[I read a local news story on this matter after writing the below entry. It is a rather good piece (though the headline sort of hides the lede, so to speak) and underlines the cause of my ire. It appears what the administration is truly concerned about is p.r. -- the article adds fuel to the "misinformation" meme raised by some commentators of this story. Compare the "breaking news" story with the "people already upset, so here's a bit of context" story.]
I referenced the current story respecting Newsweek apologizing for assuming that a high placed governmental source knew what he was talking like (as the person did in the past), but perhaps a more full accounting should be made. As is often the case, this is an arbitrary selection of a fairly regular occurrence (press error, worsened by the questionable use of anonymous sources to prove perhaps more than the available evidence suggests) in such a way that suggests that somehow it is particularly egregious.
It's not unless one is unaware that the press is not infallible (shocking news of the day?), makes bad choices now and again, and the intelligent reader takes this into consideration. The alternative is some poll that says 43% of the population now think the press is too free ... I assume they think they themselves are as well, since many of them made egregious errors of judgment (not illegal mind you, just egregious) that resulted in various real harm being done. In other words, more than what probably might be said about this case. As to the wrongness of the particular story and its aftermath, I submit the following, but simply put the crocodile tears of the administration and their ilk is hard to take seriously.
Harman, a former pizza shop manager from Lorton, Va., appeared in several of the most notorious photos taken at Abu Ghraib, and she was found guilty of taking other pictures.
The photos showed prisoners chained together in sexual poses, piled on the floor naked and forced to form a nude human pyramid.
In one picture, Harman posed with Graner behind a group of naked detainees. In another, she was shown with a prisoner on whose leg she is accused of writing "rapeist."
Such is the [AOL] news of the day. Likewise, the wrong here is thus: "Detainees have long alleged that guards tossed Korans in the toilet, but this was the first time a government official had seemed to confirm it." (Slate Today's Paper). In fact, as Newsweek explains:
"On Saturday, Isikoff spoke to his original source, the senior government official, who said that he clearly recalled reading investigative reports about mishandling the Qur'an, including a toilet incident. But the official, still speaking anonymously, could no longer be sure that these concerns had surfaced in the SouthCom report."
So, the information itself is not presumptively false, just the source. In fact, allegations of this nature, and many worthier of being used to rile up violence, have ALREADY been made REPEATEDLY. See here for discussion.
As to blaming Newsweek for the violence, Kevin Drum says it well:
The Taliban stages a resurgence every spring, anti-Americanism has been on the rise for some time, and the rioters in Afghanistan are responsible for the riots in Afghanistan. The Newsweek story is clearly just a pretext, and another story would have done just as well given their obvious animosity toward America.
Under any other circumstances, conservatives would heartily agree. The phony outrage over this is just a cynical excuse for the usual press bashing. Newsweek should buck up.
As near as I can tell, the Pentagon has demonstrated more genuine outrage over this incident than they did over months and months of disclosures of similar (and worse) actions at Abu Ghraib. It's revolting.
As to the actually flushing (apparently, more likely throwing it in there ... which as one discussion noted is interestingly comparable to one military interrogation psych education session involving a bible) ... it is unclear if it occurred. It is clear that many other egregious things have, that a trusted governmental source at first backed up the Newsweek story, and that the Bush Administration is full of shit.
Their outrage is a bit late and a tad bit suspicious. The story is now Newsweek, which makes their actions egregious as well, but their "sin" is relatively minor. (yes Virginia, the press makes mistakes ... see WMDs). The response is overblown, but sadly not too surprising.