Newsweek versus the Watchtower? (page 2)

SixofNine

The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
May 14, 2004
SECTION: Guardian Home Pages, Pg. 1
LENGTH: 564 words
HEADLINE: Guantanamo abuse same as Abu Ghraib, say Britons
BYLINE: Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington, Tania Branigan and Vikram Dodd
BODY:
Two British men who were held at Guantanamo Bay claimed that their US guards subjected them to abuse similar to that perpetrated at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
<snip>
According to a source, who has interviewed them in secret since their release, they were initially too ashamed to talk about it, and are only now starting to give details. The source said: "They are embarrassed about talking about it because they feel humiliated. We have had an account that their religion was used against them, that a copy of the Koran was brought in front of them and pages torn out."
<snip>
- - - - -
The Observer
March 14, 2004
SECTION: Observer News Pages, Pg. 5
LENGTH: 5420 words
HEADLINE: World Exclusive: Inside Guantanamo: How we survived jail hell: For two years the Tipton Three have been silent prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Now, in this remarkable interview with David Rose, they describe for the first time the extraordinary story of their journey from the West Midlands to Camp Delta
BYLINE: David Rose
<snip>
As Muslims, they were shocked when in repeated 'shakedown' searches of the sleeping tents, copies of the Koran would be trampled on by soldiers and, on one occasion, thrown into a toilet bucket. Throughout their stay at Kandahar the guards carried out head-counts every hour at night to keep the prisoners awake.
<snip>

SixofNine

The Washington Post
March 26, 2003 Wednesday
Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A12
LENGTH: 888 words
HEADLINE: Returning Afghans Talk of Guantanamo;
Out of Legal Limbo, Some Tell of Mistreatment
BYLINE: Marc Kaufman and April Witt, Washington Post Staff Writers
DATELINE: KABUL, Afghanistan March 25
BODY:
Afghan men freed today after spending months in legal limbo as U.S. prisoners in the war on terrorism said they were generally well-fed and given medical care, but housed in cramped cells and sometimes shackled, hit and humiliated.
<snip>
The men, the largest single group of Afghans to be released after months of detainment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave varying accounts of how American forces treated them during interrogation and detainment. Some displayed medical records showing extensive care by American military doctors, while others complained that American soldiers insulted Islam by sitting on the Koran or dumping their sacred text into a toilet to taunt them.
<snip>

Fatfreek

Hmmm, SixOfNine, it looks like Newsweek became a kind of scapegoat for desecration behavior that had allegedly been going on for more than a year (thanks to your clever news sleuthing).

Balsam

My thought is even if the story Newsweek is true, was it necessary to publish it to the whole world. Especially if it would enflame extremeist Muslims to fire up the people to riot? Is that responsible or is it just saying what ever they wish, not feeling accountable for the results of such stories. I feel Newsweek is just looking for sensational stories and feel no interest in its affect on humanity. Newsweek publishing these negative stories as assignating the worlds view of the general American view point. Certainly a few doing anything like this is not representative of all of us here in the USA. Any more than the Extremeist Muslims are representative of the Quran and the faith of these folks.

Yes the WTS does the same character assignation through their words in their magazines to the those who leave its ranks. 60,000 wow just think of that. That is a lot of folks. Really cuts into their so called growth doesn't it? Words are powerful, and they can flame the fires of hatred so easily. 1984 movie and book by George Orwell really shows that clearly doesn't it?

Balsam

SixofNine

Journalism is known as "the fourth estate" because it really is the 4th leg of free society. As such, it's job is to report NEWS, not cater to the whims of ANYONE. In the long run, far more people will die w/out a truly free press, than will ever die because bad behavior is reported. It's sad that the press has been doing such a crappy job, but the cure for that is for them to do LESS cheerleading for whatever country they are in, and MORE straightforward reporting; not the other way around.

The press is your best friend unless you are a proponent of fascism or unlimited governmental power. Stop pissing on your best friend, people.

avishai

Hmmm, gives me some ideas. Anybody got a watchtower?

Gill

Only the PRESS can keep the really powerful in line!

Without freedom of the press and the scandals they are willing to uncover, everywhere would be intolerable to live in.

They will make mistakes and they will abuse their power at times, but those are the dark side of the press we have to put up with for the sake of our own freedoms that we enjoy in the west. This doesn't excuse the things they do wrong and why the press also needs criticism, but we still need people who are willing to speak out and uncover ALL KINDS of abuses.

Hopefully, the Muslim world, the reasonable Muslim world will see that ordinary people also abhor all kinds of abuse.

You can rarely do anything about extremists and terrorists! They're always looking for a fight, but you can show that you're bigger and better than them, in that you will not keep bad things covered up and you will make your leaders accountable, sooner or later, for the things they allow to happen.

Fatfreek

You are both so correct Gill and SixOfNines. Freedom of the press is truly a two-edged sword and folks will get cut by the one edge. But they get far greater relief, on the whole, because of the other edge toward the oppressors.

EvilForce

While I missed the entire Newsweek gaffe.... at least they had the balls to say they were wrong. One of my biggest beefs with the GB is that they NEVER apologize and NEVER admit they were wrong. How humble is that? I guess humility went out the window when they claimed to be Jah's spokepiece. Blech!!!

Newsweek versus the Watchtower?

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