What Newsweek knew and when it knew it about the allegations that U.S. interrogators abused the Koran as a means to induce cooperation by captives at Gitmo.

May 17, 2005--

What Newsweek knew and when it knew it about the allegations that U.S. interrogators abused the Koran as a means to induce cooperation by captives at Gitmo.

Before publishing lengthy articles appearing to grant credence to allegations implying anti-Islamic behavior by American military personnel in interrogating fanatical abusers of Islam at Gitmo, what did Newsweek know, and when did it know it?

First, they knew that even non-fanatics in the Islamic world are skeptical of, and broadly ignorant about, the concept of religious freedom readily accepted in the United States as well as being extremely sensitive to, resentful towards and easily incensed by, almost any form of expression about Islam that manifests less than unconditional approval.

Second, they knew that for the minds of non-fanatical Muslims there is now raging a worldwide battle between the forces of modernity, tolerance and freedom on the one hand and the forces of a medieval form of totalitarian religious fanaticism practiced in the guise of Islam on the other.

Third, they knew that throughout the world, American military personnel are at risk in this worldwide struggle.

Fourth, they knew that for allegations of anti-Islamic behavior to be "reported" by an American news medium in a manner appearing to grant credence to such allegations would constitute a far more powerful tool in the hands of the fanatics to sway the minds of the non-fanatics than would the same such allegations made by the fanatics alone.

Fifth, they knew that even if such allegations (such as, for example, allegations of disrespectful treatment of the Koran by U.S. interrogators of fanatical killers being held at Gitmo) were to have been assumed (for purposes of argument) to have been true, such "disrespectful" conduct would pale into insignificance in comparison to the widespread and systematic efforts exhibited by the U.S. military to accept higher risks to themselves to minimize risks to Islamic mosques (despite their being used for military purposes by terrorists and fanatics seeking to kill Americans) and traditions.

Sixth, they knew that the allegations that American interrogators had used mistreatment of the Koran as an interrogation technique were highly dubious at the least and highly speculative at the best. (For example, how many people at Newsweek would grant any credence whatsoever to an allegation that government agents interrogating an extremist Christian fundamentalist suspected of having murdered gynecologists would force him to watch them place an image of Christ in urine in order to "motivate" him to "confess" or "cooperate"?) Yet they exhibited credulity (stemming from political resonance rather than innocent naiveté) with respect to the allegations that American interrogators showed disrespect for the Koran in the hope of gaining the cooperation of their fanatically-Islamic prisoners.

Seventh, they knew when they submitted a lengthy description of those, and similar, allegations to the Pentagon or the White House that neither the Pentagon nor the White House issues blanket denials of allegations (because to do so would impair the credence of the final results of any formal investigation of such allegation), and so they therefore knew that the failure of the White House or Pentagon to categorically deny such allegations did not constitute any tacit "admission" or "validation" of Newsweek's "source" for such allegations.

Notwithstanding all the above, Newsweek published the allegations. It would be as if before the Normandy invasion, for which the Allies were greatly dependent not only upon the Free French Resistance but also on cooperation rather than resistance on the part of large numbers of the French who would sit on the fence at best, and collaborate with the Nazis at worst, an American publication were to have furnished French collaborators with leaflets containing allegations that American plans for post-war Europe would include totalitarian rule of France by American generals while knowing that French collaborators would use such leaflets as propaganda to incite fence-sitters to help them find and slaughter members of the Free French Resistance.

--Jim Wrenn, Editor at PoliSat.Com.

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