U.S.: 5 soldiers involved in Quran burning

PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan -- Military investigators have concluded that five U.S. service members were involved in the incineration of a pile of Qurans in Afghanistan last week, according to U.S. military officials who have been briefed on the inquiry.

The burning of the Muslim holy books -- which U.S. officials say was accidental -- incited a week of protests that left 30 Afghans dead. The burnings also were cited as motivation for at least some of the six fatal attacks on U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.

Investigators appointed by Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, found the service members removed the Qurans from a prison at Bagram Air Base after they were discovered to contain extremist messages. The books were then placed in an office for safekeeping but were mistaken for garbage and taken to a landfill on the base.

Afghan employees identified the books as Qurans just as the pages caught fire, a major desecration according to Muslim teachings. The discovery led to a week of unprecedented tension between U.S. and Afghan military officials.

U.S. military officials said that although the five service members will be reprimanded, it is unlikely that their names will be released or that their punishment will approach the severity of what some Afghans are demanding, including trial in an Islamic court. One military official said: "What they did was careless, but there was no ill will."

The much-discussed investigation was intended to quell unrest and prove to the Afghan public that U.S. officials were both apologetic and willing to make amends for wrongdoing.

But U.S. military officials expressed concern that the investigation's finding -- which stops short of pinning blame on malevolent service members -- might not satisfy Afghan leaders.

NATO spokesman Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings declined to comment on the findings, saying it was "still going through the legal process." A separate Afghan investigation, which is being conducted by lawmakers and religious officials, is expected to conclude in several days.

U.S. officials said better oversight could have prevented the Quran burning. Coalition soldiers across Afghanistan are now receiving training on how to properly handle religious materials -- a lesson ordered by Allen. Much of the instruction has focused on the meaning and importance of the Quran in Muslim culture.