First there was
Bush's Gog and Magog that left French President Chirac agog, now there's
the ACOG.
The ACOG, which stands for Advanced Combat Optical Guide (or a scope), in question is made by a Michigan-based war profiteer named Trijicon. They've made countless tens of thousands of rifle scopes that have already been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. But they're not just any rifle scopes: These have engraved on them coded references to the New Testament. You know, that part of the Bible where Jesus Christ makes his very misinterpreted appearance.
Trijicon is another of those Jesus freak war profiteers that have no problem violating the Constitution and federal laws that separate church and state. It's also just plain bad PR as it'll fuel Muslim charges that our involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries is indeed a religious crusade.
The story was broken by Mikey's Weinstein's Military Religious Freedom Foundation and will be aired later tonight at 11:35 EST on ABC's
Nightline.
What Trijicon has yet to explain is how, if this is supposed to be a sly attempt to proselytize Muslims, the natives are supposed to "divine" the code, so to speak. They've also yet to explain how and why Jesus Christ, who espoused nonviolence at all costs, would approve of having sniper scopes with Biblical references to him on them.
Trijicon isn't shy about proclaiming their fundamentalist bona fides, as they've admitted to ABC News that they have made many such ACOGS over the years as sort of a tribute to their late founder, a South African named Glyn Bindon. Bindon, apparently, wasn't that well-loved by sweet Jebus since he was killed in a plane crash 7 years ago.
You'd think that there would be a massive recall after the news hits the airwaves tonight on, appropriately, Martin Luther King Day, and replaced with the heathen, uncoded Leupolds that we used to use in the SEALs. But no such recall will ever take place because the Pentagon is still run by a bunch of fascist religious fanatics who gave Trijicon $660,000,000 worth of contracts precisely because they put Biblical codes on their product.
*If you don't have a Bible handy, the quote is "Jesus wept."