Under Rumsfeld, Pentagon published Bible verses on top-secret intell reports.

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

Under Rumsfeld, Pentagon published Bible verses on top-secret intell reports.

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):
http://men.style.com/gq/features/topsecret

“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.”

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

“It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”

“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, The nation that keeps faith.”

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.”


Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/17/rumsfeld-bible-vers... /

[Captain Hilts]

1. What on earth....nt

[LeFleur1]

2. I Guess They Don't Like....

.... the "Turn the other cheek" and "Love ye one another" versus. They don't suit their purposes.

[davidinalameda]

20. and blessed is the peacemaker

[texanshatingbush]

114. New Testament versus Old Testament......

Of the 12 verses used, only two are from the New Testament.

Thus, only two come from the "love thy neighbor/blessed are the peacemakers/turn the other cheek" element of the Bible. The remainder come from the "smite your enemy", pre-Jesus element.

So....one wonders how they justify (or show by their actions) their "Christianity".

[66 dmhlt]

122. Well, as Rummy explained earlier:

"As you know, you go to war with the Scriptures you have. They're not the Scriptures you might want or wish to have at a later time."

OK, OK ... so I may be a word or two off - it's close.

[Joe Bacon]

51. It's time to purge the Chaplains

THe Father of our Constitution, James Madison, refused to commission chaplains for the military citing the first amendment. This shows how absolute the corruption in our military has become. It's them or us.

No more chaplains in the military and no more chapels on military bases!

[jmowreader]

66. I agree with you in part...

except that the chaplains are also used as social workers and counselors.

[Joe Bacon]

67. Why?

Let the Armed forces contract with nondenominational Employee Counseling Services!

[jmowreader]

98. Employee Counseling Services employees have more brains than preachers

Employee Counseling Services employees wouldn't go to a war zone to provide services to the troops. Preachers will do that shit.

[PassingFair]

95. Then lets get more social workers and counselors....n/t

[jmowreader]

99. ...who will stay in the Continental United States to work with family members...

as opposed to chaplains, who will go downrange with you if your unit deploys.

Some of those guys aren't evil. I had this one chaplain that was into "religion lite"--if you wanted to talk God stuff he was right there for you, but if you just wanted to talk to him and not to God he pretended not to know God existed. Very effective man. OTOH, I also had a chaplain who wanted the unit to fill out these data cards for his files when he first arrived in the unit..."name, rank, company, if you were to die tonight are you sure you would go to heaven?" This guy was a pain in the ass. He was always in my section asking if he could do anything for us. "Can I help you in any way? I'm here to help you in any way possible." Fine. I showed the worthless fucker how to write intelligence reports then told him I needed him to report on the field training exercise that was ongoing at the time. It's surprising how fast chaplains can run...

[PassingFair]

101. NON-Chaplains!....there are loads of social workers in the US...

it's fine for them to be "religious", I
don't think it's fine for the public to
be paying for it.

[driver8]

3. Confirming my suspicion that Rumsfeld is crazy...

This scares the shit out of me and turns my stomach at the same time.

[No Elephants]

13. Im hoping that it freaks out Obama and others in his administration, so they see

the dangers of mixing church and state, as with expanding Bush's faith-based initiatives, DADT, DOMA, birth control, etc.

Were Bible verses on the torture memos, too?


BTW, Rumsfeld, et al. did not REALLY have as much old time faith as they would like to pretend.


Exodus 13 13-14


13And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.


14The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.


Matthew 18 KJV

21Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

And on and on ad infinitum. Of course, they are also the eye for an eye verses, too. Point is, these are cherrypickers extraordinaire. They cherry pick intel, statutes, Constitutional provisions, provisions of international law, even Bible verses.

[louis-t]

59. Rummy knew he could get anything he wanted by

throwing a few bible verses at stupidface. He was just sucking up, that's all.

[w4rma]

68. That's NOT all. Rumsfeld was bat$#!% crazy, too. I can't stand it when folks minimize problems. (nt)

[louis-t]

127. I'd say more 'evil' than crazy.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

[glinda]

89. I want to vomit.

[MineralMan]

4. For pete's sake!

I'm glad this made it to public view. This is what we were doing while Bushit was in charge. Some, of course, will celebrate that it happened. Many, however, will see this for what it is, the usurpation of power by the fundamentalcases.

[No Elephants]

16. I don't for five minutes believe that Bush, Rummy, Cheney and Condi were pondering the Bible.

Those verses are there for the underlings or maybe for those of us who are first seeing them now.

These are not people who are religious. These are people who made a deliberate decision in the Nixon Era to form a coalition with the religious right for their own purposes. Since then, they've painted themselves as righteous and religious, while painting Democrats as without morals, family values, religion or patriotism.

They've used wedge issues, flag pins and birth control pills, to solidify their political position. Meanwhile, they've voted against veteran's benefits and the loving, caring attitude toward all people that Christ taught. They established faith-based initiatives, but ask David Kuo what happened after they made a huge show of that.

Now, the religous folk are seeing through them and those who are not are dwindling to a minority. So now, they are running around, trying to put lipstick on their pig. Being against gay marriage is no longer a biblical mandate, but sound fiscal policy in aid of small businesses. Being green is no long anti-dominionism, but is now anti-capitalism--and both are lies.

Doesn't matter. They did not believe the first set of their lies and they don't believe the second set of their lies.

I hate to see Obama following them down a road that even they never actually traveled themselves, like expanding faith-based initiatives and kissing up to televangelists. And I hate to see people here equating all people of faith with neo theos, like Falwell, and faux neo theos, like Bushco, Ralph Reed and Abramoff.

[du_grad]

29. Very well put - thanks for posting!

Your post says it all in a nutshell. This smacks of Nazi-era propaganda in the worst way and seems very calculated. It's almost like a well thought out marketing campaign. I am not religious but I have a lot of respect for people who truly are. People of faith are usually not in an open marketing campaign 24/7 and do not practice their religion in the fake atmosphere that this purports.

[dotymed]

43. I am an Episcopalian

I have volunteered in my Church and in my community. These
people have no idea of what being a Christian means. It is
blasphemy that they would do this. Honestly, I do not
recognize any Christian principles in the way our country is
run and by the corporate people who run it. Americans need to
unite in their support of one another. We must demand a
control in our lives, universal health care and peace. As it
now stands, Americans are corporate slaves.

[hedgehog]

81. "Thou shalt not take The Lord's Name in vain"

The other category, those who violate the Third Commandment by vanity, are very often highly-offended when they hear the Name of God or Jesus Christ used as a profanity as described above, and yet they are just as guilty of using God's, or the Son of God's, Name in vain. How can this be? Because they use the Name of God to seem righteous, in their own eyes or someone else's, or they use the Name of the Son of God to claim to be Christian, all without truly obeying God according to God's Own Word. Taking the Name of the Son of God, claiming to be Christian, is vain in God's sight if it's nothing more than a self-serving, self-indulgent "I'll do it my way" religious experience.

Ignoring the actual Word of God while claiming to be Christian is taking the Son of God's Name in vain:

"This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the Commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men" (Mark 7:6-8 KJV)

Merely claiming the Name of God's Son for one's self does not make one a true Christian:

"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven."

http://www.keyway.ca/htm2006/20060203.htm

[glinda]

90. People who do this are using it to beat people down. Very Nazi.

[beac]

45. Agreed. The faux "Christianity" of the GOP is all about pandering to the sheeple---

and in this case had the added benefit of a little CYA. "We were on a mission from God."

[indepat]

73. Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as before, with the cross of Jesus,...

[destes]

46. Good points all. However..........

.....I think there were some in that administration who believed in magic, a lot. Some of those people gave more credibility to directives and communique when they were "sealed", if you will, with "scripture" than if they were properly stamped "top secret" or "for-your-eyes-only".

That "crusade" dialect they used referred more to a spiritual war, against "the powers of darkness", than against real, generic terrorism. The military still has people who are pushing Christianity on the occupied territories in Iraq and Afghanistan. The stupid, misguided bastards think that "terrorism" is embodied by those who lie in opposition to their brand of God worship or reject their economic priorities.

Those yahoos at the top of both government and the military have been seriously crazy for decades. Seriously. The Clintons were a brief respite. They represented a sort of "if you have brains, luck will get you anywhere" optimism and energy, the evolutionary pinnacle of the baby boomer anomaly. An anomaly goaled toward hedonism and powered by neo-relativism. "Ism's" that, of themselves, have no necessarily bad result but are, never-the-less, anathema to those whose lifestyles and life standards are left in the dust by intellect-based, progressive survival methodism. It is jealousy, fear and gall that empower those who cling to and depend on tradition; serf and lord alike.

You write,"I hate to see Obama following them down a road...." I do too. Very much. What ship of state allows maniacs at the helm? A doomed one. How long can the helmsman dance?

[MetaTrope]

83. Yeah, remember the Secret Service coming down hard on the blogger

who suggested people pray for Jesus to smite Bush?

[annabanana]

106. "a spiritual war"?? really?? on a memo that started a blood & guts war?. . n/t

[destes]

108. Really, there is never a "spiritual war".

There is, though, the psychosis of the warrior. The result is the same; wasted souls.

"Spiritual war" is old testament stuff. It gave the victors an excuse to commit genocide and then celebrate the inhumanity as righteousness. I think this is the "genesis" of the previous administration's policies, unsupportable sacrifice to the god of "military readiness".

Connect the dots:
arms manufacture
international banking
third world famine

[gorfle]

49. +1000

These are not people who are religious. These are people who made a deliberate decision in the Nixon Era to form a coalition with the religious right for their own purposes. Since then, they've painted themselves as righteous and religious, while painting Democrats as without morals, family values, religion or patriotism.

You have it exactly right. These people are not religious, they are simply pandering to religious people. They talk a good game about "family values", and then go back to their page boys and wide stances.

[Chulanowa]

71. Fuck that

No, these are religious people. You and I can't sit back and second-guess them and say "Well, they're not full of sunshine and brightness and gumdrops, so they CAN'T be religious!" Bullshit.

These people are religious. In fact they are quite typical of America's religious community, with the only difference being that they have money and power. I guarantee you, if my uncle, an evangelist pastor over in Kent, had any sort of military authority, we would have nuked Mecca and would be deporting Jews to Israel. He's a pastor. He has a congregation of people who listen to him preach every Sunday, of people who call him up for advice or smaller sermons. This wacky bastard is not fringe. he's in the mainstream. Ted Haggard is the mainstream. Pat Robertson is the mainstream. Regardless of their personal convictions, the fact is, millions of Americans agree with them.

Get it through your head. These fucks are not divisible from the religion they claim, they are a fine example of that religion's teachings and outlooks. Like it or not, the "nice guys", the people who follow the Pauline christ of peace and brotherhood and love, those people are the "wacky fringe" as far as their rligion is concerned.

[Zhade]

88. HEAR, HEAR. I am sick of the bullshit No True Scotsman fallacy.

Yes Virginia, MANY bad people ARE religious.

[RandomThoughts]

94. Your sorta right

I think the most common error that leads to wrongs, is self righteousness. People believing they are correct, or they know the mind of God. I think you can share in his spirit, but no body knows the complications of the mysteries of his ways.

I have had many issues of self righteousness, but it is countered by knowing I really only know what I think I know based on my best interpretation. If I use that best interpretation to then hurt someone else, because I think I know what is right. What if I am wrong?

Many people believe anything that is spiritual must be correct because it is powerful, but the truth is it is impossible to know if it is good or bad. So we run it by our heart, and if it matches the heart God gave us, then we can decide to believe it is of good.

If we were told by God everything we had to do, we could only be judged on obedience. If spirituality includes riddles or choices or interpretations, then we are also judged by our heart. Even this assumes the purpose is judgement, it might be other things like learning, don't know for sure.

And by belief being faith, and God being beyond the conception of any man, I can not claim to know for sure. So I better do good to those that think differently.

Here is an interesting fact.

Most religious people agree, most religious people are wrong. If you ask any religion if other religions are correct or wrong, they will usually say they are wrong. And since no religion is 50% of population then that statement is true.

Most religious people agree, most religious people are wrong.

So if someone in church tells me to be angry at Islam, or Buddhist, or to do mean things or be violent to other social groups, nope, I am not going to do it. Because if I love both my enemy and my friend, even in cases when I am wrong, I will still be doing right.

One more thing, when I fail to love my enemy, it is because I mess up, I make mistakes alot also.

Edit: The humor in this post, is it is self rightous, so know, that I know I got lots of faults, and do stupid things alot, nor do I even know that my choice of method is the best way. I could be wrong on the ideas of this post also.

Edit 2: Justice can be a kind way to both help society and help a person learn of the consequences of actions. An interesting thing to think on when thinking on love. Or possibly choosing interpretation. A perfect example that we choose what we believe, then have to decide if it is right or wrong based on our own thoughts and feelings.

[SixString]

86. Or pondering the bible to pander the masses. N/T

[jmowreader]

100. They were pondering the King George Edition of the Bible

You know about the King James Bible. The King George (as in "George W. Bush") Edition is about 100 pages long--it contains all the smiting, none of Jesus' message of peace.

Sample passage:

And when thou waterboard, waterboard well; make sure to hold thy prisoner fast to the waterboard with straps so he receiveth the full measure of thy waterboarding, and also make sure thou useth plastic to cover thy prisoner's head, and not a cloth, for prisoners drowneth if thy cloth slippeth and filling out a report on a drowned prisoner is a pain in the ass.

[get the red out]

118. You nailed it

It isn't about what propaganda the neo-cons choose to push their load of the week, it is about seeing all their lies for what they are. They don't believe in anything except personal power and $$$$. They use what gets them what they want. Arguments about religion are useless wastes of time because these creeps will just move on to something else useful.

Tea bagging against "taxes" anyone?

[ensho]

5. the neo cons put the bible verses on to 'hook' the religiously insane at

the pentagon and govt. depts.

[JHB]

21. Actually, according to the GQ article...

...they started off as gallows-humor quips, but when those no longer sat well the general oversseing their preparation, being "a Christian" (read that as some form of evangelical holier-than-thou Protestant, in all likelihood) switched to biblical verses. Rummy liked these, not because he was especially pious, but because it gave him an inside track to Bush's "gut" (you know, the thing he made decisions with instead of his brain).


------------------------
These cover sheets were the brainchild of Major General Glen Shaffer, a director for intelligence serving both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of defense. In the days before the Iraq war, Shaffer’s staff had created humorous covers in an attempt to alleviate the stress of preparing for battle. Then, as the body counting began, Shaffer, a Christian, deemed the biblical passages more suitable. Several others in the Pentagon disagreed. At least one Muslim analyst in the building had been greatly offended; others privately worried that if these covers were leaked during a war conducted in an Islamic nation, the fallout—as one Pentagon staffer would later say—“would be as bad as Abu Ghraib.”

But the Pentagon’s top officials were apparently unconcerned about the effect such a disclosure might have on the conduct of the war or on Bush’s public standing. When colleagues complained to Shaffer that including a religious message with an intelligence briefing seemed inappropriate, Shaffer politely informed them that the practice would continue, because “my seniors”—JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself—appreciated the cover pages.

****
The Scripture-adorned cover sheets illustrate one specific complaint I heard again and again: that Rumsfeld’s tactics—such as playing a religious angle with the president—often ran counter to sound decision-making and could, occasionally, compromise the administration’s best interests. In the case of the sheets, publicly flaunting his own religious views was not at all the SecDef’s style—“Rumsfeld was old-fashioned that way,” Shaffer acknowledged when I contacted him about the briefings—but it was decidedly Bush’s style, and Rumsfeld likely saw the Scriptures as a way of making a personal connection with a president who frequently quoted the Bible. No matter that, if leaked, the images would reinforce impressions that the administration was embarking on a religious war and could escalate tensions with the Muslim world. The sheets were not Rumsfeld’s direct invention—and he could thus distance himself from them, should that prove necessary.
Still, the sheer cunning of pairing unsentimental intelligence with religious righteousness bore the signature of one man: Donald Rumsfeld. And as historians slog through the smoke and mirrors of his tenure, they may find that Rumsfeld’s most enduring legacy will be the damage he did to Bush’s.
------------------
Full article at http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_921...

[Beartracks]

34. Slogging through the smoke and mirrors

> "as historians slog through the smoke and mirrors of his tenure, they may find that Rumsfeld’s most enduring legacy will be the damage he did to Bush’s."

Oh, snap!

[bananas]

57. What were the "humorous" ones, Beavis and Butthead cartoons?

I'd like to see what the "humorous" ones were.

[JHB]

72. No examples were given in the article...

...though I doubt many would be funny to us, given our rather different prespective on things.

[Overseas]

6. K&R -- another astonishing aspect of GOP governance

The Torture-Promoters were cloaking themselves in Biblical phrases, were they?

That just demonstrates the depth of their detachment from our nation's ideals.

Using religion as a comforting cloak for their imperial agenda. Quite disgusting.

[fascisthunter]

7. batshit crazy...

[Occulus]

8. The Chicken Coop version of the DoD?

Christ on a trailer hitch.

[politicalmajority]

9. There Are Many Ways to Insult God

Putting Bible verses on these Pentagon cover sheets is certainly one of them.

[Kber]

25. Seems like the kinda thing the prohibition against "taking the Lord's name if vain"

was addressing.

[Divine Discontent]

31. amen to that.... amen to that! how offensive to put verses on warmongering documents

wonder if they're on any of the torture docs, too?

[Arugula Latte]

85. If there were a god to insult, this would most certainly insult s/he/it

But that is a very, very big "if."

[george_maniakes]

10. I'm hoping that this will form a nice link with the push for torture....

how the iraq war was totally NOT a war of necessity, how torture was used to try and justify it,etc. I hope it keeps the pressure up so that the actions of the bush admin will be exposed and be held to account.

[Gregorian]

11. They cherry pick verses just like their feeble intelligence that lead to their attacks.

They're so obvious and transparent now.

They want what they want, and they'll kill to get their way. All they have to do is cherry pick justification for their ends.

They'd even let planes hit civilians in order to justify an attack on another country.

[Downwinder]

12. Preparing an insanity defense. ?? n/t

[No Elephants]

17. My nominee for post of the week, so far!

[braunfels]

14. Holy Crusaders

This will help with recruiting more suicide bombers who are being told that the U.S. is at war with Islam.

[No Elephants]

18. Okay, I love this post, too.

[stoll]

15. Are you F@*king kidding me!

If this confirm that these people are fucking insane then nothing will. I am also sure that God told Rumsfeld to help GD Searle poison people with aspartame. In a related story, on Real Time last week Bill had a guest and spoke about the fact that the people in the military stationed in Afghanistan are passing out bibles. And lets not forget that Blackwater and friends are own and filled with a bunch of bible beaters. Add that all up and you get some scary shit.

[PassingFair]

96. Welcome to DU!!

Have you read anything by Mikey Weinstein?

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org /

This guy is DEDICATED to routing out
fanatical X-tianity from our armed forces.

He began with the OVER THE TOP antics
in the Air Force and discovered that it
was endemic in our forces.

[liberalcanuck]

19. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities - Voltaire n/t

[Gman2]

22. No matter how they frame it, Repubs are crusaders and apocalyptics!

They say they are not against all Islam. That is BULLSHIT. That is why those most religious are most for torture. They think them apostate and expendable. Going to hell anyhow. Georgie would play choochoo till Rummy brought his REVELATIONS PICTUREBOOKS! He was gonna usher in Jesus return and rule. Sure Georgie would get a special surprise. He was a regular John the Baptist. Ushering in the saviour. Ushering in HIS PERSONAL SAVIOUR. I am none too sure that there werent some horns or horny or somesuch unsavory activities. What with all the parading gayporstars and all, scary bullshit reports per day of intel threats revealed by CHATTER, almost daily phonecalls to televangelists, I am quite certain that if the truth came out, the backlash of Islam would be far worse than a few dozen MORE pictures of tortured children would create. WE HAD EVIL RULING US! Kinda fuzzies our american exceptionalism. But the teabaggers will ever more fervently blather their MY COUNTRY RIGHT OR WRONG. The Repubs must be crushed. I have painfully became aware of that certainty. Unfortunately, we will have to be the loyal opposition for Obama. The tension between the two factions of Libs is starting to grate HERE. Many think we should never undermine Obama. Only if we want hubris equal to Bushes. It is up to the adults now. Hopefully for ever. Just us adults. WE MUST push OBAMA transparency, so that harsher critics dont get to.

[Trocadero]

23. fucking insane

[jeff30997]

27. +1

Insanely fucked up.

[jemma]

24. That is mind blowing creepy stuff

Warped and evil.

[jazzjunkysue]

26. Welcome to the 12th century.

It's almost too much to believe, until you remember what morons these losers are.

[Divine Discontent]

28. hmm. I guess they didn't commit to the LORD too well, now did they?

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

And by silence foolish men, fellas, GOD didn't mean to slaughter them so they shut the f*ck up! Leave it to the loony hyper-religious to take that word outta context. BIG SHOCKER - they're taking the words of GOD outta context!


Talk About An Absolute Failure Of An Invasion - which means it wasn't of GOD by their argument.

And dammit, the Democrats need to frame it JUST as they've been given to them by the Republicans - they claim moral authority on their invasion, placed bible verses onto top secret documents and clearly "opened the gates" -

it just turned out the gates were to hell!

[Politicalboi]

30. I wonder if Cheney

And Rumsfailed wired Jr's office so he would actually hear the word of God aka Cheney. LOL!

[jaysunb]

77. That's funny !

[stevedeshazer]

32. And those stupid-assed pictures are supposed to inflame the Middle East?

Jesus fucking Christ!

I knew these people were nuts but this is astonishing.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our second quarter 2009 fund drive.
Donate and you'll be automatically entered into our daily contest.
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[LongTomH]

35. Be sure to read this DU post: re eliminationists:

These Crusader types are the same people who listen to the 'eliminationist' hate speech.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[JDPriestly]

36. Peter, Ephesians, Proverbs, Isaiah, Psalms

In context: The first quote is from Ephesians 6:

The first portion of this chapter of Ephesians reminds the reader of basic commandments such as Honor thy father and mother. This verse read in context is very specifically limited in application to the spiritual battle required to live a righteous life.

11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%2... ;

The next one is Proverbs 16 -- well worth reading in its entirety even if you are an atheist. Good warning to the Bush administration, unfortunately unheeded.

1 To man belong the plans of the heart,
but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.

2 All a man's ways seem innocent to him,
but motives are weighed by the LORD.

3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
and your plans will succeed.

4 The LORD works out everything for his own ends—
even the wicked for a day of disaster.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=24&chapter...

Next, 1 Peter 2:

Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that if they speak of you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation.
13
8 Be subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme
14
or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the approval of those who do good.
15
For it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people.
16
Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.
http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/1peter/1peter2.htm

Finally, Isaiah 25

In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song: Our city is now strong! We are surrounded by the walls of God's salvation.

2 Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter.

3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!

4 Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

5 He humbles the proud and brings the arrogant city to the dust. Its walls come crashing down!
http://www.allaboutgod.com/truth/isaiah-26.htm

[LiberalLovinLug]

54. Thanks for that

Talk about blowback.

Every one of those quotes, when taken in context of the total passage as you have so diligently displayed, flip their argument around against them.
It only proves, using the Bible's own benchmarks, that God wasn't on board with their diabolical plans.

some damning lines:

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." - they could have looked in a mirror.

"He humbles the proud and brings the arrogant city to the dust." - still waiting for this one for those in the previous admin, but the repukes in general have taken a hit.

"Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil" - How many times did Dubya rally around the word "Freedom"?

[RandomThoughts]

62. When you see the posting of those verses in context.

You really see how they were used out of context by just posting part of them.

I wonder if they knew they were using them out of context, trying to deceive the faithful, or if they themselves were deceived and actually thought their interpretation was the only one.

I also think the poster that said they are there for us to see now, makes alot of sense. So as some tried to use verses to justify their own desires or thoughts, the verses ended up showing the truth of their actions.

Note: I also like the verses because they remind me to think again, since I am also at times foolish or arrogant, and to remember how I can do better

Thanks again for posting the verses.

[Wednesdays]

37. K&R

[DesertDiamond]

38. Most or all of my Christan friends would be appalled to hear this...

They know that this is NOT what Jesus taught.

[Bluenorthwest]

39. Love that church in my state, lucious everytime!

Hey, Joshua DuBois should be asked about this, directly. He's the current Faith Based Office head. I would be extremely interested in his thinking about this.

[varelse]

40. This is friggin' scary (nt)

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

41. Rummy should'a used Grimms Fairy Tales, more fitting

but whatever

[BlueMTexpat]

42. This is just another of the many instances where too many

people are too easily manipulated by those with a Machiavellian agenda.

Of course, it also helps when the people remain uninformed and are conditioned never to question authority.

But this misuse of religion (and it's happening on all sides ... "our" zealots are as bad as "theirs"), if not considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins, certainly should be.

I sincerely hope that the Obama Administration will realize ... and soon ... that there is no course other than to get all of this poison out into the open, to prosecute those who committed crimes, to hold them accountable ... and, most of all, to never, ever, EVER let any one of them, or their aides, or their relatives and sympathizers anywhere near any position where they ever again can do so much harm.

If these POS are not thoroughly outed and punished, we'll see the same people back again. And again. When will we EVER learn?

[Initech]

44. In a completely unrelated story, Jesus has quit.

[ensho]

117. maybe not, yesterday Obama told the world how he found christ

much to my disappointment

[47of74]

47. Sick

This is sick. Bush, Rummy, and the rest of that evil cabal are a bunch of sick, sick men and women.

[goforit]

103. Definite behavior of a psychopath.

[Baby Snooks]

48. The Republicans and Religion...

The Republicans are the best example of why political parties and religion should have been banned by the founding fathers.

In reality Rumsfeld is a Republicrat along with quite a few others in "The Dynasty" and that includes just as many Democrats as Republicans. They just took over the Republican Party first. They have obviously taken over the Democratic Party as well.

They are convinced that theirs is divine destiny. And because of that they are a greater danger to what is left of our democracy than anything else. They will destroy what's left of it. Convinced it is their divine destiny to do so.

[Vinca]

50. This is beyond anything I might have imagined.

No wonder this country is so fucked up.

[tomm2thumbs]

52. another case in point where the picture speaks volumes louder than words - like torture photos

It leads me to believe that those photos, just like these did, will expand upon the stories we are hearing so much that it will make us sick. Seeing these actual briefing cover pictures AFTER hearing stories on it, I could not have imagined the depth of which 'biblical phrases' were used - this was so over the top and beyond the worst I could have imagined. I won't fly Alaska Airlines after being handed out scripture cards with the ticket I paid for with my money.

Disgusting - and just as disgusting that this sort of blatant 'no-separation-of-church-and-state' material was passed around as government issue documents.

Some of the freaks are out of there, yes - but how many freaks remain. That is the question now.

[onager]

53. Aw, Divine Intervention always works!

Baghgdad, 1258: a Mongol army led by Hulagu Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan) approaches the city. The ruling Abassid caliph assures his citizens that Allah will protect them from the infidels.

Despite weeks of warnings, the caliph does absolutely nothing to prepare. All is in the hands of Allah. When the Mongols offer to spare Baghdad if it surrenders, the caliph rants at the Mongols about the dire punishments Allah is preparing for the unbelieving foreign dogs.

This does not help matters...

After the SHORT battle, the caliph is forced to watch as his citizens are massacred and Baghdad plundered, then razed, its ancient and complex irrigation system destroyed. Thousands of irreplaceable books are ripped out of Baghdad's millenium-old library and thrown into the rivers. Reports said the rivers ran black for weeks from the ink of those books.

The Mongols decide the caliph is royalty, and their religion forbids the shedding of royal blood. They find a loophole: the caliph is put into a sack and tramped to death by Mongol horses.

The 1258 battle of Baghdad is still with us today:

The Mongol destruction of Baghdad was a psychological blow from which Islam never recovered. Already Islam was turning inward, becoming more suspicious of conflicts between faith and reason and more conservative.

With the sack of Baghdad, the intellectual flowering of Islam was snuffed out. Imagining the Athens of Pericles and Aristotle obliterated by a nuclear weapon begins to suggest the enormity of the blow.--historian Steven Dutch

[jaysunb]

79. Nice touch.

[Alcibiades]

55. The sword of the Lord has been sharpened

And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.
Ezekiel 21:10-12

[soothsayer]

56. Jesus wept.

[Locrian]

58. this shit is what starts wwiii

God damn this makes me angry! Another arrogant government using religion to push their war for profit. Again and again we hear of them using religious images, indoctrination, etc. A dangerous game loading the ranks with "true believers". And so what happens when we have this "christian" army who decides that we need to cleanse the earth, or install some lunatic who believes in end times?!!

How long before the impressionable "career" guys rise up the ranks?

Gates of Hell indeed...

[TooRaLoo]

60. Almost sounds like they waged war on Iraqis b/c the religion was different than "ours".

Either way that's highly f'ed up and has no place in military operations. WTF.

[TooRaLoo]

61. WOW I can't even believe those!!

I just looked at the photose and I just can't believe that was allowed. WTF

[w4rma]

69. Many of the believers in the Iraq war did do just that. Apparantly Rumsfeld was one. (nt)

[tj2001]

63. It is God’s will that the Republicans should be punished

and sent to jail.

[Sandrine for you]

64. Just can't see them...internet canadian censorship ?

[ToolTex]

65. Where were the people who should have been protecting the President from

an insane secretary of war (I must mean defense), people like the head of NSA, CIA, his own spiritial advisors like billy grahams kid, and his Secretary of State. Had Rummy and Darth co-opted them too.

And how about that religiously insane Chief of the Air Force? Is he still punishing any non christians in Colorado Springs?

I have to wonder if that Statue of Liberty fly-over was some branch /showing/ President Obama that they had the power to "render" him if he displeased them too much? Remember JFK has been cold for 45 years.

[w4rma]

70. Some aide got fired over that. It's not worth my time to look up his name. (nt)

[miricle]

74. Is this the handywork of General Boykin?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Boykin

[sandyd921]

75. Not that surprising

given the infiltration and influence of Christian evangelical groups in the military. Separation of church and state? Are you kidding? Apparently most of the military brass never heard of it. Scares me shitless to know that this country is defended by a bunch of religious zealots. Certainly doesn't help us in Muslim countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[PassingFair]

97. militaryreligiousfreedom.org

www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org

Visit Mikey Weinstein's group!
He's been fighting the good
fight for YEARS!!

[Seldona]

76. This will go over well with the countries we currently occupy.

[pjt7]

78. It's interesting to see how these guy's

manipulated Bush.

I really appreciate knowing the details of how these creeps spun all their webs. I have more respect for the Nazi's, who didn't hid what they wanted to do.

[Sancho]

80. He is nuts!

[spin]

82. Better choice would have been quotes from "The Art of War"...

For example:

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue... In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare

Sun Tzu. 6th century BC

[The_Casual_Observer]

84. Really no different at all than the Al Qaeda propaganda shit.

Different "Holy Book" is all.

[TheMadMonk]

123. Same effin' holy book actually.

Christian Bible is just a little censored.

Genesis in the Koran has Eve being made from Adam's foreskin which when you think about it, is a more reasonable myth than the "sparerib" version.

[Arugula Latte]

87. Howzabout the GOP be known as the Militant Christo-Fascist American Taliban Party

[beac]

91. +1!

[kestrel91316]

92. Hanging is too good for these fuckers. And yes, I'm serious.

[Vehl]

93. wow....this is insane!

and to think that we are supposed to be a secular democracy



these people should be prosecuted

[goforit]

102. Proof that Rummy perversely used the bible to commit crimes for Satan

[Canuckistanian]

104. Why can't I see the images?

I don't have any ad-blocker for GQ, nor do I have any script blocking.

Why do I get a blank page?

[Sandrine for you]

116. I got the same problem, and we have something in common: we live in Canada.

[Canuckistanian]

124. I finally got to see them - here's how

Find and download the program called "Hotspot Shield". It will let you get into the GQ site and see the pics.

[democrank]

105. Now isn`t this special....

Our own Taliban.

[InfiniteThoughts]

107. and some with mickey mouse, donald duck, garfield and even dilbert cartoons ..

on a serious note - just when we think that the bush admin couldn't have sunk lower, they reset to a lower standard ...

[Politicub]

109. When I think nothing else will surprise me about Iraq et al...

then WHAM - something like this bubbles up in the news.

And with this latest revelation (pardon the pun), it makes perfect sense that the highest levels of the military would combine christianity and war. They were made for one another. For every bible verse about giving coins to widows or whatnot, I'm willing to guess that there are 10 about smiting enemies and salting their fields.

Much of the Bible deals with a period of time where tribalism ruled, which by its nature was incredibly violent. And for better or worse, people are passionate about their religion, putting them in a position where they can be easily manipulated with the Bible's words by those in power or whom they look up to.

In my workplace, I think of how idiotic it would be to receive a PowerPoint with a bible verse on the cover. But in the highest levels of our defense and government, this was apparently commonplace. It's going to take years for President Obama and his administration to untangle the web and set the country back on a normal course.

[Blue_Tires]

110. with that kind of example, no wonder

there were airmen putting bible verses on bombs....

[ecstatic]

111. Whenever I saw Rumsfeld in a conference, I always thought he

looked and sounded like a smug, evil bastard. Satan worshipers quote scriptures too.

[happygoluckytoyou]

112. my favorite bible story is the one where the guy with the beans climbs the burning bush===>

my favorite bible story is the one where the little guy with the beans climbs the burning bush, kills the giant guy with a stone from his sling, plays the talking harp so the castle walls fall down, grabs the goose that lays the chocolate eggs, and escapes through the chocolate bunny hole.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

121. I burnt a picture of Bush

and I think he knows it.

...and I'm Humpty Dumpty.

[get the red out]

113. It screams of propaganda!

Using belief systems against people in order to make them do anything you want, legal or illegal. It is simply propaganda. Everything about the Bush administration was propaganda for the purpose of war for riches. They used religion, they used the fear and anger generated by the 911 attack; whatever worked psychologically on people. If printing pictures of the Easter Bunny would have triggered people to believe in what that administration was doing they would have done it.

Authoritarians who believe in getting what they want and have no conscious. That is what we dealt with for 8 years and what we are still dealing with in the aftermath. That is what the "culture wars" are about and what the religious right is about. Supporting the authoritarians who promise a few people, like Dobson and his gang, a piece of their big stolen pie when they are done. "True believers" are duped into following; and most "faithful" don't know enough about their own dogmas to see where what they are presented with by the neo-cons doesn't even fly in light of them.

It is still happening with the so-called "tea parties" and the over-blown coverage of a few radicals not wanting the President to deliver his address at Notre Dame this weekend. The propaganda continues...... And if we don't face it for what it is the Republicans might just lie themselves back into power, like deflecting the blame for torture onto Nancy Pelosi from themselves in the media. Now the focus isn't torture, but Pelosi and "what did she know and when did she know it". With the short attention spans of many people, the Republicans are hoping to come out of this smelling like roses.

I would imagine if Democrats dwell on massive infighting concerning the merits, or lack of, in religious belief in response to this revelation; the Republicans will simply pop a big collective bag of popcorn.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

115. what verse did he send the day before 9/11?

[1776Forever]

119. Sent this message to my sister after she sent a "keep God in Government" email to me:

The email talked about how the Founding Fathers were Christian and showed all the Biblical architectural items around Washington D.C..

Dear Sis:

My belief is the same as Thomas Jefferson's:

"Believing... that religion is a matter which lies solely between man
and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his
worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only,
and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of
the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should
'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between
Church and State." --Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptists, 1802. ME
16:281

.....

I am totally for a separation of Church and State. Where everyone,
including Christian's, have the right to the believes and worship as
they so choose without any one religion having authority or allegiance
above any other.

...........

As referenced here:

http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that
they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which
it was founded". However, a little research into American history
will show that this statement is a lie. The men responsible for
building the foundation of the United States had little use for
Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of
The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did
not believe the bible was (literally) true.

When the Founders wrote the nation's Constitution, they specified that
"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any
office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section
3) This provision was radical in its day-- giving equal citizenship
to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to ensure that no
single religion could make the claim of being the official, national
religion, such as England had. Nowhere in the Constitution does it
mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus
Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" are never mentioned in the
Constitution-- not once.
.............

It is important to know the truth about these things. The belief that
we should follow the Christian doctrine is not wrong in a personal
sense but it is wrong in a public lawful sense. This is what
ideologues like those in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan follow
where it is only their theological ideals that are correct. This
stringent religious belief in all areas of the public area of our government is something that
builds wedge issues. It is the middle ground that should be followed
I believe in our government and that is what I think President Obama
is trying to do.

[redqueen]

120. Wow... they used one of my favorite parts of the bible.

I wonder if I'm the only one not surprised by this.

There is nothing that could surprise me when it comes to those monsters. Nothing.

[bsd13]

125. Is the issue that there was unrelated material

...on classified documents, or that the unrelated material was
Scriptures? 

[XXXMADAM]

126. Pimp My Crusade

PREDATORY SEXTORTIONS BY FBI, CIA

Civil case: 2:08-cv-01028-KJD-PAL


I was approached by various state & federal law enforcement agency's under the badge of "Multi-Agency Task Force" which includes FBI, ATF, local vice, undercover, unknown entities, etc.. They wanted me to abet them in entrapping "State and political officials" having Sex so they could extort, control and blackmail them, not to charge them with misdemeanor prostitution. At the same time women at my service were being tricked and trafficked overseas into jails in Bangkok and Vienna, while a madam from Alabama was found hanging in a federal jail cell in nearby Brazoria County, Tx. (Tom Delay’s precinct) while the Waco Davidian’s burned. Local vice and sheriff dept. both apologized, saying they too were being coerced into this corruption that they did not agree with. Illegal wiretapping condoned in the court transcript.

I went to the FBI and after meeting the 3rd time they said they would help me only if I would help them, again, to blackmail officials. They had no interest in the corruption aspect. Some very high profile names were involved and media people.

When I refused to abet in the extortions I was thrown in jail, no bond, a 'Life' sentence filed on me, jury denied, my son and family were harassed in gang-like mafia style. I did 8 yrs. in prison, illegally hidden away in a State prison cement tomb - 'solitary', under endless torture to include being gassed twice, knocked into a near coma, beat up, put in mud fields of ants, poisoned, etc... My son, age 17, removed from junior college and forced to dig ditches in a church yard. I gained released in 2003 with military intervention, a man in the Green Beret, “Manhunter 3##”, there was no other way out.

This tactic of FORCED SEX under threat is the exact equivalent of Pimps and gang rape as obviously “No Thank You” is not an option, no way out once tagged just endless retaliations from there. This dual-govmnt Pimp business is being used to run this country, the war, banks, media, etc… No one should be FORCED to have endless Sex for this, no one is born on this planet for this.

Sextortion cases:

1. D.C. Madam Jeane Palfrey, madam Brandi Britton
2. CIA Kyle Dusty Foggo
3. Duke Cunningham
4. Don Siegelman, former Alabama Governor
5. Elliott Spencer, former NY Governor, “Sheriff of Wall Street” (bailouts)
6. Jim Gibbons, NV Governor
7. Clinton/Lewinski

There are many others and around the globe but most cases are not reported, my own demise is blacked out by media as well.

In 1993 Palfrey, while on federal prison for parole in California for extortion, opened her escort service in Wash.D.C. The same year I was approached.

Dusty Foggo had an office in Vienna, also in Dallas where this scheme began in Tx, giving a madam "life' in a Bangkok prison, then came to Houston where I lived to target Bill Clinton and others.

Foggo & Palfrey provenly Sextorted U.S. Congressional Armed Forces committeeman Rep. Duke Cunningham to manipulate and profit from the war. This is when U.S. DA Carol Lam was fired.

http://www.defraudingamerica.com/robin_head.html

[earth mom]

128. More proof that * & Co don't give a flying fuck about the Constitution.

[question everything]

129. What a creep (nt)

[dansolo]

130. Was the expression "Shock and Awe" derived from "Shekhinah"?

I always found the expression "Shock and Awe" a little puzzling, but when I found out that the word "Shekhinah" can loosely be translated as "the glory or presence of God", the expression makes complete sense. It was a declaration of a holy war.

[defendandprotect]

131. Medieval writings for Medieval thinkers . . . The Crusaders are coming!

The Crusaders are Coming!

Again -- we need sanity tests for all future "leaders" -- military or civilian!!!

And, we thought Curtis Le May was the craziest p---- to ever wear a uniform???

[Imagevision]

132. Bush getting his que's from that much bigger father crap, how sick have we been under Bush/Cheney!?!