“The Paranoid Style in American Politics”

 

Writing a paper? Writing anything that Steve Snow is going to grade?

Comprehensive Exams: GOV/IA/Public Policy

Due no later than Dec. 16th.  Worth 50 points, total.  

Political Internships

GOV 253 Politics of Terrorism

GOV 253 The Politics of Terrorism

The Presidency

The American Presidency

CCNY PSC 22200 6X

GOV 400 Senior Reflective Tutorial

GOV 400 Senior Reflective Tutorial: Political Science

US Foreign Policy

GOV355 US Foreign Policy

Ollie North and Iran Contra

The Ollie North song from American Dad.

Sums up the Iran Contra affair.

Rumsfeld and the Crusades memos

 

“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.”

 

 

In the days surrounding the U.S. invasion of Iraq, cover sheets–like the ones in this  slideshow–began adorning top-secret intelligence briefings produced by Ronald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. The sheets juxtaposed war images with inspirational Bible quotes and were delivered by Rumsfeld himself to the White House, where they were read by the man whom, just after September 11, referred to America’s war on terror as a “crusade.”   From GQ.

 

The Memos