A US sniper was removed from Iraq after he used a copy of the Koran for target practice, the military said on Sunday, a day after a US commander held a formal ceremony apologizing to Sunni tribal leaders.
The elaborate ceremony — in which one US officer kissed a new copy of Islam’s holy book before giving it to the tribal leaders — reflected the military’s eagerness to stave off anger among Sunni Arabs it has been cultivating as allies.
The tribesmen have become key in the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq militants, who depict the US forces as anti-Islamic occupiers. One anti-US Iraqi Sunni group condemned the Koran shooting, calling it “a hideous act.”
Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled Koran with graffiti inside the cover on a firing range near a police station in Radwaniyah, west of Baghdad, US military spokesman Colonel Bill Buckner said.
US commanders launched an inquiry that led to disciplinary action against the unidentified soldier, who has been removed from Iraq, Buckner said.
Members of the local US-allied group said the Koran was found with 14 bullet holes in a field after US troops withdrew from a base in the area.
Sheik Ahmed Khudayer al-Janabi, a local tribal leader, said the group had planned a protest march last Thursday but called it off under pressure from US forces and to prevent any insurgent violence as retaliation.
The incident, which occurred on May 9 and was discovered two days later, was first reported by CNN, which broadcast a ceremony at which the top US commander in Baghdad apologized to tribal leaders on Saturday in Radwaniyah. The military confirmed the details on Sunday in an e-mailed response to a query.
“I come before you here seeking your forgiveness,” Major General Jeffery Hammond was quoted as saying at the ceremony. “In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers”
“The actions of one soldier were nothing more than criminal behavior,” he said. “I’ve come to this land to protect you, to support you — not to harm you — and the behavior of this soldier was nothing short of wrong and unacceptable.”
The commander also read a letter of apology by the shooter while another military official kissed a Koran and presented it to the tribal leaders, according to CNN.
The military statement called the incident “serious and deeply troubling but stressed it was the result of one soldier’s actions” and “not representative of the professionalism of our soldiers or the respect they have for all faiths.”
The Association of Muslim Scholars condemned the shooting and what it said was a belated acknowledgment of the incident, calling it “a hideous act against the book of almighty God and the constitution of the nation and the source of its glory and dignity.”
Sheik Eid Majid al-Zubaie, the preacher at the Radwaniyah mosque, said local leaders were outraged over discovery of the Koran but he said they had accepted the military’s apology.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was