Bush tells Palestinians: God told me to.

Posted bychrisale 9 Comments on Bush tells Palestinians: God told me to.

From Israeli paper Haaretz (cheers MyBlahg)

According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: “God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.”

And from a soon to be release BBC documentary: (cheers Random Fate)…

In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.

Nabil Shaath says: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, “George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.” And I did, and then God would tell me, “George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …” And I did. And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, “Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.” And by God I’m gonna do it.’”

Coming Soon: The Bible, Disciple Dubya Edition.

9 replies on “Bush tells Palestinians: God told me to.”

  1. Oh Pish, you believe that crock? For one W would never use that type of Islamic rhetoric. Sounds like Bahgdad Bob. Americans don’t talk in that style. And Bush would have to be raised pentacostal to even think like that. He is a Christian, not a raving maniac. These arabs have him sounding like Fred Phelps. Are you gullible or what, Chris? I think I need a vacation from this site (yeah says chrisale!) if you’re gonna dwell on BS.

  2. If that’s what Abbas and his Foreign Minister took from their conversation with Bush… if that’s the impression that they got… does it matter what Bush actually said?

  6. From the article you emailed and posted today:

    A Palestinian official who said the US president had claimed God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan says he did not take George Bush’s words literally.

    But in an interview for the BBC Arabic service on Friday, [Mamoud Abbas] said the president – who had just announced an end to hostilities in Iraq, was merely expressing his heartfelt commitment to peace in the Middle East.

    “President Bush said that God guided him in what he should do, and this guidance led him to go to Afghanistan to rid it of terrorism after 9/11 and led him to Iraq to fight tyranny,” he said.

    … “We understood that he was illustrating [in his comments] his strong faith and his belief that this is what God wanted.”

    OK.. so he didn’t hear from God directly. That’s a step in the right direction… but personally, I think faith must have a very small role to play in a modern leaders decisions… it is absolutely fine for any man or woman to be comfortable in his/her faith and to rely on it to give him strength in times of need. But basing his decisions on things because it is what “God wanted” is dangerous and backward and that is clearly the impression that Abbas and others got.

    Human history is rife with wars started and continued due to religious fervor. The current Global Islamic Jihad is the most obvious example. And apparently now we can chalk up the war in Afghanistan and Iraq…

    If you want to know what I think Bush *should* have attributed the war in Iraq and Afghanisatan to… these may or may not be attributed to both wars are one individually.

    Self-defense/response to 9/11
    Limiting spread of terrorism
    Finding/stopping criminals perpetrating terrorism and unrest around the world
    Stopping the spread of WMD
    Stopping the threat posed to Iraqs neighbours by Saddam
    Stopping the threat posed to all Iraqis by Saddams despotism
    Rejecting authoritarian/opressive rule and allowing people to live freely and with the type of government of their choosing.
    Creating a stable, peaceful and secure Middle East

    George W. Bush had the opportunity to say all these things and make it abundantly clear to these Palestinian leaders that these things were his driving force and he is committed to them… and that, when he needed to recharge…. When he needed a well from which to draw strength…. He did so through his religion. Through God….

    Instead he chose to emphasize that God wanted him to do these things… that God was the driving force behind his decisions.

    If that wasn’t the message he wanted to give out… well.. maybe he should go back to Presidents school.

  7. Or perhaps Bush had no other good reasons for invading Iraq and Afghanistan and promoting peace in Israel… in which case he’s falling back to religion as an excuse.

Comments are closed.

Discover more from Murkyview

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading