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THE ANTICHRIST'S VEHICLE? In foreign lands, it's a short leap from such thinking to the conclusion that Bush is the religion-crazed bad guy in the Iraq crisis. If you accept that view, the determination of Israel's Likud Party to expand Israeli settlements means the Jews are returning to Judea and Samaria, the territory God promised Abraham. And now, with the U.N. balking at Bush's wishes, even some among America's allies worry that the Christian right -- and maybe even the President himself -- see the U.N. as the vehicle for the Antichrist's world order.
The only thing remaining to complete John Darby's prophecy is the war. It's no surprise that in a Feb. 26 debate in the British Parliament, George Galloway, a Labor Party backbencher from Scotland, declared that "that born-again, right-wing, Bible-belting, fundamentalist Republican Administration in the United States want war."
That sentiment is no doubt a reaction to the words created for Bush by his chief speech writer, Michael Gerson, an evangelical Christian. Historian Boyer notes that when Bush said in his State of the Union address that Saddam Hussein could unleash "a day of horror like none we have ever known," the President not only played on memories of September 11 but also invoked "a powerful and ancient apocalyptic vocabulary that for millions of [Christian] prophecy believers conveys a specific and thrilling message of an approaching end -- not just of Saddam, but of human history as we know it" -- complete with the return of Jesus to lead a much-expanded flock.
NOT ALL NUT JOBS. It's true that a President sending political messages to a key constituency isn't the same as a President basing a strategy on a messianic vision. But European geopolitical strategists with long ties to the U.S. -- people who can't be dismissed as nut jobs -- are convinced that religious beliefs are the primary motivation for the Bush Administration.
I don't agree. Few of Bush's aides share his particular brand of faith. One of the Administration's leading strategists on Iraq and elsewhere, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, is Jewish. I can't see Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a Princeton grad from Chicago, speaking in tongues as he talks to General Tommy Franks about war plans.
The President may use biblical language to justify and explain his position, but the Bible itself isn't the basis for his strategy. After all, the Darby theory's Recapture hasn't occurred yet, so the timeline is far away from Armageddon. In any event, if Bush really accepted the prophecy, he would believe that none of this is in human hands, but rather in God's, so the President could do nothing to advance the Millennium (for an examination on what does motivate Bush, see my Feb. 6 column, "Why Bush Is in a Rush to Boot Saddam").
The problem is that even as the President's words strengthen his ties to his political base at home, they corrode relations with important elites and publics abroad. Unless you understand the religious undercurrents at work in the current crisis, you can't fully appreciate the resistance of America's allies as the U.S. tries to build a consensus for attacking a devilishly clever leader in Iraq.
Crock covers national security and foreign affairs for BusinessWeek from Washington. Follow his views in Affairs of State twice a month, only on BusinessWeek Online
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