The White House today rejected as unacceptable the apology published by Newsweek magazine's editor Mark Whitaker in today's issue that the leaked news on the desecration of Muslims' holy book of Quran by some U.S. investigators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, proved to be inaccurate. White House spokesman Stiv McMillan said in a statement today that it is unacceptable that the magazine, despite its apology for publishing inaccurate information, has not yet retreated from what was basically mentioned in the report. McMillan said the information based on a sole government source, whose identity was withheld, has dealt the profile of the United States of America a new blow outside and led to serious casualties in Afghanistan. He pointed out that there are journalistic job ethics that should be observed before publishing unconfirmed reports, a matter that was not taken into consideration by the magazine when it published that harmful news. On the other hand, U.S. Secretary of States Codoleezza Rice described the repercussions of the Newsweek article as terrible, noting that the issue triggered a serious problem for Washington in the Islamic world. In press remarks to journalists accompanying her on her return trip from Iraq, Rice said the article has raised new outrageous feelings towards the United States. She extended condolences to families of victims who were killed in riots in Afghanistan.
