Gog and Magog and a sense of divine will
Treat this as rumor until you see it in real print, but there's a rumor out there that Bush was citing the biblical Gog and Magog in his 2003 appeal to Jaques Chirac to join the Iraq war.
I'm not quite so sure it's as literal or as central to the argument as this piece characterizes, but, still, you wouldn't expect those names to come up in a top level, serious diplomatic call over something as dire as invading Iraq.
(This is powerful because it plays into an already believed stereotype about Bush and echoes the reports from June 2003 that Bush told the Palestinians "god told me to invade Iraq." It also puts a little harder spin on the recent GQ report that Rumsfeld was fronting his daily briefing books for Bush with bible verses.)
I'm not quite so sure it's as literal or as central to the argument as this piece characterizes, but, still, you wouldn't expect those names to come up in a top level, serious diplomatic call over something as dire as invading Iraq.
(This is powerful because it plays into an already believed stereotype about Bush and echoes the reports from June 2003 that Bush told the Palestinians "god told me to invade Iraq." It also puts a little harder spin on the recent GQ report that Rumsfeld was fronting his daily briefing books for Bush with bible verses.)
posted by mikevotes at
7:38 AM
6 Comments:
It doesn't surprise me. He saw the war(s) as a crusade. Many still see it that way.
By
Anonymous, at 2:16 PM
I'm still not completely clear on what percent that played in the decision. Was it post decision justification?
I have this image of Bush praying and Cheney hiding around a door saying "George, this is god...."
By
mikevotes, at 2:37 PM
I imagine he was just anxious to justify his decision. Bringing God into it is passing the buck in a way.
By
Anonymous, at 2:54 PM
We don't really know. My hunch is that god's a justification, not so much a motivator.
However, running around the world talking about what god told you or your biblical destiny ain't good foreign policy.
By
mikevotes, at 4:31 PM
It's downright stupid. Most Muslims will see it as antagonistic and most Europeans will see it as flaky. I guess it works in Texas.
By
Anonymous, at 6:35 PM
Some audiences.
By
mikevotes, at 10:11 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home