'Bush says God sent him to war'

2005-10-06 23:49

London - United States President George W Bush believed that God told him to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, a senior Palestinian official says in a broadcast interview.

The BBC on Thursday released an excerpt from an interview with Palestinian information minister Nabil Shaath that was 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.

He said that President Bush said to all of them: "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."

- AP