So Newsweek Made a Mistake, so What?

Newsweek apologized yesterday for an inaccurate report on the treatment of detainees that triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 15 people died.

Editor Mark Whitaker expressed regret over the item in the magazine’s “Periscope” section, saying it was based on a confidential source -- a “senior U.S. government official” -- who now says he is not sure whether the story is true.

The deadly consequences of the May 1 report, and its reliance on the unnamed source, have sparked considerable anger at the Pentagon. Spokesman Bryan Whitman called Newsweek’s report “irresponsible” and “demonstrably false,” saying the magazine “hid behind anonymous sources which by their own admission do not withstand scrutiny. Unfortunately, they cannot retract the damage that they have done to this nation or those who were viciously attacked by those false allegations.” (source)

George W. Bush took us into a war built on lies. He wanted this war to happen because he wanted Iraq to fall. They never were a threat to the United States, and he damn well knew it. As of yesterday, there have been 1,806 coalition troop deaths, 1,627 Americans, 88 Britons, 10 Bulgarians, one Dane, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 21 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq.

So now, we are all over Newsweek magazine because one of it’s sources turned out to be lying when he said that American interrogators at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet.

The Bush Administration was quick to label this as “irresponsible”, “demonstrably false”, and that Newsweek magazine “hid behind anonymous sources which by their own admission do not withstand scrutiny.”

Oh please! Why don’t we hold the Bush Administration up to the same scrutiny that we do Newsweek? Their mistake was to trust a source that turned out to be untrustworthy.

Our mistake was to trust a President who has no moral fiber what so ever and who blatantly lied to us, the American People. He should be impeached. Where is our outrage on this?

It’s very difficult for me to throw stones at Newsweek. In the greater scheme of things, their offense doesn’t even show up on the map.