How I think the Newsweek Affair will play out...

[tomreedtoon]

They've already made their apology for misstating the case.

That means weakness in the eyes of the Republicans. That will engender more and more attacks on Newsweek, to try to cow them into submission. After all, the article did actually cause people to get killed.

And Newsweek will be cowed, and will add "fair and balanced" conservatives to control the news as the White House desires.

But then...someone else will provide documentary and incontrovertable evidence that Newsweek was right; the American torturers WERE flushing the Koran down the toilet. And possibly other things offensive to Islam.

It will vindicate Newsweek's original story - but too late to help Newsweek, which will by then be populated by media whores. And it will be too late to stop the additional attacks in Iraq and the Middle East on our troops.

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. Hmmmm...sounds vaguely familiar. Why is that?

[BR_Parkway]

2. Not to mention the Downing St memo - really, they aren't mentioning

it. All they can talk about is this, even though several have shown too many other statements that support Newsweek's reporting.


Nor are they "interviewing" the 2 idiot pilots lost in DC airspace last week....They can interview the guy who supposedly screwed the runaway bride umpteen years ago (including reporting what he bought at some store) but the folks who cause the Capitol's evacuation of some 30,000 citizens including The Prim and Proper Laura and St Ronnie's wife - FAUX at least should be outraged at that insult to those fine Republican women's honor at least. Surprised InSannity isn't screaming for their public beheading.....

oh, wait - they fucked up and HELPED distract the public from the memo....surprised InSannity isn't grandstanding to award them their Presidential Freedom Service Flying medals..

[patricia92243]

3. afraid you may have hit the nail on th head. n/t

[JDPriestly]

4. Why would anyone flush the Koran down the toilet?

The evidence that happened will have to be pretty good because it is pretty unbelievable that anyone would do that. It sounds like someone was speaking metaphorically about the general disregard at Guantanamo for the Koran because flushing a book down a toilet would stop up the toilet and create a horrible mess -- especially on Guantanamo which probably doesn't have great plumbing to begin with.

It would take a lot to convince me that it happened. Also, remember Newsweek and Isikoff are the ones who sensationalized the whole Monica Lewinsky/Paula Jones story. They exaggerate and write for shock value. Personally, I haven't trusted Newsweek, Time or U.S. News & World Report for many years. They are commercial enterprises -- entertainment news is their business. My view -- this time Newsweek went too far.

[Up2Late]

11. The Pentagon is NOT disputing that someone DID Flush a Koran

They are disputing some of the other minor points of the article. This is total Spin/damage control.

[orwell]

13. Unfortunately...

it is even worse than you think. Time is part of a covert media operation that cleverly promotes the psyops intelligence propaganda of the global elites under the guise of reportage. Newsweek is another willing accomplice. Start googling on the ties between Time founder Henry Luce and the intelligence community and you might be surprised at what pops up.

When it comes to overt/covert propaganda the "facts" become irrelevant. What is important is the emotional mass mind response, which will inevitably be directed towards "solutions" or real policy objectives. The pre-Iraq War propaganda was a perfect case in point.

Saddam = Hitler
Bush = Strong protective leader
WMD = Sitting at our doorstep

Blah...blah...blah.

These are all either blatant falsehoods, or better yet for propaganda purposes, deliberate distortions with some microscopic basis of fact. Go look at Newsweek/Time's prewar "coverage" for a true idea of how this machine works.

Why has that list of blatant fabrications never received a media firestorm of scrutiny? Because it helped to launch the nation into an illegal war that suits the interests of the global elites. So...it goes down the memory hole.

We need to stop being such compliant serfs to stop being treated as such. As long as we accept the "scandal du jour" we will remain blind to the real stories that go unreported by the web of elite propaganda that lies behind our "treasured' hallowed media brands.

Liberal media indeed...

[Anywho6]

5. Propaganda gone awry?

I agree. This smells like another lame attempt to humiliate the Muslim world into "democracy" and if the Pentagon did approve the story, then Rummy & Company had a hand in getting it out there. I think this is another case of miscalculation once again under this criminal administration. Oh, yes, this will play into the Bushies' liberal-media-out-of-control argument and they will play this to the hilt.

[underpants]

6. From Rush's fill-in host today. You got it right.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1786627

[Warpy]

7. Yeah, this whole thing stinks of Rovian set up

which is why the right is dutifully screeching about the librulmedia causing riots in Afghanistan by reporting that story.

The trouble is that the Italian press also reported that story sometime last year.

They're marching to Rove's drumbeat, all right. Let's hope there's some blowback this time.

[Up2Late]

8. You might be right, but remember, This was not a Retraction

It was an apology for not having a two strong quotable sources.

Here are two links to 2 NPR Audio News clips that explain the problem very well.

'Newsweek' Apologizes for Report on Quran Abuse

Click link above to Listen to this story... by David Folkenflik

Morning Edition, May 16, 2005 · Newsweek apologizes to victims of deadly protests in Afghanistan and acknowledges reporting errors in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran. The magazine has acknowledged some reporting errors in the item.

Roundtable: Base Closings, 'Newsweek' Article

On-line Audio for this story will be available at approx. 1:00 p.m. ET

News & Notes with Ed Gordon, May 16, 2005 · Topics on Monday's table include whether the Pentagon should consider the economic impact of base closings and Newsweek's partial retraction of a controversial story on desecration of the Quran at Guantanamo Bay. Guests: Randall Robinson, author of The Debt - What America Owes to Blacks; Yvonne Bynoe, author of Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture and co-founder and former president of the Urban Think Tank; and George Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUSA.com.

Note: the second link is to a "Round table discussion" where the woman who speaks first is obviously shilling for the WH point of view. Best to ignore what she says, but not her tactics.

[TheDebbieDee]

9. Did Newsweek apologize for mis-stating the case?

Or did Newsweek apologize for the reactions of Muslims to the facts stated in the Newsweek article?

I haven't read the article but I've heard today's apology described as both in various threads on this board.

[orwell]

10. Already There

Newsweek is already a propaganda arm. This is all much ado about nothing - the latest manufactured "crisis" for the numbed masses.

These psyops maneuvers are being launched at an ever more rapid rate. They have been enormously successful so will probably continue.

Nobody is interested in facts, just sensationalism and bluster. Meanwhile, the world burns, the body counts rise, and the gilded class continues to profit handsomely.

Sounds like business as usual to me...

[Brotherjohn]

12. See, thing is... "actually", the "article" didn't cause any deaths.

The rioting, and ensuing deaths, were cause by the ACTIONS upon which the article was reporting (not to mention years of ACTIONS by the U.S. in their "War on Musli...", I mean, "War on Terror").

As many here have noted today, and as hopefully will be common knowledge by week's end, this specific form of prisoner mistreatment has already been widely reported as occurring.

Newsweek were understandably upset over rioting which was at least partially in response to events about which they reported, and unfortunately caved to WH pressure. The problem is, they went too far. As you say, once the right smells blood...

Classic case of "shoot the messenger", which the Bushies are really good at (especially when the message implicates them).