Is a retraction and a “we’re sorry” thrown in for good measure enough when a faulty news story costs lives? (No, I’m not referring to Judith Miller.)

Newsweek has apologized for a story in its May 9 issue alleging that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay tried to mess with prisoners’ heads by flushing a copy of the Koran down the toilet. It was one small paragraph in the news magazine, but it sparked riots in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip that claimed 15 Afghan lives and numerous injuries.

Editor Mark Whitaker retracted the paragraph in question in today’s edition. So question one — where did the information come from?

Their information came from a knowledgeable U.S. government source, and before deciding whether to publish it we approached two separate Defense Department officials for comment. One declined to give us a response; the other challenged another aspect of the story but did not dispute the Qur’an charge.

Oh, wonderful — yet another MSM unnamed source. And how did the reporters verify the information? One DOD official “did not dispute the Qu’ran charge.” Remember how “60 Minutes Wednesday” took White House spokesman Dan Bartlett’s non-dispute of the TxARNG memos as proof of their authenticity (page 13 of the Memogate investigation)? We’ve all seen how well that journalistic check and balance works.

Last Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told us that a review of the probe cited in our story showed that it was never meant to look into charges of Qur’an desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them “not credible.” Our original source later said he couldn’t be certain about reading of the alleged Qur’an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.

So the report that Newsweek cited was never meant to examine what the magazine alleged to begin with, and the Pentagon found other charges of religious desecration uncredible. Newsweek reporters Michael Isikoff and John Barry apparently did not not screw up in small measure.

I have chronicled many a journalism screw-up since joining Rathergate.com in October. But I’ve never covered a Fourth Estate bungle that ended up in loss of life. For once, I don’t know what to say.

That is, until I read Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas’s blow-by-blow story as to how the whole sordid mess came to pass. He mentions Isikoff, one of the two characters behind this alleged debacle, once (CORRECTION: I meant to say that Isikoff is not quoted in the piece). This is the guy with the answers, especially who the hell he talked to and how he verified the information, and Thomas mentions him in passing.

This isn’t Memogate or Jayson Blair or a conservative columnist on the take. People are dead because of this error. Dead. Newsweek needs to be the model of transparency if it is to have any shred of credibility over this.

UPDATE: I once wondered whether MSM reporters at some agencies have to kill someone before they get disciplined or fired. I never dreamed for a moment that we’d find out.

UPDATE 2: From around the Web:

Roger L. Simon also finds Thomas’ story to be lacking, and Powerline wonders why Thomas does not press Isikoff.

Michelle Malkin twists an anti-war slogan to “Newsweek Lied, People Died.”

The Anchoress makes an outstanding point among many in her coverage:

Okay…is NEWSWEEK going to be held accountable for this fiasco, which has cost human lives and which complicates everything our nation is trying to do? They were giddy back when Evan Thomas predicted (quite rightly, from what I can tell) that the press would be able to hand John Kerry 10 or 15 % points he’d never have gotten on his own. Will they be giddy over this NEW example of the misuse of the power of the press???

UPDATE 3: Ed at Captain’s Quarters reminds us of the MSM’s arrogance regarding its fact-checking supremacy over the blogosphere:

Remember this when the Exempt Media gets on its righteous high horse and instructs us on their superior system of checks and balances. Newsweek ran an explosive story based on a single, unnamed source that it knew would cause a huge effect on the Muslim world, at precisely the moment when we need to ensure that people understand that we’re not at war with Islam. It’s just a little late to say, “Oops, we’re sorry.”

From my favorite milblogger Blackfive:

I do not want to see the press muzzled, nor anyone hauled off to jail. But I cannot help but wonder: who was served by publication of this story? In their exercise of that freedom of speech we hold most dear, was there no thought for those who guarantee that right?

And have we grown so self-centered as a nation that we think only of our rights, and never of our responsibilities?

UPDATE 4: If this doesn’t merit a Stink-O-Gram from Stinkyjournalism.org, nothing does. Read the Stink-O-Gram I sent to Newsweek here, and feel free to send your own.

UPDATE 5: I thank God that no one has called this mess “Toiletgate,” “Korangate,” or any similar “-gate.” ThankYouthankYouthankYou.

UPDATE 5.5: Dammit, I take that back. GOP and the City just came out with “Swirlie-gate.” It was only a matter of time, and it brings back a lot of unpleasant memories — before I joined the Army, I got my head stuffed in a crapper on a daily basis. Thanks a lot, man.

UPDATE 6: Austin Bay wrote an OUTSTANDING wrap-up, “The Press’ Abu Ghraib: Newsweek Apologizes, After 15 Are Dead.”