# Way to start a holy war, Newsweek **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 15, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951 "2005-05-15T18:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/21 "2005-05-16T02:57:05Z")
It’ll be interesting to see how Fareed Zakaria (_Newsweek’s_ foreign affairs columnist, and a Muslim) deals with this. I see this week’s column is on North Korea… ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/22 "2005-05-16T03:03:19Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Condi Rice did. Did you believe her? > > Regards, > Shodan Yeah, she’s got a lot of credibility. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/23 "2005-05-16T03:08:11Z")
I don’t think there’s any real evidence that the Newsweek report was wrong. I see the Pentagon denying it but the Pentagon is not exactly credible or trustworthy. I wonder if Newsweek got it right and now the Defense Department is trying to scapegoat the magazine for the riots in Afghanistan and is pressuring Newsweek to say it might have been wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/24 "2005-05-16T03:15:46Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Condi Rice did. Did you believe her? > > Regards, > Shodan Believe her about what? She didn’t really deny anything. I will say that I don’t believe she gives a fuck about taking any “swift action” if the allegations are proven true or can no longer be plausibly denied. When I see Condi Rice giving a fuck about the people who authorized torture and murder in Guantanamo, or when she admits that she and her boss lied through their asses about Iraq then I’ll believe she gives a shit about desecrated Korans. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/25 "2005-05-16T03:18:58Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > I don’t think there’s any real evidence that the Newsweek report was wrong. I see the Pentagon denying it but the Pentagon is not exactly credible or trustworthy. > > I wonder if Newsweek got it right and now the Defense Department is trying to scapegoat the magazine for the riots in Afghanistan and is pressuring Newsweek to say it might have been wrong. Thanks for looking over all the evidence you’re privy to and giving us your cogent analysis. I wonder if Newsweek got it wrong and you are just desperate to find another reason to project your hatred of yourself on to the US Government. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/26 "2005-05-16T03:33:52Z")
On the feebly-lit 15-watt night light bright side, I’ll be looking forward to what John Stewart has to say about it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/27 "2005-05-16T03:34:43Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > Thanks for looking over all the evidence you’re privy to and giving us your cogent analysis. I wonder if Newsweek got it wrong and you are just desperate to find another reason to project your hatred of yourself on to the US Government. Thanks for the psychoanalysis, Dr. Phil, but I’ve manage to learn to tolerate myself over the years. This administration has earned my hatred (and deep mistrust) fair and square. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/28 "2005-05-16T04:05:02Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > On the feebly-lit 15-watt night light bright side, I’ll be looking forward to what John Stewart has to say about it. Thank God I am not the only one whose second thought (after “WHAT THE FUCK, DAY TWO IN JOURNALISM 101 IS CHECK YOUR SOURCES”) was that. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/29 "2005-05-16T04:11:36Z")
[No Retraction:](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/international/asia/16koran.html?hp&ex=1116216000&en=44c6a3a8f5c190cc&ei=5094&partner=homepage) > [@](#): > > But Mr. Whitaker (Newsweek’s Editor) said in an interview later: “We’re not retracting anything. We don’t know for certain what we got wrong.” AFAIK, the military hasn’t responded to February’s allegations of [‘Religious abuse’ at Guantanamo](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4255559.stm) with anything more than a claim that prisoners are treated humanely. Monday’s article in the [Christian Science Monitor](http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0516/p11s02-usmi.html) certainly doesn’t dispell my doubts about the military’s claim. > [@](#): > > “Had someone come to me before I left for Gitmo and told me we would use women to sexually torment detainees to try to sever their relationships with God, I probably would have thought that sounded fine,” writes Saar. “But I hated myself when I walked out of that room… We lost the high road… There wasn’t enough hot water in all of Cuba to make me feel clean.” ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/30 "2005-05-16T04:58:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Condi Rice did. Did you believe her? > > Regards, > Shodan Would you believe some US soldiers get bent out of shape when Iraqis tear-up the propaganda (thinly veiled as “newspapers”) they hand out? Well, you should: [Crips and Bloods](http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05/13/losing_hearts_and_minds?mode=PF) > [@](#): > > Bush has boasted how ''Iraqis have laid the foundations of a free society, with hundreds of independent newspapers." The reality was a bit more totalitarian. The featured soldiers handed out a newspaper full of favorable news about the US-installed government. When they saw that two young Iraqis had ripped up the newspaper, a soldier took one aside and asked, ''Why are you ripping up the paper? Why are you ripping up the paper?" > > A staff sergeant told NPR, ''When a guy tears up a paper in my face, it looks like he’s disrespecting everything we’re trying to do. Maybe he knows somebody. Or maybe he is somebody. But it’s just blatant for him to tear it up in my face and then lie about it. It’s blatant. He blatantly disrespected everything that we’re trying to accomplish." Care to guess what would happen if they’d torn a _Bible_ instead? ---
**Author:** ![user\_v1.05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/5daacb/32.png) [@user\_v1.05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_v1.05)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/31 "2005-05-16T05:05:57Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > Care to guess what would happen if they’d torn a _Bible_ instead? He would have been slightly angrier? ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/32 "2005-05-16T06:18:42Z")
> [@user v1.05](#): > > He would have been slightly angrier? Or shove a glow stick up their arse. Wouldn’t be a first. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/33 "2005-05-16T11:33:05Z")
> [@WeRSauron](#): > > 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. [Bingo.](http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/16/newsweek.quran.intl/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/34 "2005-05-16T12:08:10Z")
I can agree that Newsweek deserves a pitting for not making sure the story was true. Why not a pitting for the barbarians who so worship a book that they violently protest its desecration? Why not pit the animals who see this as such an affront that they must call for a holy war? Reasonably people do not call for blood when a book is ripped apart or flushed down the toilet. Why is all your rage reserved for Newsweek? Marc ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/35 "2005-05-16T12:10:17Z")
Has the administration denied this claim? I knew they promised an investigation. I just haven’t heard any sort of “We would never.” ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/36 "2005-05-16T13:11:40Z")
So much for the p.c. view that Islam is a religion of peace. I doubt anyone will wake up though. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/37 "2005-05-16T13:27:59Z")
The fact that newsweek is guilty of sloppy reporting is newsworthy, and slightly pittable. That said, they are in no way responsible for any deaths whatsoever. Radical religious fundamentalists who over-reacted to an extreme degree, however, are responsible for this. Newsweek has been a reputable publication for decades, and I am sure they will get to the bottom of this and improve their fact-checking, much like the New Republic, 60 Minutes, and the New York Times have done with their scandals. That is what should be focused on, not the blathering of screaming fundamentalists ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/38 "2005-05-16T13:50:43Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > So much for the p.c. view that Islam is a religion of peace. I doubt anyone will wake up though. What a stunningly narrow-minded generalization. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/39 "2005-05-16T13:56:12Z")
> [@WeRSauron](#): > > How will Newsweek compensate for those lost lives? How will Newsweek compensate for damaged property? I’m sure that dozens of well-trained attack lawyers are working on those questions even as we speak… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951/40 "2005-05-16T14:06:42Z")
If the army of a Hindu country invaded the U.S., and their soldiers said loudly in church, “Mary sucks Jesus’s dick,” I think many American followers of “the Prince of Peace” would get very upset, violently so, even. Christ may condemn getting angry over anything, much less something as silly as words, vibrating pressure waves in the air, but not all his followers would listen. Reasonable people prefer to deal with other reasonable people, so they don’t go out of their way to provoke unreason by desecrating what others revere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-to-start-a-holy-war-newsweek/303951.md?page=3)