Good morning . . .
Newsweek magazine announced late on Monday that it was retracting its May 9 article that claimed military investigators at Guantanemo Bay desecrated a Quran by flushing it down a toilet.
The retraction is a footnote to a letter from editor Mark Whitaker following a whitewash statement that the magazine "regrets any part of our story was wrong." Sorry, Mr. Whitaker, it is too little and much too late.
Like CBS News you went to press with a story that had only one source and that source was anonymous. You pinned your hopes on bashing the Bush administration on a source that was labeled by the Pentagon as "not credible." You failed to properly confirm the allegations with other sources o information. You were playing "gotcha" journalism.
Unlike CBS News' attempt to change the course of a presidential election, your story resulted in riots in Pakistan and Afghanistan that cost the lives of 15 to 17 people and injured hundreds of others. Your failure to have a story that was anywhere near accurate had a more devastating affect on the US image in the Muslim world.
In this writer's opinion, you should be held accountable, legally and financially, for any costs incurred by the families, cities, and countries where riots occurred. Every reporter, editor, copy boy, proofreader, researcher, or manager associated with the story should be fired. Every advertiser should withdraw any further ads from your "not credible" magazine. You should simply go away.
The Editor's Desk - Letters & Live Talk - MSNBC.com
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In a related story, a Pentagon memo dated Jan 19, 2003, gives very specific instructions on how to handle the Quran.
US officials said the memo reflects a specific policy on handling the Quran, one of the most sensitive issues to Muslims.
The detailed rules require U.S. Muslim personnel to use both hands when touching the Koran to signal "respect and reverence," and specify that the right hand be the primary one used to manipulate any part of the book "due to cultural associations with the left hand." The Koran should be treated like a "fragile piece of delicate art," it says.
U.S. Long Had Memo on Handling of Koran
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stormed out of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-TN) on Monday ending negotiations over President Bush's judicial nominees.
Reid quit the negotiations because Frist continues to insist that all judicial nominees deserve an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate. Reid's compromise that he has repeated and failed to move from would have votes for some, but not all of the nominees. Reid has asked the president to withdraw the names of the more "controversial" judges. The White House has declined that request.
"The goal of the Republican leadership and their allies in the White House is to pave the way for a Supreme Court nominee who would only need 50 votes for confirmation rather than 60," Reid said. This statement demonstrates the Democrats desire to have a majority without earning it from the voters. Judicial nominees only require 60 votes when the minority party filibusters the nomination. Under the Constitution judicial nominees only require a simple majority for confirmation. It is the Democrats under Reid's leadership that want to take over the nomination process.
In the background a few "moderate" (read as wimpy" senators are trying to forge a deal that will only allow votes on a few judicial nominees. Headed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the deal is similar to the proposal of the Democrat leadership. A deal that has been rejected by Sen. Frist and the White House.
It is likely that a showdown over a rule change to end filibusters for judicial nominees will take place this week. Of course, Sen. Frist has been saying that for several months. While the Democrats would have you believe that the sky will fall if the rule changes, the rule change only applies to judicial nominees. The Democrats will still have the ability to filibuster other nominees and bills. The Democrats have threatened to filibuster most Senate business if the rule is changed.
It is time to act, Sen. Frist, you must act like the leader of the majority party. The Constitution says "advise and consent" not "negotiate and filibuster."
Showdown Over Filibusters Appears Imminent - Yahoo! News
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More later.
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