Does Afghanistan amount to a US crusade or holy war? That would be the implication behind the involvement of US defence contractor Trijicon in that part of the world.
We have already had reports that the Michigan company had inscribed references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ on high powered rifle sights. References include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world."
The company has claimed it is not breaking the law, despite US military rules specifically prohibiting the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan. Those rules were drawn up to stop criticism that the US had embarked on a crusade. Trijicon had no problem with that.
Now Trijicon has bowed to pressure and put out a statement saying it will stop putting the inscriptions on the sights and that it will send over kits to have them removed.
As reported in The Times, the Marine Corps has purchased more than 200,000 Trijicon sights and the Army has bought about 100,000. For some reason, the British Army is also using them in Afghanistan.
General David Petraeus, Central Command's chief officer, has called the references "disturbing". But that's what happens when the military allows contractors to run the show.
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