By Cernig
The Italian AKI news service reports that a senior Sistani aide has slammed the US response to a Koran being used as target practise.
The US soldier who shot a copy of the Koran should be punished as an example to others, according to a key Shia cleric sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai.
Al-Karbalai, who represents the religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, called for punishment in a sermon read to the faithful during Friday prayers at the central mosque of Karbala....The imam of Karbala, the holy Shia city, dismissed the excuses advanced by the US military to the Iraqi premier Nouri al-Maliki and the expulsion of the soldier in question.
"What that soldier did offended the feelings of all Muslims and not only those of Iraqis," he said. "For this, he must be tried in a way that is a warning for all the others to prevent this kind of thing happening again."
And Sunni clerics in Iraq have also expressed ourage:
"The enemies of Islam have launched their campaign against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and recently against the holy Quran," said Sheik Omar Mohammed during his sermon at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad.
"A bullet that might have shot at an Iraqi believer, was directed toward the holy Quran instead," Mohammed said. "Do not think this is a defeat for us, but it will create enthusiasm to stand up more for this religion."
An apology for the shooting was issued from local commanders and Bush expressed "deep concern" which, despite media reports since, the White House originally denied was an actual apology. The soldier involved was removed from Iraq and reprimanded, according to the US military.
Following on from news yesterday that Sistani is becoming more outspoken about his opposition to the US occupation, such a failure of "hearts and minds" and the reaction it provokes should make even the most ardent true-believer in the "Iraqis will greet us as liberators...eventually" school of thought should be given pause - and wonder what another decade or ten of opportunities for matters Iraqi to go seriously to hell in a handbasket might look like.
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