Newsweek Was Right

The Bush Administration's aggressive response to a Newsweek story alleging that US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed the Koran down the toilet in front of Islamic detainees displays the height of hypocrisy. After Newsweek clumsily issued an apology, followed by a retraction, White House spokesman Scott McClellan called on the magazine to "help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region," by explaining "what happened and why they got it wrong." Maybe the Bush Administration should do the same, by opening up its secret facilities for inspection to the Red Cross and other third-party observers. We are printing below a letter from reader Calgacus--a pseudonym for a researcher in the national security field for the past twenty years--that shows how the desecration of the Koran became standard US interrogation practice.

"Contrary to White House spin, the allegations of religious desecration at Guantanamo such as those described by Newsweek on 9 May 2005 are common among ex-prisoners and have been widely reported outside the United States. Several former detainees at the Guantanamo and Bagram airbase prisons have reported instances of their handlers sitting or standing on the Koran, throwing or kicking it in toilets, and urinating on it.

One such incident (during which the Koran was thrown into a pile and stepped on) prompted a hunger strike among Guantanamo detainees in March 2002. Regarding this, the New York Times in a 1 May 2005, article interviewed a former detainee, Nasser Nijer Naser al-Mutairi, who said the protest ended with a senior officer delivering an apology to the entire camp. And the Times reports: "A former interrogator at Guantanamo, in an interview with the Times, confirmed the accounts of the hunger strikes, including the public expression of regret over the treatment of the Korans." (Neil A. Lewis and Eric Schmitt, "Inquiry Finds Abuses at Guantanamo Bay," New York Times, May 1, 2005, p. 35.)

The hunger strike and apology story is also confirmed by another former detainee, Shafiq Rasul, interviewed by the UK Guardian in 2003 (James Meek, "The People the Law Forgot," The Guardian, December 3, 2003, p. 1.) It was also confirmed by former prisoner Jamal al-Harith in an interview with the Daily Mirror (Rosa Prince and Gary Jones, "My Hell in Camp X-ray World Exclusive," Daily Mirror, March 12, 2004.)

The toilet incident was reported in the Washington Post in a 2003 interview with a former detainee from Afghanistan:

"Ehsannullah, 29, said American soldiers who initially questioned him in Kandahar before shipping him to Guantanamo hit him and taunted him by dumping the Koran in a toilet. It was a very bad situation for us, said Ehsannullah, who comes from the home region of the Taliban leader, Mohammad Omar. We cried so much and shouted, Please do not do that to the Holy Koran. (Marc Kaufman and April Witt, "Out of Legal Limbo, Some Tell of Mistreatment," Washington Post, March 26, 2003.)

Also citing the toilet incident is testimony by Asif Iqbal, a former Guantanamo detainee who was released to British custody in March 2004 and subsequently freed without charge:

"The behaviour of the guards towards our religious practices as well as the Koran was also, in my view, designed to cause us as much distress as possible. They would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it." (Center for Constitution Rights, Detention in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, August 4, 2004.)

The claim that US troops at Bagram airbase prison in Afghanistan urinated on the Koran was made by former detainee Mohamed Mazouz, a Moroccan, as reported in the Moroccan newspaper, La Gazette du Maroc. (Abdelhak Najib, "Les Americains pissaient sur le Coran et abusaient de nous sexuellement", April 11, 2005). An English translation is available on the Cage Prisoners web site.

Tarek Derghoul, another of the British detainees, similarly cites instances of Koran desecration in an interview with Cageprisoners.com.

Desecration of the Koran was also mentioned by former Guantanamo detainee Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost and reported by the BBC in early May 2005. (Haroon Rashid, "Ex-inmates Share Guantanamo Ordeal," May 2, 2005.)

Comments (20)

1. The Bush administrations outrage at Newsweek appears to be more vehement than its outrage was to the scandal at Abu Grab. The latter was far more damaging to our countries reputation and its position in the region, than the Newsweek article. So what else is new? Gary R.

   Posted by gbgary at 05/18/2005 @ 1:12pm

2. And some say this isn't a Holy War!!

   Posted by smg2010 at 05/18/2005 @ 1:17pm

3. "The Bush administrations outrage at Newsweek appears to be more vehement than its outrage was to the scandal at Abu Grab."

   You know why? Because in this situation they have an actual media outlet that they can attack and have do their dirty work. They can make Newsweek appear biased and this benefits them because in the future when similar situations arise (and with the Bush Admin.-they most def. will) they can say "Look, even Newseek got it wrong before"!!!!

   Posted by msjulala at 05/18/2005 @ 1:58pm

4. One reason that I am thoroughly disgusted because the American public can be so friggin naive at times. Why is it unreasonable to assume that when using interrogation tactics and torture is a normal protocol of ours, why would we hesitate to use or abuse a holy book that a detainee considers sacred? I mean seriously, why does this seem so darn far fetched. The public needs to wake up and demand that our media reports the news and news isn't that Jen and Ben broke up! Our society is really dumbed down and it shows!

   Posted by msjulala at 05/18/2005 @ 2:01pm

5. The media has totally ignored the anti-Moslim retoric of the extreme right wing evangelicals and columnists such as Jerry Faldwell, Pat Robinson, Cal Thomas, Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter, to name a few. These blovators have all denigrated the teachings of the Koran and called Islam an inferior religion.

   Posted by ldiamond at 05/18/2005 @ 3:04pm

6. Perhaps we should not have provided the Taliban detainees with Koran's in the first place?

   Posted by batbagbob at 05/18/2005 @ 4:30pm

7. LDIAMOND, a question for you. Many of the person's you refer to point out that Islamic Militants believe that the Koran teaches them it is "OK" to fly airplanes into buildings.

   Any problem in pointing that out?

   Posted by batbagbob at 05/18/2005 @ 4:38pm

8. "LDIAMOND, a question for you. Many of the person's you refer to point out that Islamic Militants believe that the Koran teaches them it is "OK" to fly airplanes into buildings.

   Any problem in pointing that out?"

   BATBAGBOB no offense, but are you serious? It is no secret that religious texts just as other mediums are susceptible to interpretation. C'mon we both know we can find anything in the BIBLE to interpret in support of our own causes.

   Posted by msjulala at 05/18/2005 @ 5:13pm

9. Look, these bums (GOP) will use anything they can to throw at you. They are truly vicious bastards. In this case, they've found another opportunity to attack to someone, in this case a media outlet that doesn't kowtow to them completely. If you're not completely with them, they will attack you.

   Posted by wgilwood at 05/18/2005 @ 5:46pm

10. Boy Oh Boy,

    A whole holy text in the lavatory, this makes Andre' Serrano's with his "Piss Christ" look like a real cultural piker!

    Where is the mandatory righteous indignation from the religeous community? DX

    Posted by dalex at 05/18/2005 @ 5:58pm

11. "BATBAGBOB no offense, but are you serious? It is no secret that religious texts just as other mediums are susceptible to interpretation. C'mon we both know we can find anything in the BIBLE to interpret in support of our own causes."

    MSJULALA,

    No offense taken and none further intended.

    I DO agree with your statement above. However, it is currently NOT the Ku Klux Klan that is flying planes into buildings, cutting off peoples heads, and that we are reported to be falling short in our efforts to be sufficiently "culturally sensitive" to.

    I recall when GITMO was started the efforts the U.S.put in place to faciltate these Alqaeda and Taliban detainees to observe their religious practicies. Do you also suppose Alquada provides Christian hostages with bibles? (before their beheadings)

    I guess it's too bad that the current terror blight is NOT coming from "Christian terrorists". After all, many here might find it much less objectionable to desecrate all things Christian.

    Posted by batbagbob at 05/18/2005 @ 8:05pm

12. Batbagbob: The point you seem to be making is that because Islamic extremists pose a real threat to us westerners, then the GITMO program of dehumanization, torture and humiliation of Muslim prisoners is justified. And that all of us who abhor what's going on there don't understand the threat. But -- think about it for a minute -- maybe we do. Maybe we feel that a serious threat from extremists should be countered with a strategy to isolate the extremists from the more moderate segment of their co-religionists. Isolate and make them irrelevant. Use force when necessary to eliminate the leaders of violent movements, but do so in a way that does not go out of its way to increase their numbers, by deliberately flaunting things they hold sacred. This could be our strategy, but it isn't. We have chosen a course that has inflamed the Muslim world and plays into the hands of the terrorists. What, then, is wrong with objecting to this madness? What is wrong with reporting the truth?

    Posted by CarolynC967 at 05/18/2005 @ 10:07pm

13. CAROLYNC967,

    I think you have made some good points.

    I also regret that our civilization's enemy has the (unfortunate) advantage of (apparently) not having to defend itself in front of an Arab press and public that is anywhere near as skeptical and suspicious of the terrorists purpose, motives and truthfulness, as our media and a substantial portion of our population is of that of our government.

    As Muslims view the Koran as the literal word of God, and if it is literally true that the Koran teaches that it is the duty of all Muslims to kill all infidels - and that no Christain or Jew may be taken as a friend, then the next 50 to 100 years look pretty discouraging - without regard to which party occupies the White House.

    Posted by batbagbob at 05/18/2005 @ 11:54pm

14. Does it strike anyone as questionable that these allegations are comming from the detainees themselves? Aren't these the very people who want us all dead? Can they be trusted?

    Posted by Lil' Eichman at 05/19/2005 @ 06:51am

15. I agree that if there was any suspicion of a soldier putting a Bible in a toilet (true or not) the American public would be outraged. As a country built on respect for religious differences we should not engage in this kind of activity. We should lead by example.

    The media have limited access to military prisons, and must rely on inside sources. If an ordinarily reputable source comes forward - that is news. It was not wrong to pursue this story, but I wonder if it could have been told differently. Perhaps it could have been presented in terms of what we 'suspect' is happening and following up with interviews from people who will go on the record.

    Posted by gdolezal at 05/19/2005 @ 10:02am

16. Although it may seem rather insensitive on my part, I would rather see a text being abused than a person. I haven't been to church and while, and I hold views that run contrary to most Christian sects, I'd still feel uncomfortable in the presence of a Bible being mistreated. The discomfort wouldn't be anywhere near as severe as if I had to witness my fellow man be physically tortured, or have to endure torture myself. Matter of fact, this comforts me because it demonstrates that at least some of the interrogation tactics used are not physical harm. Journalism's only responsibility, short of not disclosing troop locations and the like, is to the truth, and Newsweek was right to defend the article's author, even if he did come across the Lewinsky story.

    Posted by cammycam at 05/23/2005 @ 6:35pm

17. I'm really amazed how quickly many of the writers and readers here are ready to believe people who are determined to kill us. I don't know how many of you caring people have actually talked to these "reasonable peace loving Muslim" men. I have. They are just as quick to lie as any other group of people. By the way, How many of you very knowledgable readers know how to handle the Koran (Quran) without offending a Muslim? Not too many I bet. As another note, these extremist Christians that you complain about do not cut heads off and video tape the event for the world to see. Any volunteers to find Zarkawi and discuss an end to the conflict?

    Posted by githensr at 05/25/2005 @ 7:49pm

18. A fanatic is a fanatic, regardless of his faith, creed, ideology, GITHENSR.

    Posted by mtspence05 at 05/26/2005 @ 11:48am

19. "I'm really amazed how quickly many of the writers and readers here are ready to believe people who are determined to kill us."

    See there where it says "former prisoner", GITHENSR? That means these people who have been found to have no terrorist ties whatsoever after extensive background checking and interrogation. People who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Every muslim out there isn't "determined to kill us", although that may change if our attitude and methods don't.

    Posted by Life_Hurts at 05/26/2005 @ 4:54pm

20. Hmmm, it actually says "former detainee"... and as it seems Ari didn't even accidentally let a single prisoner slip in, suppose I'll have to draw attention to that little blunder myself, before somebody cracks not-so-wise about it. This thang really needs edit-function, y'all. :O

    Posted by Life_Hurts at 05/26/2005 @ 5:06pm