Prior to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush told French President Jacques Chirac that " Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog *, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse."(1)

Yes, thats right, Gog and Magog. Mr. Chirac recounted ( in two 2007 interviews and a recently published book ) a strange conversation he had with Bush as his administration was soliciting allies to assemble the “coalition of the willing”( to support the Iraq invasion). Bush appealed to their “common faith” with this disturbing and cryptic revelation:

“Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

Chirac's account tends to confirm other stories about Mr. Bush's conversations with the Almighty ( drinking involvement unconfirmed) and the pervasiveness of religion in his Administration.

After 9-11 Bush said in a speech to Congress, "Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them." The interpretation by Deborah Caldwell of BeliefNet.com: God will intervene on the world stage, mediating between good and evil. (2)

After the speech to Congress, Mike Gerson Bush speech writer called the President and said: "Mr. President, when I saw you on television, I thought--God wanted you there." "He wants us all here, Gerson," the President responded.(2)

Bush attended a 2003 summit in Egypt were he told the Palestinian foreign minister he was “on a mission from God” to defeat Iraq. The MSM reported that the claim was "absurd".(3)

 GQ recently published Donald Rumsfelds  warlike Bible verses and Iraq battle photos used to present  war reports to Bush. (4)

One last interesting point to consider. Unless you lived in Europe , Canada or subscribed to the Charleston Gazette you probably never read about Chirac's account or heard it on any news broadcast. The story in the US has been largely an Internet item, not reported on any sites operated by the MSM.  Based on Bush's well known evangelical zeal, that is surprising.

Yet the repeatedly debunked Obama "birther" story persists on Fox, and other supposedly legitimate news sources

True , not true or somewhere in between, one would think that a liberal news media would be beside itself to publish what would be a highly embarassing expose that would finally explain why Bush invaded Iraq: God told him to do it.

James Haught Editor Charleston Gazette summed it up rather succinctly:

It’s awkward to say openly, but now-departed President Bush is a religious crackpot, an ex-drunk of small intellect who “got saved.” He never should have been entrusted with the power to start wars. 

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*For reference, Gog and Magog are favorite biblical characters for evangelical Christian ministers. The terrible twins appear in Old Testament book of Ezekiel in which God rages against Gog and Magog, evil forces menacing Israel and in the New Testament in the mystical book of Revelations. Revelations describes Gog and Magog as gathering nations for battle against the returning Christ, unhappy God sent fire that "came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”