In Search of Apocalypse: a Story of Liberal Hypocrisy and Western Naivete

In the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, many on the left were criticizing Bush and warning others, about the former president's strange religious views and how they affect his policy decisions. It was said that Bush and his 'neocon' friends have a millenarian bend and that they are looking to live out some apocalyptic biblical prophecy. Most notable is president Chirac's claim that Bush said 'Gog Magog is at hand' when the latter tried to convince the former to join his coalition for the war in Iraq (which is coincidentally the location of biblical Babylon, not to mention lots and lots and lots of Oil).

The debate went back and forth. Some claimed that the occasional Bush religious statement was merely a move for his substantial Evangelical support base. The left often tried to dig very hard to find such statements in order to try and label Bush as some sort of a religious whacko. 

Bush's critics wanted to warn us of the possibility of Bush being a religious fanatic, and rightfully so. While I believe that calling Bush a religious fanatic is much of a stretch, in the west, we have come to view religion as a private aspect of life that should not be used for public policy. This is a problem that every country with a substantial conservative religious minority has to grapple with.

Interestingly enough though, the same group of Liberals, who are taking a 'principled' stand on a western politician's religious fanaticism, are proven to be full of hot air. Because when the same conservative elements which the liberals accuse of being overly religious, point to the fact that we should be careful from Islamist movements because they are most certainly religious whackos bent on holy war and the end of days, the 'principled' liberals instinctively go on the defensive to protect the Islamists.