"Knowingly" "inflame" "causing additional deaths"?
I don't agree with you when you say the editor knowingly lied causing additional deaths.
Whitaker wrote that the magazine's information came from "a knowledgeable U.S. government source," and writers Michael Isikoff and John Barry had sought comment from two Defense Department officials. One declined to respond, and the other challenged another part of the story but did not dispute the Quran charge, Whitaker said.
To me it appears that the editor mistakenly believed he had a charge made by a creditable source, submitted that charge, which may be mistaken, to two pentagon officials, and found that the charge was not disputed by either of the two Defense Department officials (including the one who did challenge another part of the story). There is no claim that either DOD official even cautioned Newsweek, or asked them for the source, or said they wanted to look into it themselves so hold off on publication.
I assume you share my anger at those defense department officials who didn't dispute the Quran charge but did challenge another part of the story submitted to them by Newsweek before the magazine published the charge.
So I see no basis for your assertion that Newsweek knowingly published a lie. That assertion seems like an untruth knowingly told, to me.
Some very big lies, though, have, it is true, been promulgated by individuals in high places, and those lies have caused many, many deaths in Iraq. |
