Gog and Magog in the White House

A recent book by the veteran journalist Kurt Eichenwald has revived the claim that in 2003 George W. Bush cited biblical end-times prophecy in a futile attempt to persuade Jacques Chirac to join in the invasion of Iraq. “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East,” Bush allegedly told the French president. “Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled.”1 This stunning charge is not new. It was first made by a theology professor at the University of Lausanne in 2007, then by a French journalist two years later. It attracted some attention in Europe but got little traction in America until now. If it is true, it could prove that the United States launched the Iraq war at least in part because of Bush's reading of scriptural prophecy. This essay will assess the veracity of that story, placing it in the context of what is known about Bush's faith and how his religious views may have influenced his Middle East policies. It will show that an important part of the end-times thinking that Eichenwald attributes to Bush reflects an error in Eichenwald's research: it was not spoken by Bush but by the theology professor at Lausanne four years later. Still, the general outline of the story has now been reported by three different sources, each of whom claims to have inside information. Bush has not denied it. Chirac, for his part, may have obliquely confirmed it in his recent memoir: describing the conversation with Bush, he says that Bush saw the invasion of Iraq as “a quasi-mystical mission that he felt was incumbent on him.”2 That comment seems peculiar in isolation. Maybe it was a broad rebuke of Bush for couching his “crusade” against “evildoers” in the language of religious certainty. Chirac's remark was pointed and specific, however, if Bush did cite biblical prophecy in his argument for war. There have been several first-hand reports that Bush has spoken of receiving divine guidance, including instructions to attack al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. So, the idea that Bush's Mideast policy was inspired by apocalyptic prophecy deserves scrutiny.

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