Abusing the Koran; Abusing Tillman

More evidence corroborating the abuse of the Koran at Gitmo has emerged in the form of FBI documents uncovered by the ACLU. From the Washington Post:

Detainees told FBI interrogators as early as April 2002 that mistreatment of the Koran was widespread at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and many said they were severely beaten by captors there or in Afghanistan, according to FBI documents released yesterday.

The summaries of FBI interviews, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union as part of an ongoing lawsuit, include a dozen allegations that the Koran was kicked, thrown to the floor or withheld as punishment. One prisoner said in August 2002 that guards had "flushed a Koran in the toilet" and had beaten some detainees.

But the Pentagon said yesterday that the same prisoner, who is still in custody, was reinterviewed on May 14 and "did not corroborate" his earlier claim about the Koran.

This doesn't substantially change what we know about the Koran flushing controversy, but it does suggest that all of those people making a huge fuss over Newsweek's sourcing problems should pipe down a bit.

On that note, E&P's Greg Mitchell adds an interesting twist. He wonders:

Where, in the week after the Great Newsweek Error, is the comparable outrage in the press, in the blogosphere, and at the White House over the military's outright lying in the coverup of the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman? Where are the calls for apologies to the public and the firing of those responsible? Who is demanding that the Pentagon's word should never be trusted unless backed up by numerous named and credible sources?

Where is a Scott McClellan lecture on ethics and credibility?

The Tillman scandal is back in the news thanks not to the military coming clean but because of a newspaper account. Ironically, the newspaper in question, The Washington Post -- which has taken the lead on this story since last December -- is corporate big brother to Newsweek.

Actually, the US media never would have made an issue out of the manipulation of Tillman’s death if his family didn’t speak out. As Mitchell points out, it’s been known since December that the Army fudged the investigation and lied in order to maintain the heroic narrative. Until this week, the press just shrugged.