Because we live in America with a free press that doesn't allow mistakes to be swept under the rug. When a Christian crazed company produces a product for our military with references to bible verses cast into them we let the world know it doesn't reflect the viewpoint of the American people and we take corrective action. It would be a far worse scenario if one these sights fell into the hands of the enemy and they used it for their propaganda claiming it was proof America was engaging in a crusade. We would all be outraged watching our military trying to convince the world it was just a mistake and not a cover-up.
I understand that some have an ACLUish instinct to shine light on anything and everything while letting the chips fall as they may.
My opinion is that this sort of expose is self serving on the USA Today's part (or whoever ran with the original story). The bottom line is that it does nothing but give hate fodder to desperate brains that can be swayed to inflict harm on our troops. Period. Oh sure, now we know that there is a tiny etching of a biblical verse on some gun components (I would have mistaken them for serial numbers or some such had I had one in my possession). But at what cost? The etching will cease and kits are being made available to eliminate those that are in circulation...but the public relations cost of this sort of "we're American and have a free press and have a right to know" report is tremendous. Had the proper parties been notified prior to the story being run, most likely the same corrective outcome would have been realized.
I might point out that I am not alone in my line of thinking. I seem to remember outrage on the part of a few "we need to see it all no matter what" types when Obama's White House nixed the release of prisoner photos that no doubt would have damaged our efforts and further endangered our countrymen trying to stabilize a part of the world that for better or worse we find ourselves in. As the President put it, "In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them would be to further inflame anti-American opinion, and to put our troops in greater danger." It seems to me that running the story on the weapons is analogously harmful, pointless and short sighted. The whole photo story is here: Obama reverses course on alleged prison abuse photos - CNN.com
By the way, the idea that one of these guns might fall into enemy hands enabling them to crack 'the code' and use it for propaganda purposes is a stretch. It assumes that an enemy that favors guerrilla tactics will capture one of the guns, that he who seized the weapon can read English and then recognize a cryptic reference to a bible passage. To make my point, I invite you to, without the benefit of google or other resources available to the average wilderness dwelling Islamic radical combatant, translate this common Arabic phrase: صباح الخير
