Too Little, Too Late

Newsweek's apology (which really wasn't an apology) has not gone over well in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even it's half-hearted retraction is perpetuating anti-American feelings in the Muslim world. A raging fire cannot be extinguished by a few drops of water.

From KABUL (Reuters):

"We will not be deceived by this," Islamic cleric Mullah Sadullah Abu Aman told Reuters in the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan, referring to the magazine's retraction.

"This is a decision by America to save itself. It comes because of American pressure. Even an ordinary illiterate peasant understands this and won't accept it."

Aman was the leader of a group of clerics who Sunday vowed to call for a holy war against the United States in three days unless it handed over the military interrogators reported to have desecrated the Koran.

That call for a jihad, or holy war, still stood, he said.

..."It's not acceptable now that the magazine says it's made a mistake," said Hafizullah Torab, 42, a writer and journalist in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, where the protests began last Tuesday. "No one will accept it."

"Possibly, the American government put pressure on the magazine to issue the retraction to avoid the anger of Muslims," said Sayed Elyas Sedaqat, who heads a cultural group in the city.

In neighboring Pakistan, a religious party said it was going ahead with a call for protests on May 27.

"Newsweek is back-tracking but it's not just their report," said Ghaffar Aziz, a top official of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. "All innocent people released from U.S. custody have said on the record that there was desecration of the Koran.

A spokesman for the Taliban, who denied any involvement in last week's Afghan protests, said the original report was true. "Newsweek is changing its story because of pressure from the U.S. government," Abdul Latif Hakimi said by telephone.

Michael Isikoff's irresponsible, shoddy reporting certainly added fuel to the fire, but he didn't start it. The liberal Old Media have been stoking the flames of Anti-Americanism since Bush took office.

They are willing to jump on any story that fits their template. I'm in no way letting Newsweek off the hook for its role in sparking the violent protests that resulted in deaths. In addition to condemning that publication, I'm holding reponsible ALL the liberal outlets and talking heads and elected officials that have been so quick to repeat unsubstantiated claims in order to demonize the U.S.

Their anti-war, anti-military, anti-Bush agenda comes first. They have no problem sacrificing the truth, and lives.

All the apologies in the world cannot undo what they've done.