A Defense Department official visited a Virginia mosque Friday to reiterate the White House’s apologies for the burning of Korans at a US military base in Afghanistan, pledging that those responsible will be held “appropriately accountable.”
Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, attended services at the ADAMS Center in Sterling, Va., and told the congregation he was there to express his “sincere regret” on behalf of the Department of Defense for the incident.
On Monday, coalition forces at Bagram Air Field brought a truckload of Islamic holy books from a detention facility to an incinerator after the detainees allegedly used the texts to pass secrets and what were described as “extremist” messages to one another.
Afghans stepped in to rescue the books, though some were already burned. The incident, viewed as an affront to Muslims, sparked widespread protests, resulting in the deaths of 24 people in four days of violence. Two US troops were shot and killed by an Afghan soldier at a base in Nangarhar Province Thursday.
Lavoy said Friday that the holy books were burned “unknowingly and improperly” and that the military “neglected, out of ignorance, long-established, correct procedures for handling religious materials.”
“I know that apologies are never enough and do not erase this incident,” he said, adding, “We will hold people appropriately accountable.”
He also noted that US commander Gen. John Allen apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and to the Afghan government and people, that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta apologized and pledged to personally review results of an investigation into the incident and that President Barack Obama wrote a letter of apology to Karzai that US Ambassador Ryan Crocker delivered by hand.
The string of apologies from the Obama administration has come under harsh criticism by Republicans. Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called the president’s apology “an outrage” and a “destructive double standard,” while Sarah Palin tweeted that the “US trained & protected Afghan Army can apologize for killing our soldiers yesterday.”