Bush's Chats with God

Errrr.....

WASHINGTON -- Once again, a private conversation between President Bush and Palestinian leaders two years ago has come back to bedevil the White House.

Despite the dubious nature of Bush's reported words -- which the White House insists have been mischaracterized -- the latest account asserting that Bush once claimed a divine mandate to wage war in Afghanistan and Iraq has spawned headlines around the globe, in newspapers and over the Internet.

Commentators have been especially ruthless in Europe, where Bush's born-again Christianity is viewed with suspicion.

The story has its roots in a meeting in June 2003, when Bush attended back-to-back summits in Egypt and Jordan to launch a peace plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The BBC will broadcast a documentary this week in which a senior Palestinian official alleges Bush privately suggested that he invaded Afghanistan and Iraq on the orders of God.