Military Reports On Details of Qur'an Mishandling In Afghanistan

According to American Forces Press Service, on Monday the U.S. Central Command released the results of an investigation into a February incident involving the mishandling of some 1200 religious texts (including Qur'ans) that were removed from a detention facility in Parwan, Afghanistan and taken to Bagram Air Field to a fire pit used to burn garbage. The removal was prompted by a belief that extremist were using the books to exchange messages  The military concluded that no malicious intent was involved.  AP details the main findings of the new report:

[T]he burning disaster resulted from miscommunications, ignorance about the handling of Korans and the failure to provide clear guidance. Specifically, the report found that the service members relied too heavily on one linguist's conclusion that the Korans, which also had militant messages in them, were rewritten versions that were extremist and would not be considered real Korans. ... [A]lso ... service members mistakenly interpreted a commander's order to get rid of the books as permission to take them to the burn pit.... [O]nly one of the service members assigned to transport the books to the burn pit knew they were carrying religious books.

Six soldiers and three marines involved received administrative punishments. Disciplinary charges against one Navy sailor were dismissed. God and Country blog has further details.