Blogoland

Hey everybody, remember the Rodney King police-beating video that led to rioting in L.A? It was completely understandable! Apparently, the Right has now discovered its inner bleeding heart. What else can we conclude from this opining on the Newsweek-Koran-flush-riot-death story?

• Malkin: "Newsweek has blood on its hands. Blood on its desks."
• Captain's Quarters: "Newsweek's Editorial Checks And Balances Cost Lives."
• Instapundit: "People died, and U.S. military and diplomatic efforts were damaged, because -- let's be clear here -- Newsweek was too anxious to get out a story that would make the Bush Administration and the military look bad.
• Austin Bay: History may see Newsweek’s fatal “Koran flushing” story as the US press’ Abu Ghraib.

I guess Muslims have no responsibility for their own actions. It's so sad to see that some people believe that if you're Muslim, or perhaps brown-skinned, you can't be self-governing and free.

And let's be serious and intelligent. Previous reporting in places like the Washington Post has noted the Koran flushing accusations had been made, though the goverment had not confirmed such reports. And yet no one rioted then. Anyone who's followed the recent story should know that the demonstrations last week were peaceful, but that extremists used the story as pretext to riot.

POSTSCRIPT: Let's be clear here. If Newsweek's story and the other stories about Koran-flushing prove to be false, then it is exceedingly bad reporting.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum and I share a brain. He makes some good points that I don't.