Just wanted to copy in something I posted on my brother-in-law's LiveJournal site in repsonse to someone who said that many people will believe that the recent Newsweek retraction was based on government pressure and that the military is known for it's ignorance/disrepsect of Islam.

Even assuming the story was true, it would not have been about American ignorance at all but in fact a calculated tactic based on the knowledge that mishandling the Koran is disrespectful. (That doesn't make it right though and I would never claim that every American soldier is a scholar of Islam). That being said, I imagine that soldiers are taught some of the basics when they get sent to the war zone. This report from Arab News shows that there's still major problems, but at least some of the army brass understand there's a problem:

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/10053

Also, I imagine there is not much that one needs to know about specifically about Islam OR Iraqi culture in order to treat the local population with the proper respect. I don't think there's anything about American culture that says that it's OK to trash anyone's holy books, abuse women, ridicule people, force people into sexual acts, etc. However, I have seen plenty of university-educated 22-year olds, who don't have to think about their mortality every day, do some really stupid things.

Cultural ignorance also goes both ways. If those who would believe that the government forced Newsweek to retract the story understood American freedom of the press, they would know that presidents have been impeached and removed from office based on media investigations. It certainly is improbable that a major news organization can be made to apologize for simply reporting something that might make the government look bad - that's what our most popular programs (like 60 minutes) are all about! I also don't recall anyone being forced to retract stories about Abu Ghraib, lack of adequate protection/armor for soldiers, the killing of civilians at checkpoints, etc. The government/military may fight any allegations in the public square, but the dissemination of their point of view is actually controlled by the very same media organizations that criticize it!