Newsweek

So by now, those of us that read the news must know that Newsweek is being blamed for massive demonstrations in the Middle East, including riots that have left many people dead.

Why? This paragraph from a recent story...

"May 9 - Investigators probing interrogation abuses at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay have confirmed some infractions alleged in internal FBI e-mails that surfaced late last year. Among the previously unreported cases, sources tell NEWSWEEK: interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet and led a detainee around with a collar and dog leash."

How anybody could be surprised by this is beyond me. There are no limits when dealing with prisoners as far as I can tell, up to and including murder.

After you've tortured and killed scores of prisoners, how much of a stretch is it to believe the interrogators would desecrate the Quran?

I realize it's great fun to blame the media on this issue, but go read this post at the Daily Kos for some perspective.

It's not like Newsweek just pulled this story out of their ass and published it. It has been published many times before - it's nothing new.

But then, the right wingers want to go crazy and blame the media. Oh.. it's not Dear Leaders fault. It's not our government sanctioning rendition. It's the evil media.

This reminds me of a story on Harry Reid that the wingers are frothing over. Reid was discussing one of Bush's judicial nominees who has not come up for a vote yet. Reid mentioned that there was good cause to be cautious as there was a problem with the judges FBI investigation. The wingers went nuts insisting Reid should never have mentioned that - however, it had been published freely more than a year in advance. It was in the public domain.

Still - the wingers go nuts, based on wholly false information.