News

GQ: Bible Verses Covered Pentagon Reports

Christianity Today May 17, 2009

Bible verses were used on cover sheets for intelligence reports written for Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials, according to GQ magazine.

One of the cover sheets features a photo of a tank in the sunset inlaid with Ephesians 6:13: “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.”

A “World Intelligence Update” included Proverbs 16:3: “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” above a picture of a machine-gunner.

Lawrence Di Rita, former Pentagon spokesman, told David Sanger of The New York Times that he had no recollection of the briefs, and that the secretary would not have tolerated them for long.

“The suggestion that Rumsfeld would have used these reports to somehow curry favor over at the White House is pretty laughable,” Di Rita told Sanger. “He bristled anytime people put quotes or something extraneous on the reports he wanted to read.”

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