Is is standard for JSP to output every newline character it sees?

Question

I've encountered a very annoying problem using JSP. It seems JSPC outputs every newline character it sees in the JSP page -- even if it is after a JSP comment or JSP directive. Look at the sample JSP at the bottom: it will output 4 blank lines (3 from comments + 1 from directive) before it prints "JSP Body Line 1". Granted, this is not a big problem if the content is HTML and will be viewed in a browser. However, my content has to be plain text because the client in my case is not always a browser.
I've tested this on both JRun and TomCat. Same results. I don't understand why is this, because intuitively the JSP designer would not have meant to output those blank lines, right? I'm wondering if this is really an "official" behavior prescribed by the JSP standard, or just an oversight in JRun and TomCat? Could any expert help me verify this in JSP standard (by the way, which one is the official document that spells out the JSPC implementation?) or anyone help me test it in other App Server (e.g. WebLogic, WebSphere, etc.) which I don't have access to? Your help is greatly appreciated!
======= Sample JSP code ========
<%-- JSP Comment Line 1 --%>
<%-- JSP Comment Line 2 --%>
<%-- JSP Comment Line 3 --%>
<@ page contentType="text/plain" %>
JSP Body Line 1
JSP Body Line 2
...

Answer 1

The truth is, newlines (as far as HTML or most XML is concerned) are just any old kind of whitespace. An extra line or two isn't a major problem, the only time this will really cripple you is if you want to insert scriptlets above the <?xml...> line.