Catapulting The Biblical Propaganda

I really wish that I believed in the devil and hell when I hear news like this. Then at least I would have the satisfaction of believing that the entire Bush administration would eventually be burning for eternity. Alas, if only it were true!

From Iraq war briefings headlined with biblical quotes, reports US magazine by Daniel Nasaw:

One of the top planners of the US war in Iraq gave President George Bush secret intelligence briefs headlined with biblical quotations, in a bid to boost his standing with the deeply religious president but one that risked sparking a conflagration in the Muslim world if the papers leaked.

In the days surrounding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld prepared top secret briefing papers for the president adorned with triumphant images of US military personnel and adoring Iraqis, along with the quotes, according to a new article in GQ magazine.

Rumsfeld, said to be personally disinclined toward ostentatious displays of piety, included the quotes because he believed the religious message would appeal to Bush, whom he knew frequently to quote the Bible, journalist Robert Draper wrote.

Rumsfeld and other top military aides brushed aside complaints that the quotes were an inappropriate injection of religion into intelligence matters and ignored fears that if the documents leaked to the media, they would touch off worldwide fear that the US had embarked on an anti-Muslim crusade.

The previously unreleased documents are a shocking and unusual admixture of the two realms. The cover of one intelligence briefing shows US soldiers kneeling in prayer, headlined with a selection from the book of Isaiah: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?/ Here I am Lord, send me!" The same page is covered with the classification codes and handling instructions typical to secret US government documents.

Other cover sheets released by the magazine feature images of US military vehicles and troops trudging through desert landscapes, manning a machine gun emplacement, and US soldiers inside what appears to be a posh palace once belonging to Saddam Hussein. One shows an image of Saddam speaking into a television camera and quotes 1 Peter 2:15: "It is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men."

I believe that I do some good. Why have I not silenced at least a small portion of the ignorant talk of the foolish men of the Bush administration?

So, it appears that while Bush was busy catapulting, that he himself was being catapulted. Again, I wish we could catapult them all to hell!

The Stupidest Fucking Guy On The Planet

From 60 Minutes: Doug Feith once again earns his nickname By SilentPatriot:

It’s quite remarkable that Donald Rumsfeld of all people — in a memo Feith calls “the Parade of Horribles” — predicted exactly what the “downsides” to war would be. Even more remarkable is that it seems he took every step necessary to fulfill his own doomsday prophesies. Literally every single one of these has come to fruition.

Kroft summarizes some of them:

* the possibility that the U.S. could become so absorbed with its Iraq effort that it would pay inadequate attention to other serious problems;

* that war could cause more harm and entail greater costs than expected;

* that it would not go on for two to four years, but eight to 10 years;

* that terrorist networks could improve their recruiting and fundraising as a result of the U.S. being depicted as anti-Muslim;

* that Iraq could experience ethnic strife among Kurds, Sunnis and Shia;

* the war could damage America’s relationship with allies and its reputation in the world community.

Feith’s response?:

“We certainly understood that these are the things that might happen. That’s why we wrote them down.

Well, at least you wrote them down.