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href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_pentagon_religious_quotes;_ylt=AimiLuYG4VRIjK7ehD4.fdWyFz4D">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_pentagon_religious_quotes;_ylt=AimiLuYG4VRIjK7ehD4.fdWyFz4D</A></FONT></DIV>
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<H1>Pentagon reports no longer quote Bible</H1>
<DIV class=byline><ABBR class=recenttimedate
title=2009-05-18T16:21:14-0700>11 mins ago</ABBR> </DIV><!-- end .byline -->
<P>WASHINGTON – The Pentagon said Monday it no longer includes a Bible quote on
the cover page of daily intelligence briefings it sends to the White House as
was practice during the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_0>Bush
administration</SPAN>.</P>
<P>Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he did not know how long the Worldwide
Intelligence Update cover sheets quoted from the Bible. Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen
Shaffer, who was responsible for including them, retired in <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_1>August 2003</SPAN>, according to his
biography.</P>
<P>For a period in 2003, at least, the daily reports prepared for <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_2>President George W. Bush</SPAN> carried
quotes from the books of Psalms and Ephesians and the epistles of Peter. At the
time, the reports focused largely on the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1242688905_3>war in Iraq</SPAN>.</P>
<P><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_4>The Bible</SPAN> quotes apparently
aimed to support Bush at a time when soldiers' <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1242688905_5>deaths in Iraq</SPAN> were on the rise, according to the June
issue of <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_6>GQ magazine</SPAN>. But they
offended at least one Muslim analyst at the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1242688905_7>Pentagon</SPAN> and worried other employees that the passages
were inappropriate.</P>
<P>On Thursday, April 10, 2003, for example, the report quoted the book of
Psalms — "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him. ... To deliver
their soul from death." — and featured pictures of the statue of <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_8>Saddam Hussein</SPAN> being pulled down and
celebrating crowds in Baghdad.</P>
<P>"Therefore put on the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_9>full armor of
God</SPAN>, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your
ground, and after you have done everything, to stand," read the cover quote two
weeks earlier, on March 31, above a picture of a U.S. tank driving through the
desert, according to the magazine, which obtained copies of the documents.</P>
<P>The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1242688905_10>Americans United for Separation of Church and State</SPAN>,
on Monday said U.S. soldiers "are not <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1242688905_11>Christian crusaders</SPAN>, and they ought not be depicted
as such."</P>
<P>"Depicting the Iraq conflict as some sort of holy war is completely
outrageous," Lynn said in a statement. "It's contrary to the constitutional
separation of religion and government, and it's tremendously damaging to
America's reputation in the world."</P>
<P>___</P>
<P>On the Net:</P>
<P>GQ: <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_pr_wh/storytext/us_pentagon_religious_quotes/32060964/SIG=10jb5rav9/*http://www.gq.com"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1242688905_12><FONT
color=#4485be>http://www.gq.com</FONT></SPAN></A></P></DIV></BODY>
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