U.S. Scrambling After Newsweek Report

May 16, 2005 — -- Government officials are scrambling to repair the damage following Newsweek's admission that it used faulty information in reporting a story that has sparked chaos in the Muslim world.

Newsweek's story, which appeared last week, said that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed copies of the Koran down the toilet in an effort to rattle suspects. Riots in the Muslim world following that report have claimed at least 16 lives.

"In the eyes of Muslims, defacing the Koran is like consciously torturing all Muslims. It's very serious," said Fawaz Gerges, a professor at Sarah Lawrence College and ABC News' Middle East consultant.

In this week's edition of the magazine, Newsweek offered a 1,500-word explanation of the initial report, saying it relied on one source, who it says was credible in the past.

"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," Editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the apology.

Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Daniel Klaidman said the magazine erred in reporting the allegation and that military investigators had confirmed the accusation. The magazine has said it will continue to investigate.

Pentagon spokesman Larry Dirita was outraged by the information provided by the unidentified source, telling Newsweek, "People are dead because of what this [S.O.B] said."

Now U.S. officials are wondering if they can put the genie back in the bottle, said ABC News' "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos today on "Good Morning America."

"The fear at the White House, the fear in the government right now is that this simply won't stop," Stephanopoulos said. "It's out there on the Internet and it's preached in the various mosques around the world and they fear they will not be able to control it."

Stephanopoulos also said that goverment officials are angry that Newsweek hasn't offered a full retraction of the story.

"I think there's a half retraction and a correction," he said. "The fact that they haven't fully backed off this story has created anger inside of the government.They say that inside of the Pentagon and the White House, they have looked through all of their files and seen absolutely no evidence, no evidence that this incident occurred."