Newsweek switch
on Quran story
pleases nobody

In a statement faxed to The Associated Press, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah called the alleged desecration a “brutal” form of torture and urged Muslims and international human rights organizations “to raise their voices loudly against the American behavior.”

On Saturday, Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, both allies of Washington, demanded an investigation and punishment for those behind the reported desecration of the Quran.

Rice said the Newsweek report had “done a lot of harm” to U.S. outreach in the Muslim world.

“It’s appalling that this story got out there,” Rice told reporters traveling with her during a trip to Iraq.

“I hope that everybody will step back and take a look at how they handled this — everybody,” Rice said.

She said she does not know whether the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq made this story easier to believe.

“We’re always trying to improve our ability to deal with both reality when there is something like Abu Ghraib and when there is rumor or misinformation were trying to deal better with those circumstances, too.”

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