Need a missile for your next corporate event or political rally? Have we got the guys for you.
The missile appeared in several photos of last weekend’s protests against the planned Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan. It’s pointed at the sky, wrapped in a poster that reads, “Ground Zero Mosque — Religion Preying On Freedom.”
The owner of the missile is an ad agency called JetAngel, which until recently was a charity that carted decommissioned missiles and jet cockpits to children’s hospitals to cheer up the kids. But now, as the agency’s owner describes in a CraigsList ad, it’s “now turning in to an advertising business.”
From its sales pitch:
Our goal is to ‘re-commission’ these aircraft to share the excitement of jet flight and engage the public by telling the stories that make up our history. In doing so, we can also provide a new venue for national advertisers and sponsors that has no equal in reaching consumer attention.
The owner, Arye Sachs, is looking for people to volunteer to cart one of his missiles back and forth to the site of the proposed mosque, starting on Sept. 2.
He is “donating” two missiles, and his time, “to fight the proposed mosque on Ground Zero.”
On the web site printed on the missiles — whatdoyoumakeofthis.com — Sachs has posted a long rant against the proposed mosque.
“This proposed Mosque is clearly to instigate and mock non-radical fundamentalist Americans living and visiting this sacred area. As such, this must be stopped,” it reads, in part. Sachs also says any protests are “NOT about a one day event or one day protest. This must be a long protest campaign to halt all those involved in the request and approval process of that mosque.”
Sachs, in another CraigsList posting this month, described himself as JetAngel’s “Chief Fun Officer.”
And this: on its web site, JetAngel notes that it’s had trouble securing some decommissioned aircraft since Sept. 11, 2001. But not to worry: “We have developed contacts in European and Middle Eastern countries that are still flying these airplanes and may have some cockpits available soon.”
Sachs was not immediately available for comment.