“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.
May 17, 2009
Rumsfeld and the Crusades memos
May 15, 2009
Bush/Cheney kept us safe through torture.
If 3,000 Americans had been killed on your watch, in an attack that could have been prevented, perhaps you’d be a little hesitant to accuse anyone else of endangering America. And if you had advocated torture, and the torture produced false information that you used to mislead America into an unwise, unjust and unwarranted war, you might be a tad sheepish about defending the use of torture.
Paul Begala, “Mr. Cheney, You did not keep us safe.”
May 11, 2009
“Ethnic cleansing in Luoland,”
“Ethnic cleansing in Luoland”, The Economist, 9 February 2008.
Peace talks get nowhere as western Kenya becomes ungovernable
AS THE road approaches Kisumu, Kenya’s third-biggest city and capital of the Luos, the country’s third-biggest but angriest ethnic group, it becomes littered with rubble and burnt vehicles. A man beats at a smouldering ambulance’s number-plate with his machete. “See,” he explains, “this belongs to the government of Kenya.” Mobs cry out for their fellow Luo, Raila Odinga, to be made president of Kenya. They plead for guns. An earnest man pushes to the front of one mob. “What we are saying is give violence a second chance.”
Gikandi, “Let Moderate Voices be Heard in this Din of Hate”
Simon Gikandi, “Let moderate voices be heard in this din of hate,” Business Daily Africa, 4 January, 2008.
January 04, 2007: In regard to the current crisis in Kenya, let us start by disposing off the blame game. There is too much of that to go around: A government that has failed in its obligations to uphold democratic practices and the rule of law.
An opposition for whom nothing, except the smell of power, has appeal or makes sense. A media, whose interests are closely bound with those of the political and economic elite and, in some cases, have become willing chaperones of violence and destruction.
April 5, 2009
Ruling upholds proud Iowa tradition
…[P]rotection of liberty, even in the face of contrary popular opinion, is an Iowa tradition. The very first reported decision in the territorial era protected the liberty of a former slave, and the court has built upon that foundation over the past 170 years. On Friday, the court added another historic decision to the body of Iowa constitutional law.
Des Moines Register, “Ruling Upholds Proud Iowa Tradition”
March 22, 2009
February 19, 2009
January 22, 2009
January 18, 2009
Ponzi schemes and religious affinity
“Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s. (more…)
