Is Newsweek Responsible?

Shoot the messenger! That seems to be the Republican cure-all.

In an attempt to place the blame for reporting on the torture being committed by the US, Newsweek is being painted with the "Blame America first" brush. Who should be blamed? Instead of being appalled at the torture being perpetrated, the Rove machine in manipulating us into being angry at it being reported. The military denied that the Koran was desecrated and that's supposed to be enough for us. We're supposed to ignore that everything the interrogators did was geared to insult the sensibilities of Muslim men and accept that it didn't include desecrating the Koran.

Scott McClellan said the Newsweek story damaged the image of the US and caused deaths. According to the Downing St. memo the White House knew full well that this war was unnecessary. Did an unprovoked invasion not damage our image? Did it not cause deaths?

In a case of deja vu, just as the planted Dan Rather story about Bush's AWOL halted any further questions about his military service, the Newsweek story being blamed for causing deaths will probably put an end to critics blaming Bush's determination to attack Iraq for causing deaths.

For anyone paying attention, it's a rather transparent ploy.