US intelligence briefings to Bush had Bible quotes on cover

[CptStern]

The Pentagon said Monday it no longer includes a Bible quote on the cover page of daily intelligence briefings it sends to the White House as was practice during the Bush administration.

For a period in 2003, at least, the daily reports prepared for President George W. Bush carried quotes from the books of Psalms and Ephesians and the epistles of Peter. At the time, the reports focused largely on the war in Iraq.

The Bible quotes apparently aimed to support Bush at a time when soldiers' deaths in Iraq were on the rise, according to the June issue of GQ magazine.

On Thursday, April 10, 2003, for example, the report quoted the book of Psalms — "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him. ... To deliver their soul from death." — and featured pictures of the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down and celebrating crowds in Baghdad.

"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," read the cover quote two weeks earlier, on March 31, above a picture of a U.S. tank driving through the desert

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, on Monday said U.S. soldiers "are not Christian crusaders, and they ought not be depicted as such."

"Depicting the Iraq conflict as some sort of holy war is completely outrageous," Lynn said in a statement. "It's contrary to the constitutional separation of religion and government, and it's tremendously damaging to America's reputation in the world."

kinda creepy, sounds like a Holy War and kinda proves Bush is a mindless drone


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/18/national/w151332D31.DTL&tsp=1


more:

"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."

here is an example of one of the covers:

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/.a/6a00d834515c2369e201156f994182970c-pi

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

http://men.style.com/images/flashxml/gq/topsecret/_images/05.jpg

 

[CptStern]

here is a slideshow of the bible quote covers of intelligence briefings:

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-42626.html#backToArticle=625640

 

[Jintor]

I'd prefer it if they used quotes from all over the place.

It'd be great to have a US Intelligence report briefing with a Terry Pratchett quote on the front.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I'd prefer it if they used quotes from all over the place.

It'd be great to have a US Intelligence report briefing with a Terry Pratchett quote on the front.

"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. But napalm the **** out of his house, and he is warm for the rest of his life."

 

[kupocake]

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Saddam in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a Weapon of Mass Destruction".

edit:
Or in the Mock the Week version of this post, something about lift up flaps and touch and feel surfaces. "That George Bush has been in the news a lot recently".

 

[Eejit]

"Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve lots of both, keep it up"

 

[speedbump]

pssst... Bush vacated the stage 5 months ago.

 

[jverne]

pssst... Bush vacated the stage 5 months ago.

but he made world politics more shitty than ever

 

[Adabiviak]

How else are you going to convince otherwise intelligent people to do stupid things? Money works sometimes, but religion is cheaper.

 

[Raziaar]

And god said, "LET THERE BE WAR!"

 

[15357]

I find it a bit humorous.


If I ever get to write intel briefings to presidents, I'm going to cover them with the most badass quotes I can find.

 

[Maturin]

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Saddam in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a Weapon of Mass Destruction".

Score.

 

[Sledgehammer]

And God said, "LET THERE BE WAR!"

Fixed.

 

[Gunner]

bash.org quotes would have been better.