Well, now that we know that some genius put Bible quotes on gun sights, the whole misbegotten enterprise in Afghanistan is revealed as a Crusade after all -- isn't it?
Sure -- if you already believed it was a Crusade.
Islamic jihadists have always been intent upon characterizing their opponents as Crusaders (or Zionists, or both, as in the indelible honorific Al-Qaeda's Adam Gadahn once bestowed upon me: "Zionist Crusader"). Shortly before the beginning of the Iraq war, on November 8, 2002, Sheikh Bakr Abed Al-Razzaq Al-Samaraai preached in Baghdad's Mother of All Battles mosque about "this difficult hour in which the Islamic nation [is] experiencing, an hour in which it faces the challenge of [forces] of disbelief of infidels, Jews, crusaders, Americans and Britons."
Similarly, when Islamic jihadists bombed the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in December 2004, they explained that the attack was part of larger plan to strike back at "Crusaders:" "This operation comes as part of several operations that are organized and planned by al Qaeda as part of the battle against the crusaders and the Jews, as well as part of the plan to force the unbelievers to leave the Arabian Peninsula." They said that jihad warriors "managed to enter one of the crusaders' big castles in the Arabian Peninsula and managed to enter the American consulate in Jeddah, in which they control and run the country."
And now come the gun sights. But a few Bible verses on gun sights doth not a Crusader make. Did American troops in Iraq or Afghanistan impose Christianity on the populace? They did not. (Neither did the real Crusaders, for that matter, but never mind that for now.) Did they even allow proselytizing? They did not. Did the Americans allow for the establishment of Sharia provisions in the Iraqi and Afghan Constitutions that relegated local non-Muslims to second-class status in both countries? Yes, they did.
The whole controversy over these Bible verses is a contrived exercise in moral equivalence, designed once again to distract attention away from the manifest reality that there is a worldwide religious group that is waging war against unbelievers in the name of religion. And the religion in question is not Christianity.
"Bible gun sights 'inappropriate,'" by David Charter for Al Jazeera, January 21 (thanks to David):
Coded Bible references on gun sights used by a number of armies, including the US, have been called "inappropriate".New Zealand said on Thursday that its military would remove the citations from the sights, which were made in the US, as the messages were unsuitable given its involvement in operations in Muslim countries.
"The inscriptions ... put us in a difficult situation," Kristian Dunne, the New Zealand defence force spokesman, said.
"We were unaware of it and we're unhappy that the manufacturer didn't give us any indication that these were on there."
New Zealand has instructed the defence contractor Trijicon, which is based in Wixon in Michigan, to remove the citations from their future orders of the weapon sights.
Dunne said that New Zealand has 260 such sights, first bought in 2004, which will continue to be used once the codes are removed as they are the best quality available.
US contracts
The US Marine Corps was said by ABC News, which broke the news of the inscriptions, to have a $660 million contract over multiple years with Trijicon for them to make 800,000 units of the product. Trijicon has other contracts to supply the US amy with the sights.
"We all know of the religious tensions around this issue and it's unwise to do anything that could be seen to raise tensions in an unnecessary way"
"If determined to be true, this is clearly inappropriate and we are looking into possible remedies," Commander Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman, told the AFP news agency.
The sights are used on weapons used during the training of Afghan and Iraqi soldiers under contracts with the US army and Marine Corps.
The US-based Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) called on Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, to immediately withdraw the equipment from combat.
"Having Biblical references on military equipment violates the basic ideals and values our country was founded upon," Haris Tarin, MPAC Washington director, said in a statement.
"Worse still, it provides propaganda ammo to extremists who claim there is a 'Crusader war against Islam' by the United States."...
What exactly is it that these gunsights say that is so offensive. Contrived is a good word for this nonsense.
Just what do these "coded Bible references" say? And if they're coded, how can one be sure that the proper decoding yields a biblical reference? Maybe they really decode to inspiring encouragements like "Remember the Alamo!" or "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
A few of the scriptures Trijicon uses are:
2COR4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
The scriptures all allude to light, as they manufacture illuminated optic sights for all shooting applications.
Here is an interesting discussion of the topic, by and for the civilian shooting market: http://thehighroad.us/showthread.php?t=415624
So the Biblical inscriptions which a majority of the US armed actually believe in are more dangerous than Muslim terrorists?
I think this a misleading assessment. More US soldiers have died at the hands of Islamic terrorists than from Biblical quotes. Its a fact.
You can see 2COR4:6 at the end of the serial number in a pic on a forum about this:
http://forum.pafoa.org/general-2/84838-did-you-know-trijicon-sights-all-have-bible-verses-them.html
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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It is an outrage that we allow these filthy dirty Muslims to act so offended when faced with nothing more than a bible verse. Those stinking filthy low life pieces of garbage (not very Christian I know but I really do hate these people to the deepest depths of my soul) are so ungrateful of all the billions of dollars, lives and limbs, time and effort, that we have put into their filthy dirty decrepit waste of a garbage filled land. We should tell them to stuff it. Every single bullet and bomb should have a bible verse on it. Every single brick and object we use to build their filthy disgusting country with should have a bible verse on it. We need to just get the h*ll out of there and let them suffer on their own. What a bunch of filthy degenerate putrid low down wastes of human flesh they are. And we should teach them how to use toilet paper, and have verses from the Koran on that!
I'm all for bullets dipped in pig blood. Or how about crosses on the tips of the bullets.
Or inscribed with Lan Astaslem.
Many Muslims consider *any* non-Jewish Westerner—whether Christian, agnostic, atheist, dabbling in Buddhism or some sort of undefined "spirituality"—whether pro-war or anti-war—to be ipso facto "Crusaders", regardless.
They would consider a hawkish, born-again charismatic Christian who believed that the Afghan and Iraq wars were the divinely sanctioned opportunity to convert large numbers of Muslims to be a Crusader—but they would also consider the man's neighbor—who has her horoscope done every year and reads Karen Hughes uncritically and attends Code Pink demonstrations against the war in Iraq—to be a Crusader, as well.
I love a crusade...
To 'crusade, or not to 'crusade', that is the question...
What kufr needs is more and better 'crusades'...
Crusades are good...I personally have gone on many crusades...
Crusades against Islam are mandatory...Without them, kufr lose their lands, their power and authority, their freedom and their lives...and their daughters...Crusading is 'obligation' on all kufr...One who refuses this duty will pay jizya...and feel subdued...and be a second class citizen in the land the forefathers secured for them...All the forefathers were crusaders, and had little use for those who were not...So kufr, if you are not on a crusade now, get on one...The enemy is on the horizon and needs to be repelled...
Love your comment...
"The whole controversy over these Bible verses is a contrived exercise in moral equivalence, designed once again to distract attention away from the manifest reality that there is a worldwide religious group that is waging war against unbelievers in the name of religion."
Hear, hear!
"And the religion in question is not Christianity."
...yeah, it's islam.
It seems Jihad Joe has no problem at all with putting religious scripture on weaponry.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1219212/Picture-evil-Bloodthirsty-Al-Qaeda-fanatics-2ft-long-knife-beheading-British-soldiers.html
Gravenimage, which Karen Hughes would that be? The writer of romantic fiction or the former aide to President Bush?
My fellow Americans who did not grasp the fact that the Islamic jihadist are not a reaction to what we do but self propelled haters fueled by a dark ideology should understand that even if we put the crescent and verses of the Koran on our rifles they will still kill us.
Aren't they the same who attack muslims praying in mosques, going to markets, to schools, in hospitals,...?
These Muslims who are slaughtered everyday by the zealots of the Koran in Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere they exist, do not really need an excuse to kill.
They existed long before our nation existed and they do hate anyone that does not agree with them.
For those who are still trying to be politically correct with those barabarians, i pray that you never have to be subjected to their "lovely ways".
My fellow Americans who did not grasp the fact that the Islamic jihadist are not a reaction to what we do but self propelled haters fueled by a dark ideology should understand that even if we put the crescent and verses of the Koran on our rifles they will still kill us.
Aren't they the same who attack muslims praying in mosques, going to markets, to schools, in hospitals,...?
These Muslims who are slaughtered everyday by the zealots of the Koran in Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere they exist, do not really need an excuse to kill.
They existed long before our nation existed and they do hate anyone that does not agree with them.
For those who are still trying to be politically correct with those barabarians, i pray that you never have to be subjected to their "lovely ways".
"We all know of the religious tensions around this issue and it's unwise to do anything that could be seen to raise tensions in an unnecessary way"
Well "not raising tensions" doesnt seem to be working. So how about going the other way.
Just in case anyone is interested...Trijicon makes great sights that help our troops do their duty. Personally, I'm fine with "Bible codes" on the sights my family uses on our various guns. Go Trijicon!
From Lee Harris, suicide of reason, I learned that people brought up in democratic peaceful societies assume that everyone is like them; fair-minded, rational, autonomous, not seeing deadly enemies etc.
But out there there are still people who are as mankind was most of it's history; operating under the law of the jungle, only interested in winning, with violence and deceit if need be, declaring people enemies just to conquer them, take what they own, only interested in justifying after victory, when opposition is defeated. Who think loyalty to tribe and faith trump loyalty to reason and even life.
So, like Gravenimage said, they more than likely would lump us all together as their enemies anyway.