Man, this Newsweek story is really setting people off. It’s bad enough that it’s adding fuel to the fire of the right-wing’s hatred for the so-called liberal media, but the magazine’s quickly becoming an Administration scapegoat as well. Here’s what Scotty says :
“This report has had serious consequences,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said today in West Point, Virginia, where the president was giving a speech. “It has caused damage to the image of the United States abroad and people have lost their lives.”
The Pentagon’s spokesman was even more blunt :
“What we know is that the Newsweek story about a Koran desecration is demonstrably false, and thus far there have not been any credible allegations of willful Koran desecration, and Newsweek hasn’t produced any such evidence either,” said a Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
. . .
“The unfortunate part about it is you can’t go back and undo or retract the damage that they’ve done not only to this nation, but those who have been hacked, injured and some even killed as a result of these false allegations,” he said.
Am I the only person who thinks the Bushies are the last people who should be giving lectures on damaging our nation’s image or handing out blame for the resulting violence? If I remember correctly, our reputation in the international community wasn’t exactly stellar prior to the Newsweek piece.