“It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes hell”

“It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes hell” reads a Boeing ad depicting U.S. troops rappelling from an Osprey aircraft onto the roof of a mosque. It ran this week in the National Journal and earlier in the Armed Forces Journal.

The ad also stated: “Consider it a gift from above.”

Boeing and its joint-venture partner Bell Helicopter apologized yesterday for this magazine ad which was twice published, second time due to publisher’s mistake. Ironically the ad appears while Boeing seeks to sell its airplanes to Islamic countries.

The building depicted in the ad has an Arabic sign that translates as “Muhammad Mosque,” according to Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based Islamic civil-liberties group.

“We consider the ad offensive, regret its publication and apologize to those who, like us, are dismayed with its contents,” said Mary Foerster, a vice president of communication’s for Boeing’s military side.

Mike Cox, a Bell vice president, said the ad was developed by TM Advertising of Irving, Texas, and then initially released for publication by his company.

“The bottom line is that the [Bell] people who approved this didn’t have authority to approve it,” Cox said.

The image was spliced together from several images. “We didn’t actually hover an Osprey over a mosque,” Cox said.

Boeing and Bell have done an admirable job in damage control.

The problem is it reinforces the belief in Islamic nations that “war against terrorism” is really “war against Islam”. Lynndie England and Boeing/Bell aren’t exactly helping the American cause in Islamic nations.

Source: Seattle Times via Joel Bellenson