The White House has denied that President George W Bush said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, as a new BBC documentary is set to reveal. "That's absurd. He's never made such comments," White House spokesperson Scott McClellan has said.
The documentary series to be broadcast later this month in Britain claims Bush made this comment when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and then-foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003. He also told them he had been ordered by God to create a Palestinian state, the ministers have claimed.
Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister and deputy PM, said: "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'," said Shaath.
Abbas, who was also at the meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, recalled how the president told him: "'I have a moral and religious obligation'".
"'So I will get you a Palestinian state.'"
