Newsweek is backing off it's claim that American interrogators desecrated the Quran at Gitmo. Apparently their single, uncorroborated source could not prove his claims, and is backing away from the story. But people have already died because of the Newsweek story, reports CNN.

At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured last week when thousands of demonstrators marched in Afghanistan and other parts of the Muslim world, officials and eyewitnesses said.

The Pentagon said last week that it had been unable to corroborate any case like those Newsweek reported in its May 9 issue, in which the magazine wrote that U.S. interrogators at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had defiled the Muslim holy book.

"Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we," Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the magazine's May 23 issue, out Sunday.

"But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst."

Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita was less than diplomatic about Newsweek's journalistic "oops". "People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?" he said.

UPDATE: The New York Times notes that while Newsweek has apologized for getting the story wrong, they aren't retracting anything. In a move remiscient of Dan Rather's "fake but accurate" reporting, Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said, "We're not retracting anything. We don't know what the ultimate facts are."

Scrappleface hits the nail squarely on the head.

For those unschooled in professional journalistic ethics, Mr. Whitaker explained that a retraction demands a higher standard of evidence than an ordinary news item.

"You don't just rush to press with a retraction until you nail down the facts," he added.

UPDATE2: Reuters has another money quote from Newsweek's Editor Mark Whitaker: "We're not saying it absolutely happened but we can't say that it absolutely didn't happen either." But they aren't retracting the story.

UPDATE3: Retracted.