I cited a BBC article on his subject several days ago. General Petraeus has expressed his displeasure with this development:
General David Petraeus, the chief of the US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, called the inscriptions, which he said he only learnt about on Wednesday, "disturbing".A NATO colonel has said they will also respond appropriately -
"This is a serious concern to me and the other commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan because it indeed conveys a perception that is absolutely contrary to what we have sought to do," he said at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Thursday.
"We started to take action and notify both the ministry of defence and our chain of command and they have all taken action so that we don't purchase any more of these sights.More at the link.
Funny to see this after yesterday. I was sitting in the Indianapolis airport and stuck up a conversation with a Marine and this topic was brought up. He said that most of the guys with these scopes had no idea what the printing meant and only care about not loosing this piece of equipment that works really well that they really like.
ReplyDeletedoes it really matter? What is inscribed I mean. They are still weapons that kill, in the name of God or Allah is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteIt is totally NOT irrelevant. It matters a LOT. (If it didn't, General Petraeus wouldn't be upset and NATO wouldn't be reacting.) If you can't understand why, I can't explain it to you...
ReplyDeletedoes it matter if there is something inscribed on a weapon? It will be used to kill another human being. what else is there to understand?
ReplyDelete"If you can't understand why, I can't explain it to you..."
ReplyDeleteIsn't that kind of a cop-out. Claiming it matters because one general is up in arms makes no sense. Sure, that means it matters to him. That doesn't say that it does or should matter to anyone else.
The company did not put the codes on the sights for any kind of holy war proselytizing. And the verses have nothing to do with fighting or war. Oh, and the military has known of their existence for 20-some odd years since they began buying the sites, regardless of whether General Petraeus was aware of them.
So, I guess I'd say if you can't explain why it matters, then it probably doesn't matter very much.