Afghan dogfight fans outraged by Koran burnings
American officials' apologies for the burnings of Muslim holy books on a U.S. base in Afghanistan failed to calm the anger felt by some Afghans at a Kabul dogfighting ring, expressing outrage against the United States Friday to the Reuters news agency.
"We call the dogs who lose Americans. We are furious about the Korans," Mirwais Haji, 28, told the wire service as the loser of one dogfight limped out of the dirt ring.
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"We want the Afghan government to bring the people who did this to us," he added. "We will kill them ourselves."
President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, have apologized for the Koran burnings, saying they were a mistake. Military officials have said the holy books and other Islamic writings were initially removed from a detention center's library because they contained extremist inscriptions.
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A joint U.S.-Afghan investigation found that five American soldiers were directly involved in the burnings, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported Friday, but the unnamed soldiers won't face any possible action until the conclusion of a U.S. Army probe, which is ongoing.
At the dogfighting ring, one man cast the bloody fights as a way of channeling his rage against the United States.
"We are tired of the Americans and what they do with the Korans and other incidents," Akmal Bahadoor, an 18-year-old airport worker, told Reuters as men held down some dogs.
"When we watch these dogs it's a way of expressing our anger against the Americans," he said. "We think the Americans are being attacked."