Page 145 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

Free Speech Fatalities

Detained in 2002, Dilawar was merely one of many Afghans suspected of at-
tacking American troops. However, Dilawar's case was especially tragic in that
he did not live to see his name cleared following his arrest. His death was dis-
turbing considering that most American military interrogators did not seriously
suspect him of taking part in a missile attack against American troops-the
original reason for which he was detained.' Dilawar, like a number of other Iraqi
and Afghan prisoners, was tortured during his incarceration by American mili-
tary forces. Chained to the ceiling by his wrists for days, his legs were beaten
over one-hundred times in less than twenty-four hours.2 These injuries were so
extensive that they eventually led to his death.
Alongside many other detainees' stories of abuse published in such influen-
tial newspapers as the Independent of London, the New York Times, and the
Chicago Tribune, Dilawar's story raised serious questions about American
treatment of prisoners of war. The issue of the military's treatment of detainees
becomes all the more important when looking at the Newsweek-Koran "scan-
dal."

Newsweek and the Koran Flushing "Scandal"

On May 2005, Newsweek reported that American interrogators at Guantanamo
Bay prison placed copies of the Koran in toilets, and in one instance, flushed one
down the toi~et.~ The story elicited strong condemnations and criticisms of
Newsweek; the paper was charged with unprofessional journalism and unfairly
inciting riots that killed American soldiers in Afghanistan. The Bush administra-
tion assailed Newsweek along similar lines. Scott McClellan, former White
House Spokesperson, argued that Newsweek's "story has damaged the image of
the United States abroad and damaged the credibility of the media at home."
McClellan claimed that Americans "share in the outrage that this report was
published in the first place."5 Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice blamed the