George W. Bush returns to Rev. Rick Warren's Saddleback Civic Forum

Reverend Rick Warren's November Saddleback Forum returns on November 29th, one year after the Reverend hung his International Medal of P.E.A.C.E. around Rwandan President Paul Kagame's neck, three months after the Reverend showed up, waving his Rwandan passport, to say the prayer invocation at incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame's inauguration, just as he had, almost two years earlier at Barack Obama's.

Who will be his Saddleback Forum guest this time?  George W. Bush, once again, as on December 1, 2008, when Warren honored Bush with his first International Medal for P.E.A.C.E., to say thanks for PEPFAR, the $18 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that became Warren's abstinence-only-until-heterosexual-married-monogamy power base in East Africa, most of all in Rwanda and Uganda.

Isn't it time for Reverend Rick Warren to stand trial in the court of public opinion, like the epic war criminals he advises and prays for?

Published: Nov. 9, 2010
Updated: 7:09 p.m.

President Bush to speak at Saddleback forum with Rick Warren

BY ERIKA I. RITCHIE

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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LAKE FOREST – Former President George W. Bush will sit down for a conversation on leadership with Pastor Rick Warren during Saddleback Church's 6th Civil Forum later this month.

The forum, planned for Nov. 29, will focus on Bush's leadership and is expected to include discussion of excerpts from the former president's book, "Decision Points," Warren's chief of staff David Chrzan said.

President George W. Bush talks with pastor Rick Warren, founder of the Saddleback Valley Church, Lake Forest, Calif. after receiving an award from Warren as they participate in the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, at the Newseum in Washington.

RON EDMONDS, AP

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The book, released Tuesday, chronicles what Bush considers to be pivotal moments in his eight-year presidency and is aimed at defining his role as a world leader. Bush details a range of decisions from quitting drinking to deploying American troops after Sept. 11.

"The forum will include a personal conversation between Pastor Rick and President Bush," Chrzan said. "The goal is to create a forum where the community around Saddleback Church can hear from speakers who are great leaders and those who have positively impacted humanity."

Bush has been on national TV book tour, appearing in prime time Monday night in an interview with "Today Show's" Matt Lauer, and sitting with Oprah Tuesday afternoon.

The former president pointed to the 9/11 attacks as the moment when his administration was given an objective. As he wrote: "In a single morning, the purpose of my presidency had grown clear: to defend our freedom that had come under attack."

He also writes about the use of torture on members of Al Qaeda, and the bad intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Saddleback Church's previous forums have focused on orphans and adoption, Holocaust survivors, global health, persecution of Christians, the presidency, and the power of reconciliation, a discussion that featured the president of Rwanda.

The 6th Saddleback Civil Forum will be held at Saddleback Church, 1 Saddleback Parkway. The event is open to the public. The time is still to be determined, Chrzan said.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7307 oreritchie@ocregister.com