Bush’s Call to War against Gog & Magog…
A reader sent me the link to this article and I will post the entire article here for your ease of access. This is a perfect example of the Political Dominionist brain works and how frightening that is while sitting in the White House.
A French Revelation, or The Burning Bush
JAMES A. HAUGHT
Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.
Honest. This isn’t a joke. 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.
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.”
This bizarre episode occurred while the White House was assembling its “coalition of the willing” to unleash the Iraq invasion. Chirac says he was boggled by Bush’s call and “wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs.”
After the 2003 call, the puzzled French leader didn’t comply with Bush’s request. Instead, his staff asked Thomas Romer, a theologian at the University of Lausanne, to analyze the weird appeal. Dr. Romer explained that the Old Testament book of Ezekiel contains two chapters (38 and 39) in which God rages against Gog and Magog, sinister and mysterious forces menacing Israel. Jehovah vows to smite them savagely, to “turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,” and slaughter them ruthlessly. In the New Testament, the mystical book of Revelation envisions Gog and Magog gathering nations for battle, “and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”
In 2007, Dr. Romer recounted Bush’s strange behavior in Lausanne University’s review, Allez Savoir. A French-language Swiss newspaper, Le Matin Dimanche, printed a sarcastic account titled: “When President George W. Bush Saw the Prophesies of the Bible Coming to Pass.” France’sLa Liberte likewise spoofed it under the headline “A Small Scoop on Bush, Chirac, God, Gog and Magog.” But other news media missed the amazing report.
Subsequently, ex-President Chirac confirmed the nutty event in a long interview with French journalist Jean-Claude Maurice, who tells the tale in his new book, Si Vous le Répétez, Je Démentirai (If You Repeat it, I Will Deny), released in March by the publisher Plon.
Oddly, mainstream media are ignoring this alarming revelation that Bush may have been half-cracked when he started his Iraq war. My own paper,The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia, is the only U.S. newspaper to report it so far. Canada’s Toronto Star recounted the story, calling it a “stranger-than-fiction disclosure … which suggests that apocalyptic fervor may have held sway within the walls of the White House.” Fortunately, online commentary sites are spreading the news, filling the press void.
The French revelation jibes with other known aspects of Bush’s renowned evangelical certitude. For example, a few months after his phone call to Chirac, Bush attended a 2003 summit in Egypt. The Palestinian foreign minister later said the American president told him he was “on a mission from God” to defeat Iraq. At that time, the White House called this claim “absurd.”
Recently, GQ magazine revealed that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attached warlike Bible verses and Iraq battle photos to war reports he hand-delivered to Bush. One declared: “Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.”
It’s awkward to say openly, but now-departed President Bush is a religious crackpot, an ex-drunk of small intellect who “got saved.” He never should have been entrusted with the power to start wars.
For six years, Americans really haven’t known why he launched the unnecessary Iraq attack. Official pretexts turned out to be baseless. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction after all, and wasn’t in league with terrorists, as the White House alleged. Collapse of his asserted reasons led to speculation about hidden motives: Was the invasion loosed to gain control of Iraq’s oil—or to protect Israel—or to complete Bush’s father’s vendetta against the late dictator Saddam Hussein? Nobody ever found an answer.
Now, added to the other suspicions, comes the goofy possibility that abstruse, supernatural, idiotic, laughable Bible prophecies were a factor. This casts an ominous pall over the needless war that has killed more than four thousand young Americans and cost U.S. taxpayers perhaps $1 trillion.
James A. Haught is the editor of the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia) and a Free Inquiry senior editor.
Tags: Bush, Chirac, Evangelical Extremists, France, religious war, United States
Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I'm so happy you posted this today! I cannot fathom why this is not the headline at every news organization! I wish the international press would get in an uproar about this because maybe then it would get some attention here.
And if anyone has not seen those Rumsfeld memo covers you can read the whole article and get to the slideshow here:
http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=conte...
Apparently, Rumsfeld felt that blatantly using this religious imagery would be a powerful appeal to Bush – and it was.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:24 am
..and you can add Palin to that "deafening" silence. Vigilance I say…vigilance…(NOT to be confused with paranoia, mind you)
August 7th, 2009 at 5:23 am
I have been reading this blog for a while and I have to say it is one lucky find. My two biggest pet peeves in one place – Sarah Palin and dominionism. Leah, you have done a fantastic job. I came out of evangelicalism about 15 years ago. It was a long and difficult journey, but I am a much better and happier person for it. I saw dominionism at work first hand. It was the catalyst for me to take a second look at what I was involved with. I have also seen that no matter how quiet they might seem at times, they are always planning, planning, planning. I would venture to say that a very large part of the evangelical community is involved in a dominionist group without even knowing it. I have tried to talk to friends and family who are big fans of James Dobson and James Kennedy, et al. They never believe me. And of course the folks who most need to do the research are the ones who will never do it. Thank you Leah – I do believe I am here to stay.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
…yes, without a doubt…the Iraqi people have suffered mightily as a result of this religious crusade by Bush & Co. If this was all about spreading democracy and freeing people from the rule of tyranny by dictators…why didn't we rise up against Pol Pot, or run to the defense of the horrific atrocities in Rwanda? Because they don't have oil…AND they aren't in the middle east where the clash of the 'c'hristians vs the Muslims is pre-destined to happen in the End Times/Apocalypse story according to these self-ordained "crusaders for Christ"!
They WANT to poke a stick into other countries that will react, and they have been at this fro many years – trying to incite an all out WWIII…just look at how peeved the Rs are because Clinton peacefully negotiated the return of the 2 women from North Korea. They hate this peace crap!
August 7th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Good for you for finding your way out of that cult! How did you manage that? I am sincerely interested in successful walkaway stories. You can always write me at leah@theopalinism.com for private comment.
You are spot on! I have stated this same point, and will continue to repeat it…that the majority of the congregations in these dominionist churches have NO idea the agenda behind the Movement. The leaders at the top are the ones running the show and guiding their flock. Lance Wallnau himself throws out numbers to the tune of 35% of the population in America is born-again evangelical, and only 5% of them are the leaders in "the know". The know – meaning the 7 Mountains Agenda to theocracize America, the world et al…
Dobson and the now deceased D. James Kennedy are among the worst of these Phalse Prophets for Profit…and you are definitely fighting an uphill battle when trying to enlighten those who are brainwashed by these slick snake oil salesmen AND women. That is why I am focused on informing the rest of us who are in the majority and have the power through knowledge to shine a light on their Movement and I pray that will culminate in a repulsion of their dangerous acceptance into our political system. Thank you for coming…and staying!
August 7th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I know…all I do is shake my head and remain grateful for 2 things right off the top…1) the internet so that we can get information out despite the cowardly media. This information has been out there…they won't listen…but let's not stop telling it. Repeatedly! Eventually they will have to pick it up. And oddly? 2) I am grateful to Palin because without her high profile antics, I would not be writing this blog and my books about Political Dominionism because there would be zero audience. She has done more to bring this dangerous group to light than anyone before – and has given us a platform from which to launch from.
Funny, huh?