On September 30, 2005 ABC News/Reuters reported, "Boeing Co. apologized on Friday for a mistakenly published advertisement for its V-22 Osprey aircraft showing troops dropping onto the roof of a mosque in what appears to be a simulated battle scene. The ad, coming amid rising concern among Muslims over U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, prompted immediate complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which demanded the withdrawal of the campaign. But Boeing, which created the ad with partner Bell Helicopter, said publication was a 'clerical error' by the National Journal, which ran the ad on September 24. '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 at Boeing's defense unit, in a statement. The ad 'did not proceed through normal channels,' Boeing said, and despite asking for it to be withdrawn and destroyed, was published in error... A spokesman for CAIR said on Friday the group welcomed the companies' swift response, but would press the issue of how such an ad came to be created."

This article cross-posted at the Pluralism Project's International Religious Diversity News.