[casi] The Revelation of St. George "God Instructed Me to Strike Saddam"

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Chris Floyd: The Revelation of St. George

June 30, 2003 http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd06302003.html

The Revelation of St. George "God Instructed Me to Strike Saddam"
By CHRIS FLOYD

So now we know. After all the mountains of commentary and speculation, all
the earnest debates over motives and goals, all the detailed analyses of global
strategy and political ideology, it all comes down to this: George W. Bush
waged war on Iraq
because, in his own words, God "instructed me to strike at Saddam."

This gospel was revealed, appropriately enough, in the Holy Land last week,
through an unusual partnership between the fractious children of Abraham. The
Israeli newspaper Haaretz was given transcripts of a negotiating session
between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and faction leaders from Hamas and
other militant groups. Abbas, who was trying to persuade the groups to call a
ceasefire in their uprising against Israeli forces, described for them his
recent summit with Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush. During the tense talks at the
summit, Bush sought to underscore the kind of authority he could bring to
efforts at achieving peace in the Middle East. While thundering that there could
be "no deals with terror groups," Bush sought to assure the rattled
Palestinians that he also had the ability to wring concessions from Sharon. And what was
the source of this wonder-working power? It was not, as you might think, the
ungodly size of the U.S. military or the gargantuan amount of money and arms
America pours into Israel year after year.

No, Bush said he derived his moral heft from the Almighty Himself. What's
more, the Lord had proven his devotion to the Crawford Crusader by crowning his
military efforts with success. In fact, he told Abbas, God was holding the door
open for Middle
East peace right now--but they would have to move fast, because soon the
Creator and Sustainer of the Universe would have to give His attention to
something far more important: the election of His little sunbeam, Georgie, in 2004.

Here are Bush's exact words, quoted by Haaretz: "God told me to strike at al
Qaeda and I struck them, and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which
I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you
help me, I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to
focus on them."

You can't put it plainer than that. The whole chaotic rigmarole of Security
Council votes and UN inspections and Congressional approval and Colin Powell's
whizbang Powerpoint displays of "proof" and Bush's own tearful prayers for
"peace"--it was all a
sham, a meaningless exercise. No votes, no inspections, no proof or lack of
proof--in fact, no earthly reason whatsoever--could have stopped Bush's
aggressive war on Iraq. It was God's unalterable will: the Lord of Hosts gave a
direct order for George W. Bush to "strike at Saddam."

And strike he did, with an awesome fury that rained death and destruction on
the mustachioed whore of Babylon, with a firestorm of Godly wrath that
consumed the enemy armies like so much chaff put to the flame--and with an arsenal of
cruise missiles, cluster bombs, dive bombers and assault helicopters that
killed up to
10,000 innocent civilians: blasted to pieces in their beds, shot down in
their fields and streets, crushed beneath the walls of their own houses, boiled
alive in factories, ditches, and cars, gutted, mutilated, beheaded, murdered,
women, children, elders,
some praying, some wailing, some cursing, some mute with fear as metal death
ripped their lives away and left rotting hulks behind. This was the work of
the Lord and His faithful servant, whom He hath raised high up to have dominion
over men.

And this is the mindset--or rather, the primitive fever-dream--that is now
directing the actions of the greatest military power in the history of the
world. There can be no doubt that Bush believes literally in the divine character
of his mission. He honestly and sincerely believes that whatever "decision"
forms in his brain--out of the flux and flow of his own emotional impulses and
biochemical reactions, the flattery and cajolements of his sinister advisers,
the random scraps of fact, myth and fabrication that dribble into his proudly
undeveloped and incurious consciousness--has been planted there, whole and
perfected, by God Almighty.

And that's why Bush acts with such serenity and ruthlessness. Nothing he does
can be challenged on moral grounds, however unethical or evil it might
appear, because all of his actions are directed by God. He can twist the truth,
oppress the poor, exalt
the rich, despoil the earth, ignore the law--and murder children--without the
slightest compunction, the briefest moment of doubt or self-reflection,
because he believes, he truly believes, that God squats in his brainpan and tells
him what to do.

And just as God countenanced deception on the part of Abraham, just as God
forgave David for the murders he ordered, just as God blessed the armies of Saul
as they obliterated the Amalekites, man, woman and child, so will He overlook
any crime committed by Bush and his minions as they carry out His will.
That's why Bush can always "do whatever it takes" to achieve his goals. And by his
own words to Abbas, we see that he places his election in 2004 above all other
concerns, even the endless bloodshed in the Middle East.

So what new crimes will the Lord have to countenance to keep His appointed
servant in power?


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