Thursday, May 19, 2005
Red Cross Documents Numerous Incidents of Koran Abuse
From the Chicago Tribune:
The International Committee of the Red Cross documented what it called credible information about U.S. personnel disrespecting or mishandling Korans at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and pointed it out to the Pentagon in confidential reports during 2002 and early 2003, an ICRC spokesman said Wednesday.
There were "multiple" instances involved and the ICRC made confidential reports about such incidents "multiple" times to Guantanamo and Pentagon officials.
In addition to the retracted Newsweek story, senior Bush administration officials have repeatedly downplayed other reports regarding alleged abuses of the Koran at Guantanamo, largely dismissing them because they came from current or former detainees.
But, Michael Schorno, an ICRC spokesman said...
"All information we received were corroborated allegations," he said, adding, "We certainly corroborated mentions of the events by detainees themselves."
`Not just one person'
Schorno also said: "Obviously, it is not just one person telling us something happened and we just fire up. We take it very seriously, and very carefully, and document everything in our confidential reports
Hmm. And NEWSWEEK had to retract its Koran in toilet story because Scottie McClellan said so. I bet if somebody else in the press looked into this story, they'd find numerous incidents of Koran disrespect occuring at both Gitmo and in Iraq. I also bet no one will have the guts to look into it now that NEWSWEEK has been "killianed" into submission.
I bet George W. and Karl Rove are smirking about this right now.
The International Committee of the Red Cross documented what it called credible information about U.S. personnel disrespecting or mishandling Korans at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and pointed it out to the Pentagon in confidential reports during 2002 and early 2003, an ICRC spokesman said Wednesday.
***
There were "multiple" instances involved and the ICRC made confidential reports about such incidents "multiple" times to Guantanamo and Pentagon officials.
In addition to the retracted Newsweek story, senior Bush administration officials have repeatedly downplayed other reports regarding alleged abuses of the Koran at Guantanamo, largely dismissing them because they came from current or former detainees.
But, Michael Schorno, an ICRC spokesman said...
"All information we received were corroborated allegations," he said, adding, "We certainly corroborated mentions of the events by detainees themselves."
`Not just one person'
Schorno also said: "Obviously, it is not just one person telling us something happened and we just fire up. We take it very seriously, and very carefully, and document everything in our confidential reports
I bet George W. and Karl Rove are smirking about this right now.
