UK Army to remove replica mosques on range
A staggering "own goal" by the British Army:
Quote:
The Ministry of Defence has agreed to take down replica mosques which were being used by the British Army on a North Yorkshire firing range.
A Muslim group had demanded the removal of the structures at Catterick and accused the Army of reinforcing negative perceptions of Muslims. An Army spokesperson apologised and said its was "in the process of removing the offending structures". There were seven of the green-domed buildings on the Bellerby range.
Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/n...re/8609650.stm
Slightly different, official response:
Quote:
The Army has apologised but said it was vital soldiers trained in an environment which replicated where they were deployed. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the structures were ''generic Eastern buildings'' and were not used as target practice.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ing-range.html
Someone, or more than one, clearly "took their eye off the ball".
One of my rare disagreements, David
I believe the official response to probably be reasonably accurate and see this another case of excessive political correctness. In the linked report, this:
Quote:
"The shape of the structures, the colour of the dome - the green dome - symbolises an Islamic place of worship," he said. "Anyone looking at it will think about mosques and Muslims and think about them negatively."
Is correct enough to pass muster for media and faithful arousal. However, it is also not totally correct (see the photos below), not even close. The buildings shown on the range in the video clip do not resemble any Mosque I saw in a couple of years in the ME.
Regardless, the problem with training is that realism is required to the maximum possible extent -- thus it seems to me that the quoted person is advocating less then realistic training and is thus increasing the potential for a troop firing on mosque incident. ;)
Unwise to not have sought 'advice' on design before construction, yep, I'll grant that simply because the cost of renovation would have been unnecessary..
Interestingly, when I googled pictures of Mosques, the only one I with a Green Dome noted in a quick several page scan was the Shah Jehan Mosque -- in Britain...