Monday, May 18, 2009

THE BUSH/RUMSFELD "CHRISTIAN CRUSADE"


It's out now! The invasion of Iraq wasn't about weapons of mass destruction. It wasn't about saving Iraq and the rest of the middle east from a tyrant. It wasn't all about oil either. The invasion of Iraq was a "holy war." It was George Bush's and Donald Rumsfeld's "christian crusade."

From Alter Net:

Rumsfeld's Pentagon Published Bible Verses on Top-Secret Intel Reports

The cover sheets featured inspirational Bible verses printed over military images.

In a lengthy article on Donald Rumsfeld’s rocky tenure as Defense Secretary, GQ published never-before-seen cover sheets from top-secret intelligence briefings produced by Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. Starting in the days surrounding the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the cover sheets featured inspirational Bible verses printed over military images, “and were delivered by Rumsfeld himself to the White House” to the president, “who referred to America’s war on terror as a ‘crusade,’” GQ writes. Below are some examples of the Bible quotes (view the images here):

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.” [The quote appears over an image of a tank at sunrise]

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” [The quote appears over an image of a soldier in Baghdad]

“It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.[The quote appears over an image of Saddam Hussein]

Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, The nation that keeps faith.” [The quote appears over an image of tanks entering an Iraqi city]



GQ’s Robert Draper writes that when colleagues complained to the Pentagon official who came up with the cover sheets, he replied, “‘my seniors’ — JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself – appreciated the cover pages.”


(Hat-tip to Ali Frick at Think Progress)

12 comments:

LeftyLadi said...

Good afternoon Eddie! I just made a comment about this in your previous post, refreshed and here it is as a new post. It's that great minds thing!

It's time we started electing agnostics or atheists who are not burdened by belief in a book of fantasy written by infallible, fearful, superstitious men. As usual, I'm disgusted. If Obama did this, I wouldn't want him to be president. There is no excuse for taking the country down the road of war, not only based on lies, but now we're told the bible had a hand in it as well.

Patricia said...

Goodness gracious! Does Rummy creep me out more than ever after reading some of that article? You bet he does.

Why wasn't he stopped when the symptoms began to show? That's a known unknown.

Anonymous said...

Rumsfeld makes me want to vomit. His behavior is sick.

themom said...

When I read this I know my blood pressure went through the roof. Even after being warned of the repercussions of using the bible epithets - the bastard kept it up. What is it going to take to get these bastards behind bars? Cheney wants to ramble on everywhere now - does he think he is invincible?

Grandpa Eddie said...

Good afternoon Nancy! Great minds are a wonderful thing.

I think we were well on our way to a theocracy in this country, and it would have happened with Bush/Cheney if certain things had not happened - Rumsfeld resigning for one.

I had my feelings from the onset of the war in Iraq that it had to do with religion. This just proves my suspicions...especially with the troops proselytizing the Afghan populace.

Grandpa Eddie said...

ZenYenta - Yeah he's one creepy SOB.

Bush didn't want it stopped, he enjoyed the "bible verses" that Rumsfeld put on the reports.

Grandpa Eddie said...

Cats - I think there are a lot of people who felt like vomiting after reading about this.

Grandpa Eddie said...

themom - I don't think anyone in the Bush/Cheney administration cared what anybody thought about the use of "bible verses." It was "their war" and no one was going to tell them what to do....it was all power and arrogance.

Gordon said...

Rumsfeld and Cheney were thick as thieves, especially in the way they stroked Bushie Boy to get him to do what they wanted. One noose should do for both of them.

ZIRGAR said...

Good post! This is one of many reasons why the framers of the Constitution deliberately tried to keep church and state separate. You'll hear many on the right say that they did so only to keep gov't out of religious affairs, but that's only part of the picture. These were fairly intelligent men, who studied history and saw that even though there were many checks and balances against abuse of power in the gov't they were establishing, they knew that there was no check against a leader's religious beliefs or lack thereof, so they came up with that wacky idea of church and state separation. Religion and politics don't mix.

Grandpa Eddie said...

Gordon - Agreed! One noose should do.

Just one question...back to back, face to face, or do we let Cheney get Rummy one more time in the ass?

Grandpa Eddie said...

ZIRGAR - Ou're right, the Founding Fathers knew exactly what they were doing. They understood how controlling religion can be, and usually is. It wasn't just to keep the govt out of religion. It was also to keep religion out of politics.

Religion and politics never have and never will mix!