Gitmo Koran desecration story may have been wrong, say Newsweek editors News
Gitmo Koran desecration story may have been wrong, say Newsweek editors

[JURIST] After days of deadly anti-US rioting in Afghanistan [JURIST report], protests in other Muslim countries, and condemnations [JURIST report] of American actions by civil and judicial leaders around the Muslim world, Newsweek editors have backtracked on their story of Koran abuse by US personnel at Guantanamo Bay [Newsweek report] that ran in the magazine's May 9 issue. Writing in the issue hitting newsstands Monday, Newsweek writers cited Pentagon denials [VOA report] of any evidence backing up the allegation and explained that the anonymous "senior government official" who had apparently been the source of the original report on the basis of what he claimed to have read in a military document "could no longer be sure that these concerns had surfaced in the SouthCom report" he had seen. Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong" and went on to "extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the US soldiers caught in its midst." Newsweek has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

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