It's only getting uglier. The further we get from the Bush years, the more weird details trickle out. Robert Draper's new story on Donald Rumsfeld shows the former defense secretary in such a bad light that it almost reads like a parody:
ON THE MORNING OF Thursday, April 10, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon prepared a top-secret briefing for George W. Bush. This document, known as the Worldwide Intelligence Update, was a daily digest of critical military intelligence so classified that it circulated among only a handful of Pentagon leaders and the president; Rumsfeld himself often delivered it, by hand, to the White House. The briefing’s cover sheet generally featured triumphant, color images from the previous days’ war efforts: On this particular morning, it showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, was a quote that may have raised some eyebrows. It came from the Bible, from the book of Psalms: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death.”
This mixing of Crusades-like messaging with war imagery, which until now has not been revealed, had become routine. On March 31, a U.S. tank roared through the desert beneath a quote from Ephesians: “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.” On April 7, Saddam Hussein struck a dictatorial pose, under this passage from the First Epistle of Peter: “It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”
You can see the briefings here. They're truly bizarre. As Draper acknowledges, Rumsfeld has never been known as a man often overcome with ostentatious fits of piety. No, he clearly figured the use of God-porn could be used to seduce and manipulate President Bush, who in this reading is little more than a boy king relying on religious destiny to guide the way (and the country). But it goes beyond religious weirdness that could, incredibly, actually be used to bolster an argument with the president on an issue as important as war; Rumsfeld was taking a risk with national security by allowing for Crusade-like messaging to find its way onto the president's daily briefings. No matter that, if leaked, the images would reinforce the impression that the administration was embarking on a religious war. To underscore the inanity, a Pentagon official told Draper, the fallout “would be as bad as Abu Ghraib.”
Only a feeble minded dilettante would find comfort in juxtaposing scripture and pictures from Iraq. At this point it's necessary to ask, who wasn't manipulating the president?
