Newsweek urged to do more to repair damage

Newsweek on Monday retracted the report in its May 9 issue after officials in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department criticised its publication and its use of an anonymous source. Protests in Afghanistan, where more than a dozen people died and scores were injured in rioting, and demonstrations elsewhere in the Muslim world were blamed on the article.

"The report had real consequences," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Monday. "People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged. There are some who are opposed to the United States and what we stand for who have sought to exploit this allegation. It will take work to undo what can be undone."

McClellan said a retraction was only "a good first step" and said Newsweek should try to set the record straight by "clearly explaining what happened and how they got it wrong, particularly to the Muslim world, and pointing out the policies and practices of our military."

A senior Pakistani Islamic leader warned yesterday that Muslim anger over Newsweek's "humiliating" story on the alleged desecration of the Quran will not subside despite the magazine's retraction. The powerful six party Islamic alliance of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) also demanded those responsible for the "conspiracy" be punished.

"Those who planned and flashed this story in Newsweek must be exposed and punished," deputy secretary general of the MMA, Liaquat Baloch, told AFP.

The Pentagon looked into the allegations initially and found nothing to substantiate them. "They continue to look into it," McClellan said.