Bush's War Plan Is Scarier Than He's Saying

[Renew Deal]

Bush's War Plan Is Scarier Than He's Saying
The Widening Crusade
by Sydney H. Schanberg
October 15 - 21, 2003

If some wishful Americans are still hoping President Bush will acknowledge that his imperial foreign policy has stumbled in Iraq and needs fixing or reining in, they should put aside those reveries. He's going all the way—and taking us with him.

The Israeli bombing raid on Syria October 5 was an expansion of the Bush policy, carried out by the Sharon government but with the implicit approval of Washington. The government in Iran, said to be seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, reportedly expects to be the next target.

No one who believes in democracy need feel any empathy toward the governments of Syria and Iran, for they assist the terrorist movement, yet if the Bush White House is going to use its preeminent military force to subdue and neutralize all "evildoers" and adversaries everywhere in the world, the American public should be told now. Such an undertaking would be virtually endless and would require the sacrifice of enormous blood and treasure.

With no guarantee of success. And no precedent in history for such a crusade having lasting effect.

People close to the president say that his conversion to evangelical Methodism, after a life of aimless carousing, markedly informs his policies, both foreign and domestic. In the soon-to-be-published The Faith of George W. Bush (Tarcher/Penguin), a sympathetic account of this religious journey, author Stephen Mansfield writes (in the advance proofs) that in the election year 2000, Bush told Texas preacher James Robison, one of his spiritual mentors: "I feel like God wants me to run for president. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. . . . I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it."

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0342/schanberg.php

[emad]

1. Wow! 888 posts Bleachers7 - that's even more scary than

the magic No 666: in Essene Gnosticism 888 is the number of 'radical thought'!

Don't worry about that forthcoming The Faith of George W Bush publication: check out 'Tony and me' by Georg Bush - as told to Dr James Parsons, and 'This is War' - by Georg Bush - as (also) told to Dr James Parsons.....it puts things is a rather different perspective!

[jbfam4]

2. Posted Tuesday

in editorials and articles. Didn't get much of a response, so glad you posted it again.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=16466

[maggrwaggr]

3. Uh, Bush, that's Satan whispering in your ear, not God

and you're jumping through all his hoops.

[janekat]

4. Bush even scares Gergen

GERGEN: BUSH A "RADICAL" RIGHT-WINGER
http://www.mediawhoresonline.com/
"Much Farther to the Right of Reagan"
Mr. G.O.P. Conventional Wisdom Shocked By What's Happened
Dubya May Be Religious Fanatic, Too, Gergan Says
Earth to Fineman... Earth to Fineman...

David Gergen is the about last person Washington looks to for outlandish, strident judgments about the political scene. Especially about the dim son of his old boss and great pal, George H. W. Bush.

But now, appearing on CNBC, Mr. Conventional Wisdom Gergen had described Dubya, with obvious shock and dismay, as a "radical" right-winger who may well be operating under fanatic religious delusions of grandeur.

GERGEN: But his act--his policies, his actual governance... <...> is far--much farther to the right of Reagan. It's--it--there--there's a radical conservatism that runs through much of the Bush policy, whether it's tax cuts or affirmative action or the environment or education or dismantling The Great Society. It's--I think it's been a major surprise.

Later in the interview, Gergen confirms the frightening possibility that Bush may truly believe that he is God's anointed, fulfilling some crackpot fundamentalist religious mission:

GERGEN: One of the interesting questions that I don't think anybody knows the answer to is whether, to--to--to some extent, he believes that--that providence intervened in his life at an earlier stage and whether, somehow, providence is now on the side of America and that he somehow may be an instrument of providence that--par--part of what he's on <...> is a mission that has so--some sort of theological roots.

-snip-

[janekat]

5. Remember this article?: "White House Insiders: Bush is "Out of Control

Remember this article:
http://www.mikehersh.com/article_86.shtml
White House Insiders: Bush is "Out of Control."
By Mike Hersh
Sep 5, 2002

"For 11 long years, Saddam Hussein has sidestepped, crawfished, wheedled out of any agreement he had made not to harbor, not to develop weapons of mass destruction, agreements he's made to treat the people within his country with respect. And so I'm going to call upon the world to recognize that he is stiffing the world."
- George W. Bush, 9/5/02

Sources within the White House inner circle say George W. Bush is "out of control." An unprovoked attack against Iraq is imminent, because Bush believes he's on a mission from God to rid the world of Saddam Hussein, whether the world likes it or not.

....Bush's sense of unquestionable authority drives him out of control when anyone defies him. Court decisions declaring his and Attorney General Ashcroft's actions unconstitutional and excessive infuriate Bush. People are questioning him on Iraq, and that makes Bush very angry.

....Despite their wise counsel and his assurances to the contrary, Bush has already made up his mind. He will step up his actions because, as the White House sources tell us, Bush is "out of control." Bush believes he was personally called by God to lead America. Tim Russert and former NYC Mayor Giuliani discussed this on "Meet the Press" last year. At the time, most dismissed such talk as post-September 11th hyperbole.

However, Bush has embraced this notion of Biblical mission, and now operates with an absolute sense of supreme authority without qualification and without limitation. He stands poised to unleash American might full force against anyone who would dare to defy him. The Karl Rove camp hopes an attack on Iraq will humiliate Democrats in time to sway the mid-term elections.