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Because after all, offending Muslims is the one thing that must be avoided at all costs. From the Daily Mail, with thanks to IG:
In killer heels and little else, they have a definite deadly charm.But the risque images of women that have decorated warplanes since the First World War have been scrubbed out.
The Ministry of Defence has decreed they could offend the RAF's female personnel.
Officials admitted they had no record of any complaints from the 5,400 women in the RAF.
But commanders are erring firmly on the side of caution and "nose art", as it is known, has been consigned to the history books.
Harrier jump jet bombers currently launching daily airstrikes against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan have been scrubbed clean to comply with the orders.
Critics said the MoD should be focusing on more important issues - such as the quality and quantity of equipment available to British forces sent off to war.
Nose art first appeared on warplanes during the First World War and enjoyed a golden age during the Second World War when thousands of American fighters and bombers were decorated with pictures of glamorous women.
Military commanders tolerated the practice as a morale booster....
The decision to ban the images followed a visit by glamour models to southern Afghanistan before Christmas. During the trip they signed paintings of themselves on RAF aircraft.
Commanders decided the images were sexist and insisted there was no place for them in the modern armed forces.
There was also concern that they could cause offence in a muslim country where until 2001 all women were forced to wear the head-to-toe burkha in public.
Posted by Robert at June 5, 2007 6:21 PM
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The Ministry of Defence needs replaced.
Posted by: KAOSKTRL![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 5, 2007 6:31 PM
All armies are full of half-wits and idiots during peace time. It's the way of things.
In total war they're quickly replaced, as they lose battle after battle.
It's enough to make you slump into depair.
at June 5, 2007 6:49 PM
As a giggle, the RAF should decorate its aircraft with nose-art of burkha clad women.
Posted by: MP at June 5, 2007 6:52 PM
Well, can they still use a Magic Marker and print phrases on their anti-radiation missles like "Up yours, Osama" or "This Bud's for You" or "Merry Christmas, Omar"??
I don't mind people being idiots, but I sure as hell don't want their idiocy to get me killed.
Posted by: texan at June 5, 2007 7:12 PM
There was also concern that they could cause offence in a muslim country where until 2001 all women were forced to wear the head-to-toe burkha in public.
In that case, how about crosses, Stars of David, pictures of the Bamiyan Buddhas...?
Posted by: MarisolJW at June 5, 2007 7:13 PM
How about a nice picture of Mohammad?
Posted by: Brett_McS at June 5, 2007 7:54 PM
Well, as a feminist I would have preferred that female staff got to display pictures of sexy men in undies. Wouldn't that have made everyone happy? Oh, except the muslims, of course...
Posted by: Lili at June 5, 2007 9:23 PM
If anybody can prove that a Harrier is less effective at delivering ordinance on target with a dolly bird painted on the nose than I will show my arse to the Queen's Corgis.
The Sun ran large with this today because they are also banning page three pin ups. Personally I think this has more to do with representing the many ladies in the RAF than Muslims. I doubt very few women in the RAF actually gives a stuff either way, but there ok because a leftist jumper wearer is happy to make the MOD think for them.
Has for the Muslims facing the pointy end! They won't even know if their fate was dealt by a 1000lb bomb launched by a plane with Keeley Hawes painted on it.
I doubt the few Muslims holding a forces ID card really worry about things like that anyway, what with all the fatwa’s and such.
at June 5, 2007 9:26 PM
oh, the humanity! hello political correctness, goodbye morale!
Posted by: mrockroll1969 at June 5, 2007 10:16 PM
I find burqas and other such material, particularly in the emancipated west, highly offensive - it is a sign of the enslavement of women. It is only right that such garments be banned, as they are not just a symbol of slavery, but very offensive to the vast majority of the population.
Posted by: DP111 at June 5, 2007 11:54 PM
Well, as a feminist I would have preferred that female staff got to display pictures of sexy men in undies. Wouldn't that have made everyone happy? Oh, except the muslims, of course...
Posted by: Lili
On the contrary, facts on the ground suggest that muslim men would be delighted.
Posted by: TexasInfidel at June 6, 2007 12:29 AM
Ian wrote: "All armies are full of half-wits and idiots during peacetime."
Indeed, I don't know what the British military slang would be, but here in the U.S. I believe such people are called "R.E.M.F.'s" That stands for "Rear Echelon Mother F@#$ers." Their job is to get brave soldiers killed needlessly.
*Sigh.......*
I'm afraid this is another symptom of just how far we have deteriorated. Compare how women dress today with the way women dressed during WWII. I have often said and will say again: We won WWII because OUR women wore sexier clothes than the enemy's women!
at June 6, 2007 1:45 AM
Yes, I admit that I am an old fossil.
Posted by: One_of_the_last_few_Patriots_left at June 6, 2007 1:46 AM
Apocalypse Now quote: "We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "f#ck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!"
Using quotes from a movie to make any point is risky, but it's a valid point in this case. These are machines to deliver death and we are worried about the adding of insult to injury? Or is it we are worried that we won't look civilised while doing so?
Posted by: bill at June 6, 2007 4:17 AM
"The Ministry of Defence has decreed they could offend the RAF's female personnel."
....The MInistry of Defence should see what Muslims do to females.....(what Muslims do to females is really offensive)....
Or Maybe the RAF's Ministry of Defence personell are actually closet gays and the female characterizations on the planes really does offend them.....
Posted by: exsgtbrown at June 6, 2007 6:22 AM
"Apocalypse Now"....a great movie..by the way...
Posted by: exsgtbrown at June 6, 2007 6:26 AM
"On the contrary, facts on the ground suggest that muslim men would be delighted."
Posted by: TexasInfidel
Good one, TexasInfidel !
How about nose art depicting goats and sheep ?
Posted by: ImNoDhimmi at June 6, 2007 7:49 AM
How about nose art depicting goats and sheep ?
If the Brits still had any male equipment left, I'd suggests dogs and pigs. Preferably German shepherds, pit bulls or rottweilers, and wild boars or razorbacks. Or even Hogzilla.
Wait a minute. Dogs, pigs and sheep? Just tell everyone it's a tribute to Pink Floyd.
Posted by: Bigfoot at June 6, 2007 8:38 AM
We're living the Apocalypse Now ethos.
I've come to believe that Western Civilization has become 'pussified' to the point where it's dangerous to its survival. This is another example. Let the fliers put whatever they want on their planes! They aren't bombing people in the Underground! Go after the people who do and will do it again for the sake of everything that's good and right in the world.
It's symptomatic that the self-righteous would go after fliers who abide by the rules and customs of the civilization they protect instead of the medieval gits who daily plot the destruction of the self-righteous PC people.
How utterly insane but predictable due to 'pussification'.
at June 6, 2007 10:27 AM
Here's an idea......
http://www.anvari.org/fun/Farsi/New_Model_for_Hijab.html
Posted by: Abrog8 at June 6, 2007 11:36 AM
This is unAmerican! This is........ oh, wait a minute, they're British.
at June 6, 2007 1:38 PM
So does that mean a cute picture of Porky Pig saying "That's all Folks" is off the noses too?
Posted by: never_submit at June 6, 2007 5:43 PM
That's the way to go. Geld your fighters!
We're circling the drain on this one folks.
One of the most deadly contributors to a defeat in this war is that the jihaddi cultures are brutally macho, whereas the western cultures are daily growing more and more effeminate, feminine and female dominated.
If you're willing to bet your future on a bunch of women and geldings in a fight against a crowd of brutal unrestrained thuggish men, I do not want to share a life-boat with you!
at June 6, 2007 11:36 PM
Let those who make such inane rules try flying these planes.
The rule should be
-Who flies it, paints it.
(With whatever he (or she) wants.)
Mohammad in a diaper and bib, crying and shaking a rattle, or Jessica Alba, in a white leather bikini, popping champagne.
Let the defenders decide on their icons.
Posted by: profitsbeard at June 7, 2007 12:57 AM
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