Shredding a Book

Around the world this week's headlines were a riot, as "a wave of anti-American demonstrations swept the Islamic world from the Gaza Strip to the Java Sea, sparked by a single paragraph in a magazine alleging that US military interrogators had desecrated the Koran." I don't live in America, so I can't gauge how much press or airtime this story is getting there. But elsewhere we learn that "President Hamid Karzai is planning an administrative shake-up after violent Afghan protests over the alleged desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay left 14 dead and 120 injured".

CNN notes that "The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff says an investigation has so far turned up no evidence of U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrating the Muslim holy book, the Quran." But such denials don't carry much weight with true believers.

There's nothing new to the story, such tales of American's disrespect for Islam and abuse of Muslims have been a huge cornerstone of the post-911 Al-Qaeda recruiting drives. A California sex therapist sparked some violent responses when she posted bizarre theories about the "rape of Iraq" on her web site. In a similar episode Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner held a press conference in which he displayed graphic photos of what he claimed were US soldiers raping Iraqi women. The Boston Globe ran the pictures in a very large, above the fold front page story, but found themselves apologizing shortly thereafter when it was revealed that Turner's collection had been downloaded from an internet porn site - they were fakes. In January 2004 reports of American soldiers ripping up a Koran and desecrating a Mosque in Iraq made brief headlines, until the US released video of the raid and debunked the claims. Now Newsweek - an American magazine - apparently lends a new credence to what might be otherwise questionable reports. Here's Newsweek:

Investigators probing interrogation abuses at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay have confirmed some infractions alleged in internal FBI e-mails that surfaced late last year. 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. An Army spokesman confirms that 10 Gitmo interrogators have already been disciplined for mistreating prisoners, including one woman who took off her top, rubbed her finger through a detainee's hair and sat on the detainee's lap.

And certainly riots weren't the desired result of Newsweek's story. In fact, the overlooked final part of the offending paragraph seems to imply the purpose was to sell books:

(New details of sexual abuse?including an instance in which a female interrogator allegedly wiped her red-stained hand on a detainee's face, telling him it was her menstrual blood?are also in a new book to be published this week by a former Gitmo translator.)

SAN JUAN, P.R., Jan. 27 (AP) - Female interrogators tried to break male Muslim detainees at the United States prison camp in Guantᮡmo Bay, Cuba, by sexually touching them, by wearing miniskirts and thong underwear, and, in one case, by smearing a Saudi man's face with red ink, which he was led to believe was menstrual blood, according to part of a draft manuscript written by a former Army sergeant.

The manuscript, which was obtained by The Associated Press, was written by Erik R. Saar, who was an Arabic translator at Guantᮡmo from December 2002 to June 2003.

Mr. Saar, 29, did not provide the manuscript, but he did confirm the authenticity of nine draft pages obtained by The A.P. He asked that his hometown remain private so he would not be harassed.

The manuscript is classified as secret pending a Pentagon review for a book Mr. Saar is writing about the military's use of women as part of tougher physical and psychological interrogation tactics against terrorism suspects.

Let's review: The book was classified, but was being sent for approval for publication to the Pentagon. The AP obtained a few pages - not from Eric Saar, they're quick to point out - and published a story revealing what they contained.

It's possible that if Saar didn't release the publicity building documents then perhaps the book's actual writer did. Listed as co-author is Viveca Novak, a long-time contributor to Time magazine (which is why I said it was interesting that Newsweek mentioned the book - although they didn't include the title in their report, and didn't mention the real author's identity.)

But before looking at some of her previous work, let's see her publisher's description of her latest:

Inside the Wire is a gripping portrait of one soldier's six months at the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba?a powerful, searing journey into a surreal world completely unique in the American experience.

In an explosive newsbreak that generated headlines all around the world, a document submitted by army Sergeant Erik Saar to the Pentagon for clearance was leaked to the Associated Press in January, 2005. His account of appalling sexual interrogation tactics used on detainees at Guantanamo Bay was shocking, but that was only one small part of the story of what he saw at Guantanamo?and the leak was only one more strange twist in his profoundly disturbing and life-changing trip behind the scenes of America's war on terror.

And if you scroll down to the bottom of the publisher's page you'll find an indication of the level of detailed fact checking Ms Novak brings to her work:

At pages 191-192, Inside the Wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier?s Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantanamo by Erik Saar and Viveca Novak, erroneously states that civilian interrogators hired through an army contract with CACI were in Guantanamo Bay. The book also describes the activities of two contract interrogators. CACI has unequivocally stated that it had no involvement in any interrogation operations at Guantanamo and that it had no relationship whatsoever with the civilian contract interrogators involved in the use of the interrogation techniques discussed in the book. The Penguin Press and the Authors acknowledge and regret the error. In addition, The Penguin Press and the Authors are taking a number of corrective actions, including inserting erratum slips in Penguin?s remaining copies of the book, providing erratum slips to Penguin?s accounts for insertion into books that have already been shipped, and advising media organizations that will be interviewing the authors of the error. Future printings will be corrected to address the error.

Now, back to our story. Ms Novak's career with Time gives a clear look at her approach to the story she's written - and a good indication of why she's sharing writing credits (and perhaps why most reviews fail to mention her existence). She's had problems with detaining terrorists since the earliest days of the War on Terror, expressing misgivings with the competence of the Justice Department and the Administration in general as early as November 2001. To be fair, as with so many reporters it's difficult to tell where they really stand on the war because their problem is a deep dislike of the Bush Administration. In this group Novak can claim primacy - she wrote How Ethical is the Bush Administration Anyway? Back in June 2001 when most reporters were covering shark attacks. To be completely fair, her oldest Time articles reveal her problem isn't really with the Bush Administration - she just loves to write about Republicans. (And when time permits she also covers "antiabortion forces")

All of this is perfectly fine, of course. This is America, and we all have freedom of speech, and nobody will riot in front of the offices of Time, Newsweek, or Penguin publishers over this new outrage. So cash your checks with pride, Viv. You too, Eric. The prisoners in Guantanamo may or may not get over the shame of being teased by women in thongs, but 14 Afghanis are certainly and permanently dead.

So far.

Update: Newsweek has followed up with another article devoting two paragraphs to detailing accounts of Americans desecrating the Qur'an, and acknowledging that "Such stories may spark more trouble."

Also see The Year in Pictures

Clarification: This post has been misinterpreted as implying that Eric Saar might be the source of the leak to Newsweek on the Koran incident - that was never the intention.