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Monday, May 18, 2009

George W. Bush's Crusade against Islam

Posted by Jill | 5:26 AM

Why on earth is there anyone in this country anywhere still defending the Bush Administration on anything? Here it is, we are nearly a half-year into a new Administration, and I'd much prefer to put my energies into things like why all of a sudden Barack Obama is now afraid to touch the very words "single payer" with a 10-foot pole?

I wonder just how long the atrocities of the Bush Administration are going to continue to shock and appall us. But as long as official Washington is loath to bring these criminals to justice at the same time as they're sending 22-year-old potsmokers to jail, I guess we'll have to continue with our hapless and pointless moral outrage. Because if we stop that and say, Peggy Noonan-like, that we should just "keep walking", who's to say what the next Republican psychopath who manages to exploit the fears of a coddled nation is going to do?

What kind of a media environment do we have when Orrin Hatch is unchallenged when he claims that "empathy" is code for "activist judges" and the release of memos sent by Donald Rumsfeld to George W. Bush has to be done by GQ Magazine?

Robert Draper reports:

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.”

Much more here.

The picture that I'm getting from this release, as well as from the unfolding story about how torture techniques were approved, was that what we had for eight years was an amoral president, an inattentive wastrel for whom every day was a struggle against hitting the bottle again, with an addiction to Jesus replacing an addiction to liquor -- with Cheney and Rumsfeld as the front men. They fed his dependency with Crusades imagery to keep him -- not that he would have anyway -- from asking any questions about what they were doing. In case the "He tried to kill my daddy" issue didn't hold enough water, or the "If I get Saddam it means my dick is bigger than my daddy's" undercurrent didn't quite work, there was always a Crusade for Jesus to fall back on.

We don't want to go there? We don't want to look back and see what we allowed these people to do for eight years? We can't afford NOT to go there. We sold our national soul to these men because Americans were afraid. Penitence and reflection is the only way to get it back.

Labels: Bush Administration, Christofascist Zombie Brigade, insanity

6 comments

6 Comments:

newbroom said...

I'm not sure if I've matured enough to be able to be interested enough in things political to see that the people have allowed themselves to be lulled into submission, or if it's that the advent of internet available information has enabled me to become more aware of political machinations and their affects, but, I gotta say that I'd feel better if we could purge ourselves of the hangover we've acquired from 8 yrs of Dick and Don manipulating George's self destructive demons.

5/18/09, 7:18 AM

Bill said...

"Penitence and reflection is the only way to get it (our soul) back."

Succinctness at its best.

5/18/09, 7:56 AM

Anonymous said...

I tried to tell everyone what was going on. I blogged and bitched. A few others followed suit. We were all demonized and called traitors, non-patriots and sympathizers. Now we realish in the fact that we were right all along. With no report or classified documents to enlighten us... just common sense. Geeze you people are stupid. There I've said my piece. Can we move on? Try these assholes in a criminal court, set an example for once and never ever let it happen again. Stop ignoring the tough questions and for the love of GOD... (literally) Stand up for what you know in your heart to be right, not what someone else claims to be right. Have some balls and put these moral morons away.

5/18/09, 8:31 AM

Bob said...

Initially, I advocated "keep walking." But Cheney's insisting that we look at & listen to him, so let's give him what he wants. But it means exposing all of it; the photos, the memos, the actions, the timelines, the truth.

5/18/09, 12:29 PM

Anonymous said...

Christians overlook that during the First Crusade, the Crusaders captured a town in Syria, slaughtered the 20,000+ inhabitants (after telling them they would be spared if they didn't fight) and then engaged in cannibalism (roasting dead children on spits over a fire) as an intimidation tactic ! Plus, the Pope had already granted them absolution in advance. That episode is what the Moslems associate with the Crusades !

5/18/09, 2:37 PM

Anonymous said...

Single payer health.

Third party democracy.

Treason prosecutions, convictions and executions.

Or just rip up the Constitution and go straight to dictatorship.

I don't like Obama but I'd prefer him as a dictator to any of the Presidents that I have had in my lifetime.

5/18/09, 4:01 PM