Rice: Qu'ran reports appalling

2005-05-16 20:24

Shannon, Ireland - US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on Monday blasted an unsubstantiated report of Koran desecrations by US troops as "appalling" and said it had created a "very major problem" for Washington in the Muslim world.

Rice said the report, which Newsweek magazine acknowledged was unconfirmed after a wave of sometimes-bloody protests in Muslim countries, had stirred up new anti-American outrage that will need to be quelled.

"It's extremely unfortunate," she told a trio of reporters accompanying her on her way back from a lightning trip to Iraq.

"It's appalling that this story got out there and I do think it's done a lot of harm."

She bemoaned the at least 14 deaths in violent protests in Afghanistan, which had the most violent reaction to Newsweek's report that interrogators at the US prison camp in Cuba had flushed a Qu'ran down the toilet.

"It's also done a lot of harm to Americans' efforts to improve our image and our relationship with the Muslim world," said the chief US diplomat.

Rice said Muslims were highly sensitive after such incidents as the abuse of inmates in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and it didn't take much to fuel "an ideology of hatred against the United States" among militants.

"I think it's perfectly plausible and even likely that there were those who used this event to stoke anti-American sentiment for their own purposes," she said.

Without directly criticising Newsweek, she said: "I hope that everybody will step back and take a look at how they handled this.

"Everybody.

"It's just unfortunate because it became a very major problem."

US officials took days to respond to the mounting Muslim rage until Rice delivered a strong statement calling any desecration of the Qu'ran "abhorrent" and vowing offenders would be punished.

Rice acknowledged on Sunday the US would have to react more quickly to damaging reports.

But on Monday she defended the government's handling of the Newsweek item.

"The United States tries to act responsibly in these things and to know the facts before we go out with a response," Rice said.

She said the alleged desecration was still being investigated "but I have no reason to believe that it happened".

Rice said the US would have to be on the alert to respond to future reports that could have such devastating impact in the world.

"I think that we're in a very volatile environment," she said.

"We're always trying to improve our ability to deal with both reality, something like Abu Ghraib, and when there is a rumour or misinformation, we're trying to deal better with those circumstances too because we have to be able to deal with both."

- AFP