The last refuge of a scoundrel

This is classic - the administration is blaming a May 9 Newsweek story about abuses at Guantanamo for the deaths of 16 people in Afghanistan and elsewhere:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday that a Newsweek report based on an anonymous source had damaged the U.S. image overseas by alleging that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay.

The May 9 report triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 16 people were killed. [snip]

The report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. In the past week the reported desecration was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League. [snip]

Newsweek said in its May 23 edition that the information had come from a "knowledgeable government source" who told Newsweek that a military report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay said interrogators flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet in a bid to make detainees talk.

But the source later told the magazine he could not be certain he had seen an account of the Koran incident in the military report and that it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts, Newsweek said.

Now, call me a cynic, but if you ask me something about this doesn't smell quite right. Of course, it's laughable to implicate Newsweek in the demolition of the American image abroad - the administration does a spiffy job of that all on its own, no assistance required. But more than that, I sense some back room intimidation tactics here. Seems to me the "source" of this information may have been "encouraged" to "retract." Given all the other shenanigans we've pulled in the name of interrogation, it would surprise me if we hadn't somehow desecrated the Koran at this point. Jesus, if we won't stop at sexual abuse and torture, why would we stop at this? Not to mention that the administration has got to have it in for Newsweek anyway, as they've produced scads of excellent reportage that isn't exactly laudatory of the Busheviks. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.