PrintA little perspective, please
We have often heard threats of the "Muslim Street" rising up and finding an issue which unifies all of Islam against us. Leave it to one of our own media outlets to find the one thing that has the potential for creating havoc through out the Islamic world. In this May 9th issue of Newsweek Michael Isikoff and John Barry find time to report that a Koran allegedly was flushed down the toilet in an attempt to rattle prisoners during interrogation. I say allegedly because as far as I know it is difficult to flush any book down a toilet. This story has little or no value in the United States but is likely to result in untold numbers of people being killed in the Muslim world and enormous damage to Aemrican prestige in the Muslim world.
It is amazing that the American press wants to continue to promote this and the Abu Graib stories with such intensity. There can be no denying that some prisoner abuse has taken place in both these locations and in due time it should all be examined in the way a democracy like ours takes care of such things. It should also be said that the American media no matter how anti Bush they might be still has an obligation to some how manage to keep these things in perspective. Perhaps when writing stories on naked prisoners on a leash and desecration of holy books they might also remind their readers of things like this. It is interesting to note that this did not result in mass demonstrations in the streets of the Arab worlds nor apparently has the murder and pillage going on in Darfur.
Phil Gallagher 5 14 05
