Newsweek pretty clearly dropped the ball, but I would hesitate to blame them for the riots in Afghanistan and elsewhere. A couple notes:
First, the rioters themselves should share some blame for their behavior, as well as the rest of the bug-eyed Arab culture that continues to wallow in this cesspool of hate. And don’t tell me I just don’t understand Arab culture- I am sick and tired of the apologists for these radicals. Go read Juan Cole if you want excuses.
Second, I have never really thought of Michael Isikoff as a particularly big Bush-basher, and I generally like his stuff. In fact, I really don’t remember him ever attacking Bush very effectively or viciously, but I do remember him savaging Sidney Blumenthal. Oh, and you folks have heard of Paula Jones, haven’t you.
Third, I am a little reluctant to attribute a failure at Newsweek as a sign of a pandemic of shoddy journalism elsewhere. I expect a lot out of the media, and cable news is for the most part abominable, but I would be lost without the good folks who do a lot of good reporting in print media.
This was a mistake. Probably might be time to change the standards for using anonymous sources. But I don’t want to draw any larger conclusions than just that.
BTW- I find it difficult to believe that even the bizarre Arab culture would be moved to riot over the Koran in a toilet and not, say, the numerous abuses at Abu Ghraib. That is just a tough sell for me, and I would recommend some people look up post hoc ergo propter hoc.
At any rate, the jury is still out for me on this one. I want to see what was going on, whetehgr this really was a mistake, and so on…