BETWEEN FREEDOM AND THEOCRACY STANDS ONLY THE BEEB

Palestinians quote Bush (Agence France-Presse, October 7th, 2005)

Palestinian leaders appearing in a BBC documentary say George W. Bush told them he had been instructed by God to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, according to details of the program released yesterday.

The U.S. President made the statement when he met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and then-foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June, 2003, the ministers say in the documentary Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, to be broadcast in Britain this month.

Mr. Bush also told them he had been ordered by God to create a Palestinian state, the ministers said. "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God,' " Mr. Shaath, now the Palestinian Information Minister, says in the program.

Mr. Shaath goes on to quote the President as saying: "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. Shaath quotes Mr. Bush as saying.[...]

Yesterday, however, White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied Mr. Bush ever made such statements, calling claims that he had done so "absurd."

Tony Blair told them the next day that he takes his orders from the archangel Gabriel but, being just the poodle, he was cool with that.