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German video criticized for instructor's racial remarks

A video has been posted on the Internet showing a German army instructor ordering recruits to shout insults against African-Americans during a shooting exercise, a news magazine said on Saturday.

Stern magazine said in its online edition that the video was shot in last July in army barracks in the northern city of Rendsburg. Excerpts were also shown on German television.

A barracks spokesman confirmed the existence of the video and said the instructor shown had been posted elsewhere.

The video shows the instructor first telling recruits to imagine they were fighting plane hijackers.

At the end of the exercise he congratulates them and says: "That's good, the terrorists are dead."

He then tells them: "Now you're in the Bronx. A black truck stops in front of you. Three African-Americans get out and insult your mother grossly. Every time before you pull the trigger I want to hear you shout `motherfucker' very loudly."

The junior soldier is then shown executing the order, shouting the required word before each shot, encouraged by his superior, who tells him to curse louder.

In Bonn, an armed forces spokesman said the army had launched an internal inquiry into the incident, possibly leading to disciplinary measures against two instructors.

In New York, the Reverend Al Sharpton said US President George W. Bush should condemn the instructor's actions, especially because Germany is an ally of the US.
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