U.S. probe of Koran burning finds 5 soldiers responsible, officials say; Afghan clerics demand public trial Investigators appointed by Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, found that the soldiers removed the Korans from a prison located at Bagram air base after they were found to contain extremist messages. The books were then placed in an office for safekeeping, according to the inquiry. But they were mistaken for garbage and taken to a landfill on the base. Afghan employees identified the books as Korans just as their pages caught fire, a major desecration, according to Muslim teachings. The discovery led to a week of unprecedented tension between U.S. and Afghan military officials. "What they did was careless, but there was no ill will," said one U.S. military official. The much-discussed investigation was intended to quell unrest and prove to the Afghan public that U.S. officials were both apologetic and willing to make amends for wrongdoing. But U.S. military officials expressed concern Friday that the investigation's finding--which stops short of pinning blame on malevolent soldiers--might not satisfy Afghan leaders who have demanded harsh retribution. Senior Afghan clerics, speaking Friday after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said U.S. apologies for the burning would never be accepted, Reuters reported. The clerics issued a statement through Karzai's office saying "those who committed this crime must be publicly tried and punished." NATO spokesman Col. Jimmie Cummings declined to comment on the inquiry's findings, saying it was "still going through the legal process." U.S. military officials said that while the five soldiers will be reprimanded, it's unlikely that their names will be released or that their punishment will approach the seriousness of what some Afghans are demanding. For the soldiers, it will be serious--they could lose rank. But you're not going to see the kind of public trial that some here seem to want," said another U.S. military official. A separate Afghan investigation, which is being conducted by parliamentarians and religious officials who have publicly demanded harsh retribution for the perpetrators, is expected to conclude in the next several days. U.S. officials worry that if the Afghan investigation clashes with their own findings, it could reinvigorate demonstrators whose anger has appeared to fade this week. There's a real concern there. We don't know what the investigation will say, or how the public will react," the U.S. military official said. But we know that there's a real interest in trying guilty parties in an Afghan court, and that's not something we're prepared to do. When Afghan employees discovered the partially charred Korans at Bagram, they launched into a protest outside of Kabul that was followed by dozens more across the country. Afghan security forces and a civilian shot and killed six American soldiers in less than two weeks, including two inside the fortified Interior Ministry, prompting Allen to order Western advisers to temporarily evacuate Afghan ministries. Many of those advisers still have not returned to work. They are permitted to attend "mission essential" meetings with their Afghan counterparts, but only if they are escorted by an armed guard and wearing body armor. U.S. officials said better oversight could have prevented the Koran burning. In the last two weeks, U.S. soldiers across Afghanistan have received training on how to properly handle religious materials--a lesson ordered by Allen. Much of the instruction has focused on the meaning and importance of the Koran in Muslim culture.