Government and military investigations into detainee-alleged Koran abuse have occurred previous to the Newsweek debacle, and again afterwards with a focus on the controversial tale of a the holy book of Islam being flushed down a Guantanamo Bay toilet.
Preliminary findings have been released and the score to date: mishandlings 5, flushings 0.
Brigadier General Jay Hood, the military commander at Guantanamo Bay, says U.S. officials have substantiated five cases of mishandling of the Koran by the military, but found no credible evidence that a Koran was placed in a toilet and flushed.
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“First off, I would like to you know that we have found no credible evidence that a member of the joint task force at Guantanamo Bay ever flushed a Koran down a toilet. We did identify 13 incidents of alleged mishandling of the Koran by joint task force personnel. Ten of those were by a guard, and three by interrogators.”
He said only five of the 13 instances involved what could be broadly described as mishandling of the Koran. In two cases, he said, the guards were punished.
Note that we currently are investigating, have previously investigated and have even previously punished our own.
General Hood said the initial inquiry has also identified 15 instances in which detainees mishandled or inappropriately treated a Koran. One of these incidents was the specific example of a detainee who ripped pages out of his own Koran.
Note also that the detainees have the lead in mishandling their own holy book.
Now, how about the specific charge of the Newsweek blunder?
Earlier this month, Newsweek magazine published an article that said a soon-to-be-released military investigation had found that interrogators at Guantanamo had placed a Koran in a toilet and flushed it down to upset detainees under interrogation. The report was followed by widespread protests throughout the Muslim world. Demonstrations in Afghanistan and Pakistan turned violent and at least 15 people lost their lives.
Newsweek later retracted the story and said it was based on one government source who now said he could not be sure the military investigation had confirmed the Koran desecration.
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General Hood said that during the military inquiry into mistreatment of the Koran, investigators questioned the inmate who had told FBI investigators the Koran had been placed in a toilet. The inmate retracted his initial allegations. “We had a very good conversation with him where he said, no, that he wasn’t beaten or abused but that he had heard rumors that other detainees were. We then proceeded to ask him about any incidences where he had seen the Koran defiled, desecrated or mishandled and he allowed as how he hadn’t, but he had heard that guards at some other point in time had done this,” he said.
The media has repeatedly shown a willingness to print unsubstantiated detainee allegations. One scumbag echoed hearsay. Newsweek combined that with shoddy journalism and it just snowballed from there into riots and deaths.
General Hood went on to promise details of the specific mishandlings will be made available when the investigation is complete and that policies Koran handling will be reviewed as needed.
Meanwhile, a confirmed abuse of the Koran, a flushing at that, can be found here, courtesy of Dr. Rusty Shackleford of Jawa Report fame.