Bush's Messianic Complex

Pamela previously commented on Seymour Hersh’s article in The New Yorker on Bush’s plans for Iran at The Democratic Daily. Hersh was interviewed on CNN’s Late Edition today (just prior to a reshowing of Blitzer’s interview with John Kerry).

As Kerry has pointed out in his recent interviews, the Bush Administration lacks any coherent use of diplomacy as we have seen by previous presidents with men such as Henry Kissinger and James Baker. Many worry that, just as Bush never intended to use diplomacy in Iraq, he is determined to attack Iran, even with nuclear weapons. Rational arguments as to the dangers of this course will not influence Bush as explained by Hersh:

The word I hear is messianic. He thinks, as I wrote, that he’s the only one now who will have the courage to do it. He’s politically free. I don’t think he’s overwhelmingly concerned about the ‘06 elections, congressional elections. I think he really thinks he has a chance, and this is going to be his mission.

In the New Yorker article, Hersh quoted one member of Congress as saying, “The most worrisome thing is that this guy has a messianic vision.” Later in the article Hersh wrote:

A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was “absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb” if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.”