its hands full dealing with violent anti-Americanism and terrorists.
Now, Newsweek admits that the report on it's incident may be "wrong".
"We regret that we got any part of our story srong and extend our sympathies to the victims of the violence", said Editor Mark Whitaker in the current Newsweek issue. The violence he is speaking of caused over a dozen deaths, with hundreds seriously injured, in Riots around the globe.
Post-mortem apologies, it seems, are easier to issue after loose lips cause riots, than objective reporting before the fact.
But this is not the first time the mainstream media has caused anti-American violence. Recall the "scandal" over alleged abuse of detainees at American-run prisons in Iraq? The media hype led to a spike in hostage taking and murder of Americans, some of whom were killed in in apparent reaction to the news of the scandal, according to statements by their captors who said the killers were "revenge" for what happened in the American prisons. Here, the media further emboldened already fanatical killers by virtually handing them a script of self-righteous justifications. That the prison abuse turned out to be less then systemmic, and more of an isolated incident, did not matter. The damage had been done. No less a political figure than Ted Kennedy went on record as saying, about the scandal, that he had learned that the "torure chambers" of Saddam were now open under U.S. ownership. If this is how a member of our own government -- albeit a far-left one -- viewed the incident, one can only imagine how those in hostile regimes and terrorists groups viewed it.
And, though the media may apologize for the deaths it caused, the long-term damage added to America's much-maligned reputation cannot be washes away by "we are sorry". What are the America haters going to remember, the apology or the reason de jur the media handed them to justify their anti-American hate?
A look at previous incidents -- such as the Iraqi prison "scandal" -- is insightful. Recall also there were the reports of "reprisal attacks" against muslim Americans post- 9-11, a myth perpetrated by a leftist media eager to head off any criticism of religious fundamentalism by granting the believers of the faith of the September 11 terrorists "official victim" status. Multiculturalism makes for strange bedfellows indeed, as a normally secular left jumped to the defence of a culture that allows no religious freedom, bases criminal codes on religion, and has second-class status for women. That none of these "attacks" actually happened, wa sof no import to the media. The only incidents worht noting are things such as a citizen punching a fellow college student, who antagonized him by burning the U.S. flag in front of his eyes immediately after 9-11 in an apparent celebration. However, this "victim" was not muslim, much to the media's chagrin; he was just a pasty little left-wing punk with no manners.
And, of course, who can forget Dan Rather's infamous attempt to pass off froged documents as legit in an effort to smear the Bush Administration?
The Koran story, then, is the latest in a long line of media "goofs" that appear more intentional than accidental. Like Rather, however, Newsweek admits no wrong-headedness, simply saying that their "goof" was motivated by a desire to get the story out. And in their defense they have claimed others already pblished the same story, based solely on the "testimony" of detainees... Wonderful. Other people are taking religious fanatics and terrorist killers at their word -- why shouldn't we? What an argument.
Newsweek owes more than an apology, It, and the rest of the media, owe us the truth. But don't hold your breath.
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