The Scotsman 20 Maggio 2008

BAGHDAD: US MILITARY commanders have apologised to community leaders in Iraq after a US soldier used a copy of the Koran for shooting practice, fearing an outburst of anger among US-allied tribesmen.
Bloody protests have sometimes broken out across the Muslim world when the Islamic faith has been insulted. The swift apology by the US commanders appeared aimed at avoiding similar violence in Iraq.
 
The US military said yesterday that the soldier, who was not identified, had been disciplined and ordered to leave Iraq after a copy of the Muslim holy book was found riddled with bullet holes at a shooting range near Baghdad on 11 May. Pictures show the Koran with at least ten bullet holes.
 
The incident is deeply embarrassing for the US military, which has been working hard to forge alliances with Sunni Arab tribes to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq. It has credited such alliances with helping to reduce violence sharply in the country.

An Iraqi community leader said the apology by senior American military commanders had helped to calm tensions. "I was feeling bitterness, but as long as they apologised we are OK with them. Our anger has cooled," said Saeed al-Zubaie, the head of a US-allied Sunni Arab tribal council in the Radwaniya area, near Baghdad, where the Koran was found.

The US television news network CNN said Major-General Jeffery Hammond, the commander of US troops in Baghdad, was met by hundreds of protesters when he went to Radwaniya to deliver the apology on Saturday.

"I am a man of honour; I am a man of character. You have my word this will never happen again," Major-Gen Hammond told the crowd.

By KHALED AL-ANSARY

Source >  The Scotsman