According to FOX5 Atlanta, NEWSWEEK RETRACTED THE KORAN STORY

According to FOX5 Atlanta, NEWSWEEK RETRACTED THE KORAN STORY

From Ace of Spades

The weekly news magazine said in its May 23 edition that the original source of the allegation was not sure where he saw the assertion that at least one copy of the Koran was flushed down a toilet in an attempt to get detainees to talk.

“We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst,” Editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the magazine’s latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday.

Update 2 : Reuters story, Fox News

Update: More from Michelle Malkin

More from Bloomberg

“Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay,” Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said in an e-mailed statement.

The retraction followed denunciations of the Newsweek report by Bush administration officials. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan called Whitaker’s statement “a good first step.”

This might be a good idea for Newsweek:

“We encourage Newsweek to now work diligently to undue the damage that can be undone,” McClellan said.

Update: The BBC puts it’s spin on the announcement, sending reporters to the farthest reaches of Pakistan to find those that find fault with Newsweeks rebuttal.

In Pakistan, an alliance of six conservative Islamic parties rejected Newsweek’s retraction.

Alliance leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, said it was “a crude attempt, both by the weekly magazine and the American authorities to defuse the anger of the Muslims across the world”.