Retraction/Distraction

Well, luckily this was delayed for a few days, because I was going to go into a tirade about the “Koran in the toilet” incident, but, I guess now I would just have to retract it anyway.

Just kidding.

First of all, while you are hearing all over the mainstream news about RETRACTION this and retraction that (by the way, this is the first time I can remember where the retraction of a story has gotten more coverage than the actual story---o wait, maybe not, the Bush Texas Air Nat’l Guard retraction got a lot coverage as well.)

But, don’t forget that while we in the US mainland here are talking about RETRACTIONS and wondering whose heads at NEWSWEEK are going to roll, there are still human rights, and civil rights being violated in Guantanimo Bay. Korans in the toilet or not.

And, while we are on the subject, lets have a look at the retraction in question, shall we? In no report I have read does anyone say that it did NOT occur, and considering what we already know has gone on down there already, it SEEMS like at least a possibility.

Also, when Newsweek first admitted that maybe the story didn’t have enough “legs” to really be considered reliable, over this last weekend, it apologized, came SHORT of a retraction, and said that there would be a thorough investigation of whether or not it was actually true.

Then, White House press secretary Scott McClellan starts going all over the press saying how irresponsible the story was with all the protests around the world….and ….Abracadabra….by the end of the day Monday, Newsweek Officially retracts the story….which basically ends any further investigation.

Hmmmm…..anybody think there was any pressure being applied anywhere along the line? It certainly smells like it, and the story sounds like it was substantiated at least as much, if not more so, than CBS’s Bush National Guard story. How soon do you think that things will be shaken up in the offices at Newsweek? I think by weeks end we will begin to see heads rolling? But how many, and how high?

I’m sure that political pressure will cause more firings at Newsweek than they did courts-marshal in the Abu Girab abuses. And we got PICTURES of those-I guess we will need to see photos of The Koran floating in a Guantanimo toilet before any investigation takes place.

But, according to the original article, Newsweek found out about this because of word from a “senior anonymous government official.” I wonder what is happening to that official right now. Or what may be happening to his or her family? I’m sure we will never know, and may never hear from him or her again...

O well, why should we be surprised at anything that has happened throughout this administration? Abu Girab, and what we have already heard for certain has gone on in Guantanimo (and I’m not going to say Gitmo because that’s how the right-wing Neocons like to say it to make it sound all “kick-ass and macho) should be enough to make us realize that religious freedom in the US has become a “flexible” term.