Koran-burning probe finds 5 U.S. troops involved

Afghan demonstrators shout anti-U.S. slogans during a protest against Koran desecration in Kunduz, Afghanistan, Feb. 25, 2012. / AFP/Getty Images

(CBS/AP) A joint U.S.-Afghan investigation found that five American soldiers were directly involved in the burning of Muslim holy books at an American base late last month, CBS News confirms.

The joint investigation found that the five soldiers, who have not been named publicly, moved the Korans from where they were being stored near Kabul at the Parwan Detention Facility to the burn pit at Bagram Air Field, which adjoins the prison. It won't result in any action against the soldiers. Any action taken will be the result of a U.S. Army investigation, which is ongoing.

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President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, have apologized for the burnings, which they said were a mistake. But their apologies did not quell the anger of Afghans, who say the incident illustrates foreigners' disrespect for their culture and religion.

U.S. military officials have said the Korans and other Islamic texts removed from the detention center's library had extremist inscriptions.

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The joint investigation's finding comes as a council of Afghanistan's top religious leaders on Friday reportedly rejected the U.S. apology and demanded those responsible be prosecuted and punished.

In a statement issued after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the religious leaders strongly condemned the Feb. 20 incident, which sparked six days of deadly protests. During the demonstrations, six U.S. troops were killed by Afghan security forces or militants disguised in their uniforms.

"Those who committed this crime must be publicly tried and punished," the clerics said in the statement, according to the Reuters news agency.

"The council strongly condemns this crime and inhumane, savage act by American troops by desecrating holy books of the Koran."

Ill burn one right now

[dkswitz]

I know there are real "geopolitical" reasons for our military in Afghanistan, but there simply comes a time when the "people's hatred" of everything we stand for has to be taken into account. All of this Hell? All of the dea d soldiers just because of a misguided vision foesta

[Robert_Rogers]

One thing is certain, all the religious nuts in the world never fail at keeping the rest of us entertained. If all the Jews, Christians and Muslims would finally just kill each other off, it sure would be a boring world.

[longtree-2009]

just wondering how many deaths can be linked directly to the burning of their koran a symbol of their cultural belief system? how many new haters of the USA has it spawned? how many new terrorists has it emboldened? how many more will die because of this burning?

[BOB-C]

"Monotheistic religion is a plagiarism of a plagiarism of a hearsay of a hearsay, of an illusion of an illusion, extending all the way back to a fabrication of a few nonevents." ~ Christopher Hitchens

[14FREEK]

GIVE THEM A BONUS 30 DAY LEAVE, WITH PAY.

[venusvegasvada]

"Those who committed this crime must be publicly tried and punished," the clerics said in the statement, according to the Reuters news agency.

"The council strongly condemns this crime and inhumane, savage act by American troops by desecrating holy books of the Koran."

With all due respect to the clerics, once those Korans were written in, by terrorists, with terrorist messages, they were no longer Korans but terrorist propaganda and subject to disposal as any other implement of propaganda.

What the clerics need to do is pull their heads out of the @#$@ and get with the program. They need to figure out who's side they are on (Taliban or Democratic Afghanistan) and get with it.

The US is not going to be there forever and the more they screw around with this sit on the fence and go off on tangents just makes everything harder for us. They still act like children.

Grow up.

[dj_chi]

What should have happened is that the books were given to Muslim clerics to dispose of. Since the Afghan demonstrators clearly aren't taking our word for it that the books were written in, then destroying them should never be done by US personnel. Then regardless of the books' condition we're clear of any problems.

[jarwillnc]

@dj_chi: According to reports the Korans contained extremists inscriptions which would likely have been of value to extremist not being held at the facility. To turn the already desecrated materials over to clerics for disposal would have posed a security risk, not to mention just plain stupid. Our troops did nothing wrong here and this "investigation" is for appeasement only.

[KnowerseekerReturns]

Just genocide the damn Afghans already. Then move on to all Arab muslims. Enough play.

[rheola-2009]

slownewsday__2012

Though I disagree with completely with KnowerseekerReturns comments, the Christians ? have done similar things in the past on many occassions, they called them the Crusades, the Heresy trials and of course Genocide of innocent races, etc.

[BOB-C]

Has anyone heard the song JKMKC by Chris Yates?

There's only one thing I can count on
every night on my TV.
I don't ever have to doubt it.
It's always clear and plain to see.

When I come walking through my front door tonight
and I sit down to watch the news,
I'm gonna see Jews killing Muslims killing Christians,
Christians killing Muslims killing Jews.

[Truth_Guru]

Please read the following:

blowing off hundreds of innocent people and keep doing that, lots of Blood on the street, killing, cut off heads, People with machettee guns comming in a village and butchering and shooting innocent people, kill the man woman or children who do not accept your belief, if somebody just "SPOKEN" about their religion, 'They' just start killing, burning, destroying the whole town, Blown peices of human bodies, again and again non stop.


Now what religion does come in your mind?

[omded]

If they truly believed in their "god", they'd just conclude that this incident is "between these soldiers and god". For instance, they might believe their god will "send these soldiers to hell", or punish them by some other means. However, their violent reaction suggests they have doubts in the strength and power of their god. The suggestion is that they don't really believe their god can take care of this to his own satisfaction, and they need to take matters into their own hands to make up for their god's lack of capability to do it himself.

Their reaction could also be "brownie point psychology", where they think they'll win favor with Allah by "defending his honor".

Either way, these peoples' faith is weak. If their god is really as powerful as they claim he is, he doesn't need their help dealing with this issue.

[julianpenrod]

Those who engage in mindless hate demonstrate it, among other things, by their abandoning of all reason just to "make a point". omded, for example, tries to condemn Muslims for taking revenge for, tell the truth and shame the devil, generations of abuse and atrocities by corporate controlled Western militaries. omded's insipid "explanation" of circumstances is that they claim to believe Allah will punish the unworthy eventually, yet "prove" they don't trust Allah by taking action to exact revenge now. Among other things, it is a truism of religion that, while God can do all, He wants peple to take action themselves in this world. People can trust God to provide, but God still wants them to act to provide for their own welfare and, if they do so, He will go the extra mile. In fact, it can be argued that, if they didn't express outrage for the atrocities committed by the West, that will be tacit approval of their actions that will cause Allah not to give the perpetrators appropriate penalties for their deeds later.

[BOB-C]

@ julianpenrod

Those who engage in mindless RELIGION demonstrate it, among other things, by their abandoning of all reason just to "make a point".