Harper’s Magazine has released an interview with an Afghan prisoner who was an eyewitness to throwing the Koran “into the latrine.”

Even before this latest disclosure, it was obvious that Newsweek had backed down from an accurate story in response to political pressure from the Bush regime. The retraction is so typical of the right-wing bias and lack of journalistic standards so common in today’s corporate media.

Of course, the very notion of “desecration” is intellectually dubious, to put it charitably. But, flushing books down the toilet too closely reflects the anti-intellectualism of Bush and the rest of the Religious Right.

Congratulations to The Liquid List for sniffing this one out.

UPDATE: The International Red Cross informed the Pentagon about similar incidents in 2002 and 2003.