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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (47376)	5/19/2005 8:22:10 PM
From: shadowman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

The Koran story... Not sure this has gotten much exposure, but for what it's worth. Red Cross raised Koran disrespect concerns Thu May 19, 2005 03:21 PM ET By Saul Hudson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Red Cross told the Pentagon as early as 2002 detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison had reported U.S. officials mishandled the Koran, Red Cross and Pentagon officials said on Thursday. The acknowledgment of the documentation of alleged abuse of the Koran came as Washington sought to defuse anger in the Muslim world after a U.S. news magazine reported the Muslim holy book was flushed down the toilet at the Guantanamo prison. The magazine later retracted the article. The International Committee for the Red Cross told the Pentagon "multiple" times in 2002 and early 2003 that prisoners at Guantanamo said U.S. officials showed "disrespect" for the Muslim holy book, said Simon Schorno, an ICRC spokesman. "The U.S. government took corrective measures and those allegations have not resurfaced," Schorno said. The ICRC spokesman declined to specify if the allegations included the flushing of the Koran down the toilet or if U.S. officials used the disrespect as part of interrogations. Former Guantanamo prisoners and lawyers for detainees have for months accused U.S. personnel at Guantanamo of putting the Koran into toilets. Pentagon officials said this week they did not consider such statements as credible allegations meriting investigation. Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the ICRC has come to the Pentagon "on rare occasion" with allegations made by detainees at Guantanamo. Whitman said ICRC representatives acknowledge they did not observe the actions that prompted the complaints. "Out of respect to the ICRC and the relationship that we have, I'm not going to talk about the specific representations that they've made," Whitman said. "They are consistent with the type of things that we have talked about, what we have found in log entries (at Guantanamo), to include things like a Koran inadvertently falling to the floor." RULES ON HANDLING OF KORAN In January 2003, the U.S. military issued guidelines to personnel at the base outlining how to handle and inspect detainees' Korans. The memorandum included the order: "Ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet or dirty/wet areas." "The guidelines didn't come out of nowhere. You don't get such orders unless there's some problem, concern or controversy," a U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said. Whitman said that "to the best of my knowledge" the concerns presented by the ICRC did not prompt the memo. "I am not aware of any specific precipitating event," Whitman said. Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with reverence. The U.S. Southern Command, responsible for Guantanamo, Cuba, began a fact-finding inquiry last week in the aftermath of the Newsweek report into whether U.S. personnel at Guantanamo put the Koran in toilets. The Pentagon has said it has thus far found nothing to substantiate the allegation. Anti-American sentiment has been strong in the Muslim world because of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and ensuing prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. The Newsweek report sparked violent protests in Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, and in Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. The Pentagon said it currently holds about 520 non-U.S. citizens at Guantanamo, many there for nearly 3-1/2 years. Most were caught in the Afghanistan war. (Additional reporting by Will Dunham) reuters.com

To: Sully- who wrote (47376)	5/19/2005 8:29:23 PM
From: Wayners	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

no one "foresaw that a reference to the desecration of the Koran was going to create the kind of response that it did." I always suspected journalism student studied journalism because they flunked calculus.

To: Sully- who wrote (47376)	5/19/2005 8:57:07 PM
From: Doug R	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

You're really quite slow on the uptake there, aren't ya? The International Committee of the Red Cross documented what it called credible information about U.S. personnel disrespecting or mishandling Korans at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and pointed it out to the Pentagon in confidential reports during 2002 and early 2003, an ICRC spokesman said Wednesday. ICRC delegates, who have been granted access to the secretive camp since January 2002, gathered and corroborated enough similar, independent reports from detainees to raise the issue multiple times with Guantanamo commanders and with Pentagon officials, Schorno said in an interview Wednesday. Following the ICRC's reports, the Defense Department command in Guantanamo issued almost three pages of detailed, written guidelines for treatment of Korans. Schorno said ICRC representatives did not receive any other complaints or document similar incidents following the issuance of the guidelines on Jan. 19, 2003. Schorno did say, however, that *there were "multiple"* instances involved and that the ICRC made confidential reports about such incidents "multiple" times to Guantanamo and Pentagon officials.** Asked about the ICRC's confidential reports Wednesday night, Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed their existence but sought to downplay the seriousness of their content. He said they were forwarded "on rare occasions" and called them "detainee allegations which they [the ICRC] could not corroborate." But that is not how Schorno, the ICRC spokesman, portrayed the reports. "All information we received were corroborated allegations," he said, adding, "We certainly corroborated mentions of the events by detainees themselves." Schorno also said: "Obviously, it is not just one person telling us something happened and we just fire up. We take it very seriously, and very carefully, and document everything in our confidential reports." Still, Whitman said there was nothing in the ICRC reports that approximated the information published in the story retracted by Newsweek. "The representations that were made to the United States military at Guantanamo by the ICRC are consistent with the types of things we have found in various [U.S. military] log entries about handling Korans, such as the accidental dropping of a Koran," he said. A senior State Department official, speaking only on the condition that he not be named, said Wednesday the issuance of the guidelines followed the ICRC's reports and that they were "a credit to the fact that we investigate and correct practices and problems." Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, said he was not aware of "any specific precipitating event that caused the command to codify those in a written policy." Whitman also said, "The ICRC works very closely with us to help us identify concerns with respect to detainees on a variety of issues, to include religious issues. But I can't make any direct correlation there" between ICRC concerns on the Koran and the issuance of the 2003 guidelines. Message 21341053