Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer this morning, stated that other factors were involved in the rioting that occured in his country last week.
While the Bush administration had no problem blaming the riots on the release of the now infamous Newsweek article that mentioned a Koran had been flushed down a toilet, Karzai, while condemning the article, stated that there were political motives directed at the Afghan government that spurred those riots.
Afghanistan is moving towards an election and opposition factions in the country, according to Karzai, used the riots to protest against the current government. Karzai also cited government talks with Taliban members as being a strong factor in this opposition.
So, while the MSM and the administration have happily blamed Newsweek for the deaths that resulted from the riots, Karzai presents a much different perspective.
Considering that he also recently condemned the Bagram torture and asserted that the Afghanistan government ought to have full control of its country's security i.e. having power over what US forces do in his country, it seems that Karzai has had enough of being a sock puppet for George Bush's neocons.
Still stuck in the Twilight Zone of neocon influence, CNN reported this exchange between Blitzer and Karzai today as follows:
Those protests were sparked when a Newsweek report fueled simmering angry at the United States by quoting a U.S. official who said a U.S. investigation had found that interrogators at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had defiled the Quran.
Newsweek retracted the story when its source later said he wasn't sure his information was correct.
The Afghan president said the allegations of defilement of the Quran were "a serious matter about people's beliefs and feelings," but added that the violent protests were "directed at the peace process" and the "elections in Afghanistan."
Even though Karzai clearly said the protests were not about the Newsweek article specifically, CNN is still reporting that they were. That's not journalism. That's propaganda. Look at the flow of that passage. Karzai's assertions are merely an afterthought and he is made out to be a liar since, apparently, everybody and their dog knows the riots were caused by Newsweek.
What's wrong with this picture?
Update [2005-5-22 16:22:40 by catnip]: CNN has posted the transcript here.
This is the relevant portion:
BLITZER: How much damage to the U.S. image was done by that "Newsweek" story, that has since been fully retracted, alleging that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed a Koran down the toilet?
KARZAI: It was a very unfortunate story. First of all, a very serious matter: a matter of people's beliefs and feelings. It is reported in a column, in a gossip column. That's very -- well, I don't know what to say about that. That's just not good.
We were angry about that. It's a rumor. Let's be wise. Let's be assistive. Let's check if it's true or not true, and then react, and react reasonably.
What happened in Afghanistan a week ago was really not something done by the Afghan people. It was actually the violence -- the trouble was directed at the strategic partnership that Afghanistan is talking with the United States.
It was directed at the peace process that we have of inviting back the thousands of the Taliban to come back to their country. It was actually against the elections in Afghanistan. So we know what was going on there.
(emphasis mine)
Yes, President Karzai, we do know what was going on there.