It’s hard to know whether to laugh or feel terrified at the latest revelation about the Bush Administration. Both responses seem appropriate. According to a story by Robert Draper in the new “GQ” mag, Donald Rumsfeld approved the attachment of bellicose, “boo-yah!” quotes from the Old Testament to Bush’s daily intelligence briefings about the Iraq War. Photos of soldiers praying and manning tanks were mixed with scripture lines like these: “It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” The speculation is that the pro-war Biblical quotes were intended to keep Dubya alert, engaged, and thoroughly stoked to keep the war going.
Here’s an ungentle suggestion: Whatever their differences may be, atheists, agnostics, and all believers of conscience should form a new political coalition to keep right-wing evangelicals the hell away from the Oval Office.
