WASHINGTON, 17 May 2005 — Newsweek magazine yesterday issued a retraction of an article alleging abuse of the Qur’an at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility which sparked deadly protests in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries.
“Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Qur’an abuse at Guantanamo Bay,” the magazine said in a one-sentence statement from editor Mark Whitaker.
The Newsweek retraction came hours after the White House demanded one.
The May 9 report triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 16 people were killed. Whitaker, apologized to the victims on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that US military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had defiled the Muslim holy book.
“It’s puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said earlier. “I think there’s a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not.”
McClellan complained that the story was “based on a single anonymous source who could not personally substantiate the allegation that was made.” “The report has had serious consequences,” he said. “People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged.”
Pentagon also went on the offensive. It said the report was “irresponsible” and “demonstrably false.” The US Southern Command, which is responsible for the Guantanamo Bay detention center, opened a formal investigation into the allegation last week after riots erupted in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials said that investigation is still open.
“The Schmidt investigation has found no such allegation in the FBI e-mails,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, referring to Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt, who led the probe.
“The fact is Newsweek hid behind anonymous sources, which by their own admission don’t withstand any sort of scrutiny,” Whitman said.
Muslims in Afghanistan were skeptical yesterday about the retraction. “We will not be deceived by this,” Islamic cleric Mulla Sadullah Abu Aman said in the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan. “This is a decision by America to save itself. It comes because of American pressure. Even an ordinary illiterate peasant understands this and won’t accept it.” Aman was the leader of a group of clerics who on Sunday vowed to call for jihad against the United States in three days unless it handed over the military interrogators reported to have desecrated the Qur’an.
