"God told Bush to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan"

How "God told Bush to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan"
BBC to broadcast the US president's "religious" obligations

US PRESIDENT George W Bush believes God told him to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a senior Palestinian official.

The BBC yesterday released an excerpt from an interview with Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath - part of a series called Israel and the Arabs.

Shaath described his first meeting, in company with Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen, in June 2003.

"'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.'"

Abu Mazen told the BBC that, at the same meeting, Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."

Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace will be broadcast in Britain on October 10, 17 and 24, and in its entirety on the US Public Broadcasting Service on Monday October 10.

Meanwhile, Bush said yesterday that the US has foiled three al-Qaeda terror strikes on its soil since the September 11 attacks in 2001.

In a major speech painting Islamic terrorism as a tyrannical heir to Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler, he vowed "we will keep our nerve" in Iraq.

He hit out at what he branded as "self-defeating pessimism" surrounding a war in which more Americans than ever before are doubting his leadership, according to opinion polls released as the US death toll nears 2000.

And in remarks seemingly aimed at the Islamic world, Bush said radical terror groups were "enemies of Islam" and called on leading Muslim clerics to cleanse their religion of the taint of terrorism.

"The United States and our partners have disrupted at least 10 serious al-Qaeda terrorist plots since September 11, including three al-Qaeda plots to attack inside the United States," he said in the speech to the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington.

Bush did not provide details of the targets or of the timing of the foiled strikes.
The president, seeking to reclaim the authority on national security which characterised his first term in office, portrayed al-Qaeda as the latest in a long line of ideological threats to freedom and the United States.

He compared terrorist leaders to ideological "fanatics" Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler, and Cambodia's Khmer Rouge kingpin Pol Pot.

"Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously and we must stop them before their crimes multiply," Bush said, delivering the speech in the symbolic surroundings of the Ronald Reagan Building, dedicated to the man many Americans believe was instrumental to the defeat of communism.

"We have seen this kind of shameless cruelty before, in heartless zealotry that led to the gulags and the Cultural Revolution and the Killing Fields."

Bush hit out at critics of his leadership in Iraq, amid growing criticism in Congress and even calls to bring the troops home.

"Observers look at the job ahead and adopt a self-defeating pessimism. It is not justified," Bush said, arguing that Iraq had made "incredible political progress" and warned the idea that America would be better off out of Iraq was a "dangerous illusion".

Bush also hit out at critics who say the Iraq war has made America more vulnerable to terrorism, not safer. "I'll remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11, 2001, and al-Qaeda attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse."

In the speech, which also claimed US successes in Afghanistan and in convincing Libya to abandon its weapons of mass destruction, Bush also warned terrorists were exploiting Islam.

"The time has come for all responsible Islamic leaders to join in denouncing an ideology that exploits Islam for political ends, and defiles a noble faith."

- Sapa-AFP
GEORGE W BUSH

http://www.dispatch.co.za/2005/10/07/Foreign/bush.html


Healing from Terrorism, Fear, and Global War
(laffing at ones self, humor)
by E Johannes Soltermann
http://print.google.co.in/print?id=qmtHbOqIHsUC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=not+afraid+of+death+osama&prev=http://print.google.co.in/print%3Fie%3DUTF-8%26q%3Dnot%2Bafraid%2Bof%2Bdeath%2Bosama%26btnG%3DSearch&sig=LXDt5apYm25WzLLfTDRiqC1EFj8


Why me Lord
Why me Lord What have I ever done to deserve even one,
Of the pleasures I've known

Tell me Lord, What did I ever do that was worth loving you,
For the kindness you've shown.

Lord help me Jesus I've wasted it so,
Help me Jesus, I know what I am.
But now that I know that I've needed you so,
Help me Jesus my soul's in your hands.

Try me Lord, If you think there's a way I can try to repay,
All I've taken from you.
Maybe Lord, I can show someone else what I've been through myself,
On my way back to you.

Lord help me Jesus I've wasted it so,
Help me Jesus, I know what I am.

But now that I know that I've needed you so,
Help me Jesus my soul's in your hands.

Lord help me Jesus I've wasted it so, Help me Jesus, I know what I am.
But now that I know that I've needed you so,
Help me Jesus my soul's in your hands.Jesus my soul's in your hands.

(as sung by Kris Kristofferson)
# posted by Opie Outlaw @ 10/06/2005