Palestinian Leaders: Bush Claims God Told Him to Invade Iraq

Two high-ranking Palestinian officials say that President Bush told them that God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan and to create a Palestinian state to bring peace to the Middle East. Nabil Shaath and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were present at the conversation.

Shaath, now the PA's Minister of Information, told a British film documentary that the conversation between them and President Bush took place in June 2003. The film is scheduled to air in Great Britain next week.

'President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God,'' Shaath said. ''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,'

Shaath confirmed the quotes in an interview with the 'San Francisco Chronicle.' 'President Bush was saying that, 'Having been imbued with a message of God to free the people of Afghanistan and then Iraq, I have a calling now to give the Palestinians a state of their own and their freedom, to give Israel security and bring peace to the Middle East,' ' Shaath explained.

Shaath did not think the president was speaking literally. 'I think it's a manner of speech,' Shaath said. 'I don't think he meant an actual call from God. He was talking about a commitment. The man wasn't saying there was an angel hovering over his head talking to him. We took it as a commitment of the highest level by Mr. Bush to really invest his effort and his determination to get an independent Palestinian state. We welcome this commitment by the president and hope he will fulfill it.'

To many Muslims, the use of such language brings back images of the Crusades of the middle ages in which Christian soldiers went to Jerusalem to 'liberate' the Holy Land from 'infidels' as ordered by the pope.

Islamic militant groups often invoke images of the Crusades in an attempt to rally Arab masses to their cause, claiming that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a war on Islam. In fact, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has often referred to the crusades in his videotaped messages.

At least Americans can take solace that their president now has something in common with the Blues Brothers...he's on a mission from God.