As if our soldiers and civilians don’t have enought to contend with, Newsweek pulls this total fuckup. No amount of retractions and corrections will fix this, since it will now be seen as an attempt to cover up what may have happened. When are the fucking douchebag fishwrap hacks going to start checking sources instead of getting their facts from the blogs?
That is pretty pathetic. When something should be reported, they bury it. When it is false, they treat it as fact. Any attempts to fix it will be seen as a cover-up now. Maybe instead of reading, and checking facts, we should all just start making shit up too. How many rolleyes would it take to cover this?
What a disaster.
Please tell me that that doesn’t mean what I think it means.
Because I think it means that their ‘source’ was a third hand account…
Chalabi again?
Ignorant question: Are copies of the Koran considered more sacred to muslims than the Bible is to Christians? I can’t imagine getting all up in arms over somebody flushing a bible down the toilet, even if I was very devout. It’s just ink on paper, and flushing won’t destroy the other umpteen thousand copies. The act is an insult, sure, but hardly an unbearable one.
Would that even be an effective interrogation technique? Even if I found some book to be the ultimate holy whatever, if somebody else desecrates it, that’s on his head, not mine. Do extremist Muslims feel differently somehow? If the Koran is desecrated merely in their presence, do they feel they somehow pay some religious penalty?
What, Newsweek is reputable now?
Aaaannd there’s rioting in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, & elsewhere over this.
At least 15 dead, killed by US Troops.
Great Krypton!
On days when I’ve had waaaay too much caffine, I’ve had a paranoid fantasy that a cabal of Republicans is trying to destroy America, & that all the screw-ups are deliberate acts to further that plan.
Now, I have no caffine in me.
Only despair.
Part of me wants to comment that news organisations shouldn’t be held to any higher standards of fact checking than governments presenting a case for invading a sovereign state.
Then I remember that the esteemed Lord Hutton concluded that that indeed they should and I humbly remain silent.
From a military force that has invaded and occupied your country? It might look like they were going after your religion, too. Yes, I think many Christians would take to the streets after that.
Many people here feel that a lenghty prison term is a good idea for those who burn the American flag. They consider that insult unbearable.
That Newsweek printed such a flawed story is their fault.
The fact that such a story is believable is ours.
<Slight Hijack> I am always amused by this when the United States Flag Code (see e.g. here) states in Sec. 8.k.
Bolding Mine.
I guess those who get in a tizzy about this only do so when said destruction is of a flag in good shape and as an act of protest.</hijack>
-DF
Sadly, it was believable. Maybe the fact that nobody anywhere said “What? No Way!” is a sad sad commentary we need to really pay attention to.
I have read that Muslims consider the words of the Koran holy, even more so than Christians and the Bible. I don’t have a cite, but I did once read that when a copy is sold the pages are “free”, and one buys the binding only.
For crying out loud, there are people who memorize the whole Koran, now *that’s * devotion!
I’m a pretty devout Christian, but if someone was holding me hostage, desecrating a Bible would bother me, but I wouldn’t risk my security, or riot, because of it. But not everyone believes as I do, and for Newsweek to publish such a report is the heighth of irresponsibility.
Condi Rice did. Did you believe her?
Regards,
Shodan
Also, at least some Muslims are not willing to touch a copy of the Koran containing a translation from the original language–when one of my college classes required such a text, any Muslim cashiers at the bookstore had to call someone else in to handle that part of the transaction.
Could I squirm out of this by claiming it’s a trick question? Didn’t think so.
I can honestly say, that I think her first reaction (in private) was more like “what the hell?!?”. I guess as a “liberal Democrat” I should claim she was only giving the official version, but I’d be bullshitting you. I believe her.
I think you’re on the right track here. Given that it has to be kept written in Arabic because it’s supposedly the actual, direct word of God as opposed to a translation or retelling, they seem to take their text a bit more seriously.
Desecrating a copy of the Qur’an to Muslims is equivalent to desecrating Torah scrolls to Jews. Unlike in other religious traditions, the Qur’an is far more than a book.
It is considered to be a universal rule that no one is allowed to even touch a copy of the Qur’an while in a state of ritual impurity as defined by Muslim laws. One may never casually read the Qur’an: while reading it one’s posture must indicate respect. It is forbidden to bring the Qur’an, or anything else containing holy words, into the bathroom or any other impure place. It is very bad to drop the Qur’an (it is kissed when picked up). Many Muslims show a large amount of veneration to the Qur’an. To an outsider observer who knows nothng about Islam or Muslims, it may seem that Muslims worship the book.
Desecration of the Qur’an is considered to be a crime against God and Islam, by Muslims. It is punishable by death, according to the Shari’ah. To those who understand Islam and Muslims, the protests are understandable.
If the story run by Newsweek is, indeed, false, those involved in its publication should be arrested and tried for inciting riots. Any editor of any noteworthy magazine should know the potential consequences of publishing such a story. For the record, many riots turned lethal, particularly in Afghanistan. How will Newsweek compensate for those lost lives? How will Newsweek compensate for damaged property? Publishing this article was extremely reckless. The damage this has done to relations with and perceptions of the US are very serious and irrevocable. Retracting the article or apologizing will do nothing: people will accuse the US of pressuring Newsweek to retract the article.
WRS - For this recklessness, I am now boycotting Newsweek.