Protests in Islamabad, Pakistan, following allegations that U.S. military personnel had desecrated the Qur'an

The Qur'an desecration controversy of 2005 captured international attention in April 2005 when Newsweek published an article containing allegations that U.S. personnel at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp had deliberately damaged a copy of the book in order to torment the prison's Muslim captives. Protests in response to the reported desecration of the Quran at Guantánamo Bay, 2005. ... Protests in response to the reported desecration of the Quran at Guantánamo Bay, 2005. ... Islamabad (Urdu: اسلام آباد, abode of Islam), is the capital city of Pakistan, and is located in the Potohar Plateau in the northwest of the country. ... Quran desecration means insulting the Quran, the holy book of Islam, by defiling or disfacing it. ... The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Map of Cuba with location of Guantánamo Bay indicated. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ...

For some people, the article confirmed several previous allegations, and a worldwide controversy erupted. The report sparked protests throughout the Islamic world and riots in Afghanistan, where pre-planned demonstrations turned deadly. The Islamic world is the world-wide community of those who identify with Islam, known as Muslims, and who number approximately one-and-a-half billion people. ...

The Newsweek article stated that an official had seen a preliminary copy of an unreleased U.S. government report confirming the deliberate damage. Later on, the magazine retracted this when the (still) unnamed official changed his story.

A Pentagon investigation uncovered at least five cases of Qur'an mishandling by U.S. personnel at the base, but insisted that none of these were acts of desecration. The Pentagon's report also accused a prisoner of damaging a copy of the Qur'an by putting it in a toilet. Quran desecration means insulting the Quran, the holy book of Islam, by defiling or disfacing it. ... The Qurān [1] (Arabic: ‎ , literally the recitation; also called The Noble Quran; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and Al-Quran), is the central religious text of Islam. ...

The affair turned the spotlight on earlier media reports of such incidents. Accusations of Qur'an desecration as a part of U.S. interrogations at prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as Guantánamo Bay had been made by a number of sources going back to 2002. Quran desecration means insulting the Quran, the holy book of Islam, by defiling or disfacing it. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

History

There were over a dozen pre-Newsweek reports alleging U.S. Qur'an abuse, including the following: Criticism of Islam has existed since Islams formative stages, as with many other religions, on philosophical, scientific, ethical, political and theological grounds. ... This article is about political Islamism. ... Qutbism is the Islamic strain of thought and activism, or ideology, based on the thought and writings of Sayyid Qutb. ... Jihad, sometimes spelled Jahad, Jehad, Jihaad, Jiaad, Djehad, Jawwad, or Cihad, (Arabic: ‎ ) is an Islamic term, meaning to strive or struggle in the way of God, and is sometimes referred to as the sixth pillar of Islam, although it has no official status. ... A dhimmi (also zimmi, Arabic: ‎, collectively: أهل الذمة, ahl al-dhimma, the people of the dhimma or pact of protection) was a free (i. ... This article is about an Islamic term. ... This article covers: The prevalence of antisemitism amongst Muslims - and whether it is more or less common than amongst people of other religions. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims made the persecution of both Muslims and non-Muslims a recurring phenomenon during the history of Islam. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly... The controversial cartoons of Muhammad, as they were first published in Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. ... Norman Kember and Harmeet Singh Sooden were held hostage, as depicted here on Al Jazeera television. ... Screenshot of Olaf Wiig (left) and Steve Centanni (right) in tape released after capture Fox News Channel journalists Olaf Wiig, a New Zealander photojournalist, and Steve Centanni, an American reporter, were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip by the Holy Jihad Brigades, a previously unknown group of Palestinian militants, from their... Young Muslims started the 2006 Brussels riots by burning shops and cars and stoning civilians during the Ramadan month, in September 2006. ... Pope Benedict XVI, January 2006 The Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy arose from a lecture delivered on 12 September 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg in Germany. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Theo van Gogh (IPA pronunciation: ) (July 23, 1957 – November 2, 2004) was a Dutch film director, television producer, publicist and actor. ...

• In August 2002, according to FBI interrogation records, numerous detainees complained of Qur'an abuse, including one who said that guards had flushed his Qu'ran down the toilet.
• Several times in 2002 and in early 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported complaints by detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison of desecration of the Qur'an by U.S. guards in Guantanamo.[3]
• In 2003, an Afghan former prisoner told the Washington Post that U.S. soldiers tormented him by throwing the Qur'an in the toilet.[4]
• The BBC reported on December 30, 2004 that the former Guantánamo prisoner Abdallah Tabarak maintained that "American soldiers used to tear up copies of the Koran and throw them in the toilet."
• In a book review dated January 16, 2005, the Hartford Courant reported that five British detainees, after their release, claimed that they "had seen other prisoners sexually humiliated, had been hooded, and were forced to watch copies of the Koran being flushed down toilets." (Compare: Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse)
• The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on January 20, 2005 that there were complaints concerning guards who had "defaced their copies of the Koran and, in one case, had thrown it in a toilet."
• The Miami Herald reported on March 6, 2005 that three Guantánamo captives — Fawzi al Odah, 27, Fouad al Rabiah, 45, and Khalid al Mutairi, 29 — "separately complained to their lawyer that military police threw their Korans into the toilet."
• The Miami Herald also reported on March 9, 2005 that Guantánamo Base staff insulted Allah and "threw Korans into toilets."

For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of £4 billion. ... December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Abdallah Tabarak is a citizen of Morocco, who was detained at the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ... January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Hartford Courant is Connecticuts largest daily newspaper, and the only morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury. ... Satar Jabar standing on a box with wires connected to his body Prisoners Ordered to Form Human Pyramid Beginning in 2004, numerous accounts of abuse and torture of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (also known as Baghdad Correctional Facility) occurred. ... The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of a two Knight Ridder newspaper duopoly daily for the Philadelphia area. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Allah is the Arabic language word referring to God, the Lord and, literally according to the Quran, to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Abrahamic religions. ...

The Newsweek report

On April 30, 2005 Newsweek magazine published an article claiming that an unnamed United States official had seen a government report supporting a "previously unreported" charge ^[1] of Qur'an (Koran) desecration at Camp X-Ray, a U.S. military detention facility in Guantánamo Bay.[5] The prospect that U.S. personnel may have deliberately defaced the Qur'an provoked massive anti-U.S. demonstrations throughout the Islamic world, with at least 17 deaths during riots in Afghanistan. April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining. ... The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ... Quran desecration means insulting the Quran, the holy book of Islam, by defiling or disfacing it. ... Camp X-Ray, shown here under construction, was a temporary holding facility for detainees held at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ... The Qurān [1] (Arabic: ‎ , literally the recitation; also called The Noble Quran; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and Al-Quran), is the central religious text of Islam. ...

The Newsweek article, by reporter Michael Isikoff, was one of over a dozen such reports of similar incidents that had surfaced in prior months in the U.S. and U.K. media, but the first involving a U.S. government source acknowledging an inquiry into the event. The Isikoff article was later retracted by Newsweek, which nonetheless defended both its reporter and the story, stating "neither we nor the Pentagon had any idea it would lead to deadly riots." The case turned the spotlight on other reports of desecration of the Qur'an at Guantánamo. Michael Isikoff is an investigative journalist for the US-based magazine Newsweek. ... UK redirects here. ...

The article went largely unnoticed for five days. On May 6, a popular member of the Pakistani parliament, Imran Khan, held a press conference. Khan, who is a sharp critic of both Islamist terrorism and of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, criticized his country's government, saying, "This war on terrorism is self-defeating if, on the one hand, you [Musharraf] are demanding that we help them and on the other hand, they are desecrating the book on which our entire faith is based." Khan's press conference was rebroadcast throughout the Muslim world. May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... The Parliament of Pakistan is known as the Majlis-e-Shoora (Council of Advisors). ... Imran Khan (Urdu/Pashto: عمران احمد خان نیازی) (Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi; son of Ikram Ullah khan Niazi Shermankhel) born November 25, 1952, in Lahore is a Pakistani former cricketer turned politician. ... (PA – 6920) General Pervez Musharraf ({ پرويز مشرف}}; born August 11, 1943) is currently the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. ...

The Newsweek report cited an anonymous source, said to be a senior government official, who claimed to have seen a confidential investigative report documenting the alleged incident — in which interrogators, "in an attempt to rattle suspects, reportedly flushed a Qur'an down a toilet." However, on May 16, Newsweek retracted the statement that the abuse had been uncovered by an "internal military investigation." after the source of the story was later unable to confirm where he had seen the information. In its May 23 issue, Newsweek stated that: May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (144th in leap years). ...

Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.

The New York Times quoted Isikoff as saying: The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Neither Newsweek nor the Pentagon foresaw that a reference to the desecration of the Koran was going to create the kind of response that it did. The Pentagon saw the item before it ran, and then they didn't move us off it for 11 days afterward. They were as caught off guard by the furor as we were. We obviously blame ourselves for not understanding the potential ramifications.

1. ^ Among the previously unreported cases, sources tell NEWSWEEK: interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet and led a detainee around with a collar and dog leash. [1]

International reaction

Some of the protests turned violent.

On May 10 and continuing the following week, many anti-American protests took place, and in some areas these turned into violent riots. In Afghanistan, demonstrations that began in the eastern provinces and spread to Kabul were reported to have caused at least seventeen deaths. The United Nations, as a precautionary measure, withdrew all its foreign staff from Jalalabad, where two of its guest houses were attacked, government buildings and shops were targeted, and the offices of two international aid groups were destroyed. Demonstrations also took place in Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan and Indonesia, [6] leading to the death of at least 15 people. [7] Protests in response to the reported desecration of the Quran at Guantánamo Bay, 2005. ... Protests in response to the reported desecration of the Quran at Guantánamo Bay, 2005. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... Kabul, Kâbl (locally: کابل), is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan with a population of approximately 3 million people. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... Jalalabad (Persian: Jalālābād, 34°31′N 70°31′E) is the capital of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, 150 km east of Kabul near the Khyber Pass and west of the Kunar River. ... This article is about the Palestinian territories as a geopolitical phenomenon. ...

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, "The report had real consequences, people have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged." However, in a press release issued by the United States Department of State on May 12, General Richard B. Myers claimed that the Newsweek story was not a chief cause of the riots: "He has been told that the Jalalabad, Afghanistan, rioting was related more to the ongoing political reconciliation process in Afghanistan than anything else." [8] Scott McClellan in the press room of the White House Puffy McMoonface (born February 14, 1968) was the White House Press Secretary (2003-2006) for President George W. Bush. ... The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States Government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... General Richard B. Myers General Richard Bowman Myers (born March 1, 1942) of the United States Air Force is the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest ranking uniformed position in the United States Armed Forces. ...

On May 27, thousands of demonstrators gathered in what the New York Times referred to as "waves of protest" in Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and the Middle East, "mostly centered on Friday prayer gatherings." The Times reported that U.S. flags were burned at some demonstrations, and that, although most of the protests were peaceful, overt calls for an "Islamic revolution" were loudly supported by the crowds in Pakistan, further complicating a difficult political situation for General Musharraf. May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

A Red Cross spokesperson Simon Schorno confirmed that U.S. personnel at Camp X-ray had displayed "disrespect" to the Qur'an, and that U.S. officials knew of this activity. Delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross informed U.S. authorities, who took action to stop the alleged abuse, said Schorno. He declined to specify the nature of the incidents. The Anarchist Black Cross was originally called the Anarchist Red Cross. The band Redd Kross was originally called Red Cross. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Camp X-Ray, shown here under construction, was a temporary holding facility for detainees held at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ...

"We're basically referring in general terms to disrespect of the Qur'an, and that's where we leave it," Schorno told The Associated Press. "We believe that since, U.S. authorities have taken the corrective measures that we required in our interventions." [9], [10]

Shehzad Tanweer, who participated in the 7 July 2005 London bombing, may have had his ideology reinforced by allegations of Qur'an abuse. His cousin Mohammad Saleem noted that "Incidents like desecration of the Koran have always been in his mind." [11] The four men caught on camera at Luton train station at 07:21 BST on July 7, 2005. ... Wikinews has news related to this article: Explosions, serious incidents occuring across London For faster page loading, visuals are on the graphics page. ...

Other news reports

New York Times graphic of prior detainee statements

• The New York Times reported on May 1, 2005 that "[Mr. al-Mutairi] said ... a protest of guards' handling of copies of the Koran, which had been tossed into a pile and stepped on, a senior officer delivered an apology over the camp's loudspeaker system, pledging that such abuses would stop."
• Former Guantánamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg gave an interview in June 2005 in which he claimed to have witnessed "incidents that provoked fury, including the placing of Qur’ans in an area used as a latrine."[12]

Guantánamo Bay Quran desecration allegations http://www. ... Guantánamo Bay Quran desecration allegations http://www. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

US military findings

On June 3, 2005, a U.S. military investigation by the base commander, Brigadier General Jay Hood (pdf), reported four (possibly five) incidents of "mishandling" of the Qur'an by U.S. personnel at Guantánamo Bay. Hood said his investigation "revealed a consistent, documented policy of respectful handling of the Qur'an dating back almost two and a half years." June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

CBC News reported:

"The U.S. Pentagon confirmed Friday a list of abuses involving the Qur'an, Islam's holy book, by American personnel at Guantanamo Bay, but said the incidents were relatively minor." [13]

According to the Hood report:

• a soldier intentionally kicked a Qur'an;
• an interrogator intentionally stepped on a Qur'an;
• a guard's urine came through an air vent, unintentionally splashing a detainee and his Qur'an;
• water balloons thrown by prison guards at one another unintentionally caused a number of Qur'ans to get wet; and
• a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Qur'an (whether US personnel were responsible for this act, however, could not be confirmed).

The report laid out the circumstances of these incidents and disciplinary actions taken. It also stressed that such mishandling was rare, and that guards were usually respectful of the Qur'an, following strict regulations the military laid down for handling the Qur'an.(pdf) (The Qur'an handling policy was codified in a policy letter in January 2003 in response to reports by the Red Cross of Quran abuse.[14])

The Hood report also listed 15 reported incidents of detainees mishandling their own copies of the Qur'an, including complaints made by other detainees. One of these cases involved a prisoner "attempting to flush a Qur'an down the toilet and urinating on the Qur'an."

The statement did not provide any explanation about why the detainees might have abused their own holy books. CBC News

Before the release of this report, the U.S. government had denied many claims of Qu'ran abuse, including the multiple allegations by released detainees that Qur'ans had been placed in toilets. The Hood report and accompanying statements continue to deny any verified instances of U.S. personnel placing the Qur'an in toilets at Guantanamo Bay. The denials, however, remain controversial.

Independent findings

The recent book Inside the Wire by Erik Saar and Viveca Novak supports the claim of the Qur'an being placed in toilets at Guantanamo and describes many other abuses faced by the prisoners there. Saar is a former U.S. soldier who worked as a translator at Guantanamo Bay; his book reports such situations as a female interrogator taunting the prisoner sexually and wiping what seemed to be menstrual blood on the detainee. (It appears to have been ink; Saar reports that the prisoner was unable to clean himself and hence unable to pray.) Accounts of beatings by the IRF (initial reaction force) have also been reported in Saar's book. An FBI e-mail from December 2003, six months after Saar left Guantanamo, said that Defense Department interrogators at Guantanamo had impersonated FBI agents while using "torture techniques" on a detainee. Viveca Novak is an American journalist. ... IRF is a TLA that stands for: Islamic Research Foundation International Rectifier Interferon Regulatory Factor (e. ...

FBI documents and other reports

The Newsweek article and the ensuing controversy turned the spotlight on other reports of Qu'ran desecration and spurred additional investigations by others. After a verdict by a federal court on May 25, 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) obtained documents from the FBI interrogations of Guantánamo Bay detainees dating back to August 2002. The documents stated that some detainees had claimed to have witnessed Qur'an desecration (including "flush[ing] a Koran in the toilet"), among other acts, on many occasions by their guards — in a document dated August 1, 2002. May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a non_governmental organization devoted to defending civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Detainees upon arrival at Camp X-Ray, January 2002 Guantánamo Bay detainment camp serves as a joint military prison and interrogation center under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), has occupied a portion of the United States Navys base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

The ruling of the court came under the Freedom of Information Act [15] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with freedom of information legislation. ...

The ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said, in a news release, that "The United States government continues to turn a blind eye to mounting evidence of widespread abuse of detainees held in its custody." The phrase turn a blind eye is attributed to Admiral Horatio Nelson. ...

The FBI declared that it could not investigate the matter, as it was up to the Defense Department to do so. For its part, the Pentagon, through its spokesman Lawrence Di Rita, appeared to have transitioned from flat denials to vagueness and unsettled syntax: "There have been instances, and we'll have more to say about it as we learn more, but where a Qur'an may have fallen to the floor in the course of searching a cell." Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, told reporters that "past accusations have had credibility issues."

James Jaffer, an attorney working for the ACLU, was quoted by the New York Times as stating that errors in the Newsweek story had been used to discredit other investigative efforts conducted by his organization and other groups "that were not based on anonymous sources, but [on] government documents, reports written by FBI agents."

Many questioned the veracity of such accounts, noting that the FBI, in 2004, had released a captured Al-Qaeda training manual indicating that Al-Qaeda members are trained to make false accusations once captured. However, most of the accusations of Qur'an "toilet" desecrations now on the public record have been made by former detainees who were released by the U.S. government after being held without trial, and thus would seem to be low-probability candidates for al-Qaeda membership.

The SERE connection

Several reports have alleged a connection between events at Guantanamo Bay and a Pentagon-funded program known as SERE, which stands for "Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape." Look up pentagon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

On May 16, 2005, Juan Cole published an email from a former SERE attendee who reported abuse of the Christian holy book in training.[16] The emailer had no direct knowledge of operations at Guantanamo, but noted that this tactic sounded similar to that alleged in the Newsweek story. Juan RI Cole is a professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History in the History Department at the University of Michigan. ...

In July 2005, an article in New Yorker magazine suggested that the SERE program involved a number of techniques which paralleled those allegedly used at Guantanamo Bay, including the desecration of religious texts. The writer contacted Juan Cole's anonymous source who said that in 1999 he attended a Navy SERE program in California.[17] The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ...

So the Bible trashing happened when this guy had us all in the courtyard sitting for one of his speeches. They were tempting us with a big pot of soup that was boiling - we were all starving from a few days of chow deprivation. He brought out the Bible and started going off on it verbally - how it was worthless, we were forsaken by God, etc. Then he threw it on the ground and kicked it around. It was definitely the climax of his speech. Then he kicked over the soup pot and threw us back in the cells.

The SERE program's chief psychologist, Col. Morgan Banks, issued guidance in early 2003 for "behavioral science consultants" who helped to devise Guantánamo's interrogation strategy -- although Banks has emphatically denied that he advocated the use of SERE counter-resistance techniques to break down detainees. However, General James T. Hill, chief of the U.S. Southern Command, confirmed that a team from Guantanamo went "up to our SERE school and developed a list of techniques" for "high-profile, high-value" detainees. According to an op-ed in the November 14 2005 New York Times by M. Gregg Bloche and Jonathan H. Marks, two lawyers with no first-hand knowledge of SERE, "General Hill had sent this list -- which included prolonged isolation and sleep deprivation, stress positions, physical assault and the exploitation of detainees' phobias -- to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who approved most of the tactics in December 2002. Some within the Pentagon warned that these tactics constituted torture, but a top adviser to Secretary Rumsfeld justified them by pointing to their use in SERE training, a senior Pentagon official told us last month." [18] Their column failed to mention that the tactics in dispute were rescinded after one month. For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... An editorial is a statement or article by a news organization (generally a newspaper) that expresses an opinion rather than attempting to simply report news, as the latter should ideally be done without bias. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Detainees upon arrival at Camp X-Ray, January 2002 Guantánamo Bay detainment camp serves as a joint military prison and interrogation center under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), has occupied a portion of the United States Navys base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002. ...

See also

• Religious intolerance
• Bagram torture and prisoner abuse
• McCain Detainee Amendment
• Creighton Lovelace
• Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy (2006)

Religious intolerance is intolerance motivated by ones own religious beliefs, generally against anothers religious beliefs. ... In 2005, a 2,000-page U.S. Army report was obtained by the New York Times concerning the homicides of two unarmed civilian Afghan prisoners by U.S. armed forces in 2002 at the Bagram Collection Point. ... The McCain Detainee Amendment was an amendment to the United States Senate Department of Defense Authorization bill, commonly referred to as the Amendment on (1) the Army Field Manual and (2) Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment, amendment #1977 and also known as the McCain Amendment 1977. ... Pastor Creighton Lovelace Creighton Lee Lovelace (born December 15, 1981) is Pastor of Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City, North Carolina. ... The controversial cartoons of Muhammad, as they were first published in Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. ...

External links

• Gitmo: SouthCom Showdown – original May 9, 2005 Newsweek story
• Newsweek retracts Quran story
• The Editor's Desk – Newsweek's May 23, 2005 apology
• Human Rights Watch report
• Did Newsweek Really Err?
• Molly Ivins: Don't Blame Newsweek
• Transcript of press conference featuring Guantanamo Commander Brigadier General Jay Hood
• Gitmo Grovel: Enough Already commentary by Charles Krauthammer
• Pentagon Details Abuse Of Koran
• The Experiment New Yorker article about SERE techniques at Guantanamo Bay