| Errand Boy |
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By Chris Floyd -
This gospel was revealed,
appropriately enough, in the Holy Land this 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 cease-fire in their uprising against
Israeli forces, described for them his recent summit with Ariel
Sharon and 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 the United States 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-Qaida 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?
 'Road Map a Lifesaver for Us,' PM Abbas Tells Hamas Haaretz, Thursday June 26, 2003
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