Bush Apologizes for Shooting of Koran

BAGHDAD — President Bush has apologized to Iraq's prime minister for an American sniper's shooting of a Koran, and the Iraqi government called on American military commanders to educate their soldiers to respect local religious beliefs.

Mr. Bush's spokeswoman said yesterday that the president apologized during a videoconference Monday with Prime Minister Maliki, who told the president that the shooting of Islam's holy book had disappointed and angered both the Iraqi people and their leaders.

"He apologized for that in the sense that he said that we take it very seriously," a White House press secretary, Dana Perino, said. "We are concerned about the reaction. We wanted them to know that the president knew that this was wrong."

The American military said Sunday that it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used Islam's holy book for target practice May 9 in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad. The book was found two days later by Iraqis on a firing range in Radwaniyah with 14 bullet holes in it and graffiti written on its pages, tribal leaders said.