Bush: Iraq invasion was my mission from God
TV documentary sparks outcry
Mike Waites, Sally Cope and Simon McGee
PRESIDENT George Bush told a Palestinian leader he was instructed by God to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.
The claim will be made in a forthcoming BBC documentary and dates from a meeting between the US leader and Palestinian politicians in 2003.
Mr Bush is said to have told them he was driven by a "mission from God" who, it is claimed, also told him to create a Palestinian state.
Last night the allegations were greeted with incredulity by opponents of the war in Iraq who said they raised serious questions about the conduct of international affairs.
In the BBC programme, Nabil Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, describes a meeting in Egypt involving himself, the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Bush.
He said: "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.'"
Mr Abbas recounts how the President told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."
Last night Peter Brierley, of Batley, whose son Shaun died in a Land Rover crash while on duty in Kuwait in March 2003, said Bush's claims did not justify military action.
"It is a strange message from God to go to war and kill thousands of people," he said. "Bush and Blair have been clutching at straws from the very beginning. This is just proving they have never had a good reason, they are just making things up as they go along.
"Maybe he believes that those are the messages he has been hearing, but to me that just makes you wonder about his sanity. It certainly makes you doubt his credentials."
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "I doubt very much that God would give such a foolish instruction. It's not the basis on which most people think we should take such dramatic foreign policy decisions.
"It would come as a shock to many churchgoing Christians who would not share that conception of divine influence."
Selby MP John Grogan, who also opposed war in Iraq, said: "I am always suspicious of politicians who claim divine inspiration or a direct link to God. As a practising Catholic I find that such claims are best left to priests or religious teachers.
"When the American Embassy and the Prime Minister were trying to convince Labour backbenchers to back the war, President Bush's conversations with our Maker certainly weren't mentioned and would have certainly caused considerable alarm."
Last month, senior figures in the Church of England questioned the US's sense of "moral righteousness".
The bishops of Bath and Wells, Oxford, Coventry, and Worcester, said in their report on countering terrorism: "There is no uniquely righteous nation. No country should see itself as the redeemer nation, singled out by God as part of his providential plan."
In a speech before the Washingon-based think-tank the National Endowment for Democracy, Mr Bush yesterday likened Islamic militants to communists who sought to "enslave whole nations and intimidate the world".
"The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia," he said.
"Against such an enemy, there's only one effective response: We never back down, never give in and never accept anything less than complete victory."
A BBC spokesman said the content of the programme had been put to the White House but it had refused to comment.
Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace, which charts attempts to bring peace to the Middle East, is being screened on October 10, 17 and 24 on BBC2.
Blair warning: Page 2.
Comment: Page 12.
07 October 2005
