Our Jihad

Remember back in the early days of the War on Terra, when Duhbya accidental let slip the "c word" - crusade? He rightly backed away from the term. After all, anything we did in the Middle East wouldn't go over well if the locals perceived it as a holy war. And we'd never do something that unbelievable simple minded anyway, right? Right!?

*Sigh* Unfortunately, it doesn't look that way. The folks at GQ (of all people - via Ed) have gotten their hands on a series of intelligence briefing documents, prepared for the president in the early days of the Iraq War. The cover of each has a Bible quote, apparently in an attempt to buck up morale, or something. See them all here, in their horrible glory.

The highlights are just amazing. One cover displays a verse from 1 Peter 2:15, over top a picture of Saddam Hussein giving a speech on TV, saying:

It is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

As bad as that one is, the next one really takes the cake. Over a picture of American tanks rumbling through the Swords of Qādisīyah arch in Baghdad, a verse from Isaiah 26:2:

Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, The nation that keeps faith.

Disgusting. Somebody in the administration thought we were doing God's work. Was it Duhbya? Rumsfeld? Some lower level lackey? Does it really matter, at this point?

The Iraq War was discussed, in the highest levels of the government, as a holy war. Maybe Duhbya was onto something when he called for a crusade, after all.