Now here’s a strange twist. From WND, with thanks to TC:
Virtually every major news agency in the world has reported without verification that between 15 and 18 Afghanis were killed in the riots.
There’s just one problem. There is no more evidence for these deaths than there is that a U.S. interrogator flushed a Quran down the toilet.
Not a single name of even one victim has been released. No details of the circumstances of the riots were released from any official sources — either U.S. or Afghan.
Who were these victims? Were they rioters killed by police or military forces? Were they innocent victims attacked by fanatics? Were they Afghanis? Were they relief workers?
G2B has examined every English-language news story about these deaths through Lexis Nexis. G2B has scoured the Internet, including foreign and non-English-language news sources for any details of these deaths. And G2B has queried both U.S. and Afghan official sources for any details about these alleged deaths.
No U.S. officials contacted can provide any corroboration for any deaths. And Afghan officials uniformly clam up with apprehension at the mere asking of questions.
“I have no comment,” said one official at the Afghan embassy in Washington who asked not to be identified.
When told he wasn’t being asked for a comment, just any public information about the casualties in what has become the biggest international news story, he said: “I cannot say anything.”
“There should be an investigation,” he said. “I cannot say any more. Please do not quote me. This is very sensitive.”
Now, some sources inside the U.S. government are saying off the record that they believe the death toll may have been deliberately exaggerated by Islamists — perhaps even some Afghan government officials — who want to make a point about the grievous nature of the supposed Quran desecration.