"[The] report has had serious consequences. It has caused damage to the image of the United States abroad. It has -- people have lost their lives. It has certainly caused damage to the credibility of the media, as well, and Newsweek, itself."
--Scott McClellan on the Newsweek article
It's hard to know where to start enumerating the disingenuous aspects of McClellan's statement and to the deluge of criticism that Newsweek has faced since reporting that a copy of the Koran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo.
As Conyers points out in his letter, there are other corroborated instances of similar treatment of the Koran designed to demoralize detainees reported in 2003 by the Washington Post and by the Center for Constitutional Rights. Newsweek may have been a sloppy in its journalism, which is unfortunate. They should have learned definitively what they were up against from the CBS memo tragedy—an administration ever-vigilant to find (or manufacture) ways to discredit any press that they are not firmly in control of.
I mean, what do you think Jeff Gannon was about? The journalists on the White House payroll? It’s hard to believe that this ultra-secretive administration wouldn’t have been a bit more careful. But why bother? It’s a win-win situation. If the shills go undetected and continue to write prolifically in the service of Bush et al? Great! If they are exposed? Also great because it just proves how unreliable and agenda-driven the press is and how you can’t believe anything you read anyway.
