Doc Mercer
EOG Master
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.?
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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.
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?what rumsfeld was most effective in doing,? says a former senior White House official, ?was not so much undermining a decision that had yet to be made as finding every way possible to delay the implementation of a decision that had been made and that he didn?t like.? At meetings, he?d throw up every obstacle he could. ?Rumsfeld would say, ?Golly, we haven?t had time to read all of these documents! I mean, this is radical change!? ? the official adds. ?And then, if you suggested that maybe he should?ve read all the documents when everyone first got them a week ago, he?d say: ?Well! I?ve been all over the world since then! What have you been doing?? ?
http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_921...
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.?
...
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.
*****
?what rumsfeld was most effective in doing,? says a former senior White House official, ?was not so much undermining a decision that had yet to be made as finding every way possible to delay the implementation of a decision that had been made and that he didn?t like.? At meetings, he?d throw up every obstacle he could. ?Rumsfeld would say, ?Golly, we haven?t had time to read all of these documents! I mean, this is radical change!? ? the official adds. ?And then, if you suggested that maybe he should?ve read all the documents when everyone first got them a week ago, he?d say: ?Well! I?ve been all over the world since then! What have you been doing?? ?
http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_921...
