The Newsweek “retraction” of the Koran-in-the-toilet story and its “apology” once again demonstrate that when faced with pressure—in this instance, from the White House and Condi Rice—the spineless corporate media will back down every time. “Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Qur’an abuse at Guantanamo Bay,” editor-wimp Mark Whitaker said in a statement. Based on what they know? Or based on threats from the White House and the Strausscons? Since Dan Rather went down in flames for the Bush National Guard story, the corporate media may as well fact check their stories with Karl Rove.

In fact, this story has made the rounds since January, if not before. Variations appeared in the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Hartford Courant, BBC Monitoring International Reports, the Daily Mail (London), the Detroit Free Press, and the Observer. Excerpts were posted on the TalkLeft site yesterday. Instead of good old fashion investigative journalism, Newsweek has deferred to the Pentagon, per usual.

It is impossible to ignore the truth—Camp Gitmo, built on a chunk of land stolen from the people of Cuba, is nothing short of the “super-max” of Bush’s worldwide prison and torture gulag. If you doubt Gitmo is a torture center—a place where flushing the Koran down the toilet may be considered a minor infraction—check out the stories of Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal (both released) and others. More

 

Mark Danner on Smoking Gun Memo     TomDispatch

In its June 9 issue (on sale this week), the New York Review of Books will be the first American print publication to publish the full British "smoking gun" document, the secret memorandum of the minutes of a meeting of Tony Blair's top advisors in July 2002, eight months before the Iraq War commenced. Leaked to the London Sunday Times, which first published it on May 1, the memo offers irrefutable proof of the way in which the Bush administration made its decision to invade Iraq -- without significant consultation, reasonable intelligence on Iraq, or any desire to explore ways to avoid war -- and well before seeking a Congressional or United Nations mandate of any sort. deferred to the Pentagon, per usual.

It is impossible to ignore the truth—Camp Gitmo, built on a chunk of land stolen from the people of Cuba, is nothing short of the “super-max” of Bush’s worldwide prison and torture gulag. If you doubt Gitmo is a torture center—a place where flushing the Koran down the toilet may be considered a minor infraction—check out the stories of Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal (both released) and others. More