WASHINGTON - Going on the counter-attack after days of rioting in Afghanistan, the Pentagon charged Monday that a report in Newsweek magazine that US soldiers in Guantanamo allegedly descerated the Koran was "irresponsible" and "demonstrably false."
The magazine expressed regret over the weekend, saying that the senior US government official who was the source of the report in its May 9 edition was no longer certain where he had seen the allegation.
"What we know is that the Newsweek story about a Koran desecration is demonstrably false, and thus far there have not been any credible allegations of willful Koran desecration, and Newsweek hasn't produced any such evidence either," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
The US Southern Command, which is responsible for the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention center, opened a formal investigation into the allegation last week after riots erupted in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials said that investigation is still open.
Newsweek said an earlier probe by the command into allegations of abuse contained in FBI emails found that interrogators at Guantanamo had thrown a Koran in a toilet to rattle Muslim prisoners.
"The Schmidt investigation has found no such allegation in the FBI emails," Whitman said, referring to Lieutenant General Randall Schmidt, who led the probe.
"The fact is Newsweek hid behind anonymous sources, which by their own admission don't withstand any sort of scrutiny," Whitman said.
"The unfortunate part about it is you can't go back and undo or retract the damage that they've done not only to this nation, but those who have been hacked, injured and some even killed as a result of these false allegations," he said.
Released detainees and their lawyers have charged at various points over the past year that guards at the prison had thrown a Koran in the toilet.
It was unclear whether the military ever investigated those charges, but Whitman indicated that those allegations were viewed as not credible.
05/16/2005 15:54 GMT