Deadly Stupidity! or "Newsweek Fucks Up"

Newsweek says may have erred in Koran report

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine on Sunday said it may have erred in a May 9 report that said U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to victims of deadly violence sparked by the article.

The weekly news magazine said in its May 23 edition that the original source of the allegation was not sure where he saw the assertion that at least one copy of the Koran was flushed down a toilet in an attempt to get detainees to talk.

"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday." ... more

Update: (also NYT and WAPO; Evan Thomas whitewash?; more from Powerline; Kate; LGF; Malkin; Gail)

"WASHINGTON (AFP) The US magazine whose story of alleged desecration of a Koran holy book sparked deadly protests in Muslim countries said that its report might have been wrong.

...

In its new account in this week's magazine, Newsweek said that on checking with the senior US official who had remembered seeing details of the Koran incident in a report, the official could no longer be sure.

Newsweek said that when it told Pentagon' spokesman Lawrence DiRita of the source's response, DiRita "exploded".

"People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?" DiRita was quoted as saying." ... more