From the “Friday Night Newshole” Files

I’m sure that the administration will be issuing an apology to Newsweek for accusing them of erroneous reporting:

American jailers at the Guantanamo prison for foreign terrorism suspects splashed a Koran with urine, kicked and stepped on the Islamic holy book and soaked it with water, the U.S. military said on Friday.

U.S. Southern Command, responsible for the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, described for the first time five cases of "mishandling" of a Koran by U.S. personnel confirmed by a newly completed military inquiry, officials said in a statement.

[…]

In the fifth "confirmed incident" of mishandling a Koran, Southern Command said a prisoner in August 2003 complained that "a two-word obscenity" had been written in English in his Koran. Southern Command said it was "possible" a guard had written the words but "equally possible" the prisoner himself had done it.

My first thought when I saw the headline is reflected in the title of this post. Another superb burying job by releasing the information at a time when nobody’s paying attention. Then I got to the very last line of the story (issued by Reuters, by the way), and I felt that shiver go down my spine once again…the shiver that makes me think maybe, just maybe, the tide is starting to turn, just a little:

Southern Command released its findings on a Friday night.

That’s it. No additional commentary. Just a statement of fact. Nine words that seem, at least to this veteran newsreader, to be weighted with all kinds of meaning.

Come on, media. I know you’re tired of the lies, the bullshit, the disassembling. You had balls once. You can find them again. I’m sure of it.