Rumsfeld Used Scripture to Push Iraq War
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent President George Bush top secret wartime memos with cover sheets that mixed Scripture and battle photos to cast the Iraq invasion as a holy Christian crusade.
Rumsfeld, not a man who wore religion on his sleeve, appeared to be trying to manipulate — or curry favor with — the Bible-quoting Bush, according to an explosive story in GQ.
Some Pentagon analysts worried that if the memo covers leaked, they would inflame the Islamic world, undercut Washington’s Arab allies and bolster those who claimed America was out to Christianize the Muslim world.
One official was so disturbed he kept the report covers and recently gave them to GQ writer Robert Draper, a leading chronicler of the Bush administration.
“Commit to the LORD, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed — Proverbs 16:3,” appeared on a April 1, 2003 report over a photo of a U.S. soldier near a highway sign pointing to Baghdad. The next day, U.S. forces reached the Iraqi capital.
“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps the faith — Isaiah 26:2,” appeared on a April 3, 2003 memo over a photo of a U.S. tank entering Baghdad.
Four months later, during a summit in Egypt, the Palestinian foreign minister said Bush told him he was on “a mission from God” and was getting commands directly from the Lord. The White House at the time dismissed the claim as “absurd.”
The damning GQ article, based on interviews with Bush insiders clearly eager to trash Rumsfeld, paints the former Pentagon chief as a control-freak who sacrificed policy to his power games.
“Rumsfeld’s most enduring legacy will be the damage he did to Bush’s,” Draper wrote.
