A few weeks ago, at the local Main Street Festival, I signed up to be on the mailing list for the Northern Prince George's County Republican Club (NPGCRC). Now you all know where I stand politically -- independent; I evaluate the issues as they come and side with no party, though I tend to be left-leaning -- but I thought it might be interesting to read the group's e-mails and perhaps, time permitting, drop in on meetings from time to time. Also, I had to make nice with the reps so they'd let me have my photo taken with the life-sized cardboard Bush, which they'd kind of hidden away because people were attacking it and threatening it with death!

Anyway, I only mention this because the latest e-mail from the group urges recipients to e-mail Mark Whitaker, Newsweek's editor, and request that he demand that the persons responsible for running the Guantanamo Bay Quran flushing story resign from their posts. "No other industry can cause so much damage and not have to pay legal consequences," it reads. "This is the least that American's [sic] can expect for an article that caused the death of 17 people and caused irreparable harm to the reputation of the U.S. around the globe."

They're right about the consequences, but I won't be petitioning Whitaker or calling for the resignation of those responsible for printing the article -- because, despite Newsweek's retraction, I think it's probably true. I mean really, we've seen what our government is willing to do to get prisoners to talk -- Abu Ghraib, anyone? and I don't buy for a second that the higher ups weren't well aware of what was going on over there -- is it really such a stretch to assume that, given the way an extremist would respond to the desecration of the Quran (some of these guys don't even believe that infidels should be allowed to touch the book), soldiers would toss the holy book into the toilet to get a rise out of the prisoners? Come on, people! These guys aren't boy scouts and our leaders aren't above giving some very nasty orders in order to achieve their ends. Get real.

Of course, I can understand the public outcry over the article. Because Newsweek broke this story, as the NPGCRC e-mail noted, 17 people are dead. Anti-U.S. riots are breaking out in the Middle East with renewed zeal. And perhaps this sudden increase in anti-U.S. sentiment (not that they were big fans of America to begin with!) might not have happened if that article had never been printed.

But in the end, I think Newsweek -- and specifically the persons responsible for running the story -- are scapegoats for the American public, people they can point to and blame for the escalating situation because they're either too scared or too blind in their patriotism or party loyalties to wag their fingers at the folks who are (probably) really to blame. Because if the story's true -- and I believe it is, though of course I wasn't there and have no proof -- then it's the soldiers who did the sacreligious deed and the commanding officers who ordered it that deserve our scorn and reproach.