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WOLF
BLITZER: There's outrage in Iraq right now over the
desecration of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, by a
U.S. soldier who used it for target practice. The
U.S. military trying desperately right now to head
off some major, major trouble.
And joining us now in Baghdad, our correspondent
Michael Ware -- Michael, this story has really
sparked a lot of nerves out there.
Tell us what happened.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what
this is, is a potentially incendiary issue, which
could have fractured America's alliance with the
Sunni insurgents.
But the Americans reacted quickly and in a very
forthright manner and perhaps have nipped it in the
bud. But it's still bubbling today.
Let's go back and look at how it all started.
Sometime around the 11th of May, at a shooting range
just near an Iraqi police station, a group of
American soldiers went in for target practice. When
they stopped shooting, an Iraqi police officer or
militia member went in there and saw what they'd been
shooting at. And, indeed, it was a copy of the Holy
Quran, riddled with bullets, torn apart.
This is an enormous affront to all Muslims. And
inside was scrawled some graffiti in English -- an
expletive and a reference to the film "Team America".
Now, what happened is that Iraqi complained to his
superiors. It enraged the local tribes working with
the Americans -- enraged this district just outside
of Baghdad. And, thankfully, the tribal elders went
to the Americans. The American commander immediately
launched an investigation. And that very rapidly
identified the group of soldiers. And from that, they
identified a staff sergeant, a sniper section leader,
who at first denied involvement, but then later
confessed.
Now what happened is the Americans, on Saturday, went
-- the commanding general of all forces in Baghdad,
Wolf, confronted this chanting mob and before them
all, he made this very heartfelt apology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. JEFFREY HAMMOND, U.S. ARMY: The actions of
one soldier was nothing more than criminal behavior.
And I've come to this land to protect you, to support
you, not to harm you. And the behavior of this
soldier was nothing short of wrong and unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARE: Indeed, Wolf, General Hammond said that that
soldier had lost the honor to serve the U.S. Army and
the people of Iraq here in Baghdad and had been sent
to the United States. A number of disciplinary
proceedings have been taken against that soldier.
And we saw today, the number two most senior
commander in all of Iraq -- General Petraeus' number
two man, Lieutenant General Austin -- went to the
vice president of Iraq, Tariq al-Hashemi, further
apologized. And the vice president of Iraq has
demanded even more action against that U.S. soldier
and even more commitment from the Americans that this
shall never happen again.
But by and large, the U.S. forces reacted quickly,
promptly. And, hopefully, they've salvaged the very
alliance that has helped them put al Qaeda on the run
-- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Michael, you'll stay on top of
this. I suspect the ramifications haven't yet been
complete.
Michael Ware is our correspondent in Baghdad.
Michael, thanks.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.