Certain people would like you to believe that the riot of Afghanis in Pakistan resulting in multiple deaths was caused by a Newsweek article about alleged “Quran abuse” by American torturers. Logic defies this explanation.
First, they want you to think Newsweek, an American publication written in English, is widely read in Afghanistan. Think about that. I haven’t read a Newsweek outside a Dentist’s office in over a decade, but they want you to think Afghanis read it regularly enough to catch one sentence in a story.
Next, they want you to believe that this is a new accusation, which The World is just now hearing about. The truth is this has been known about and reported by various sources for 2 years. When Newsweek retracted the story, they merely said they could no longer confirm their source, not that it hadn’t happened. The Washington Post confirmed today that at almost a dozen former detainees claim this happened. How many sources does Newsweek need?
They would like you to believe that the Afghanis have nothing better to riot about. No, no problems in their homeland! Never mind the occupying army to whom the local government can’t even make suggestions, despite a “strategic partnership” between the occupied and occupying nations. Strategic partnership? Did I slip through a time rift into the Dot-Com boom? Oh, and never mind the fact that they aren’t even being allowed to rebuild their own nation.
No, they are too busy worrying about somebody peeing on a book halfway across the world. Yeah, right. Indeed, the Department of Defense said the riots had nothing to do with Newsweek. Olbermann is right.
This isn’t about Afghanistan, and it’s only barely about Newsweek. It’s about control of the media.