I know this is likely to be lost in the storm of righteous anger over the Prop8 verdict, but I just came across this info, and I found it to be interesting and pretty damned scary.
In the context of the recently-revealed Biblical cover pages to Bush's daily briefings (as revealed at GQ), a more disturbing factoid has come to light, published in French in 2007.
From alternet:
In 2003 while lobbying leaders to put together the Coalition of the Willing, President Bush spoke to France's President Jacques Chirac. Bush wove a story about how the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and how they must be defeated.
...
Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac:
"This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins".
Details and translations below the fold.
Details on Gog and Magog vary; the reference is alternately mentioned as nations, giants, or demons. Most relevant is the New Testament's Book of Revelations context - putatively Bush's favorite source - which reads (from the Wikipedia entry):
7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, :8. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (KJV)
Here, Gog and Magog are identified as the nations in the four corners of the earth, and their attack is represented as an eschatological crisis after the Millennium, to be vanquished by divine intervention.
Interestingly, wiki also has the Qur'an's take on this:
But when Gog and Magog are let loose and they rush headlong down every height (or advantage). Then will the True Promise draw near - (Qur'an 21:96-97)
==
This is a distinct case of Bush referencing Biblical End-of-Days prophecies as a rationale for war in the Middle East. Stated to another head of state, no less.
I wasn't sure what to make of the veractity of the story, so I did some digging.
It's reported in the French Rue89in September of 2007, when the details first came out.
Truthout.orgreported it in English at the same time, though I don't recall hearing much of it then.
The original report can be found at Allez Savoir (also French). The link goes to that month's landing page, from which you can find a pdf describing the affair. I'll do my best to translate it with my rusty French.
...le président des Etats-Unis avait évoqué Gog et Magog dans une conversation avec Jacques Chirac. La discussion portait sur l’actualité au Proche-Orient. Après avoir expliqué qu’il voyait Gog et Magog à l’œuvre, George W.Bush a ajouté que les prophéties bibliques étaient en train de s’accomplir», poursuit Thomas Römer.
Cette conversation, qui porta encoresur l’axe du mal, eut lieu au début 2003,quelques semaines avant l’intervention américaine en Irak.
Translation (apologies for any inaccuracies)
... the President of the United States evoqued Gog and Magog in a conversation with [French President] Jacques Chirac. The discussion was about news in the Middle East. Having explained that he saw Gog and Magog at work, George W. Bush added that the biblical propecies were being fulfilled," explained [professor of theology at the University of Lausanne] Thomas Romer.
This conversation, about the Axis of Evil, took place in early 2003, some weeks before the American intervention in Iraq.
And what came of this at the time? (same pdf source) :
Ces réflexions politiciennes figuraient-elles sur la page A4 que Thomas Römer a transmise à l’Elysée, au début 2003? «Non. J’ai envoyé une note biblique. Sur une page, j’ai situé ce texte, j’ai précisé qu’il s’agissait d’une prophétie de type apocalyptique, avec une bataille cos-
mique qui met en scène des peuples. J’ai parlé de Gygos et j’ai donné l’époque de sa rédaction. Et je n’ai plus eu de nouvelles, ni de Jacques Chirac, ni de sesconseillers.»
Translation:
Did these poltical reflections make the front page? "No. I sent a letter explaining the biblical references. On one page, I put this text [explaining Gog & Magog], and I specficed that it had to do with an apocalyptic prophecies, a cosmic battle that takes place among the people of the earth. I spoke of Gygos [one individual noted in Alexandrian interpretations of the prophecy] and gave the time of his writing. And I didn't hear any more news, neither from Jacques Chirac or his advisers."
... and we wondered why the French were leery to get involved in this conflict. G-d, please save us from your supposed followers...
And lest you think this is a one-off thing, that people no longer see in 2009, check out the GogMagog tags on the Watchman Newsletter.
edit: changed title "New Age" -> "Apocalyptic"