As you all know, Newsweek was raked over the coals pretty badly by the administration last week after one of its people reported that US military personnel were, among other things, placing copies of the Koran in toilets in order to break Muslim prisoners. The administration suggested not only that Newsweek didn’t have sufficient evidence to back up the claim, and that they weren’t helping the war effort by printing such things, but that their recklessness had led to over one dozen people dying during the anti-American protests which had taken place in Afghanistan since. Since then, however, FBI documents have come to light which corroborate the Newsweek claim, Afghan President Karzai has come forward to say that there was no link between the Newsweek article and the deaths in his country, and, accordingly, the administration has tried to distance itself a bit from the attack on Newsweek.
Meanwhile, fortunately for us all, some good, god-fearing Americans (who weren’t too busy burning crosses) have picked up the ‘Korans belong in the toilet’ theme and kept it alive. (See video.) And, American Muslims have responded… Here’s a clip from an article appearing on the alt.muslim site:
These comments clearly represent a vitriolic hatred of Islam and Muslims. Such sentiments are widespread. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) counted recorded 1,522 incidents of civil rights violations against Muslim in 2004. According to CAIR this is a 49 percent increase over 2003. CAIR also noted a 52 percent rise in bias crimes against Muslims in 2004.
While these statistics are startling, the situation for Muslims in the United States is far worse. For every Muslim who does make a report of discrimination or a bias crime there are many others who do not. This is because many more Muslims choose not to report incidents of discrimination, civil rights violations and bias crimes out of fear of reprisal and due to a sense of helplessness.
But, remember, it wasn’t this growing culture of hate against Muslims, the torture at Abu Ghraib, the fact that the world was lied to concerning the justification for the war with Iraq, or the repeated stories of US military personnel painting this as a Holy War between our two civilizations, that caused the recent riots in Afghanistan. It wasn’t even that our interrogators put copies of the Koran into toilets and tried to flush them. It was that Newsweek reported that it had happened. Newsweek was at fault. Newsweek got those people killed.
The free press kills
It’s not patriotic
It has to be curtailed
For the good of everyone
27 Comments
Captives told to claim torture
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
An al Qaeda handbook preaches to operatives to level charges of torture once captured, a training regime that administration officials say explains some of the charges of abuse at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
The American Civil Liberties Union last week posted on its Web site 2002 FBI documents regarding accusations from suspected al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at the detention center. The organization had won a court decision that forced the administration to release scores of e-mails between agents who had interviewed captives.
U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the prison, is investigating interrogation techniques at “GTMO,” as the naval base in Cuba is called, as well as the FBI-conveyed, unsubstantiated complaints. The U.S. Justice Department inspector general has begun a separate probe.
One investigator, Brig. Gen. Jay W. Hood, said last week that the most explosive charge so far — that guards flushed the Koran Muslim holy book down a toilet — is not true. The Pentagon tabbed Gen. Hood to conduct a probe into how Islam is treated at the prison in the aftermath of a since-retracted report by Newsweek on the Koran claim.
U.S. officials think the Koran story — told by a detainee who did not see the purported event — might be part of an al Qaeda campaign to spread disinformation.
“There have been allegations made by detainees,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. “We know that members of al Qaeda are trained to mislead and to provide false reports. We know that’s one of their tactics that they use. And so I think you have to keep that in mind.”
In a raid on an al Qaeda cell in Manchester, British authorities seized al Qaeda’s most extensive manual for how to wage war.
A directive lists one mission as “spreading rumors and writing statements that instigate people against the enemy.”
If captured, the manual states, “At the beginning of the trial … the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by state security before the judge. Complain of mistreatment while in prison.”
The handbook instructs commanders to make sure operatives, or “brothers,” understand what to say if captured.
“Prior to executing an operation, the commander should instruct his soldiers on what to say if they are captured,” the document says. “He should explain that more than once in order to ensure that they have assimilated it. They should, in turn, explain it back to the commander.”
An example might have occurred in a Northern Virginia courtroom in February.
Ahmed Omar Abul Ali, accused of planning to assassinate President Bush, made an appearance in U.S. District Court and promptly told the judge that he had been tortured in Saudi Arabia, including a claim that his back had been whipped. He is accused of meeting there with a senior al Qaeda leader.
Days later, a U.S. attorney filed a court document saying physicians had examined Ali and “found no evidence of any physical mistreatment on the defendant’s back or any other part of his body.”
Larry Di Rita, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said two Guantanamo commanders told him that al Qaeda detainees are experts in circulating false charges among the more than 500 fighters captured in Afghanistan.
“There are elements within the detainee population that were very effective at getting other detainees agitated about the Koran by making allegations,” Mr. Di Rita said. “They particularly focused on the practice of their faith and the Koran being kept from them. So people should not be surprised when detainees come out and make these kinds of allegations. It causes the reactions we’ve seen.”
He added, “None of this is meant to excuse the situation we found when individuals were unfortunately abused at Abu Ghraib. That was wrong.”
There already has been one Pentagon review of accusations of abuse at Guantanamo. Vice Adm. Albert T. Church III, the Navy inspector general, released a report in March that found three substantiated closed cases of “minor” abuse in 24,000 interrogations — one assault and two female guards’ making sexually suggestive gestures to detainees.
“It bears emphasis that the vast majority of detainees held by the U.S. in the global war on terror have been treated humanely and that the overwhelming majority of U.S. personnel have served honorably,” Adm. Church wrote.
Are you suggesting that the photos of torture aren’t real?
And we all know that there’s no bias at the Washington Times.
Well if torture is making human pyramids, then sure they were real.. If that’s torture then what was Saddam doing? I’m sure theres a moral equivalence between mass graves and a small group of misguided soldiers embarassing people.
The real question here is why does the left continually downplay real evil like N. Korean Gulags, Saddam’s mass murder of the iraqi’s (remember Eason Jordan said CNN knew about it but chose not to report so they could stay in Iraq), but if a US soldier offends some cultural bias (they put a Koran on the floor) the left screams for their head.
It’s pretty simple, john.
as of right now, we’re still the most powerful nation on earth, engaging in imperialist military actions for the sake of accumulating wealth (or stabilizing the global economic system, whatever you want to call it).
This is not exactly an altruistic goal, so we must make an effort (for the world press, as well as our own citizenry) to appear to be doing it for the sake of morality. Therefore, when we say we’re trying to stop “Behavior A” from happening, we can’t (or shouldn’t) find ourselves engaging in “Behavior A” ourselves in the course of our “Diplomacy”.
We’ve voluntarily set ourselves on an ethical pillar, and therefore are faults deserve that much more scrutiny.
John I am sure that christians are allowed to practice their religion in every arab country. I think they treat the bible with respect in those regions. All the left is saying is why can’t we be like all the arab countries and practice tolerance. We are so evil in this country and despised by the likes of Al Queda, Syria, North Korea, China and a host of other totalitarian regimes and terrorists. I think we should ask ourselves why we are hated by these people and look within each of us and see what we can do to appease these people before we make them even madder. Everything was going well before Bush came along and now we have Al Queda in Iraq and car bombs and soldiers dying. We should be held accountable, especially Bush, anytime we offend the sacred religion of Islam. It is a religion of peace and many of the posters here have read the teachings of the Quran (the wahhabist version)and it far exceed anything the bible could teach. There are countless examples of this all over the world from Russion shoolyards to Dafur, to Iraq, to Afghanistan, to Bali. You should learn from this Mr Gault.
I just woke up, btw, so I made a few typos in the above post. I’ll drink more coffee before I write anything else, I promise.
I was thinking more of the electrodes connected to the testacles of prisoners, the individuals killed during interrogations and then photographed next to smiling soldiers, and the shooting of unarmed,wounded insurgents, but thank you for pointing out the cheerleading pyramids. Let’s focus there as we congratulate ourselves on our good works.
To teddy’s comment, I’d add civilian casualties in general, which have occurred as a result of our indiscriminate “shock and awe”.
actually Teddy, those soldiers have actually been removed from the military and put on trial. I don’t recall anyone in America saying that we are proud of that. The unarmed wounded insurgent being shot, if you were aware of the boobytrapping of other wounded dead insurgents, is just America Hating left wing ignorance. This site crawls with it. Luckily, none of you here will ever have any influence of any significance in this world. Other than dying your hair green, wearing a mowhawk or bagging at the local co op grocer, I doubt you will be remembered for much except supporting an enemy that would kill you on site. Of course, the lot of you probably couldn’t defend yourself from a 12 year old girl(sorry if I have interupted a blog full of 12 year olds – I do not know your age s – you sound slightly older although pretty naive) let alone a muslim fanatic. Some country we would have if you were in charge of defending it.
rush,
why do you hate america so much?
Just a few questions for Mr. Galt – How much does it cost to attend the Anne Coulter correspondence school of debate? In the hierarchy of possible responses to a serious line of inquiry, is it better to question someone’s patriotism or imply that they hate christians? At what point in the course do you get to the section on making the leap that being against torture as practiced by US troops is the same as being for torture as practiced by others?
As for North Korea, I think that several of us on the left, quite the contrary to what you’re suggesting here, would have been in favor of active engagement much earlier. Unfortunately, we went off on a tangent in Iraq, a county that, while run by a terrible man, had absolutely no means by which to attack our country.
Rush, didn’t you go deaf from oxy-contin addiction? I still think that’s pretty funny.
what?
Of course Teddy, we could get into Korea and then find out that there were no missles (just a bunch of bluster to try to bully people with) which is exactly what happened in Iraq. It should be interesting that the source Mark would use to show how horrible we are (CAIR) has had its leaders found guilty of supporting terrorist orginizations, of course they’re a “civil rights” group, so in this country the media just prints their claims with no attempt to validate them.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18000
just one article, if you google CAIR terrorism you get a slew of supporting information..
The term that comes to my mind Teddy is “Usefull Idiot”
mark also quoted the FBI.
Are you saying they’re terrorists as well, john?
he also quotes Amnesty International
The disclosures came on the same day that Amnesty International released a report calling Guantanamo Bay “the gulag of our time” and labeling the United States “a leading purveyor and practitioner” of torture and mistreatment of prisoners. Amnesty and the Constitution Project, a legal advocacy group, made separate demands yesterday for an independent investigation into allegations of detainee abuse at U.S. facilities
If you want to believe that the US is a leading purveyor of torture and mistreatment, then nothing is going to disuade you from that opinion.. I’ve said it before that the core of this site has no problem denigrating christian and Jews, but mistreatment of a book is for some reason considered beyond the pale. What is the source of this self-loathing mentality that makes the “progressive” elements want so badly to find fault with their own country. I have never seen a front page post concerning other countries (Saudi).. etc where you can be jailed and even executed for even posessing a holy book(bible), where if you do not accept dhimitude you can be deprived of your life. No condemnation of Mass Graves, Honor Killing, or the apartide nations of the Middle East where you aren’t even alowed into the country if you hold a dissenting view.. In these places you would surely be jailed or even killed for disagreeing with the theocracy.. The Evil US which has tried their own people for acting poorly is contunually vilified as a “purveyor or torture”.. The peace offered by these countries is much like the peace offered through communism (accept our beliefs or die.. then there is peace). Has the US made mistakes? Sure we have, there’s ten’s of thousands of troops over there.. they can’t all be perfect.. But taken in a larger context the US has done more to help the followers of Islam than any other country in the world (bosnia, Kuait, Iraq) The only people we haven’t helped are the theocratic facsists which seek to subject their people to dictatorial rule.
to quote brett
“as of right now, we’re still the most powerful nation on earth, engaging in imperialist military actions for the sake of accumulating wealth (or stabilizing the global economic system, whatever you want to call it).
This is not exactly an altruistic goal, so we must make an effort (for the world press, as well as our own citizenry) to appear to be doing it for the sake of morality. Therefore, when we say we’re trying to stop “Behavior A” from happening, we can’t (or shouldn’t) find ourselves engaging in “Behavior A” ourselves in the course of our “Diplomacy”.”
Ok how did liberating Iraq stabilize the global economic system? Sure we’ve deprived the UN of its kickbacks “A progressive organization involved in criminal behavior (I think I have a case of the vapors)”
How are we Amassing weath there? Seems to me like we’re spending a ton of money and not get much material support as a result.
How is ensuring economic prosperity not an altruistic goal? Economic prosperity frees people from oppression and servitude.
I think Behavior A in this case was the construction of weapons outlawed by treaty and allow inspections of weapon facilities. I don’t see us doing this, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.
If our actions were imperialistic, then why is there now a newly ELECTED Iraqi govt. Imperilism is conquest. If we were imperialistic there would be regional governors and Iraqi tax dinar would flow into our treasury.
Andy Kaufman lives!
john,
O-I-L.
how are we getting oil? Its been turned over to the iraqis. We have not claimed their wells. We have not claimed their property. All the US has done is free them from a madman dictator. If you doubt he and his family were madmen, would sane men rape brides at their weddings??? Please explain the blood for oil mantra to me. If we were stealing their oil, would it still be at $50/barrel?
here’s a clip from the evil neocon mag, Time
By BRIAN BENNETT AND MICHAEL WEISSKOPF I BAGHDAD
After months of recovering from an attempt on his life that put eight bullets in his left side, Uday Hussein, the eldest son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, was ready to party. At his first outing in 1998, at the posh Jadriyah Equestrian Club, he used high-powered binoculars to survey the crowd of friends and family from a platform high above the guests. He saw something he liked, recalls his former aide Adib Shabaan, who helped arrange the party. Uday tightened the focus on a pretty 14-year-old girl in a bright yellow dress sitting with her father, a former provincial governor, her mother and her younger brother and sister.
Uday’s bodyguards picked up the signal and walked through the darkened room, flicking cigarette lighters as they approached the girl’s table. Uday, then 33, flipped on his too, confirming they had identified the right one. When the girl left the table for the powder room, Uday’s bodyguards approached her with a choice, says Shabaan, who was Uday’s business manager. She could ascend the platform now and congratulate Uday on his recovery, or she could call him on his private phone that night. Flustered, she apologized and said her parents would allow neither. One of the guards replied, “This is the chance of your life” and promised she would receive diamonds and a car. “All you have to do is go up there for 10 minutes,” he urged. When she demurred again, the bodyguards pursued Uday’s backup plan. They maneuvered the girl in the direction of the parking lot, picked her up and carried her to the backseat of Uday’s car, covering her mouth to muffle her screams.
After three days the girl was returned to her home, with a new dress, a new watch and a large sum of cash. Her parents had her tested for rape; the result was positive. According to Shabaan’s account, Uday heard she had been tested and sent aides to the clinic, where they warned doctors not to report a rape. Furious, the father demanded to see Saddam himself. Rebuffed, he kept complaining publicly about what Uday had done. After three months, the President’s son had had enough. He sent two guards to the man to insist that he drop the matter. Uday had another demand: that the ex-governor bring his daughter and her 12-year-old sister to his next party. “Your daughters will be my girlfriends, or I’ll wipe you off the face of the earth.” The man complied, surrendering both girls.
It has long been known in Iraq and beyond that as venal and vicious as Saddam Hussein was, Uday was worse. Now that the regime has fallen, the quotidian details of the son’s outrages are beginning to emerge. With Iraqis free to speak more openly, it has become clear that the malignancy of Uday’s behavior actually exceeded that of his reputation. At the same time, new hints are emerging about his psychological state. Uday, now 38, suffered not only from the anguish of Saddam’s disapproval
john,
blahblahblah. yaddayaddayadda.
our companies will manage the oil, our contractors are developing the infrastructure, and the iraqi people won’t benefit from it anymore than they did under hussein.
yeah, hussein sucked. brilliant waste of bandwidth trying to beat that dead horse.
“blahblahblah. yaddayaddayadda.”
most sensible thing you’ve ever said. Ignore the deaths of millions of innocents and keep beating your drum of self-hatred. Hussein sucked???? so eloquent, I’,m sure the husbands in mass graves apreciate it, I’m sure the virgins who were given to Uday on their wedding night stand with you in solidarity. I’m sure those who starved to death so Saddam could build palaces with $$$ he aquired from the UN appreciate your literary skill.
you’re welcome.
It’s rare indeed that I agree with Mr. galt on anything, but I have to say, Brett, that in this case he’s got you dead to rights. By speaking out against our occupation of Iraq, you might as well be shaking Sadam’s hand and calling him buddy.
Earlier this week, Michelle Malkin linked to a story about violent pro-OBL protests in Orange County. The situation in that area is getting pretty dire. Kids are glorifying suicide bombers. There are Al Qaeda cells hiding in plain view. And the crucible of local extremism is the University of California, Irvine, where jihadist and Islamist activism is almost the norm. There is so much anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism on the campus that the Zionist Organization of America has gone so far as to file a Title VI suit alleging systemic discrimination.
A school environment where students wear t-shirts openly calling for jihad doesn
Hold on a minute…I have to open a golf umbrella. OK John, so what’s your point again?
I like Michelle Malkin better when she