The commander of US troops in Iraq has been forced to apologise to local leaders after an American soldier used a copy of the Qur'an for target practice. A bullet-holed and graffiti-scrawled edition of the Islamic holy book was discovered by Iraqi police last week.The soldier responsible has been sent home. Before he went the unnamed staff sergeant apologised to the military calling his actions "shortsighted, very reckless and irresponsible -- but not malicious".Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of US forces in Iraq, met with local tribal leaders and pleaded with them to "forgive me and my soldiers" promising that this type of incident would never happen again.The swift and frank US apology appears to have been aimed at avoiding violent protests in Iraq.
The commander of US troops in Iraq has been forced to apologise to local leaders after an American soldier used a copy of the Qur'an for target practice.
A bullet-holed and graffiti-scrawled edition of the Islamic holy book was discovered by Iraqi police last week.
The soldier responsible has been sent home. Before he went the unnamed staff sergeant apologised to the military calling his actions "shortsighted, very reckless and irresponsible -- but not malicious".
Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of US forces in Iraq, met with local tribal leaders and pleaded with them to "forgive me and my soldiers" promising that this type of incident would never happen again.
The swift and frank US apology appears to have been aimed at avoiding violent protests in Iraq.
