Desecrating the Koran

Apparently, someone started a rumor that American agents at Guantanamo put copies of the Koran in bathroom stalls and ripped pages out and stuffed them down the toilet to agitate prisoners there. This report comes from Newsweek, but I have been to the Newsweek site and can't find it anywhere. Their site is getting hammered, I would guess because of this topic.
Anyway, news of this reached Afghanistan and Pakistan, where there have been huge violent protests against the US. Chants like "Death to America" and "Death to Bush" have been heard, attacking police and torching buildings. Some of the protesters have been shot by police (not US soldiers).
Now, all of the articles I have read say nothing about where Newsweek got this report of desecrating Korans, and here is the government's response:

But the top US military officer said a review of interrogation logs has so far found no evidence to corroborate the explosive allegations.

"... they cannot confirm yet that there was ever the case of the toilet incident except in one case, a log entry that they still have to confirm, where a detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of a Koran and putting them in a toilet to stop it up as a protest," said General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

So the US is investigating and denouncing any mistreatment of the Koran. Obviously if there was desecration, it's not US policy to agitate prisoners that way, and if any individuals have been found doing it, I'm sure they will be dealt with. If, in fact, there has been said abuse, I think that the US should apologize, but not before that. At the very least, the Bush administration should let Muslims know that it denounces this activity. And it has.
What about the journalist? Isn't it in everyone's best interest to expose this guy and find out where he got this information? Really, the only purpose served by spreading this rumor and not confirming it is to incite US hatred throughout the Muslim world. Was that the journalist's purpose?

The other thing that I noticed was that the only protests the media is reporting are in Afghanistan and somewhat in Pakistan. Are those the only Muslims who care about such things? Or is it that most Muslims understand that it is not the US policy to desecrate texts held sacred by large populations. One wonders if the protest are occurring there because there is a large anti-US base of former Taliban and Al-Qaida in those areas, and they are using this to drum up anti-US sentiment. Certainly, the people of Iraq and Lebanon are not all that fired up about what has been alleged.

Strategy page has this:

Anti-American protests have spread to the capital, sparked by an unsubstantiated accusations by a U.S. newsmagazine. Newsweek magazine published a hearsay item about American interrogators at Guantanamo desecrating the Koran to intimidate suspected terrorists. The Taliban has been trying to spread similar stories, but have no credibility. American media has more clout, even if the story in question is basically a rumor. The pro-Taliban groups will push this story as much as they can, but the Taliban support is basically restricted to some Pushtun tribes in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Hmmmm. Does that mean that American reporters are getting their information from .... the Taliban?