Guess folks in WWII shouldn't have been calling the enemy "Krauts." Now it's okay to slaughter Iraqis -- but we can't make fun of them. These are odd times. -Declan At 06:23 PM 12-22-98 +0100, Anonymous wrote:
..way too amusing..
Pentagon Decries U.S. Bomb Graffiti Tuesday, December 22, 1998; 1:24 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Department officials said Monday they were distressed about ``thoughtless graffiti'' referring to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on a Navy bomb being prepared for dropping on Iraq.
The Associated Press last Saturday transmitted a photograph of a 2,000-pound laser-guided bomb on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the Persian Gulf waiting to be loaded on F-14 and F-18 jet fighters.
The bomb bore several inscriptions, including one that said, ``Here's a Ramadan present from Chad Rickenberg.''
``Department of Defense officials were distressed to learn of thoughtless graffiti mentioning the holy month of Ramadan written on a piece of U.S. ordnance during Operation Desert Fox'' in Iraq, chief Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said in a statement.
``Religious intolerance is an anathema to Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and to all Americans who cherish the right to worship freely,'' he added. ``The United States deeply respects Islam. We are grateful for our good relations with Arab and Islamic peoples, and we appreciate the important contributions of Muslim-Americans to the U.S. military and to our nation as a whole.
``I know our people in uniform respect and appreciate religious practices different from their own. This incident is a rare exception that does not reflect American policy or values.''