The ad in the Sept.
24, 2005 issue of
National Journal,
a political-affairs publication, depicts U.S.
special operations troops rappelling out of a CV-22
Osprey built by Bell and Boeing in an assault on a
mosque. "It descends from the heavens. Ironically it
unleashes hell," reads the ad's headline.
Bell
spokesman Mike Cox said the ad, developed by the
company's agency, TM Advertising in Irving, was
supposed to have been pulled by all publications
after it ran one other time nearly a month ago.
Boeing also issued a
statement. "We consider the ad offensive, regret its
publication and apologize to those who like us are
dismayed with its contents," said Mary Foerster,
vice president of communications for Boeing
Integrated Defense Systems.
National Journal
said in a statement that it had been instructed to
pull the ad and had failed to do so.
Corey Saylor,
government affairs director for council, said the
group accepted the apologies but still questioned
the motives of Bell and Boeing. "That clearly is a
mosque they're assaulting," Saylor said. "The
implication there is it's not a war on extremism,
it's a war on Islam."
The advertisement copy
reads: "Before you hear it, you see it. By the time
you see it it's too late. The CV-22 delivers Special
Forces to insertion points never thought possible.
It flies faster. It flies farther. It flies quieter.
Consider it a gift from above."
But critics said the
company's apology is too little, too late. They said
the image of troops being dropped onto a mosque in
combat has already done its harm.
"The people who did
this ad, they really intended to harm the religion
and alienate this great nation against Islam itself,
not against insurgents; it is against Muslims," said
Jamal Qaddura of the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center in
Arlington. "It
is basically an open invitation to harm the Muslim
community here. I don't know how you can interpret
this any other way," he said. "If this was a cross,
or a church, or a synagogue, half of this nation
would be after Bell to get them out of business."
