There have been previous reports that George Bush believed that God advised him to go to war in Iraq. In the past week there have been reports that Donald Rumsfeld used Biblical imagery to influence Bush. Counterpunch reports that a new book quotes Jacques Chirac confirming previous reports that Bush used Biblical prophesy to justify the war in Iraq:
In 2003 while lobbying leaders to put together the Coalition of the Willing, President Bush spoke to France’s President Jacques Chirac. Bush wove a story about how the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and how they must be defeated.
In Genesis and Ezekiel Gog and Magog are forces of the Apocalypse who are prophesied to come out of the north and destroy Israel unless stopped. The Book of Revelation took up the Old Testament prophesy:
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle … and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”
Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac:
“This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins”.
The article goes on to say that this has been confirmed by Chirac:
The story has now been confirmed by Chirac himself in a new book, published in France in March, by journalist Jean Claude Maurice. Chirac is said to have been stupefied and disturbed by Bush’s invocation of Biblical prophesy to justify the war in Iraq and “wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs”.
In the same year he spoke to Chirac, Bush had reportedly said to the Palestinian foreign minister that he was on “a mission from God” in launching the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and was receiving commands from the Lord.
There can be little doubt now that President Bush’s reason for launching the war in Iraq was, for him, fundamentally religious. He was driven by his belief that the attack on Saddam’s Iraq was the fulfilment of a Biblical prophesy in which he had been chosen to serve as the instrument of the Lord.
What is the name of this book?
Using the power of the interwebs…
http://www.amazon.fr/Si-vous-r%C3%A9p%C3%A9tez-d%C3%A9mentirai-Villepin/dp/225921021X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243477084&sr=8-1
“What is the name of this book?”
In English, it’s (roughly):
“If you repeat it, I will deny. ”
This:
Chirac et ses secrets bien gardés. Villepin et ses excès “napoléoniens”. Sarkozy, ” l’ami ” des journalistes, en campagne. Jean-Claude Maurice, ancien directeur de la rédaction du JDD, a tout vu, tout entendu, tout noté, sans perdre son humour et sa plume acérée. Chirac ? Une dizaine d’entretiens privés avec le président de la République lui permettent d’esquisser un personnage faussement extraverti, cynique et qui a gardé ” son secret ” tout en se lâchant parfois contre les puissances de l’argent, contre la guerre en Irak, contre le personnel politique. ” Je vais vous dire un secret, si vous le répétez, je démentirai “, lui dit-il à propos de la fameuse dissolution de l’Assemblée nationale. Villepin? Un personnage hors du commun, fauché en plein vol par l’affaire Clearstream. Jean-Claude Maurice le suivra à Téhéran, à l’ONU, à travers le monde… où il peut tout abandonner pour visiter une exposition, une église, un musée.
Sarkozy? Lui se dit ” l’ami ” des journalistes. Mais, d’ami à subordonné, il n’y a parfois qu’une frontière peu étanche. Jean-Claude Maurice regarde amusé la conception que Nicolas Sarkozy a de la liberté de la presse. Un texte informé, percutant et très instructif sur les trois principaux acteurs de notre vie politique récente.
Translates (probably badly) to this:
Chirac and its well kept secrets. Villepin and its excesses “Napoleonic”. Sarkozy, “the friend” journalists, in country. John Claude Maurice, former director of the compilation of the JDD, all saw, all heard, all grade, without losing his humor and his cutting feather. Chirac? About ten private discussions with the president of the Republic allow for him to sketch a personage falsely extrovert, cynical and that kept “his secret” all while loosening itself sometimes against the money powers, against the war in Iraq, against the political personnel. “I will say you a secret, if you repeat it, I will deny”, he says for him about the fine dissolution of the national Assembly. Villepin? A personage out of the ordinary, mown down in the middle of the flight by the matter Clearstream. John Claude Maurice will follow it to Teheran, to the UN, through the world… where it all can abandon to visit an exposition, a church, a museum. Sarkozy? Him is said “the friend” journalists. But, of friend to subordinated, it has not sometimes that a border not very waterproof. John Claude Maurice looks at entertained the conception that Nicolas Sarkozy has liberty of the press. An informed text, hitting and very instructive on the three principal actors of our recent political life.
From what I can tell, this is not a new book by Jacques Chirac, it’s a book about Jacques Chirac by journalist Jean Claude Maurice. So, although I’d love to believe this insanely wild and dispiriting allegation, Chirac himself needs to state clearly and in public that the story is true. Until then, it’s just hearsay — one French auteur’s word on the subject.
It does come down to the reliability of the journalist who wrote the book. If the journalist is accurate in obtaining information in his book about Chirac then his reports about what Chirac said are meaningful. The story is consistent with other reports on things said by Bush.
There was also another recent news report on the book here. A Toronto paper summarized the stories to coincide with a trip to Toronto by Bush.
Unfortunately my French is not good enough. I would love to see an English translation of the book. Even though we heard George Bush saying lot of crazy things, and we heard lot of things being said about his madness, but a book like this summerizes it all.