GQ has an array of daily briefing booklet sent by Donald Rumsfeld to George W. Bush on the Iraq war and the war on terror that featured Biblical sayings. This is the reading prepared for a president who called the war on terror a “crusade.” Such Biblical inspirational sayings as “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death” were coupled with triumphant pictures for the President’s daily briefings. The covers read like a Sunday school workbook for an adolescent student.
Strangely missing from the briefings on Christian war-fighting is Matthew 10:34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Less surprising is the omission of Matthew 5:44: “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”
What is interesting about this report is that these covers are likely to be used by our enemies to show that America does view its war on terror in biblical terms like a crusade. Under the standard recently adopted (from the Bush administration) by President Obama, such documents would be embarrassing to the nation and be used by our enemies — thus could be withheld from disclosure.
For a slideshow of the covers, click here.
For the pictures and story, click here.
Greytdog,
I was thinking maybe Pelosi and Ruth, but you could be right.
CharlesC, in re to Cheney’s Burning Bush. . . you mean, he didn’t? I’m sure that Bush now sees himself as Daniel in the Lion’s Den
Perhaps we can draw a parallel between Pelosi and Esther?
well, if the story is in a magazine (which btw if one reads magazines they have mental disorder)…in a magazine whose cover is a naked young lady with a tie on…
IF IT WAS NEWS WORTHY THEN WHY I WAS SUBJECTED TO LOOKING AT SOFT PORN INORDER TO READ THE ARTICLE???
IF ANYONE OF U HAD SPENT THE TIME TO LISTEN TO FULL PENTAGAN BRIEFINGS DURING THE RUMMMY ERA INSTEAD OF SNIPPETS…I MIGHT CONSIDER EVEN ENTERTAINING THIS IDEA…
saddam highjacked a saudi airplane in the summer of 2000 holding a prince hostage…i wonder how he managed that…saddam was told to release the plane or ELSE…
as far as atta being in germany 2 months after the iraqi intelligence officer is clearly a means of communications and jamie gorlick was wrong…no one could prove that atta was in the united states at the time of these “phone calls” were made anyone could of had possession of the phone and made the calls
IF CHENEY WOULD HAVE STUCK TO THE REAL INTEL INSTEAD OF TRYING TO MAKE IT SOMETHING THEY COULDN’T…i wouldn’t have to keep repeating myself
the news is leaks from those who want to see their agenda…
that is all for now…do i have more to say as to the reason for the war against iraq…YES!!!
I cannot agree with you more. Never did we get to drill for Oil in Alaska. That was the Worst 8 years I can remember.
Are you f****** kidding me? Nothing will ever top the Bush years as the worst eight years of the Republic.
mespo,
Joe Louis the boxer said that? That’s quite a quote.
We have turned on its head Joe Louis’ humble observation that in historic conflicts we should strive to be on God’s side rather than confidently claiming He is on ours. WWJT, indeed.
Here’s a piece of gossip for you:
When Laura Bush finally became fed up with her husband’s drunkenness and told him to dry out or get out, the Bush family simply couldn’t allow one of their own to attend AA meetings with the common folk or to check into a rehab clinic, a move the press would certainly learn about and splash all over their front pages.
So the old man called in his old pal, “Pastor to Presidents” Billy Graham, to turn the lush around. For days Graham holed up with G.W. at the family compound in Kinnebunkport, allowing no visitors or means of respite, reading the Bible, preaching the love of Jesus and the possibility of ostracization from God’s kingdom (and the Bush family and all their money) while the errant, perpetual adolesent dried out. The browbeating continued until all were satisfied that the boy had accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior and Laura had forgiven him.
As I said, it’s just gossip. Living in Texas, you hear all sorts of these stories about the lives of the rich and powerful.
So what the country got was a dry drunk for a president, convinced he was chosen for the job by God, whose choice was reinforced by the SCOTUS. It’s no wonder the Saudis and the Bushes are so tight.
Why does any of this come as a surprise to anyone?
Is there anyone left who does not recognize the messianic overtones that have been pasted on this war?
My memory fails, but wasn’t Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, involved is something similar? I seem to remember an incident where his organization, whose name I can’t recall, was doing humanitarian work, like passing out water bottles to troops in the 100+ degree weather. Seems the water came with a price tag… the soldiers first had to affirm their belief in jesuschrist or accept him as their savior in that moment in order to get a bottle of water.
This war and the language set used to justify its start and continuance has always had this pastiche of crusader-like justification. That we like the crusaders were liberating forces who would be welcomed with open arms, cheered and then revered for our determination to smash the axis of evil or some other equally repulsive hyperbole and replace their idolatrous nature with good decent christian values.
we simply became missionaries with guns. that god is exclusively on our side and likes the idea that the perpetrators of this war found that there were buckets of money to be made.
The Spanish govt. is moving against the people in our govt. who commit/ted torture. Good vs. Evil breaks down rapidly when “Good” is committing torture:
By Jeremy Scahill
On Friday, I wrote a piece for AlterNet on how the Obama administration is continuing to use a notorious military police unit at Guantanamo that regularly brutalizes unarmed prisoners, despite Obama’s pledge to uphold the Geneva Convention. This force officially known as the Immediate Reaction Force (IRF) has been labelled the “Extreme Repression Force” by Gitmo prisoners. Its members were also characterized as the “Black Shirts of Guantanamo” by human rights lawyer Michael Ratner. The IRF force is “an extrajudicial terror squad that has regularly brutalized prisoners outside of the interrogation room, gang beating them, forcing their heads into toilets, breaking bones, gouging their eyes, squeezing their testicles, urinating on a prisoner’s head, banging their heads on concrete floors and hog-tying them — sometimes leaving prisoners tied in excruciating positions for hours on end.”
There has been very little public attention focused on this force. But, as I noted in my story, this unit could potentially be subjected to legal scrutiny, even if the Congress and Justice Department refuse to do their jobs. That’s because one of the men brutalized by this force is a primary figure in the (largely ignored by the US media) Spanish investigation—a British resident named Omar Deghayes. (See my article, “Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama,” for more on this story.)
http://rebelreports.com/
I see many connections coming together in this story. This war has/is been(ing) sold as a religious crusade. If you go to mega churches you will see slide shows that mirror or exceed this one. Even for people who are not christian, I see the govt. is recruiting based on terms of: “this is a fight of good vs. evil”. If you go to a movie, you see the glorification of the military fitted in the format of this simplistic framework.
Steven Colbert took down the recruitment software of our military once. He showed it, then mentioned something like, it must be difficult to deliver the “I regret to inform letter” after he highlighted a soldier getting killed in one of the fake “battle” scenes, full of violence but no consequences.
Evidently the head of the Tamil Tigers was extremely charismatic and controlling. It was his quality of attraction and brutal punishment for anyone who questioned him that enabled him to recruit willing suicide bombers and keep his power.
I feel that charismatic domination is not limited to traditional religions/cults but carries over, using the same techniques to engulf people who do not consider themselves religious. Anytime it becomes unacceptable to question a leader, that is a cult like situation.
The people who want the bible in the schools are utterly convinced of the righteouness of their cause and their particular god. This feeling is exploited by our military and our govt. to keep people from thinking about what is really going on. Just as the people in TX do not want other religions to be available to the students for study and consideration, our govt. and it’s leaders present themselves as agents of “the good”. Well, are they? We must ask that question.
I believe there is evil in the world and I believe there is good, but ususally this is a far more complex story than “good vs. evil”. This is the paradigm we know best and are thus open to exploitation around it. It is both a secular and religious mindset of our culture. Therefore it is dangerous to leave it unexamined in any situation it occurs.
Here’s an apt quote from one of Rummy’s cover repots:
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13
Does anyone suppose that particular report discussed the state of our military’s body and vehicle armor?
I hate to think this or even say it. But I think that Cheney manipulated W. Then W did the bidding for all. What was that guys name McCellen, he claims that W lived in the bubble. Learning what I have about W, he was a stooge, pawn and just plain to stupid to know what he was doing. He never made any money in business, maybe he trusted too many people too much.
Mike S.
Spot on. The only way Rumsfeld could find Jesus is the way Carlin said Nixon bad boy Chuck Colson found him – “The only way he found Jesus is Jesus didn’t see him coming!”
Donnie Rumsfeld certainly was not a pious or religious man. Earning his spurs with Nixon, he went on to a career of getting rich, despite the source. He also evolved a foreign policy outlook that dovetailed with his own personal gain. He was arguably the worst Secretary of Defense in our history, when you take into account the failure of the Defense Department to equip our troops properly and care for their safety. Donnie was far more interested in tending to the interests of Haluburton, GE and Blackwater. The care for our wounded vets was inadequate and reprehensible and that falls to him, whether or not the VA was under his control. All in all a selfish pig of a man, who failed the US and the duties of his office badly.
That is a preamble to the action denoted in this article. Since this man’s piety and patriotism are phony (though I assume he lacks the self awareness to realize that)these little religious missives were there as a means of manipulating the ego of our former President. GW Bush is a
shallow and vain man, who wanted the job, but didn’t have a clue what to do. This was illustrated by 9/11 when he flew around the country and let Cheney handle the problem. As a
patrician he did know how to give orders though, so the problem for his handlers, Cheney and Rumsfeld old allies from Nixon/Ford era, was how to present things in a way that stroked his ego but got him to follow their lead.
GW, intellectually having no clue what to do, was open to the notion that he was fulfilling God’s purpose by being President. This helped to quell the doubts he himself must have felt sitting at those meetings he only barely understood and yet having to maintain a leader’s demeanor.
God will show me the way….that’s the ticket. These little missives do not surprise me, they seem right in character.
As a young Southern Baptist Christian who received every lapel attendance pin available for never missing a Service, Sunday School, Wednesday Prayer Service, and many more ecclesiastical functions, ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ was one of my many favorite hymnals. I do not know if I would have turned out differently had I not experienced this ‘guidance’ in my early life. However, immediately upon my first, real through read of Charles Darwin while I was attending college—in Texas no less—made me shed the mind-restricting Christian Dogma of hypocritical teachings based on supposition, innuendo, and that untenable and untestable god hypothesis .
Mr. Bush et al. demonstrated just how destructive blind Christian nonsense could be during the course of supposed grown-up humans’ decision-making. The worldwide death, destruction, and misery he and his religious fanaticism have caused are no less egregious than any wrongs done by any other maniac despot who ever lived. Bush et al. simply used a different *good book* guide and the fear of 9/11 for their maniacal reign over a Nation that illogically turned inward to an imaginary apparition, instead of outward toward thinking and logic derived from the scientific method, critical thinking, and then trusting the rule of law founded upon the principles of the *secular* U.S. Constitution.
One has to wonder why these images were used. Are they, as Mike A suggests, evidence of the manipulation of a President viewed by his Secy’ of Defense (others?), as maliable enough to be swayed by such images? Were they offered as supportive of the President’s existing actual view of the Crusade-eaque nature of the Iraq undertaking? Were they outward expressions of the Pentagon’s internal view of the undertaking? Or perhaps they were simply innocent colorful images providing a little daily inspriation along with the mundane details of routine Defense Department analysis? The first three hypotheses are extremely troubling and bear the strongest likelihood of truth. That last one could easily be substituted for a spoon for gagging purposes.
I think that the worst part about this is that I am in no way surprised. Honestly, you could tell me that Cheney had built a fake burning bush that he secretly gave W. orders through and I would believe it at this point.
I think this means that Mr. Rumsfeld recognized Mr. Bush’s maturity level to be equal to that of an “adolescent student.” This nonsense would be embarrassing even if it were never seen by Muslim fundamentalists. By the way, is Mr. Rumsfeld by any chance an honorary member of the Frisco County, Texas school board?
His spawning of freedom was photographed and documented:
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/05/one-perspective-on-spawning-freedom.html