An article in Newsweek a few weeks ago that reported mishandling of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay resulted in criticism, denial and media backlash at the highest levels of the US government. Newsweek got the specifics wrong and it’s staff was blamed for the ensuing riots.

An investigation by Brig. Gen. Jay Hood who is the commander of the prison with 540 inmates was made public last night.

There were incidents according to the Hood report. I don’t think that should come as a surprise, I don’t think it is something that can be defended, nor do I think it is unlikely to occur again.

In January 2003 the pentagon issued a three page memo detailing how the Koran was to be respected and why it was to be repected.

My holy book is the bible. If you ripped it, stomped on it, threw it in a slop bucket in Afganistan, burned it, defaced it, I would not not be upset. It’s word’s are hidden in my heart and it is not part of my faith to venerate a book. To assume this is not so for other faiths is huburis. Desecration of the Torah would not be acceptable. Since as a western protestant I may not understand how I could/would desecrate the Torah, I would have to pay close attention to rabbis and worshippers on how to be respectful.
The pentagon memo wasn’t busy work for a bureaucrat. It was put out for a reason. It remains that the first casualty of war is truth. It is understood there will be false reports, lies, denials and that somewhere in the middle were combantants face off there is truth.

Newsweek later retracted the story after the Defense Department denied it, and the magazine’s source reportedly said he was not sure of his information.

The report contributed to anti-U.S. anger among Muslims in several countries, anger that boiled over into riots in which as many as 16 people died.

In a series of news releases Friday, the Southern Command also published guidelines it issued in February for the handling of the Koran. That was before the Newsweek story was published, and officials have said the guidelines update an earlier effort to improve handling of the Koran at Guantanamo.

The guidelines say that only Muslim clergymen or interpreters, or the prisoners themselves, can even touch a Koran. When the clergymen or interpreters do so, they must put on clean gloves and may not do anything to show disrespect for the Muslim holy book, such as putting it on the floor or in any dirty areas. Guards are no longer allowed to touch the books at all.

Voice of America