Questions Surround Newsweek Report

May 16, 2005 --

Koran Abuse Report 'May Be Wrong'

U.S. magazine Newsweek says its report on the desecration of a Muslim holy book by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay may have been mistaken. (BBC)

How a Fire Broke Out
The story of a sensitive Newsweek report about alleged abuses at Guantánamo Bay and a surge of deadly unrest in the Islamic world. (Newsweek)

Groups Seek Probe of Koran Report
International Muslim groups and leaders of several predominantly Islamic countries Saturday called on the United States to investigate a report that American troops had desecrated the Koran. (LA Times)

At least 600 Killed In Uzbekistan

At least 600 people have been killed in a military crackdown following protests in the Uzbek city of Andijan. (The Age)

Eyewitness Report
'I don't know why they opened fire. They killed the unarmed citizens of Andijan' (The Guardian)

Iran Votes To Start Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Iran's parliament voted on Sunday to oblige the government to develop a nuclear fuel cycle — an action opposed by Washington, which fears the Islamic Republic is seeking to acquire atomic weapons. (Reuters)

U.S. Has Sent 60-70 Terror Suspects to Egypt — PM

The United States has transferred as many as 70 terrorism suspects to Egypt, but none has been subjected to torture during interrogations there, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Sunday. (Reuters)

63 Terror Suspects Arrested

Police in Mombasa last night arrested 63 people suspected to be illegal immigrants in two rented houses in Nyali area. (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)

Al Qaeda Recruiting Canadian Converts To Islam: Reports

Canadian converts to Islam have become a major source of al Qaeda combatants, posing a risk to the country's security, according to an intelligence report. (AFP)

Quiet on Terror's 'New Front'

Seven men alleged to be members of a militant Islamist group were charged earlier this week by a court in Mauritania for plotting acts of terror in a region that U.S. military officials have called the new front in the global war on terror. But as Washington decides whether it will beef up its counter-terrorism efforts in West Africa, some experts contend a heavy-handed strategy that that empowers authoritarian regimes could backfire. (UPI)

Russia Named in Iraqi Oil Scandal

Iraq's ex-vice president said Hussein's regime gave Moscow millions in fuel vouchers in hopes of ending U.N. sanctions, a Senate panel reports. (LA Times)

Twelve Die In Islamist Rebel Ambush In Algeria

Twelve Algerian troops were killed and a number wounded in a weekend ambush by armed Islamist rebels, Algerian media reported on Monday, indicating that despite official statements the unrest is far from over. (Mail & Guardian)

Aqeel Sues U.S. Officials

The former director of Al-Haramain Charitable Foundation has filed lawsuits against four top U.S. officials including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for listing him among terrorists. (Arab News)

U.S. Supplies New Evidence For Terror Suspect's Retrial

U.S. authorities have sent a German court new evidence for the retrial of the first Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack suspect ever convicted, a court official said yesterday. (AP)

Reformists Jailed by Saudi Court

A court in Saudi Arabia sentences three prominent reform activists to jail for up to nine years for "sedition". (BBC)

Two al Qaeda Members Sentenced in Yemen

A Yemeni court convicted two men Saturday for being al-Qaida members and President Ali Abdullah Saleh offered amnesty to jailed followers of a slain rebel cleric if they renounce their extremist ideas, officials said. (AP)

Bodies of 38 Murdered Iraqis Found
The bodies of 38 men shot execution-style were found in three different places in Iraq yesterday as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to try to reach out to minority Sunnis. (Arab News)

Secret Emails, Missing Weapons
In an exclusive interview, a former arms inspector tells Antony Barnett that, a year after the Kelly affair, a spy chief tried to 'sex up' his Iraq report. (The Guardian)

Top Iraqi Bureaucrat Assassinated
Gunmen assassinated a top Iraqi Foreign Ministry official yesterday in a drive-by shooting in the capital as the US military pronounced its weeklong offensive near the Syrian border over. (Arab News)

Marines Wrap Up Assault in West Iraq
Troops estimate they killed 125 fighters and captured 39 suspects in their weeklong offensive that sent the remaining rebels fleeing into Syria. (LA Times)

Bin Laden Henchman 'Seriously Wounded'
Iraq's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been seriously wounded, according to a doctor who claims to have treated him last week. (London Times)
A senior U.S. military official in Baghdad told ABC News does not believe any of the rumors about al Zarqawi being injured were true.

Marine's Shooting of Iraqis Justified, Probe Concludes
A Marine officer who killed two Iraqi prisoners should be cleared of dereliction of duty and murder charges that carried a possible death sentence, a formal military probe has concluded. (Washington Post)

'Martyrs' In Iraq Mostly Saudis
Web Sites Track Suicide Bombings. (Washington Post)

The Story of Two Saudis Who Went to Fight in Iraq
Two Saudis who entered Iraq through Syria to fight the U.S. forces there, went back to Saudi Arabia after they were told they either have to carry out suicide attacks or go back home. Al Hayat says the Saudis were met on the Syrian-Iraqi borders by a network that receives volunteer fighters. A few days later they met "the emir of the fighters." He told them there are a number of car bombs ready for suicide operations. They refused to do it and decided to go back to Saudi Arabia. (Al Hayat)

Four Palestinians Confess On Iraqi TV
Four Palestinians confessed on Iraqi television that they carried out an attack with a car bomb in Baghdad killing 15 people. (Asharq al Awsat)

Rice Makes Surprise Iraq Visit As Violence Rages
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice flew to Baghdad to give the new Iraqi government a strong vote of confidence, even as dozens of corpses were found in a grisly sign of rampant insecurity. (AFP)

Some Sunnis Hint at Peace Terms in Iraq, U.S. Says
The Bush administration, struggling to cope with a recent intensification of insurgent violence in Iraq, has received signals from some radical Sunni Arab leaders that they would abandon fighting if the new Shiite majority government gave Sunnis a significant voice in the country's political evolution, administration officials said this week. (NY Times)

Saddam 'To Write Memoirs'
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain will write his memoirs in prison while awaiting trial, according to a member of Saddam's legal team. (Bloomberg)

What Drives Support For This Torturer
Oil and gas ensure that the US backs the Uzbek dictator to the hilt. (The Guardian)

Qur'an Incident: Everything Is OK When It Is 'Us' Against 'Them'
In a way, you have to blame Americans like former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and media bigots like Sean Hannity and Daniel Pipes for the moral corruption that drives many of the abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Arab News)

The Serious Offense in Guantanamo
The so-called American "Committee for Religious Freedom" still believes that it has a message and a cause, or a mission, or even a model to convey to others. (Al Hayat)

Beyond Abu Ghraib
The release a year ago of photographs of American soldiers performing twisted acts like holding Iraqi prisoners at the end of a leash stamped the name Abu Ghraib with a notoriety that will last for decades. Some soldiers are being held accountable, either with jail time or loss of rank, but the scandal also has shone light on the issue of mistreatment of detainees beyond Iraq, a matter that requires a far-reaching investigation independent of U.S. intelligence agencies or the military. (LA Times)

No Policy Is Not Good Policy
If it wants to succeed, the United States will have to decide what its primary goal is for North Korea: policy change or regime change? (Newsweek)

Beyond Darfur
This page has urged tougher pressure on Sudan's government, which promotes genocide in the western province of Darfur. But such pressure could also yield benefits elsewhere. (Washington Post)

U.S. Universities to Teach Book on Terrorism by Saudi Intellectuals
"Saudis and Terror, Cross-Cultural Views", a book published recently by a group of Saudi and foreign writers, will be taught at American universities, according to Professor Ralph Salmi, a faculty member at California University's Department of Political Science and National Security. (Arab News)