Now NEWSWEEK says Korans were abused by the PRISONERS!

Why does this smell like shit so badly?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7937016/site/newsweek/

"According to Di Rita, when the first prisons were built for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo in early 2002, prison guards were instructed to respect the detainees' religious rituals. The prisoners were given Qur'ans, which they hung from the walls of their cells in cotton surgical masks provided by the prison. Log entries by the guards indicate that in about a dozen cases, the detainees themselves somehow damaged their Qur'ans. In one case a prisoner allegedly ripped up a Qur'an; in another a prisoner tore the cover off his Qur'an. In three cases, detainees tried to stuff pages from their Qur'ans down their toilets, according to the Defense Department's account of what is in the guards' reports. (NEWSWEEK was not permitted to see the log items.) The log entries do not indicate why the detainees might have done this, said Di Rita, and prison commanders concluded that certain hard-core prisoners would try to agitate the other detainees by alleging disrespect for Muslim articles of faith.

In light of the controversy, one of these incidents bears special notice. Last week, NEWSWEEK interviewed Command Sgt. John VanNatta, who served as the prison's warden from October 2002 to the fall of 2003. VanNatta recounted that in 2002, the inmates suddenly started yelling that the guards had thrown a Qur'an on or near an Asian-style squat toilet. The guards found an inmate who admitted that he had dropped his Qur'an near his toilet. According to VanNatta, the inmate then was taken cell to cell to explain this to other detainees to quell the unrest. But the incident could partly account for the multiple allegations among detainees, including one by a released British detainee in a lawsuit that claims that guards flushed Qur'ans down toilets.

In fewer than a dozen log entries from the 31,000 documents reviewed so far, said Di Rita, there is a mention of detainees' complaining that guards or interrogators mishandled their Qur'ans. In one case, a female guard allegedly knocked a Qur'an from its pouch onto the detainee's bed. In another alleged case, said Di Rita, detainees became upset after two MPs, looking for contraband, felt the pouch containing a prisoner's Qur'an. While questioning a detainee, an interrogator allegedly put a Qur'an on top of a TV set, took it off when the detainee complained, then put it back on. In another alleged instance, guards somehow sprayed water on a detainee's Qur'an. This handful of alleged cases came out of thousands of daily interactions between guards and prisoners, said Di Rita. None has been substantiated yet, he said.

In December 2002, a guard inadvertently knocked a Qur'an from its pouch onto the floor of a detainee's cell, Di Rita said. A number of detainees protested. That January, partly in response to the incident and partly to provide precise guidelines for new guards and interrogators, the Guantanamo commanders issued precise rules to respect the "cultural dignity of the Koran thereby reducing the friction over the searching of the Korans." Only chaplains or Muslim interpreters were allowed to inspect detainees' Qur'ans. "Two hands will be used at all times when handling Korans in a manner signaling respect and reverence," the rules state. "Ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas...""

Oh, yes, the US military is so sensitive. They would always treat the Koran with the greatest respect, I'm sure...

:eyes:

bloated and rotting from within.


The MSM is dead, another victim of the BFEE.

isn't it appropriate how on the cable networks, Pentagon correspondents often report from an empty briefing room with the seal in the background?

as if they too were Pentagon employees.

pause for ironic "ah ha."

fuck that Curly Joe DeRita drone... I love how they cherrypick the most innocent Koran-flingings - much like they did the torture pictures, shoving evidence of rape and murder aside in favor of "pranks" and "animal house on the night shift" stuff that's easier to dismiss.

"Di Rita said that the Pentagon may look further into the reports found in the logs. The Pentagon is not ruling out the possibility of finding credible reports of Qur'an desecration. But so far, said Di Rita, it has not found any."


uh huh... and I don't suppose Ace Reporter Scoop McNewsie bothered to ask De Rita when the fuck he'll finish going through the records, eh?

n/t

the Red Cross Reports say? Were the initial reports about this about prisoners doing this?

I think these reports need to be released when possible.



The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it had provided the Pentagon with confidential reports about U.S. personnel disrespecting or mishandling Qur'ans at Gitmo in 2002 and 2003. Simon Schorno, an ICRC spokesman, said the Red Cross had provided "several" instances that it believed were "credible." The ICRC report included three specific allegations of offensive treatment of the Qur'an by guards. Defense Department spokesman Lawrence Di Rita would not comment on these allegations except to say that the Gitmo commanders routinely followed up ICRC reports, including these, and could not substantiate them. He then gave what is from the Defense Department point of view more context and important new information.

{emphasis mine}


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7937016/site/newsweek

I am a veteran with an "Honorable Discharge" DD-214-CG, and I am a Red Cross volunteer with disaster service awards -

was pimping for the right wing this morning - the talking points came out of his mouth - prisoners abusing their own Koran.

Alterman = Newsweek Senior Editor.

I say he was LYYYYIIIING. Someone tell Al before the AM.

Am I the only one who doesn't give a shit either way?

and not holding the government repsonsible.

Plus, Newsweek should fucking name their source who gave them the original story.

for Newsweek or any other publication. As the PR man for the DoD his only job is to LIE.

"Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Monday that the final set of interrogation methods adopted for use at Guantanamo in April 2003 are humane, legal and useful."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/10/iraq/main622247.shtml

I'm sure that there were hundreds of muslims defacing the Qur'an..
:sarcasm:

Why is this new?

I have been hearing about that for weeks it seems like.

Something about a detainee using it to flood the cell.

I've read bit and blurbs about it here and there.

:hurts:

Heyo

"May 30 issue - What really happened at Guantanamo? Last week, amid the heat of the controversy over NEWSWEEK's retracted story, new details about the issue of alleged mistreatment of the Qur'an emerged."

I guess they are new from the perspective of Newsweek.

..I saw that... didn't mean that as a "why are you posting this"..

just that I had already heard about it a few times..

:toast:

Heyo

powers that be.

.. my only concern is they tell the truth. I say leave it up to me whether I like the news or not, but give us the facts, straight up.

:hurts:

Heyo

It's now "patriotic" to regurgitate whatever the government says -- whatever, true or false -- or oblivious to that distinction... and regardless of the consequences for ourselves and our country.

Oh well.

I'm not sure if we ever trod the "high road", the history I learned in high school in the 70's has eroded with time into a car dealership ad. But now with the abandonment of all pretense...torture, murder, rapes, lying & coverups...we slog along in the same mud runnel as the worst highwaymen, and when the carriage of misfortune overtakes us we'll be splattered with the same filth.

This Koran issue is a diversion, IMO, grasped by both the Administration and the media. Far "safer" than paying attention to far worse events than that have been going on.

They may be right.

We're (Newsweek, governement, the collective 'we') accusing the believer of heresy, that ain't gonna go down good with the true believer, is it?

Dig the hole deeper why don't we?

:shrug: