anderson cooper

[knowbody0]

well, this is not the first time these allegations have been made.

[ohio_liberal]

1. Eh?

Can you maybe expand on your post a little for those of us without cable?

[knowbody0]

2. he is discussing the fact that the

flushing, disrespecting, etc has been reported many times before

[JohnyCanuck]

6. Here's a brief summary of other reports.

Newsweek Got Gitmo Right
by Calgacus*

Contrary to White House spin, the allegations of religious desecration at Guantanamo published by Newsweek on May 9, 2005, are common among ex-prisoners and have been widely reported outside the United States. Several former detainees at the Guantanamo and Bagram prisons have reported instances of their handlers sitting or standing on the Koran, throwing or kicking it in toilets, and urinating on it. Prior to the Newsweek article, the New York Times reported a Guantanamo insider asserting that the commander of the facility was compelled by prisoner protests to address the problem and issue an apology.

One such incident (during which the Koran was allegedly thrown in a pile and stepped on) prompted a hunger strike among Guantanamo detainees in March 2002. Regarding this, the New York Times in a May 1, 2005, article interviewed a former detainee, Nasser Nijer Naser al-Mutairi, who said the protest ended with a senior officer delivering an apology to the entire camp. And the Times reports: "A former interrogator at Guantanamo, in an interview with the Times, confirmed the accounts of the hunger strikes, including the public expression of regret over the treatment of the Korans." (Neil A. Lewis and Eric Schmitt, "Inquiry Finds Abuses at Guantanamo Bay," New York Times, May 1, 2005.)

The hunger strike and apology story is also confirmed by another former detainee, Shafiq Rasul, interviewed by the UK Guardian in 2003 (James Meek, "The People the Law Forgot," Dec. 3, 2003). It was also confirmed by former prisoner Jamal al-Harith in an interview with the Daily Mirror (Rosa Prince and Gary Jones, "My Hell in Camp X-Ray," Daily Mirror, March 12, 2004).

The toilet incident was reported in the Washington Post in a 2003 interview with a former detainee from Afghanistan:

http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=5959

I understand the spin regarding the Newsweek story is that Newsweek thought they had confirmation from US government sources that the incidents of Koran desecration had ocurred and reported in their article that this was the case, but it turned out (according to their story) that their contacts later backtracked and said they could not confirm that official investigations had found the alleged incidents had ocurred. The previously published stories about the defilement of the Koran in front of prisoners have relied only on claims made by the detainees themselves.

[ohio_liberal]

7. OK, thanks

Wasn't sure if you talking about something on his show or those allegations that people keep making about him ;)

[dweller]

3. about Koran

in the toilet?

dp

[knowbody0]

5. yep

he asked hard hitting questions for a whopping 45 seconds

[dogindia]

8. brave andy....how did that happen

news hour is asking inane questions and doing a misleading stupid discussion.

[knowbody0]

9. i was shocked

the response was "yes, several times, this has been reported as a tactic for getting info" then in a flash, he was on to the next story, hurricanes and stuff.

[blondeatlast]

4. Edit. Self-delete. nt