Rumsfeld's worldwide intelligence update: seriously creepy

[Vympel]

Link

Draper reports that Rumsfeld’s monomaniacal determination to protect his Pentagon turf led him to hobble and antagonize America’s most willing allies in Iraq, Britain and Australia, and even to undermine his own soldiers. But Draper’s biggest find is a collection of daily cover sheets that Rumsfeld approved for the Secretary of Defense Worldwide Intelligence Update, a highly classified digest prepared for a tiny audience, including the president, and often delivered by hand to the White House by the defense secretary himself. These cover sheets greeted Bush each day with triumphal color photos of the war headlined by biblical quotations. GQ is posting 11 of them, and they are seriously creepy.

Take the one dated April 3, 2003, two weeks into the invasion, just as Shock and Awe hit its first potholes. Two days earlier, on April 1, a panicky Pentagon had begun spreading its hyped, fictional account of the rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch to distract from troubling news of setbacks. On April 2, Gen. Joseph Hoar, the commander in chief of the United States Central Command from 1991-94, had declared on the Times Op-Ed page that Rumsfeld had sent too few troops to Iraq. And so the Worldwide Intelligence Update for April 3 bullied Bush with Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Including, as it happened, into a quagmire.)

Link to the slideshow

Makes me want to throw up... (the main GQ article is a good read, there's a link there to it)

[Darth Yoshi]

Isn't there some way to nail him for gross incompetence or something? Or hell, even putting him away on a technicality like with Capone would be fine.

[Stark]

Whoa, that's fucked up. Amusingly, this will do more to enable crazy people to paint America as a bunch of hypocritical white crusaders than releasing the suppressed torture photos. This says 'at the highest level we're insane christians please ignore our claims to the contrary'.

[Starglider]

I'd like some independent confirmation on that, but if true, it certainly makes a mockery of the people claiming 'the influence of the religious right on the Republican party is greatly overstated'.

[Big Phil]

Rummy isn't particularly Christian. He'd simply figured out how to play his boss to get what he wanted, much like millions of people do each day. The only problem was that rummy's objectives were self serving and foolish, but they made Commander in Chimp happy with their macho tone and religious bullshit.

[Themightytom]

Rummy isn't particularly Christian. He'd simply figured out how to play his boss to get what he wanted, much like millions of people do each day. The only problem was that rummy's objectives were self serving and foolish, but they made Commander in Chimp happy with their macho tone and religious bullshit.

my thoughts exactly, I was thinking "How brain damaged is Bush that he doesn't get just one of these and throw it at Rumsfield shouting "What the fuck is this poster? How much are you paid???

[Big Phil]

Rummy isn't particularly Christian. He'd simply figured out how to play his boss to get what he wanted, much like millions of people do each day. The only problem was that rummy's objectives were self serving and foolish, but they made Commander in Chimp happy with their macho tone and religious bullshit.

my thoughts exactly, I was thinking "How brain damaged is Bush that he doesn't get just one of these and throw it at Rumsfield shouting "What the fuck is this poster? How much are you paid???

Let's face it; Bush is a weak little man. What do weak men want most of all? To be told that they're great. That's why Bush surrounded himself with yes men, and why very smart operators like Rumsfeld and Cheney played Bush like a fiddle.

[Shroom Man 777]

Can this possibly be for real? Because, shit, I never expected American government to be this much of a deranged caricature of real-life events, in real-life.

[Edi]

Not a crusade in the name of Christianity indeed...

[KrauserKrauser]

Well it's a good thing we don't have a historical reference to go by with a Sec Defense giving bullshit information to his President to make him feel better *cough*McNamara*cough* about the course of a war *cough*Vietnam*cough*

The religious bit is new, but that can be compared to the rabid anti-communism of the past. Different strokes for different blokes.

[K. A. Pital]

What sort of... nonsense is that? Bible quotes? Yeah, yeah. And just recently I had a debate where someone was assuring me that President Bush could not have been so religious as to say God told him to attack Al-Quaeda and Iraq, because the White House and Abbas denied such comments being made (despite Abbas initially admitting it). Truth be told, I was doubtful myself - although given other Bush quotes, it was clear he was a religious lunatic.

Well, well. There's no way round it, evidence keeps floating up like pieces of shit which someone forgot to flush through the White House crapper.

[Axis Kast]

Rumsfeld knew his principle. Like any good rhetorician, he appealed to ethos. This is a move they teach in graduate school.

These briefings aren't "incriminating" unless somebody looks beyond them and says, "It's a useful heuristic for policy based on faith." Really, independently, they're no different than motivational slogans spoken in front of the mirror in the morning.

[K. A. Pital]

Except religion is basically glorified fiction which postulates itself as absolute truth, which is not really a harmless heuristic at all.

[Samuel]

More importantly it is creepy as hell, keeps the man in his own little feedback bubble and sends a clear message to the outside world- our leaders are batshit insane.

Rumsfeld knew his principle. Like any good rhetorician, he appealed to ethos. This is a move they teach in graduate school.

These briefings aren't "incriminating" unless somebody looks beyond them and says, "It's a useful heuristic for policy based on faith." Really, independently, they're no different than motivational slogans spoken in front of the mirror in the morning.

The fact they worked and were used extensively is the damning feature. This is like the Hunting People for Jesus- a small segment is bad, but the more you see, the worse it gets. They were apparently used everyday... just gives you an idea of how... out of touch Bush was with reality. If an Islamic regime did this it would be considered evidence that their leader buys into their ideals, if a communist regime ditto, etc.

For people on the outside of Christendom it is disturbing because it suggests you are dealing with a person who literally does not view the world the same way as you do, whose view is clouded by what they want, rather than what is true.

[Axis Kast]

I'm skeptical of anybody who tells me that Bush made policy based on faith, rather than on the basis of pig-headed confidence in "American might" and the supposedly universal appeal of democracy. Not that either one is good - but they are two different kinds of wrong.

Religion isn't necessarily harmless, but nobody can point to these briefings and say, honestly, "He kept making those bad decisions because of a quotation from the Bible!"

More importantly it is creepy as hell, keeps the man in his own little feedback bubble and sends a clear message to the outside world- our leaders are batshit insane.

It's creepy because you aren't Christian. Newsflash: most people in the United States are going to find this news a lot less surprising, or discomforting, than you are.

Bush's imprisonment "in his own little feedback bubble" is a byproduct of his own lack of leadership, as well as the short-sightedness of his top advisers. You haven't convincingly put it that Bush was isolated because of religion. You even have people in this thread doubting Rumsfeld's religiosity.

The fact they worked and were used extensively is the damning feature. This is like the Hunting People for Jesus- a small segment is bad, but the more you see, the worse it gets. They were apparently used everyday... just gives you an idea of how... out of touch Bush was with reality. If an Islamic regime did this it would be considered evidence that their leader buys into their ideals, if a communist regime ditto, etc.

They worked because they made Bush feel comfortable. You can't link them to bad policy. Why try?

Islamic regimes use similar rhetoric all the time -- in front of the cameras. We give them a free pass; it's considered propagandist, or bombastic. The Israelis have done it for years -- and Israel's society is reputedly quite secular, its leaders hard-nosed. It's a question of invoking emotion.

For people on the outside of Christendom it is disturbing because it suggests you are dealing with a person who literally does not view the world the same way as you do, whose view is clouded by what they want, rather than what is true.

Other people don't think the way you do. Often times, it isn't even close. That's a newsflash?

[aimless]

I'm skeptical of anybody who tells me that Bush made policy based on faith, rather than on the basis of pig-headed confidence in "American might" and the supposedly universal appeal of democracy. Not that either one is good - but they are two different kinds of wrong.

Religion isn't necessarily harmless, but nobody can point to these briefings and say, honestly, "He kept making those bad decisions because of a quotation from the Bible!"

You can't draw that conclusion from this alone, but if you were to be making that case, these would be part of your evidence.

You could say that these are just motivational quotes, that the bible is a piece of literature with some inspiring sections, but the fact that they're all from the bible means someone was getting off on the religious overtones. You can't link it directly quote to policy, but you can at least say it indicates the general atmosphere and attitude.

[Axis Kast]

You can't draw that conclusion from this alone, but if you were to be making that case, these would be part of your evidence.

You could say that these are just motivational quotes, that the bible is a piece of literature with some inspiring sections, but the fact that they're all from the bible means someone was getting off on the religious overtones. You can't link it directly quote to policy, but you can at least say it indicates the general atmosphere and attitude.

Sure, you'd toss this in as part of your evidence, but then again, somebody could have done this for Jimmy Carter, and it would've been equally wise.

[Chris OFarrell]

Forgive me, but if the former commander of CENTCOM writes a piece in the NYT about how we have sent far too few troops to Iraq, and the response from the SECDEF is a God damn BIBLE QUOTE about how we should have faith in God and he will smite our enemies for us, then I really do fucking think there is a major problem with the leadership at the Pentagon beyond mere 'Ethos'.

[KrauserKrauser]

He was giving information to his President in a form he could best understand, sounds reasonable. Too bad the President in question was either not wise enough to see the through false information provided or simply was too incompetent to realize it.

[Axis Kast]

Forgive me, but if the former commander of CENTCOM writes a piece in the NYT about how we have sent far too few troops to Iraq, and the response from the SECDEF is a God damn BIBLE QUOTE about how we should have faith in God and he will smite our enemies for us, then I really do fucking think there is a major problem with the leadership at the Pentagon beyond mere 'Ethos'.

The quote was on the coversheet. GQ didn't provide detail on the contents of the briefings.

Do you really believe that Bush would not have made the same bad call, without the fancy quote?

[Netko]

It's creepy because you aren't Christian. Newsflash: most people in the United States are going to find this news a lot less surprising, or discomforting, than you are.

Here's the thing - at this point, actual US opinion of Bush in a scandal like this doesn't really matter. He's been replaced. What matters is the effect a revelation ( ) like this has on opinion of the US in other countries. And something like this isn't going to go over well even in very much so Christian, but more secular Europe, let alone the Islamic countries.

Setting even that aside, what this shows is an utter lack of professionalism in the government of the militarily most powerful country. Considering that under that unprofessional government's tenure a war has been launched without real justification, it is very disturbing. How stupid do you have to be not to realize something like that would get out eventually, and that when it does it would be damaging? Especially when its not like you're fighting two wars in countries with Christian population, but are fighting wars in countries with Muslim population so someone like Rumsfeld would have been dealing with policy decisions about religious sensitivity almost daily.

[Axis Kast]

He's been replaced. What matters is the effect a revelation ( ) like this has on opinion of the US in other countries. And something like this isn't going to go over well even in very much so Christian, but more secular Europe, let alone the Islamic countries.

What revelation? This isn't common knowledge. It is not likely to become common knowledge. It is simply another one of those interesting tidbits of news that most people will never pick up, particularly if they live outside the United States.

Setting even that aside, what this shows is an utter lack of professionalism in the government of the militarily most powerful country. Considering that under that unprofessional government's tenure a war has been launched without real justification, it is very disturbing. How stupid do you have to be not to realize something like that would get out eventually, and that when it does it would be damaging? Especially when its not like you're fighting two wars in countries with Christian population, but are fighting wars in countries with Muslim population so someone like Rumsfeld would have been dealing with policy decisions about religious sensitivity almost daily.

The Bush administration's public diplomacy was quite atrocious, but of all their failings, the use of Biblical quotations on the coversheets of a very specialized intelligence product is as a mote of dust at the back end of an avalanche. This "discovery" isn't as significant as you make it out to be. This "revelation," as you put it, is interesting only in the context of what else we know about Bush, and, really, provides us with no new information, except that Rumsfeld knew something about how to communicate with his boss.

[Shroom Man 777]

The fact that they have bible quotes on their intelligence publication really has no objectively negative impact on the Bush Administration and how it does things. The magazine covers could have Charleston Heston as Moses beating up Arabic Ape Men and really, that wouldn't be harmful in any way.

What it is, however, is a sign, a telltale evidence of the mindsets involved in the Bush Administration. And what that sign shows us, in all Biblical Brave Christian Soldier glory, is not pretty.