'Bush apology' for Koran shooting

[Homyrrh]

(from BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7410367.stm))'Bush apology' for Koran shooting

US President George W Bush has made a personal apology over the shooting of a Koran by an American soldier, Iraq's government has said in a statement.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's office said Mr Bush had promised to send the accused American sniper to trial.

The soldier was sent home by the US military after the Muslim holy book was found riddled with bullet holes at a shooting range by Iraqi police.

The White House did not immediately comment on Mr Bush's reported apology.

The US military said last week that the soldier had been removed from his unit, sent home, and would be disciplined.

He was unnamed, but was said to be a staff sergeant in a sniper section.

'People's anger'

Mr Maliki's office said in a statement that Mr Bush had made a personal apology in a telephone call to the prime minister.

"The American president apologised on behalf of the United States... promising to present the soldier to the courts," Reuters news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Mr Maliki had expressed the anger felt by the Iraqi people and the nation's government, his office said.

A US military spokesman last week described the shooting as "both serious and deeply troubling", but stressed it was an "isolated incident and a result of one soldier's actions".

US military authorities have already apologised to community leaders in the area, west of Baghdad.

The military presented the elders with a new copy of the Koran.

[Scarface98.9]

They get sent home for that? Like back to their loved ones? Helluva punishment

[EVILxxx]

I doubt he'll be charged. This will get swept under the rug as it should.

[Brando @$$ Fat]

Better he shoot Korans than innocent civilians.

[Homyrrh]

Not the replies I expected, though I nonetheless agree. I'm sure he's just being restationed dometically or some more discreet overseas location (Germany, Japan, etc.).

[MadsenOMC]

This is how you win hearts and minds.

[QUENTIN]

The guy who did this is an idiot, and it's idiots like him that make it hard for Iraqis to not see us as an Imperialist force with no care for their country... but at the same time, the guy shot a book. Not 17 innocent people, not a baby or a holy man, a book. He should be reprimanded in the sense of getting chewed out by a superior officer for being a dumbass, but I don't think he deserves any real punishment, demotion, or God forbid court martial for something that could at worst be described as "cultural insensitivity".

[Homyrrh]

The guy who did this is an idiot, and it's idiots like him that make it hard for Iraqis to not see us as an Imperialist force with no care for their country... but at the same time, the guy shot a book. Not 17 innocent people, not a baby or a holy man, a book. He should be reprimanded in the sense of getting chewed out by a superior officer for being a dumbass, but I don't think he deserves any real punishment, demotion, or God forbid court martial for something that could at worst be described as "cultural insensitivity".
Idiot? That's holding back, hombre.

It's shameful that people can't realize the ultimate consequences of their actions, whether directly for them or otherwise.

[Vong]

it's idiots like him that make it hard for Iraqis to not see us as an Imperialist force with no care for their country

But that's exactly what they are. You can't throw a veil over something so obvious and call it something else.

[Homyrrh]

But that's exactly what they are. You can't throw a veil over something so obvious and call it something else.
That's the very definition of generalization.

[SpoonMan999]

Ok, maybe it's just me but he shouldn't have had to apologize. America shouldn't have to apologize. One man did this...not America. I'm not sorry and nobody should be apologizing on my behalf. If the Iraqis have an issue with it then the only thing I'm sorry about is that I gave them the impression that the nation as a whole is responsible for the actions of one man. Fuck that.

[Homyrrh]

Ok, maybe it's just me but he shouldn't have had to apologize. America shouldn't have to apologize. One man did this...not America. I'm not sorry and nobody should be apologizing on my behalf. If the Iraqis have an issue with it then the only thing I'm sorry about is that I gave them the impression that the nation as a whole is responsible for the actions of one man. Fuck that.
Each and every soldier in the US armed forces represents himself and, infitely more important, his country. Unfortunately, this is manifested in inexplainably inane happenings like shooting a book.

Couldn't he just find Jose Canseco's autobiography?

[SpoonMan999]

Each and every soldier in the US armed forces represents himself and, infitely more important, his country. Unfortunately, this is manifested in inexplainably inane happenings like shooting a book.

Couldn't he just find Jose Canseco's autobiography?

The point is he didn't hurt anyone, he offended some people who probably take themselves way too seriously. The man was venting frustration about his situation on something that represents the environment he's in, at least this is what it sounds like to me. The soldier should have just been sent home and that be the end of it, maybe make the soldier apologize but that's it. They shouldn't discipline him for shooting a book.

[KcMsterpce]

I mostly agree with these replies.

From THEIR perspective, shooting the Qu'ran isn't just "shooting a book." Every copy of the Qu'ran is revered like a sacred object, and the reaction of its' mistreatment is more emotional than could be stated in words. It's kind of like flag burning, raping your kids, fucking your husband in the ass with a rolled up phone book, and being told that your favorite movie sucks because it's "overrated".

It might seem silly for such violent reactions, but it's not just a 'book', like the Bible to us.
Yes, it was the action of one American (but probably not), but it's another smearing of our image in which the few spoil the better intentions of the many. Tensions are already super high, since we came in and shook shit up, and now there's a stinky mess everywhere over there... damn shame.