At Root Of Crisis In Iraq May Be Mystical Factors That Fly Below Media's 'Radar'

It may strike many as a mystery how, in the face of now mushrooming disenchantment, with seventy percent of the public against the war in Iraq (in one poll), and constant carnage (25,000 Americans and more than a hundred thousand Iraqis, wounded or killed), President Bush can calmly maintain the course he set.

Some point to the courage of his convictions. Others have decried it as simple stubbornness. And it may be either, or both. We won't judge (nor delve into politics). Is there an additional factor?

Hardly anyone is recalling that according to reports this rather mystically-prone and Bible-reading president (he has gone through all of the Scriptures twice) believed he received orders to invade both Afghanistan and Iraq in a locution. Is his "stubbornness," if it is stubbornness, born of a deeply-held belief that he heard from God?

As we have noted previously, a brief item in the Jerusalem-based newspaper, Haaretz, stated three years ago that at a meeting in Aqaba, Jordan, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the president allegedly told Abbas, "God told me to strike at al Qaeda 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."

Shaath, who later was the Palestinian information minister, claims that ''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.'"

The ministers repeated these claims to BBC, the liberal British network, and indeed the type of Christianity practiced by Bush is close to evangelicalism, which often relies on "words of knowledge." He has said he is on a "mission." However, the White House dismissed the reports of a voice as "absurd."

And so we are not sure, although it is also interesting that Tony Blair of Britain feels similarly led, on his part through Christianity, although his wife is somewhat immersed in the New Age.

It is for us to discern as we also look at the mystical aspects of Iraq itself. Is there something here also?

Some believe the Garden of Eden was in Iraq. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was a cradle of civilization (one of a number). Abram lived in Iraq. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq. Babylon was located in Iraq. Nebuchadenezzar brought the Jews captive there. There was the writing on the wall there. Ezekiel preached in Iraq. The wise men may have been from there. No city but Jerusalem is mentioned more than Babylon. The Empire of Man as in Revelation may have been there. Some even believe that Noah built his ark here (others say the neighboring territory of Turkey). Surah 11:44 of the Koran says it settled on Mount Judi, identified by tradition with a hill near the town of Jazirat ibn Umar on the east bank of the Tigris in the province of Mosul in northern Iraq.

It is impossible to verify where each of these situations took place in the Bible, but Iraq was many names (Babylon, the Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia).

And so while we must be careful in that such territories and where they were located are also under debate, we see the elements that may work below the surface as newsmen cover only the political elements. A mystical intervention, or a trap?

We report; you discern.

12/15/09