Last Updated: Thursday, 6 October 2005, 19:58 GMT 20:58 UK

White House denies Bush God claim

The White House has dismissed as "absurd" allegations made in a BBC TV
series that President Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq.

"He's never made such comments," White House spokesman Scott McClellan
said.

The comments were attributed to Mr Bush by the Palestinian negotiator
Nabil Shaath in the upcoming TV series Elusive Peace: Israel and the
Arabs.

Mr Shaath said that in a 2003 meeting with Mr Bush, the US president
said he was "driven with a mission from God".

Holy war?

"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.'"

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the meeting in June
2003 too, also appears on the documentary series to recount how Mr
Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will 
get you a Palestinian state."

The TV series charts recent attempts to bring peace to the Middle
East, from former US President Bill Clinton's peace talks in 1999-2000
to Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this year.

It seeks to uncover what happened behind closed doors by speaking 
to presidents and prime ministers, along with their generals and
ministers.

The BBC Two series, Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace will be
broadcast on Mondays from 10 October at 2100 BST.


Source: BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4317498.stm


Cheers, Steve..

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