Pentagon Admits Gitmo Koran Desecration

Thanks Shakes. Digging into the 'well, duh' files:

American jailers at the Guantanamo prison for foreign terrorism suspects splashed a Koran with urine, kicked and stepped on the Islamic holy book and soaked it with water, the U.S. military said on Friday.

But you know, nobody did anything wrong:

In the incident involving urine, which took place this past March, Southern Command said a guard left his post and urinated near an air vent and "the wind blew his urine through the vent" and into a cell block.

It said a detainee told guards the urine "splashed on him and his Koran." The statement said the detainee was given a new prison uniform and Koran, and that the guard was reprimanded and given duty in which he had no contact with prisoners.

Southern Command said a civilian contractor interrogator, who was later fired, apologized in July 2003 to a detainee for stepping on his Koran. In August 2003, prisoners' Korans became wet when night-shift guards had thrown water balloons in a cell block, the statement said. In February 2002, guards kicked a prisoner's Koran, it added.

In the fifth "confirmed incident" of mishandling a Koran, Southern Command said a prisoner in August 2003 complained that "a two-word obscenity" had been written in English in his Koran. Southern Command said it was "possible" a guard had written the words but "equally possible" the prisoner himself had done it.

Oh, and in case you wondering if the government intended for this information to be widely disseminated, this is the last line of the story: "Southern Command released its findings on a Friday night."

Yep, when Scottie McClellan gets a question on Monday, it's going to be, "That issue has been addressed." Go ahead, laugh. We knew that was the point of the Newsweek assault to begin with, didn't we?