WP: Debate Over Newsweek Retraction of Report Widens

[Pirate Smile]

Debate Over Newsweek Retraction of Report Widens

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 18, 2005; Page A12

The debate over a retracted Newsweek report broadened yesterday into an argument about media and government ethics, with the White House urging the magazine to help undo the harm to American interests and critics accusing the administration of trying to deflect attention from its own deceptions.

Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that he welcomed Newsweek's formal retraction of a news item saying military investigators had confirmed that a U.S. interrogator at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had flushed a copy of the Koran down the toilet. Although that was "a good first step," McClellan said, the White House wants Newsweek "to help repair the damage" by explaining "what happened and why they got it wrong, particularly to people in the region."

-snip-
Lawmakers of both parties entered the fray on Capitol Hill. Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.) charged the White House with hypocrisy, saying: "The administration is chastising Newsweek for a story that contained a fact that turned out to be false. This is the same administration that lied to the Congress, the United Nations and the American people by fabricating reasons to send us to war."

Stark added in an interview: "For the administration to be holier-than-thou about this is somewhere between obscene and funny. There are publications that often expose weaknesses in administration positions and they don't like that. They play tough."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/17/AR2005051701237.html

[kainah]

1. Howie!!!

did Howie really say "critics accusing the administration of trying to deflect attention from its own deceptions." ??? Remarkable.

The tide hasn't turned, perhaps, but it seems to have stopped going always all the way in *'s direction.

[NightOwwl]

3. Good catch!

I completely missed it the first time around. Howie must be on drugs or something to have printed that.

[Beetwasher]

2. Godfuckingdammit! The Fact WAS NOT FALSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Goddamn! This Orwellian shit really, really sucks! DAMN!!!!!!!!!

[meppie-meppie not]

9. TY for saying that! Thought I was going nuts. I mean even Molly Ivins

put out fact after fact in her piece today citing all their Qua ran abuses etc!

[GetTheRightVote]

4. Way to go Rep Pete Stark, way to go, tell the truth until it hurts....

:kick:

[Somawas]

5. Thhis quote

"McClellan said, the White House wants Newsweek "to help repair the damage" by explaining "what happened and why they got it wrong, particularly to people in the region."

was the absolute most outrageous. On CBS Scheiffer commented that he could never remember before hearing the WH tell a media outlet what they needed to do.

How arrogant-they think they can order the press around.

[chalky]

6. Just once, JUST ONCE I wish they'd have the balls to say

"What happened is that we trusted Rove when he told us to print this story, and what went wrong is that he SOLD US OUT."

[TahitiNut]

8. They're obviously accustomed to ordering the press around.

Such blase chutzpah betrays a "business as usual" attitude.

What Mr. McClellan needs to be told is "After you repair the damage caused by this adminstration's catalog of deception and outright lies that's resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives and the permanent maiming of hundreds of thousands!"

[americanstranger]

10. Well, at this point they think they can order the press around.

No one in the media is showing them any different.

Journalists in this country better stand up and rescue their profession. Bush is detroying this country, and he's taking a time-honored profession down with it.

I wrote a piece about this:

http://www.blah3.com/article.php?story=20050517232047540

I'm hoping there's someone left to stand up. i'm not encouraged, tho.

-as

[alfredo]

7. I am inspired to write to my paper.

Here's the first draft.

So Newsweek screwed up by trusting a source at the Pentagon. The story was not a new story, but this was the first domestic confirmation. We don't know if the source was mistaken, or got cold feet. I think he got cold feet. Either way, Newsweek was pressured into recanting.

Now the Bush administration is pointing their finger at Newsweek, wailing about the damage they have done to America. The Whitehouse could have stopped the story, they had an advance copy. They said nothing, letting the story hit the street unchallenged.

Anyway where does Bush get off accusing anyone of damaging this country after his lies have cost the lives of over 1,600 US soldiers, and left thousands wounded. Newsweek made a mistake, but they were not trying to deceive us.

[cliss]

11. Yes, that's right.

I read, about 2 days ago, that the State Department knew of the article. There was no comment issued, and no complaints.

NOW, suddenly, when the situation is dire, the White House snaps into action and wants to "fix" the situation.

What can we make of this seeming lunacy? Easy. Although it wasn't stated, I read between the lines and perceived that

a) the State Department knew of these violations. They didn't criticize it. Why not? Because it didn't matter to THEM. It was only after (and note here AFTER) this became an international incident, that they realized their mistake.

b) This kind of behavior makes me realize the people in Washington have absolutely NO idea of what they are doing. They have no respect for other cultures. They have no concept of other societies where something is actually valued, considered sacred. This is a new one for them.

c) This situation is not going away. I read that over 300 mullahs are thinking about declaring a holy war against America because of this. The muslim world is seething, roiling as we speak.

d) I seriously doubt they will understand the seriousness of the situation. They will sweat heavily for a few more days. If things seem to settle down, they will breathe a sigh of relief and wipe their foreheads. "whew....that was a close one" says Karl Rove.

While the US can be easily controlled, the rest of the world isn't.

[alfredo]

12. I hope Newsweek didn't cave to the Junta, but I fear they did.

[ninkasi]

14. And that, Cliss, is a mistake they will learn to regret

"While the US can be easily controlled, the rest of the world isn't."

They assume that the rest of the world trembles when Rove speaks. The rest of the world considers Rove an ignorant barbarian, who is busily causing, on behalf of Bush, suffering and misery all over the world.

There have been too many other reports, going back a couple of years, of the Koran being treated with disrespect. The Muslim world will assume, correctly, that Newsweek is bending to pressure put on them by their enemy, Bush.

This thing is not going to go away, because the reactions are in Muslim countries, and the Bush gang doesn't control the foreign press. I wish our own press would grow a spine, and realize that one day, their jobs will no longer exist. Of course, by then, neither will the United States we've been born in, and loved.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. How about a debate about what really happened at Gitmo????

It would seem that all that shit happened and the wh is lying again.