21-07-2025
George Bush saw Iraq war as part of biblical crusade against ‘evil-doers'
President George W Bush saw the Iraq war as 'a crusade' to rid the world of 'evil-doers' by 'God's chosen nation', records released by the National Archives have shown.
Britain's ambassador to the US said that Mr Bush believed it was his 'mission' to overthrow Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, just months before the war.
Cabinet Office papers made public on Tuesday also reveal fears that Sir Tony Blair could have been 'forced from office' if he went to war without UN backing.
The files show that in December 2002, Sir Christopher Meyer, then ambassador to Washington, wrote to the Cabinet Office with an 'annual review' of the US, in which he noted that Mr Bush was keen to topple Saddam and felt it was his mission to rid the world of evil.
'More than anything else, he fears another catastrophic terrorist attack on the homeland, especially one with an Iraqi connection,' he sent in a diplomatic cable.
'His view of the world is Manichean. He sees his mission as ridding it of evil-doers. He believes American values should be universal values. He finds the Europeans' differentiation between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein self-serving.
'He is strongly allergic to Europeans collectively. Anyone who has sat round a dinner table with low-church Southerners will find these sentiments instantly recognisable.'
