Quran Desecration

To their credit, CNN got the headline right: Detainees, not soldiers, flushed Quran

A U.S. military investigation into the mishandling of the Muslim holy book at the Guantanamo Bay prison for suspected terrorists has determined that detainees -- not U.S. soldiers -- attempted to flush the Quran down the toilet there. However, the report did find four confirmed incidents in which U.S. personnel at the base mishandled the Quran, including guards kicking a detainee's Quran; a guard's urine "splashed" a detainee and his holy book after coming through an air vent; and guards got in a water balloon fight that resulted in two detainees' Qurans getting wet. In a fifth confirmed incident, it could not be determined whether a guard or a detainee wrote a two-word obscenity in a detainee's Quran. The findings of the report, issued by Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, commander of the detention center in Cuba, were released late Friday. They found no evidence to support allegations that U.S. soldiers attempted to flush the Muslim holy book down the toilet....

The Hood report cited three separate incidents in which detainees tried to flush the Quran down the toilet. In one incident, on February 23, 2004, the report said a guard saw a "detainee place two Qurans in his toilet and state he no longer cared about the Quran or his religion. Five minutes later, after the detainee retrieved the Qurans, he ripped several pages out of one Quran and threw the pages on the floor. Then, he placed both Qurans on the sink." Another time, on January 19, 2005, a detainee "tore up his Quran and tried to flush it down the toilet. Four guards witnessed the incident," the report said. The report also cited 12 other incidents by detainees, including one who used his Quran as a pillow, another who urinated on his holy book and several who ripped pages from the Quran. Capt. Jeff Weir, an Army spokesman at the facility, told CNN in a phone interview that the detainees were typically trying to stage some form of protest when they mishandled the Quran.

As I understand Islamic Law, the penalty of desecrating the Quran is death. I wonder what the MSM would have said if soldiers shot the detainees desecrating the Quran

According to the report, the five confirmed incidents were:

• In February 2002, a detainee complained that guards kicked the Quran belonging to a detainee in a nearby cell.
• On July 25, 2003, a contract interrogator apologized to a detainee for stepping on his Quran in an earlier interview. The interrogator was later fired "for a pattern of unacceptable behavior, an inability to follow direct guidance and poor leadership."
• On August 15, 2003, night shift guards threw water balloons in a cell block, wetting the Qurans of two detainees.
• On August 21, 2003, a detainee complained that a "two-word obscenity had been written in English on the inside cover of his English version Quran." The report noted that the detainee knew English and Arabic, and it could not be determined exactly who wrote the phrase. "It is possible that a guard committed this act; it is equally possible that the detainee wrote in his own Quran."
• On March 25, 2005, a detainee said "urine came through an air vent" and "splashed on him and his Quran while he laid near the air vent." A guard admitted he was at fault, saying he urinated near an air vent and the "wind blew his urine through the vent into the block." The detainee was given a new uniform and Quran. The guard was reprimanded and placed on gate guard duty away from detainees.

This is how the story was reported in other news sources

USA Today reported Pentagon confirms U.S. soldier kicked Koran at prison

Yahoo News / AP reported U.S. Confirms Gitmo Soldier Kicked Quran

Reuters reported Jailers splashed Koran with urine - Pentagon

ABC News reported Jailers splashed Koran with urine - Pentagon

MSN Money reported Pentagon admits jailers abused Koran

Times Online reported US admits guard soiled Koran at Guantanamo

Isn't this proof how the MSM tries to distort everything to make the US look bad.

Michelle Malkin blogged The civil liberties Chicken Littles will again be up in arms. I've already received a late-breaking e-mail alert from CAIR assailing Gitmo's "climate of abuse." Don't trust the MSM reports. Read the Pentagon's investigative findings for yourself here. See also the Pentagon news release, which puts things in proper perspective and the text of US military regs on handling the Koran. All in PDF.

Also check Michelle's post for analysis from other bloggers, and at the time I am writing this, she has had 20 trackbacks to her post.