Bush: God told me to invade Iraq

Bush: God told me to invade Iraq

President 'revealed reasons for war in private meeting'

President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.

The President made the assertion during his first meeting with Palestinian leaders in June 2003, according to a BBC series which will be broadcast this month.

The revelation comes after Mr Bush launched an impassioned attack yesterday in Washington on Islamic militants, likening their ideology to that of Communism, and accusing them of seeking to "enslave whole nations" and set up a radical Islamic empire "that spans from Spain to Indonesia". In the programmeElusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, which starts on Monday, the former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath says Mr Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former prime minister and now Palestinian President: "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", Mr Bush is quoted as telling the two, "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."

Mr Abbas remembers how the US President told him he had a "moral and religious obligation" to act. The White House has refused to comment on what it terms a private conversation. But the BBC account is anything but implausible, given how throughout his presidency Mr Bush, a born-again Christian, has never hidden the importance of his faith.

From the outset he has couched the "global war on terror" in quasi-religious terms, as a struggle between good and evil. Al-Qa'ida terrorists are routinely described as evil-doers. For Mr Bush, the invasion of Iraq has always been part of the struggle against terrorism, and he appears to see himself as the executor of the divine will.

He told Bob Woodward - whose 2004 book, Plan of Attack, is the definitive account of the administration's road to war in Iraq - that after giving the order to invade in March 2003, he walked in the White House garden, praying "that our troops be safe, be protected by the Almighty". As he went into this critical period, he told Mr Woodward, "I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will.

"I'm surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I will be as good a messenger of His will as possible. And then of course, I pray for forgiveness."

Another telling sign of Mr Bush's religion was his answer to Mr Woodward's question on whether he had asked his father - the former president who refused to launch a full-scale invasion of Iraq after driving Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991 - for advice on what to do.

The current President replied that his earthly father was "the wrong father to appeal to for advice ... there is a higher father that I appeal to".

The same sense of mission permeated his speech at the National Endowment of Democracy yesterday. Its main news was Mr Bush's claim that Western security services had thwarted 10 planned attacks by al-Qa'ida since 11 September 2001, three of them against mainland US.

More striking though was his unrelenting portrayal of radical Islam as a global menace, which only the forces of freedom - led by the US - could repel. It was delivered at a moment when Mr Bush's domestic approval ratings are at their lowest ebb, in large part because of the war in Iraq, in which 1,950 US troops have died, with no end in sight.

It came amid continuing violence on the ground, nine days before the critical referendum on the new constitution that offers perhaps the last chance of securing a unitary and democratic Iraq. "The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region" and set up a radical empire stretching from Spain to Indonesia, he said.

The insurgents' aim was to "enslave whole nations and intimidate the world". He portrayed Islamic radicals as a single global movement, from the Middle East to Chechnya and Bali and the jungles of the Philippines.

He rejected claims that the US military presence in Iraq was fuelling terrorism: 11 September 2001 occurred long before American troops set foot in Iraq - and Russia's opposition to the invasion did not stop terrorists carrying out the Beslan atrocity in which 300 children died.

Mr Bush also accused Syria and Iran of supporting radical groups. They "have a long history of collaboration with terrorists and they deserve no patience". The US, he warned, "makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbour them because they're equally as guilty of murder".

"Wars are not won without sacrifice and this war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve," Mr Bush declared. But progress was being made in Iraq, and, he proclaimed: "We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...icle317805.ece

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I get home after school, pick the paper up off the doormat, and notice the Headline:

BUSH: God told me to invade Iraq

What the fuck is he thinking?!

George Bush should be lined up and shot...repeatedly.

Bush: God told me to invade Iraq President 'revealed reasons for war in private meeting' President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians. The President made the assertion during his first meeting with Palestinian leaders in June 2003, according to a BBC series which will be broadcast this month. The revelation comes after Mr Bush launched an impassioned attack yesterday in Washington on Islamic militants, likening their ideology to that of Communism, and accusing them of seeking to "enslave whole nations" and set up a radical Islamic empire "that spans from Spain to Indonesia". In the programmeElusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, which starts on Monday, the former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath says Mr Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former prime minister and now Palestinian President: "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", Mr Bush is quoted as telling the two, "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." Mr Abbas remembers how the US President told him he had a "moral and religious obligation" to act. The White House has refused to comment on what it terms a private conversation. But the BBC account is anything but implausible, given how throughout his presidency Mr Bush, a born-again Christian, has never hidden the importance of his faith. From the outset he has couched the "global war on terror" in quasi-religious terms, as a struggle between good and evil. Al-Qa'ida terrorists are routinely described as evil-doers. For Mr Bush, the invasion of Iraq has always been part of the struggle against terrorism, and he appears to see himself as the executor of the divine will. He told Bob Woodward - whose 2004 book, Plan of Attack, is the definitive account of the administration's road to war in Iraq - that after giving the order to invade in March 2003, he walked in the White House garden, praying "that our troops be safe, be protected by the Almighty". As he went into this critical period, he told Mr Woodward, "I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will. "I'm surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I will be as good a messenger of His will as possible. And then of course, I pray for forgiveness." Another telling sign of Mr Bush's religion was his answer to Mr Woodward's question on whether he had asked his father - the former president who refused to launch a full-scale invasion of Iraq after driving Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991 - for advice on what to do. The current President replied that his earthly father was "the wrong father to appeal to for advice ... there is a higher father that I appeal to". The same sense of mission permeated his speech at the National Endowment of Democracy yesterday. Its main news was Mr Bush's claim that Western security services had thwarted 10 planned attacks by al-Qa'ida since 11 September 2001, three of them against mainland US. More striking though was his unrelenting portrayal of radical Islam as a global menace, which only the forces of freedom - led by the US - could repel. It was delivered at a moment when Mr Bush's domestic approval ratings are at their lowest ebb, in large part because of the war in Iraq, in which 1,950 US troops have died, with no end in sight. It came amid continuing violence on the ground, nine days before the critical referendum on the new constitution that offers perhaps the last chance of securing a unitary and democratic Iraq. "The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region" and set up a radical empire stretching from Spain to Indonesia, he said. The insurgents' aim was to "enslave whole nations and intimidate the world". He portrayed Islamic radicals as a single global movement, from the Middle East to Chechnya and Bali and the jungles of the Philippines. He rejected claims that the US military presence in Iraq was fuelling terrorism: 11 September 2001 occurred long before American troops set foot in Iraq - and Russia's opposition to the invasion did not stop terrorists carrying out the Beslan atrocity in which 300 children died. Mr Bush also accused Syria and Iran of supporting radical groups. They "have a long history of collaboration with terrorists and they deserve no patience". The US, he warned, "makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbour them because they're equally as guilty of murder". "Wars are not won without sacrifice and this war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve," Mr Bush declared. But progress was being made in Iraq, and, he proclaimed: "We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory." http://news.independent.co.uk/world...ticle317805.ece ---------- I get home after school, pick the paper up off the doormat, and notice the Headline: BUSH: God told me to invade Iraq What the fuck is he thinking?! George Bush should be lined up and shot...repeatedly.

I'll read it in a couple of hours when I'm home. Pisses me off, though.

Did you have to quote that? 24 hour ban.

My god.

I vote impeachment for reasons of insanity.

Almost forgot about this lol.... Perhaps

Quote say wha?

I hate religions either way. I think we as a human race have outgrown them. I'm not going to write much more about it, because other people are more articulate than I, and have already written numerous books about how mankind no longer needs religion.

When the war first started my biggest grief was how Bush always referred to god in his speeches. That god should help us, and god be with the troops, and all that crap. It made it look like we were fighting a crusade, or a holy war(i.e. our god vs theirs), like we were in the year 1200 AD or some stupid shit. I supported the war(not staying and rebuilding, I just think we shoulda beat them to oblivion and back and then napalmed the whole pathetic hellhole of a country). Now that woulda scared other countries away from haboring terrorists. I mean, the way we're babying those sorry sacks of shit now, I bet North Korea or Iran will attack us just so we can come into their country and feed them, give them a military, and then build them better shit than they had before. Sorry if you find my opinion too radical, but I get pretty pissed with the complete stupidity of Middle Eastern countries that base their government and way of life on a stubborn, single-minded, completely brainless religion.

Sprituality can be a wonderful thing. Organized religion, on the other hand, is the single worst thing in the history of humanity.

I wonder if that's true. I wonder if the bad really outweighs the good that comes from religion. You cannot deny that religion, whether you believe in it or not, has done good for alot of people. It gives alot of people hope, a reason to live and do good, those are big things. I honestly dont know if it would be a better world without religion.

I wonder if that's true. I wonder if the bad really outweighs the good that comes from religion. You cannot deny that religion, whether you believe in it or not, has done good for alot of people. It gives alot of people hope, a reason to live and do good, those are big things. I honestly dont know if it would be a better world without religion.

Well of course it's done good for people... sort of the same way Santa Clause brings happiness to children. Then you grow up. You realize there are other reasons to live. I think the only good thing religion has brought us is morals. There are other things to base morals on other than religion, though. On the same note, look at the negative things religion has brought about. More wars have been started in the name of religion than any other cause combined. It's ridiculous.

Of course the world would be a better place without religion. It would be hard at first, most people probably couldn't accept it. Of course it's much easier to believe in a god, it makes you feel secure knowing that a higher being is watching over you. To some people, the thought of not having a higher being is scary. With a higher being, you always have someone to look up to.

I read somewhere that atheism is rising 1% each year. It's my prediction that religion will be virtually gone from America in another 20-30 years, and from the rest of the world in oh..... let's say 150 years.

Well, I posted the wrong link to a friend of mine, but I told him this is just more proof that Bush is insane.

Duh. Wasn't it said long ago that he had a religious reason for starting it?

S2 I find your opinion right in line with what I believe is the absolute truth.

20-30 years may be a bit too soon IMO. But yes I do agree that religion will probably stop excisting not so long from now. I didnt really state this in the other post but I was talking about what if religion has never excisted in the first place. The world would be totally different, more so than we can propably imagine.

I think religion has been and will continue to be just a step in human history, but like you said, then we grow up, or rather, move on. We start to think more for ourselfes which is encouraged in most societies today. However, there's still loads of countries in where this is not the case, but I believe time and patience will fix that just like it did with western countries.

Quote say wha?

Today's paper has an editorial about that article, and a rather nice little cartoon.



http://www.independent.co.uk/incomin...a&pageNumber=1

If you don't understand it: Over here quite a few of the impression programs have Bush saying "Tie Rack", not "Iraq"...just a weird thing to do wth his accent...a British thing...and a British cartoon.

The Editorial is:

Whether God speaks to him or not, Bush’s religious fanaticism has shaped our world. The internet was buzzing yesterday. Huge numbers of people rushed to have their say on reports that George Bush had invaded Iraq because he was told to by God - whom, we learned, calls the president of the world's only superpower, rather informally, by his first name. Some bloggers reacted with derisive horror; the man hearing the voices is, after all, the chap with his finger on the nuclear button. Others offered supportive disbelief; the Bush "quotes" had been disclosed by Palestinian politicians reporting private discussions with the President over the future of the Palestinian state. It was, said Bush's defenders, in the Palestinians interests to make out that the President had said: "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." The White House was swift to deny that the President had said any such thing, though officials did not offer the mitigating explanation – helpfully offered by one website contributor – that the confusion was to be explained by Bush’s apparent dyslexia: he had mixed up the voice of his God with that of his dog. In one sense, however, it doesn’t matter what he actually said. What is alarming enough is that it is the kind of thing he would say. Every line of it is entirely consonant with George Bush’s religious world overview. When President Bush first met Vladimir Putin the first thing they talked about was not the failure of communism or the triumph of the market. Rather they spoke about God. Bush later invited the visiting President of Macedonia – a fellow Methodist – into his study, where the two men knelt in prayer. Their mutual faith was also a bonding factor for Bush and Tony Blair, though the Prime Minister exploded with irritation when Jeremy Paxman asked if they had prayed together. George Bush Jr was brought up an Episcopalian – the US version of Anglicanism – and though he became a Methodist when he married, his faith has adopted the heavy evangelical accent of the Bible Belt home state of Texas. The President reads his Bible every morning. He worships at the services led by military chaplains at his country retreat at Camp David, or at impromptu services on the presidential plane or wherever he and his entourage find themselves. He prays on the phone with a minister in Texas. Cabinet meetings often begin with a prayer. “I pray all the time,” he once told Fox news. Polls say that the majority of US voters approve. Be George Bush’s faith does not simply inspire and motivate him. It affects his decisions on individual policies, as with his ruling that US researchers will get no funding if they create new human embryos from which to harvest stem cells. And he has channelled billions of government dollars to faith-based welfare programmes. Few people would suggest that the war on Saddam Hussein was religiously motivated. Indeed, plans for it had been made long before he came to power. But it was clear from the outset that George Bush’s Book of Revelation view of the world as a cosmic battleground between good and evil coloured his approach to his “war on terror”. It is a mindset which is spectacularly ignorant of – or recklessly indifferent to – other views. From the outset he characterised his fightback as a “crusade” clearly unaware that in the Muslim world few have forgotten that when the Crusaders entered Jerusalem in 1099 they went on an orgy of butchering in which 70,000 men, women and children were slaughtered in a Holocaust that lasted three days. The evangelists of the Christian Right who are Bush’s support base made matters worse with febrile condemnations of Islam, saying things like its founder, Mohammed, was “a demon-possessed paedophile” and a “terrorist”. General William Boykin, whom Bush appointed to lead the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, went round announcing that God had spoken to him too, saying of one Muslim opponent: “I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.” In public prayer meetings he repeatedly described America’s wars in Iraq as “a Christian Holy Crusade against Islam”, a religion he suggested was aligned with Satan. When critics called for the man to be sacked Mr Bush promoted him to be deputy undersecretary of defence for intelligence and put him in charge of transferring the Guantanamo “stress and duress” methods of interrogation to a prison in Iraq of which few people knew the name of at the time. It was Abu Ghraib. That is not all. Leaked minutes reveal that Bush’s White House has been holding secret meetings with Christian fundamentalists who believe that the Second Coming of Christ can happen only after Israel’s re-emergence as a nation, which is why support for Israel is at the very top of the Christian Right’s agenda. They also believe that the great Jewish Temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt for a third time before the Messiah can return. That will mean knocking down the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s holiest shrine after Mecca and Medina. So conflict with Muslims is both necessary and desirable. One of the leaders of these End-time Christians claims he is given telephone briefings by the White House at least once a week. This is not a fringe of activity. There are estimated to be as many as eight million pre-millennial Christian fundamentalists in America for whom Armageddon is always just around the corner. The White House can deny all it likes that Mr Bush said the words at the centre of the current controversy. But there can be no doubt that the President’s religious thinking has shaped the world we know and find ourselves in. Nor is there any doubt how dangerous it is. It allows him to dwell happily with insufficient knowledge about those he has branded as the enemy. It creates in him a delusional sense that he and his nations have been chosen by God for special favours – fostering the perilous perception that his norms are absolute norms, his form of government automatically superior to all others, and his spiritual tradition the only really true religion. And., most dangerously, it allows him to classify “the other” as evil. Demonising our opponents is the psychological equivalent of declaring war. We cut off the possibility of dialogue. In the process we absolve ourselves of any obligation to treat them as human beings. And we let ourselves off the hook of having to ask what part our own action may, even in a small way, have contributed to the problem. There is plenty about that in the Bible. Perhaps it would be a good idea for God to whisper in Mr Bush’s ear to tell him where to look. Paul Vallely - 8th October 2005

Sorry about the English, after all it is an English article.

british people aren't funny

Neither are you. So what?

Neither are you. So what?

oh SNAP!

Go to work in a tie rack? WTf?

How credible is the source?

[EDIT]Warning, this is a long post, just wrote off the top of my mind... really long post.[EDIT OVER]

Please forgive the fact that I haven't been here for a while, real life reeled me back in... In any case. Lately I played a few games, some I played this past summer were made by Koei and I realize that politics today is not much different then it was nearly two thousand years ago. Corrupt officials still lie about, others virtuous are still here and there, yet even if they do act, those with more ties go to higher places and greater grounds controlling justice from the curtains and manipulating it to their own will.

Though, as I look at the history of China, it seems war was always made with a solid reason, such as a corrupt empire that would need to be reborn, or fighting for the people's sake or whatnot. Makes me wish it was the kingdom of Shu that won. Religion also seems to be the only reason why China didn't invade Europe at the time... in any case, now getting on subject.

Considering the majority of people in the US are christian, and considering the amount of people whom are ignorant, less educated, easily gullible, caught by fear and currently under faith with multiple wishes, hopes and belief that they will be saved just by having to sit on their asses all day long, or stand up, and pray to a higher being... It makes it easy to manipulate these people just by making mention of god, or of any religious terms or anything that makes the US divine or divinely blessed or overall, just good.

But considering the long background that the US has had, it's more self-righteous then anything else and has actually impeded upon the may different areas and is quite an unstable and unsafe place, with many injustice and corruption where freedom is but a light illusion given to the people. Without proper rules you cannot properly guide people into a righteous path, here in Canada, the rules can be quite tough, specially the taxes, but overall we all benefit more.

If the world was filled with naturally Virtuous people, these kind of problems would be long gone, but unfortunately the nature of man is not inherently good, though to some, they are. With this, Religion does play a role in our society as it teaches us many different ethics and morals... But still, these things are written by man and interpreted by man as well, this causes more problems which can lead to more corruption. In the end, all that matters is one's own self, spirituality and capability of learning more about the truth and lies in life.

I'm buddhist myself, yet I'm not all that religious, I pray yes, but nowadays I have been thinking to myself: "I pray to the earth, to the sky, to the spirits of my ancestors and in certain times, to the moon, to stories of old... Have I ever prayed to a god? Even so, I pray, yet I pray selfishly for my own good or for the good of those I know, what of the joy of those I pray to." With this line of thoughts, we're like children, selfishly asking for more and more, wanting to be spoiled by a greater power... Yet, should we not give something back first? But how do you want to give something back to someone you've never met...

To this, comes the next solution, work for it yourself. With this, religion becomes more like a guideline rather then a code or a rule. It becomes a suggestion, not something to be taken so radically, and with that, the ties to the people loosens and with this the more corrupt beings will no longer be able to hold the heart of others in fear of divine retribution or of the "evils" which surrounds their inherently "holy" lands and people whom live within them.

I've seen somewhere in a video that "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." Or something along the line... Why don't the people of the US decide to shape up and act? Or are they truly so ignorant or so lazy that they can't do anything about it. Then again, I'm no better myself, after all I speak more then I act, yet still, words carry weight and strenght and can rally men to righteous causes, just as they can to corrupt ones, such as those depicted by the current, much unfortunate for the entire world, president of the united state, sir Bush who's last name only reminds you of something located between your legs.

Educate the people properly and they will not follow blindly a corrupt dictator. Leave them ignorant of disastrous events and their hearts will not be filled with fear. Keep their virtues seeded deep inside their heart, else they shall fail their kin....

Whoops, gone on a wrong rant here, oh well, no sense wasting what I wrote, I'll post it. Final words, this corrupt man has gone long enough, he will be written down upon the many different scrolls and books of histories as an avatar of cruelty, stupidity and fascism, a being filled with greed, blinded by the voices in his head and leaning to insanity, comparable to many great evil that has unfortunately plagued this world. But before this happen, we can only hope that... wait what am I saying, we can hope that this can end rapidly and act for it to happen, wether through our lack of action, or through our actions against this senseless homocide on both sides.

Final words, this corrupt man has gone long enough, he will be written down upon the many different scrolls and books of histories as an avatar of cruelty, stupidity and fascism, a being filled with greed, blinded by the voices in his head and leaning to insanity, comparable to many great evil that has unfortunately plagued this world. But before this happen, we can only hope that... wait what am I saying, we can hope that this can end rapidly and act for it to happen, wether through our lack of action, or through our actions against this senseless homocide on both sides.

You'd be a great public speaker.

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Go to work in a tie rack? WTf?

Read what I put under the picture...

If you don't understand it: Over here quite a few of the impression programs have Bush saying "Tie Rack", not "Iraq"...just a weird thing to do wth his accent...a British thing...and a British cartoon.

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How credible is the source?

Which source? If you mean The Independent, then they are very credible. If, however, you mean the different sources for all the quotes, and all the things Vallely said, then I don't know. You may have to do a bit of searching online to see if you can find things that agree with it all.