From The Washington Post, 5/25/05:

Gitmo Guards Accused of Mistreating Koran

Newly Released FBI Documents Detail Allegations

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 25, 2005; 3:57 PM

Numerous detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba told
FBI interrogators that guards had mistreated copies of the Koran,
including one who said in 2002 that guards "flushed a Koran in the
toilet," according to new FBI documents released today.

The summaries of FBI interviews, obtained by the American Civil
Liberties Union as part of an ongoing lawsuit, also include
allegations that the Koran was kicked, thrown to the floor and
withheld as punishment and that guards mocked Muslim prisoners during
prayers.

Nearly all of the hundreds of pages of documents consist of FBI
summaries of detainee interrogations, and therefore do not generally
provide corroboration of the allegations.

At least two detainees also conceded that they had not personally
witnessed mistreatment of the Koran but had heard about incidents from
other inmates, the records show.

But the records, many of which were heavily edited by the government,
further underscore the widespread nature of allegations related to the
Koran and Islam among detainees at Guantanamo.

Red Cross investigators in 2002 and 2003 documented what they
considered reliable allegations of Koran mistreatment at the facility,
and some detainees have made similar allegations through their
attorneys.

The release of the new FBI documents comes in the wake of an
international uproar over a now-retracted story by Newsweek magazine,
which reported that an internal military report had confirmed that a
Koran was flushed down a toilet.

The retracted story has been linked by the Bush administration to
deadly riots overseas.

A Defense Department spokesman was not immediately available for
comment today.

Pentagon officials have said previously that detainee allegations
about the Koran have not been considered credible, although
authorities have launched an internal review in the wake of the
Newsweek controversy.

Amrit Singh, an ACLU attorney, said in a press release that "the
United States' own documents show that it has known of numerous
allegations of Koran desecration for a significant period of time."

"The failure to address these allegations in a timely manner raises
grave questions regarding the extent to which such desecration was
authorized by high-ranking U.S. officials in the first place," Singh
said.

The new documents include other allegations of questionable treatment
at Guantanamo, including two reports of beatings by guards and a
report that a female guard told a prisoner she was menstruating and
then "wiped blood from her body on his face and head."

The latter incident, which would be considered highly offensive to a
Muslim man, is similar to a claim made by Erik Saar, a former Army
translator at Guantanamo who has written a book about mistreatment of
detainees there.

The government has said two female interrogators have been
reprimanded, including one for smearing fake menstrual blood on a
captive.

Following the reports of Koran mistreatment by the Red Cross and
others, the Pentagon issued rules in January 2003 governing the
handling of the book and forbidding its placement on the floor, near a
toilet or in other "dirty/wet areas."

_______________________________________________________

So what exactly what was it that Newsweek did wrong?

Harry

From The Washington Post, 5/25/05:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR2005052501395.html

Gitmo Guards Accused of Mistreating Koran

Newly Released FBI Documents Detail Allegations

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 25, 2005; 3:57 PM