White House denies ‘divine’ mission

THE White House has denied that US President George W Bush said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, as a new BBC documentary is expected to reveal.

“That’s absurd. He’s never made such comments,” White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said.

The documentary series, Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, set to be broadcast this month in Britain, claims Mr Bush made the claim when he met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and then-foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003.

He also told them he had been ordered by God to create a Palestinian state, the ministers said.

Mr Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, said: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I’m driven with a mission from God’.”

He said Mr Bush continued: “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’,” said Mr Shaath.

Mr Abbas, who was also at the meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, recalled how the president told him: “I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state.”