The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.I'm not sure if I buy this. I do believe that George W. Bush was not firing reliably on all of his cylinders and, given his comments that God was telling him to go to war, it is believable.
Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”
On the other hand, the entirety of the story flows through Jacques Chirac, who has his own little problem with corruption and truthfulness, as well as reasons of his own to want to make Bush look like a buffoon.
I think I'm going to rate the "Bush Was a Crazy Holy Warrior" as "probable, but not proven".
But mull over this: If George W. Bush indeed was driven by his religious beliefs to wage war, then how did he differ in any significant degree from Osama bin Ladin?
1 comment:
You're probably right in that Chirac may have an axe to grind. But when it comes to GWB, so do I. So a part of me believes it, horrified. The previous occupant's frequent slips in referring to the "crusade" in several contexts gives it away.
Is Bush different from OBL? Some similarities - they're both fervent backers of theocracy and responsible for the deaths of thousands. But Osama has said he wants to kill as many Americans as possible and wishes to rejoice in the downfall of the west in general. I don't believe it was Bush's goal to kill civilians, just topple Saddam and change the balance of power in the region. What an unholy mess he has left.
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