US: Quran burning probe yet to be completed

WASHINGTON (PAN at the Bagram Airbase in February is not complete yet, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, refraining from making any comment on the findings.

“As I understand it, the investigation is not yet complete, but we’re working toward completion. Beyond that, I don’t have anything to report at this stage,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.

At a news conference, Little said it was an incident that the US had taken very seriously and had undertaken a deliberate process to investigate.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, he said, was evincing a strong interest in the progress of the investigation. “I’m not going to get out ahead, though, of what the investigation might yield.”

Little added: “This is something that needs to come from Afghanistan first, from our commanders, Gen. Allen there and then we’ll move forward. We understand the concerns that this issue raised and we’re committed to addressing it…”

A joint Afghan-US fact-finding probe into the incident last month recommended disciplinary action against the US soldiers responsible for the unintentional desecration of the Holy text.

But the report has not been made public yet. “Major findings were that disposal processes of these religious texts were improperly begun. But it wasn’t the malicious act with intent to show disrespect for the people of Afghanistan or Islam,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt John Kirby told reporters last month.

“They did find there were some US personnel who did improperly treat these religious texts including some of the supervisory work personnel,” he added.

“It recommended that they be reviewed for potential disciplinary action,” Kirby said. The joint investigation, he said: “Did find that there were written notes in some of these religious texts.”

vp/mud

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