Bush got memos from Rumsfeld that used Scripture

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.

"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.

Take a look at some of the Secret Report covers. Incredible.

Heh... so much for church and state

Amen.

Damning story, but doesn't totally surprise me... From 2001-2008 (the "dubbya" or George W. Bush years) I think it's becoming increasingly clear that the United States really did lose their way in terms of political and ideological global direction.

I don't want to upset any Republicans here, because the Republican party has done some pretty useful things for global peace in the past themselves... let's not forget:

"Tear down this wall!" was the famous challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall.

In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin,^[1][2] by the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear it down as a symbol of Reagan's desire for increasing freedom in the Eastern Bloc.

"We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall

Just over 2 years later the Berlin Wall fell - and sure enough the Soviet Union began to transform dramatically into modern Russia as we know it. For all its faults, modern Russia is still massively more stable and responsible than the former Soviet version.

Bottom line: "dubbya" Bush really did screw up, but it certainly was NOT all his fault. Rumsfeld and Cheney have a lot to answer for. "dubbya's" problem: he just wasn't smart enough to realise he was being advised by highly manipulative war-mongering men. Poor "dubbya" - I do feel a bit sorry for him as I think he was not actually a bad man.

You're a wise one asianpunter. What Reagan achieved and the way he went about it with the fall of communism was to be so very commended. What a speech. I can picture him now. How old were you btw? 

A noteworthy politically middle-of-the-road journalist in a broadsheet I am reading this morning writes when commenting on Nov 9th 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that between 1917 and 1989 communist regimes were directly responsible for 100 million deaths of their own respective people. No attribution for this number but I suppose Stalin and Mao alone must have accounted for 60 million?

"Tear down this wall" speech 1987 I'd just hit double figures myself...  Had no interest in this stuff back then (a good thing I think), but when working before in Germany read up on some German history - helps you understand so much when living in a new country.

Speaking of political leaders Stalin and Mao being responsible for so many multiple million deaths... The Germans themselves of course had their own most extreme version of all: Adolf. Quite incredible - to some extent extreme global bad luck - but in the 1940s Hitler, Stalin and Mao were all either at the peak of their powers (Stalin), going out with a bang (Hitler) or just getting started... (Mao). WWII alone is believed to have caused around 55 million deaths globally (by far the most deadly war in world history), but according to Wikipedia Mao himself possibly managed to trump that! Poor Chinese people.

Wiki: Mao's policies and political purges from 1949 to 1975 are widely believed to have caused the deaths of between 50 to 70 million people.

The 1940's: must be far and above the most globally defining decade in world history.
Just imagine these 3 men below all running major world countries in the same decade. North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan are child's play compare to this lot. The world really has got a lot safer.
God bless America for that!