Hmmm ...

Via Jim Newell of Wonkette, I see there's a story published by James A. Haught, in Free inquiry and the Charleson Gazette, that's getting a little bit of Web attention. According to Haught, former French president Jacques Chirac has said repeatedly that George W. Bush told him "in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse." Chirac is reported to have said this in at least two separate interviews.

More from Haught:

The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

Will this be looked into at all by the MSM? Doesn't look like it, as of this moment. (In fairness, Kevin Drum does note that the Toronto Star mentioned this a few months ago.)

I'm afraid I share the cynical outlook of OccamsRazor from The Young Turks …

One last interesting point to consider. Unless you lived in Europe, Canada or subscribed to the Charleston Gazette you probably never read about Chirac's account or heard it on any news broadcast. The story in the US has been largely an Internet item, not reported on any sites operated by the MSM. Based on Bush's well known evangelical zeal, that is surprising.

Yet the repeatedly debunked Obama "birther" story persists on Fox, and other supposedly legitimate news sources.

True, not true or somewhere in between, one would think that a liberal news media would be beside itself to publish what would be a highly embarrassing expose that would finally explain why Bush invaded Iraq: God told him to do it.

… and Andrew Sullivan:

If you think the networks or MSM will ask Bush or Cheney this question and ask them if Chirac made this up, you need to move to a country where mainstream journalists are unafraid of those in power and less eager to book them on their Sunday shows than ask them real questions that would tick them off. The Sunday shows are platforms for the power elites to convey their propaganda through vessels like Stephanopoulos or Gregory. They are not intended to grill or expose the lies of politicians. And God knows, David Gregory must never, ever take a position.

Remember the slide shows Rumsfeld put together for Bush? Oh, there's probably no connection. Now, about Obama's choice of beer …

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(NB: Minor typos fixed in latter two blockquotes.)