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Washington (pte017/17.05.2005/11:36) - After severe criticism from the Bush administration and violent protests that led to seventeen deaths and more than 100 injured in Afghanistan, Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com has retracted its article about interrogators flushing a copy of the Koran down the toilet.
However scorn and hostility continue to reverberate in the US and the Muslim world.
The article was published in the May 8 issue and was written by veteran investigative reporter, Michael Isikoff, and Newsweek's national security correspondent, John Barry. It reported that a 'longtime reliable source' had said that prisoner abuse tactics would include flushing a copy of the Koran down the toilet.
Editor of Newsweek, Mark Whitaker, said in a statement: "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."
The story that only ranabout 200 words incited riots in cities and in remote parts of Afghanistan. Many Muslims suspect that the apology was part of some elaborate US government cover up. One Muslim, Mullah Sadullah Abu Aman, who threatened to wage a holy war against the US for the alleged abuse, said, "We will not be deceived by this [retraction] ... This [decision] comes because of American pressure. Even an ordinary illiterate peasant understands that and won't accept it."
Whittaker was required to write a formal apology and retraction letter. The editor claims that an anonymous US government source let them down by falsely claiming knowledge that a Koran was actually dropped into the toilet.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said she was appalled "that this story got out there".
White House spokesman Scott McClellan commented that the report "has had serious consequences... People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."
A full investigation into the claims is underway by the US military.
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