Rev. John Hagee Will Call On Bush Today For A Pre-emptive Military Strike On Iran

More than 3,000 pro-Israel evangelical Christians [are] in town [this] week for a "Washington/Israel summit" to push the Bush administration toward stronger support for the Jewish state. Starting with a banquet [yesterday] at the Hilton Washington and visits to Capitol Hill [this] morning, the inaugural gathering of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) will showcase a deeper cooperation between evangelical Christians and Jews in the face of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suggestion in October, often reiterated since, that Israel "be wiped off the map." Their host will be Texas evangelist the Rev. John C. Hagee, pastor of the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio and author of "Jerusalem Countdown," a 2006 book about a nuclear-armed Iran. "There's a new Hitler in the Middle East," Mr. Hagee said in an interview. "He's talking about killing Jews. He will have the ability to do so with nuclear weapons. "I believe that the president of Iran fully intends there to be a nuclear holocaust. The only way he will be stopped will be by a pre-emptive military strike in Iran."