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Dwarven Pirate · 11-22-2007, 07:00 AM

Quote:

in the fall of 2004, retired Gen. Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser to President

George H.W. Bush and as Chair of the younger Bush’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, made some

startling comments to the Financial Times.

A master of discretion with the media, Scowcroft nonetheless saw fit to make public his conclusion that

Sharon had Bush “mesmerized;” that he had our president “wrapped around his little finger.”

Consortium News Consortiumnews.com

An Aug. 3, 2006, McClatchy wire story by Ron Hutcheson quotes Matthew Brooks:

“If there’s a starting point for George W. Bush’s attachment to Israel, it’s the day in late 1998, when

he stood on a hilltop where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and, with eyes brimming with

tears, read aloud from his favorite hymn, ‘Amazing Grace.’ He was very emotional. It was a tear-filled

experience. He brought Israel back home with him in his heart. I think he came away profoundly moved.”

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After announcing he would abandon the decades-long role of “honest broker” between Israelis and

Palestinians and would tilt pronouncedly toward Israel, Bush said he would let Sharon resolve the

dispute however he saw fit.

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The 26-page
booklet, entitled "President George W. Bush - A Friend of the American Jewish Community," outlines the

history of Bush's relationship with the American Jewish community, the struggle against anti-Semitism,

the war against terror, and assistance to Israel.

President Bush Woos the Jewish Vote. | Middle East > Israel from AllBusiness.com

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Bush, in remarks at the White House after he briefed members of Congress about the recent Group of

Eight summit of industrialized nations, said the "root cause" of the conflict between Israel and

Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon "is terrorism and terrorist attacks on a democratic country."

Bush Supports Israel's Move Against Hezbollah - washingtonpost.com

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Candidate George W. Bush on Israel

Speech in which he alludes to the problems in the mideast being rooted in anti-semitism.

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“Mr. Bush seemed to be telling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he is free to reoccupy the entire West

Bank until a new, democratic Palestine emerges,” the New York Times editorialized. “How the

Palestinians can be expected to carry out elections or reform themselves while in a total lockdown by

the Israeli military remains something of a mystery.”

Bush gives Israel blank check in assault on Palestinians

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Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee criticized President George W. Bush's handling of the

Israeli-Palestinian peace process, saying the president was bowing to a faction of evangelical

Christians who oppose a Palestinian state.

"The religious thing is driving the foreign policy here," Chafee said following a speech at Brown

University in which he questioned whether the president's past comments pushing for peace were sincere.

Ousted Republican US senator criticizes Bush on Israel - International Herald Tribune

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[Christian Zionism:] Israel's Best Weapon? - article by Daniel Pipes

Opinion regarding Christian Zionism

Bush is certainly and by far the most pro-Israel president we have had since, hmmm, Truman probably. Surpassing Reagan, tho I admit that is debateable. Even Bush the first was more objective than those two in his treatment of Israel-Palestine and the greater picture.

He may now be moving toward a middle position, tho with his rhetoric on Iran I think that's doubtful overall.

Another thing you can look at is something I posted a while ago here on these boards. Personally I believe it; you may not. Here is a link:

Un petit scoop sur Bush, Chirac, Dieu, Gog et Magog | Rue89 and Le Matin Online > Quand George W. Bush voit les prophéties bibliques s'accomplir - Actu > Monde

There is a translation posted here in a thread titled Religious extremists are ubiquitous.

More on this from Jewish source, very recent, amazingly enough: Israeli news evokes 'Gog and Magog' scenario

Granted this stuff is far out in the wilderness, but that is where Christian fundamentalism lives.

Here is some more on Bush and christianity/God:

Quote:

George Bush's theology: does the president believe he has a Divine Mandate? - Nation National Catholic Reporter - Find Articles
Good reading and a fair article IMO

What's important is not that Bush is talking about God but that he's talking about him differently. We are witnessing a shift in Bush's theology--from talking mostly about a Wesleyan theology of "personal transformation" to describing a Calvinist "divine plan" laid out by a sovereign God for the country and himself. This shift has the potential to affect Bush's approach to terrorism, Iraq and his presidency.

* In his State of the Union address last month, Bush said the nation puts its confidence in the loving God "behind all of life, and all of history" and that "we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country. May He guide us now." {2003}

Time magazine reported, "Privately, Bush even talked of being chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment."

By 1999, Bush was saying he believed in a "divine plan that supersedes all human plans." He talked of being inspired to run for president by a sermon delivered by the Rev. Mark Craig, pastor of Bush's Dallas congregation, Highland Park United Methodist Church.

During the meeting, Land says, Bush said, "I believe God wants me to be president,

and from the Economist, in the interest of fairnessThe full quote, however, does not quite sound as if Mr Bush is labouring to scrap the republic and replace it with a theocracy. But if that doesn't happen, that's okay, the president continued, I have seen the presidency up close and personal. I know it's a sacrifice, and I don't need it for personal validation. …

Now, given his support of Israel, which you may or may not think is just plain old business as usual, I find it impossible to believe that he has ever denied that 6 million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany, which is such an emotional topic that laws criminalizing the questioning of it have been enacted in some nations. To me this entire scenario is inter-related.

So, there you go.

Now, please explain to me why you've 'rolled your eyes' at my post and what caused you to suspect whatever motive it is you ascribed to me.

EDIT: Read this in an article about a christian singer that performs for the military often. Not entirely pertinent, but it made me laugh

Quote:

Many of his songs, such as, "United We’ll Stand When Together We Kneel," espouse a militant brand of fundamentalist Christianity that has rapidly been adopted by the military since 9/11. "We no longer have a Pentagon; it has become a Pentecostalgon," says Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which is suing the military over what the organization deems the force-feeding of religion. "Our Department of Defense has become a contagion of unconstitutional, fundamentalist Christian fascism," he says.