I've seen enough very large painted signs and labels of the sides of ships on IR optoelectronic displays to recognise the limitations at night of reading painted signs on IR displays.
A more serious problem with the idea of painting warning on the roofs of every non-acceptable target in Asia and Africa which might become a target for you-know-who is that there are just so many inappropriate targets. Not just hospitals but a hundred or more categories of inappropriate targets.
Don't forget the Law of Unintended Consequences. If we demand that every potential target for inappropriate air attack paint such recognition symbols, then it is sure that sooner or later the US military will claim that they had a right to attack one because the symbol was not clear enough. You know what they're like.
I think that MSF did all that could reasonably be required of them to inform the potential aggressor that the provincial hospital in Kunduz was where is was.
It was the attack which was unreasonable, not the target.
Last edited by Cazalet33; 9th Oct 2015 at 01:16.