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May 17, 2005
What More Can Newsweek Do?
The Administration is calling on Newsweek to do more than simply retract the story about the supposed desecration of the Qur'an during an interrogation at Guantanamo Bay. What Scott McClellan asked for is now well known. I repeat Reuter's account for reference.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the retraction a good first step, but said the newsweekly should "help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region," by explaining "what happened and why they got it wrong." He offered few specifics."They can also talk about policies and practices of the United States military. Our United States military goes out of its way to treat the holy Koran with great care and respect," McClellan said.
Let's take this point by point. McCellan is calling for three corrective actions.
- Explain what happened
- Explain "why" they got is wrong
- Explain US policy
On the first item, Newsweek already did that twice. First in an article called "The Islamic World: How a Fire Broke Out."
Although other major news organizations had aired charges of Qur'an desecration based only on the testimony of detainees, we believed our story was newsworthy because a U.S. official said government investigators turned up this evidence.
And then in an editorial note.
Two weeks ago, in our issue dated May 9, Michael Isikoff and John Barry reported in a brief item in our Periscope section that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that American guards at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had committed infractions in trying to get terror suspects to talk, including in one case flushing a Qur'an down a toilet. Their information came from a knowledgeable U.S. government source, and before deciding whether to publish it we approached two separate Defense Department officials for comment. One declined to give us a response; the other challenged another aspect of the story but did not dispute the Qur'an charge.
What happened? A U.S. official gave them what seemed to be confirming evidence supporting previous "testimony of detainees." The U.S. government said nothing about this story until a few days after riots broke out in Afghanistan. Then Newsweek's source told them he might be wrong. That's want happened. What more can be said? A government official giveth and a government official taketh away. That explains what happened and the explanation predates the request for an explanation. While the first article quoted above is dated May 23, it was released on May 16, before McCellan's latest requests.
Why did they get it wrong? They believed a U.S. official. Now that, indeed, could be a mistake. This was not a single source story as McCellan wants us to believe. This story simply confirmed what had already been widely reported by detainees. What went wrong is, in the context of other stories, they believed their source. However, the thing that McCellan asked was not what went wrong but why it went wrong. And this is a "Why do you beat your grandmother?" question. There is no satisfactory answer to this kind of a why question. Because Newsweek will not be able to answer the why question, the answer is left to the hearers of the question. The desired answer is, "because we are a member of the liberal press." This "request" is nothing other than unadorned press bashing.
Finally, McCellan wants Newsweek to explain U.S. government policy. Perhaps the government should take the first shot at this one. I'm baffled by what my government's policy is and I desperately want to believe that my government is doing the right thing. If I'm confused, what does a fundamentalist Moslem in Afghanistan think? Will a statement in Newsweek that simply echoes what McCellan wants said make either that Moslem or me any more certain that the U.S. government policy respects the religions believes of others? I sincerely doubt it.
So what, at this point, would make both the Moslem and me certain that U.S. government policy is respectful de jure and respectful de facto? A very simple thing. A completely open international inquiry into the question. But that will never happen and perhaps for good reasons. The next best approach, in my mind, would be the following five steps.
- An open, transparent, independent investigation with subpoena powers by a commission led by someone of the international stature and reputation of President Jimmy Carter.
- Publication on a Government web site of all instructions and policies to the military and intelligence community relating to this issue.
- A public request followed by a written order from the President compelling all members of the military regardless of rank, all of the intelligence community and all presidential appointees to tell what they know and provide documentation to the "Carter" commission.
- An uncensored, public report by the "Carter" commission.
- Termination, and legal action if appropriate, of anyone who violated the policies or directed others do violate them or anyone who looked the other way if it became known to them that policy was being violated.
If such a sequence of events were to be followed, I believe that all of us would feel that the U.S. has the correct policies and follows them.
Since this will not happen. I guess the next best thing is bash and intimidate the press and hope no one will see through it.
Posted by Duane Smith at May 17, 2005 8:38 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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