Chilcot Report Vindicates John Paul II, Eviscerates Bush and Blair

In March 2003, Pope (and now canonized Saint) John Paul II sent a personal emissary to Bush 43, begging him not to launch his invasion of Iraq. It will cause “chaos,” the pope warned in a personal letter delivered by Cardinal Pio Laghi.

In the meeting, Bush tossed the letter aside unread and gave the Cardinal his usual hubristic diatribe that lasted 45 minutes. Cardinal Laghi barely had time to say a word.

And so history will recount how a puny, brazen bully scoffed insolently at the warning from the greatest Christian leader of the century.

Of course, the pope was right – Bush’s war brought on chaos and collapse throughout the Middle East.

Why did he persist? Bush didn’t like the pope, but that “wonderful Christian” loved that anti-Catholic bigot, Pastor Hagee.

Hagee wanted Armageddon in Iraq so he and his dispensationalist followers could rule the world with Christ for 1000 years. In the 2008 campaign, John McCain first sought Hagee’s support, but was then forced to repudiate Hagee’s bigotry – hard to do, because Hagee’s followers numbered in the millions, and many believed with Hagee that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon of Scripture.

The neocons, channeling through Cheney, manipulated Bush masterfully. They might not believe in God, but they convinced Bush that God wanted this war.

That’s the background. Now, in an important and seminal article, Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli spells out just how devastating the truth is for Blair (a multimillionaire, but shamed for life) and Bush (hiding out for life, repudiated by his party and even his own brother). The Chilcot Report will be a ball and chain that will drag their names into the dustbin of history’s pompous failures.

The neocons. They are always wrong, and they never, ever apologize.

The Best of Christopher Manion