Newsweek's management is acting decisively to counteract the damage wrought by a disasterously errant report in the magazine, which claimed that prison guards at Gitmo tossed a Koran in a toilet. Mark Whitaker, Newsweek's editor, today announced that three platoons of editorial staffers would abandon their posts for rapid deployment to battlezones in Afghanistan in Iraq.
The announcement comes hours after last night's White House press conference, during which Newsweek was castigated for the longterm effects of their betrayal of U.S. forces.
During the press conference, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said: "This report, which Newsweek has now retracted and said was wrong, has had serious consequences. People did lose their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged; there is lasting damage to our image because of this report. And we would encourage Newsweek to do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region."
McClellan went on to say that Newsweek should order staffers to abandon their keyboards for rifles, and to "get out where the action is."
We here at TKID's Blog commend Newsweek's belated move to join the battle for the American Way of Life. Perhaps, just perhaps, this act will erase some of the damage the magazine brought to the U.S. image abroad, which was set back at least 20 years by the 10-sentence news story.
However, Newsweek must move quickly to stifle fast-breaking news that members of their foreign correspondent team, which double as special agents for the U.S., have participated in brutal repression of the Iraqi people. Turkish news media today reported that Newsweek reporters, who often work as snipers and sappers for U.S. special forces, often tortured suspected insurgents while interrogating them under the cover of conducting interviews for the newsweekly. Also reported today was news that Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff in 2003 grabbed an AK-47 from an Afghan boy and hosed down a crowd of mosque worshippers. Isikoff, allegedly crazed on speed and heroin, shot and killed at least 35 villagers.
Newsweek must work to ensure that their troops, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, "be very careful about what they say, just as they need to be very careful about what they do."
