Resolved: Israel Is To Blame

Resolved: Israel Is To Blame
Vol: 6 Issue: 30 Saturday, March 30, 2002

Resolved: Israel Is To Blame

The United States waited even less time than usual before slipping US steel into Israel’s back at the United Nations. Before the cock crowed on Saturday morning, the United States voted with the rest of the United Nations to pass a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from all ‘Palestinian’ cities as well as completely withdrawing from Arafat’s Ramallah compound.

The United Nations found a way to blame Israel for the violence, despite the facts as they exist. According to the resolution’s Norwegian sponsors, it was ‘Israeli bombardment of Palestinian cities’ that is responsible for the ‘killing of innocent civilians’ which then led to ‘unacceptable’ levels of ‘death and destruction’.

Howzat again? Israel’s response to the Passover massacre is responsible, and not the Passover massacre itself? Israeli ‘killing of innocent civilians’ during military confrontations is somehow morally equivalent to the Palestinians deliberately targeting civilian families in their neighborhoods?

Assessment:

If this argument were presented to the UN against any other nation on the face of the earth, especially an Arab state, it would never even get a hearing, let alone a 14-0 vote.

Imagine the Security Council voting a resolution that blamed Russia for Chechen terrorist attacks and ordered Moscow out of Chechnya.

Or a resolution being passed against any Arab state for inciting the Palestinians or even for attacking Israel. The UN has, in its history, passed four resolutions that could be perceived to be against Arab interests. [Apart from the UN s anti-Iraqi resolutions concerning Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, another Arab state].

Israel fought five wars with the Arabs all started by Arabs as a war of annihilation against the Jewish State. In every case, it was Israel who received UN condemnation, presumably for surviving despite the UN s efforts to the contrary.

It has passed more than 100 resolutions that were against Israeli interests. Israel has been condemned by UN resolution more times than all the other nations of the world combined. Including such bastions of human rights and UN principles of peaceful coexistence as North Korea, China, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia.

It’s been noted that comparing the relative populations of Israel to the US, five Israeli deaths is proportionate to the US losing a thousand people. Three hundred and eighty-three Israelis have been killed since the uprising began in September, 2000. How would America react if it lost 76,600 of its citizens to a wave of terror attacks emanating from Mexico or Canada?

Of course, that question was answered on October 7, 2001, when the US responded to the lost of three thousand in a single attack by launching airstrikes on Afghanistan, half a world away.

The Passover Massacre claimed 19 Israelis, a proportional loss to Israeli society to the loss of 3,800 citizens if its population were equal to America’s and the same percentage of US citizens lost their lives to terror.

Continuing the comparison between Israel and the US to include reaction, America should support Israeli anti-terror actions anywhere in the world, the way Israel supported US action against al-Qaeda. Instead, the US voted with the UN.

Zechariah predicted a time when the whole world would stand united against Israel and her claim to the city of Jerusalem.

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.” [Zechariah 12:2]

The entire question of the Middle East conflict revolves around Jerusalem. Palestinian statehood is secondary — even to the Palestinians. Arafat has made it abundantly clear that he will accept nothing less than a Palestinian State with its capital in a united, Arab Jerusalem.

“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” [Zech 12:3]

The US ‘burdened’ itself with the issue of Jerusalem when it brokered the seven-year Oslo Agreement. The final two years of the agreement concerned negotiating the ‘final status’ of Jerusalem. Israel offered Arafat half at Camp David. Arafat turned it down because half wasn’t enough and began the current conflict.

Since Oslo, America has become a target of terror. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was not the first US act of terror, but it marked al-Qaeda’s opening salvo against America.

While America has hardly been cut in pieces, the war on terror isn’t over yet, either.

And all the peoples of the earth aren’t yet ‘gathered’ militarily against Israel. Yet. But the UN resolution passed before dawn Saturday could easily translate into global military force, should the situation continue to escalate.

The Bible also outlines the time frame for Jerusalem’s tenure as a stone in the UN’s shoe. Once begun, it doesn’t end until Israel looks “upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only Son.” [Zech 12:10]

Arafat Continues To Force War

Arafat Continues To Force War
Vol: 6 Issue: 29 Friday, March 29, 2002

We told you yesterday that Yasser Arafat intends to push the Israelis into mounting a military response so massive the surrounding Arab states will have an excuse to intervene militarily.

Since then, the Arab League unanimously approved the Saudi peace plan.

Although Israel has not seen the plan, and was neither consulted nor invited to discuss the plan at the summit, the summit resolution put Israel on the hot seat.

If Arafat had any genuine interest in obtaining what he claimed to want [a Palestinian state, Jerusalem and an Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders], it would have been prudent to let Israel squirm.

If Arafat had any genuine interest in peaceful coexistence with a Jewish state, he was offered a magic carpet in the summit resolution.

All he needed to do was — nothing. The UN, the US and the Arab world could have applied irresistible pressure on Israel to negotiate.

Instead, a member of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, a daughter organization of Arafat’s own Fatah movement, walked into a crowded supermarket and blew himself up. Like the previous attacks, there were no military targets. Arafat’s organization planned to kill women and children. In a departure from standard procedure, the attacker was a young woman.

She was chosen for the operation because she could penetrate the supermarket s security. Fatah was hoping to kill as many women and children as possible. There could have been no other possible target.

Proportionately, the loss ratio Israel is suffering works out to 5 Israelis=1000 US. Thus, the Passover Massacre represents to Israel as

great a loss as the September 11 attacks did to the USA.

Israeli losses since the beginning of the uprising has already caused a proportionate loss of life in that tiny country equal in numbers to the

loss of a half million Americans to domestic terror over the space of 18 months.

Assessment:

It appears Sharon is reacting exactly as Arafat anticipated. He announced an Israeli decision to isolate Arafat. Thirty tanks were deployed in a ring around Arafat’s Ramallah compound. Rounds are being fired into Arafat’s headquarters at the time of this writing.

Arafat took to the airwaves, telling al Jezeera that Israel is giving their answer to the Saudi peace plan. He made no mention of the grocery store attack. To the Arab world, Arafat is under unprovoked attack. “They want me under arrest or in exile or dead, but I am telling them, I prefer to be martyred,” Arafat said in a telephone interview with Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite television channel. “May God make us martyrs.”

While all this is going on in Israel, the Arab states drew their own line in the sand. A joint statement emanated from the Arab summit saying that an attack on Iraq is an attack on the Arab world . They called on the United States to first put an end to the killing in Israel before they would extend any cooperation regarding Iraq.

The slide toward global war continues. . .

Terror Groups Now Number 33

Terror Groups Now Number 33
Vol: 6 Issue: 28 Thursday, March 28, 2002

The State Department added three more groups to its official terror list, bringing the total number of groups designated as ‘terrorist’to thirty-three. Among them are the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant arm of Arafat’s Fatah movement.

General Tommy Franks said yesterday that the United States will remain in Afghanistan ‘indefinitely’. General Franks also warned again that the war on terror could last ‘longer than most of our lifetimes’.

The Other Terror War

The suicide attack against the hotel in Netanya was the worst attack since the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium attack last year. The crime was visceral on many levels.

It was aimed against families.

There were absolutely no military targets in the Seaside Hotel dining room. Neither were there expected to be. The dining room had been booked for Passover, as it is every year, for families; fathers, mothers, children. They were the targets — not collateral damage.

It was aimed at religion

The Passover seder is a feast day that literally revolves around a feast. The Passover meal caps the remembrance of God’s miraculous delivery of the Hebrews from bondage in Egypt. The ten plagues, the Passover Lamb, the Angel of Death passing over the homes of the Hebrews are all solemnly remembered.

It was aimed at children

As the families gathered, Abdelbaset Odeih walked in and blew himself up. Everyone around him was instantly vaporized. Forty-eight people suffered serious wounds. Said one survivor, “The face of the little girl was so nice, it was as if she was surprised – big, big open eyes – but surely dead.”

Arafat Crosses The Line

“Everyone agrees, here a certain line was crossed. And things won’t be the same as they were before,” Emmanuel Mahshon, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said. “It is possible that we will have to change drastically the rules of the game.”

Arafat has evidently decided to go for broke and conduct an all out war against Israel. The Arab summit split over Arafat’s address via satellite. Lebanon refused to allow him to speak live. Half the Arab League boycotted the meeting. The split is between those Arab states ready for war and those who oppose it.

The Israelis believe Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan s King Abdullah cancelled their scheduled appearances at the Arab summit at the last minute after learning of the war plans. The two Arab leaders reportedly were warned of possible assassination plots against them if they attended.

Israeli intelligence also believes Iran, Iraq and Syria are backing Arafat and pressuring him to scuttle all attempts at a ceasefire. Arafat has pledges of direct military support from these countries in the event of war.

Syria Calls For War

At the summit, Syrian President Bashar Assad called for the immediate severing of all Arab ties with Israel.

Syria’s puppet in Lebanon, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, said the cause of a wider regional conflict is really US peace efforts. He complained of foreign pressure being applied to halt the violent uprising before it achieves its goals of forcing Israel out of territories captured in 1967.

Madness of Biblical Proportions

And if further evidence is required to prove we are living in a time in which events of Biblical proportions grow increasingly routine, the Reverend Jesse Jackson has offered to settle the 4,000 year-old conflict and save General Zinni from embarrassing failure. As soon as he finishes his lawsuit to settle a 200 year-old slavery dispute.

Assessment:

The US war against international terror will last for decades, according to General Franks. That sets the stage for decades of continued international tension, shifting alliances and disinformation campaigns from all sides. The last six months are merely the first six months of a New Reality.

Iraq seems intent on self-immolation. If not as a consequence of past terror, then maybe as a consequence of war with Israel. Pressuring Arafat to start a general Middle East war all but guarantees the fulfillment Jeremiah 51:26 “And they shall not take of thee [historical Babylon – modern Iraq] a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.”

Syria is also playing with fire, literally, according to Scripture. Damascus, historically speaking, is the longest continously-inhabited city in the world. But Isaiah 17:1 says, “The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.” This prophecy remains unfulfilled.

The Passover Massacre ‘changed the rules of the game’ for Israel, and that means the rules have changed across the board. Syria, Iraq and Lebanon believe they can do serious damage to Israel before the UN steps in and halts the conflict in place. They are gambling that the Arabs will hold the territorial advantage and can reverse the tables on Israel.

The stakes are high; higher than in any previous Arab-Israeli war. Syria and Iraq have massive chemical and biological arsenals. Both have missiles tipped with unconventional warheads containing both biological and chemical agents pointed at Israel.

The Israelis have officially admitted, for the first time, to having a nuclear weapons arsenal. In total, foreign intelligence estimates agree it contains at least four hundred warheads. The Israelis have developed special weapons, nicknamed mini-nukes and micro-nukes, specifically designed for conflict in the confined areas of the Middle East. It is an iron-clad certainty that Israel will use them if the Arabs attack using unconventional weapons.

It is anticipated that Israel will mount a massive response to the Passover massacre. Whether that response will trigger a full-scale Middle East war remains to be scene.

But it is clear that the Bible has some unfinished business with Damascus and Baghdad/Babylon. It will happen, exactly as the Bible said. If not now, soon.

North Korea Has Three Nukes

North Korea Has Three Nukes
Vol: 6 Issue: 27 Wednesday, March 27, 2002

The Bush administration has obtained information indicating that North Korea possesses at least three nuclear bombs as well as an undetermined amount of fissile material. The officials said the material is being stored in underground bunkers kept off-limits to both the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

North Korea has refused to allow the IAEA to conduct a full inspection of the nuclear facility at Yongbyon north of Pyongyang.

Kim Jong Il used Yongbyon and other facilities for tests on the weaponization of long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States.

The officials said the administration has decided not to certify that North Korea has complied with a 1994 accord with the Clinton administration in which Pyongyang pledged to suspend its nuclear weapons program.

The agreement led to a U.S. promise to supply North Korea with two nuclear power reactors in a $4.6 billion project.

The Bush administration also wants to link the nuclear power project to an end to North Korean missile exports.

Pyongyang is regarded as the leading missile exporter to the Middle East, including such clients as Egypt, Iran, Libya and Syria.

Assessment:

The Kings of the East, according to the Apostle John, will one day mount an army of 200 million and march on Israel. That makes North Korea’s ‘client list’ just that much more interesting.

Saudi Arabia Unstable, Warns Energy Dept

The US Energy Department has downgraded Saudi Arabia, saying it is no longer a secure source of foreign oil.

Saudi oil supplies can be blocked by unrest or a war in the Persian Gulf. The scenarios include a U.S. war with Iran or Iraq.

“Saudi Arabia’s geographic position in the politically volatile Gulf is a factor of concern for its major customers including the U.S.,” the Energy Information Administration said in its report, published in the Paris-based Arab Oil and Gas Magazine.

The report said Riyad is heading for serious economic difficulties amid stagnating oil prices, overpopulation and heavy domestic debt. Those economic troubles could last for years.

In an effort to insulate the royal family from a military coup, the armed forces recently underwent a massive ‘reorganization.’ King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz appointed new commanders for the ground forces and navy. The appointments are to take effect on April 14. King Fahd is the supreme commander of the Saudi armed forces. He is also totally incapacitated, thanks to a stroke suffered in 1999. Prince Abdullah, Fahd’s anti-Western half-brother has been the power behind the throne ever since.

Abdullah’s principle rival for the throne after King Fahd is Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz. Since Abdullah is currently king’s regent, he ordered the reorganization of the military, stacking it with officers loyal to him. Abdullah is a radical Islamist, so are the new appointments.

The Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al Awsat daily reported on March 22 that the new appointments are part of what it termed “widespread changes” in the military. Another interesting change forbids senior officers from marrying foreigners without the express permission of the king. The Saudis say they want to prevent the entry of Western women into the kingdom. Those who violate the new orders face dismissal and imprisonment.

Assessment:

All the intelligence information points in the same direction. The top levels of the administration continues albeit with less gusto than previously, to proclaim the Saudis our staunch allies. But reports like the one issued by the Energy Dept. describe a different Saudi Arabia. So do reports from the various intelligence agencies, military commanders and intelligence obtained from documents seized from the al-Qaeda.

The shakeup in the military suggests the possibility of a potential coup — and for a coup to be successful, its leaders will need both the support of the military and the population.

It’s said that if an election were held in Saudi Arabia today, Osama would win, hands-down. For a coup to succeed, its leader will have to reflect that popular attitude.

Back during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, America was 25% dependent on Saudi Oil. The embargo resulted in the longest and most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression.

By 2000, America was 68% dependent on Saudi Arabia for its supply of oil. “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” [Rev 6:6]

Loose Lips Sink Ships

Loose Lips Sink Ships
Vol: 6 Issue: 26 Tuesday, March 26, 2002

Until Senator Orrin Hatch warned him, US agents were able to keep close tabs on Osama by tracking his sattelite phone. For example, intelligence officials know that Osama called his operatives in the UK at least 260 times between 1996 and 1998.

The intelligence information we were able to obtain was enormous. Agents were able to locate a wide range of addresses including suspected terrorists, al-Qaeda sympathizers, companies and public phone boxes. More than 200 were made to the London home and mobile phone of on al-Qaeda principal, Khalid al Fawwaz.

Al Fawwaz had the satellite phone number listed in his address book under the name Atef – bin Laden’s military commander. He was the head of an alleged al-Qaeda front group in London called the Advice and Reformation Committee.

Thanks to Osama’s phone bill, Al Fawwaz is in a British jail awaiting extradition in connection with the African embassy bombings.

But Senator Orrin Hatch walked out of a classified briefing on September 15, 2001, and told the press [and bin-Laden] that not only did the US have bin-Laden’s phone wired, we even knew his phone number [873682505331].

Osama immediately stopped using his satellite phone, instantly vanishing from American radar.

The White House was furious with Hatch and immediately clamped a lid on who among the Congress would be privy to classified war news.

Assessment:

The Congress continues to rage about being kept out of the loop in defense and intelligence matters. The damage caused by one careless remark by a Senator wanting to enhance his own reputation is incalculable. It may have prolonged the war and ended any chance of pinpointing and dealing with bin-Laden in the first days of the war.

In any case, Afghani military officials spotted Osama bin-Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri, two of the three most wanted men in the world, within the past eight days.

The Christian Science Monitor interviewed one of three informers who reported to Kamal Khan Zadran – the military commander and deputy governor of Khost Province – that Zawahiri was seen four days ago, riding on horseback with a group of about 25 men toward the Pakistani tribal area of South Waziristan. Zadran says that he also received a report that bin Laden was seen in the area of Khost about eight days ago and that he may be hiding in a mountainous village called Mir Chapar, southeast of Khost city close to the Pakistani border.

The reports of Zawahiri’s presence in the area are bolstered by several interviews conducted independently by the Monitor last week with Afghan villagers east of Shah-e Kot. That was the operational area of Operation Anaconda.

There Is No Security

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Touting a new report entitled, Security Gap: A Hard look at the Soft Spots in Our Civilian Nuclear Reactor Security [catchy title], Markey summed up the situation in a single sentence. There is no security.

The report found that security exercises at nuclear reactor sites are inadequate and sites that conduct the exercises fail them half of the time.

The report also found that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission waited six months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington before beefing up security at nuclear reactors and that the agency has “historically failed” to alter security regulations and has “yet to begin a permanent revision of security regulations.”

The situation is no more secure in the nation s chemical industry, where mock terrorist raids staged by US Special Forces routinely penetrate security.

The threat is substantial: an accident at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal in December 1984 released a deadly cloud of gas that killed more than 8,000 people within 48 hours. An additional 50,000 people were still suffering from illnesses related to the gas years later. Ten to 15 people die each month from illnesses related to the accident, even now, according to Indian officials.

Assessment:

Osama bin-Laden appears to be alive and well, as unconventional intelligence sources and analysis of conventional sources have suggested all along. The United States continues to warn of an unspecified threat to US targets. At each step along the way, US security efforts have demonstrated gaping holes; at airports, nuclear and chemical facilities, refineries and other high value targets.

The true situation in the Middle East is summed up by two headlines appearing in two different newspapers today. One said, Israel To Let Arafat Travel where another said Israel Won t Let Arafat Travel. Chaos and confusion reign supreme.

Arab nations continue to line up against the west over the question of Jerusalem, the Palestinians and Israeli aggression as weapons flow into the combat zone from Islamic Iran.

China is supplying nuclear and missile technology to Islamic Pakistan, indirectly drawing China through Pakistan s Islamic connections into the Middle East.

The United States war on terror means America will continue to conduct military operations in foreign countries, with or without their cooperation. Not a good security arrangement even in the most stable of times.

Russia s war against Chechnya draws Russia into the conflict, except in Russia s case, on purely political, rather than ideological grounds. Should conditions make it advantageous, Moscow would have no moral dilemma in switching sides.

The Spring of 2002 finds the world poised on the brink of global war, involving virtually every major power on earth except Europe, who sits on the periphery, looking for ways to use the global situation to advance its own hegemonic ambitions.

Remove Israel from the equation and the terrorists have no credible cause. Terrorists would be exposed for the political rebels, anarchists and gangsters that they really are. Popular support would vanish.

Arab nations would have no axe to grind with the West. We d be customers in a peaceful and stable Middle East.

Russia and China would lose any excuse to intervene in the Middle East, stopping military expansion plans dead in their tracks.

The Bible s outline of future history, including the last days and the Tribulation period would be a fascinating story, but of no relevance to reality. Either the Bible would not be true, or we would not be living in the last days.

But Israel does exist. The Bible s outline of history, irrelevant without a Jewish state in the Middle East, is a parallel to present day geopolitical reality. Because these are the days to which Jesus referred when He said, And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:28

Syria Attempting To Get Nuclear Weapons

Syria Attempting To Get Nuclear Weapons
Vol: 6 Issue: 25 Monday, March 25, 2002

US intelligence officials are concerned over what they call Syria’s ‘search’ for nuclear weapons. U.S. officials said the regime of President Bashar Assad continues to negotiate with former East Bloc states and North Korea in an effort to obtain both nuclear expertise and components. Assad wants to build a nuclear infrastructure using a strategy similar to its ally Iran.

“We remain concerned about Syria’s intentions regarding nuclear weapons,” CIA strategic and nuclear programs officer Robert Walpole said.

Walpole also told a Senate subcommittee hearing earlier this month that Syria has succeeded in weaponizing chemical agents on Scud-class missiles. Damascus has also advanced its biological weapons program.

Middle East Region Primed For War

According to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Muslims of the Middle East have reached a turning point. All the the classic signs are there, suggesting the region is moving inexorably toward regional war.

U.S. officials said Muslim countries — particularly those aligned with the United States — are coming under increasing pressure amid such emerging trends as overpopulation, poverty and globalization. They said these trends will increase resentment of the West in the aftermath of the suicide attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11.

“The Muslim world is under increased pressure and may be at a strategic crossroads, as populations and leaders sort through competing visions of what it means to be a Muslim state,” Vice Admiral Thomas Wilson, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said. “Longstanding issues — resentment toward the U.S. and the West, unfavorable demographic and economic conditions, efforts to strike a balance between modernization and respect for traditional values — are exacerbated by the global war on terrorism. These pressures will be most acute in moderate Arab states and Indonesia.”

The defense intelligence chief warned of escalating violence in the Middle East. Wilson said the Israeli-PA conflict would result in increasing pressure on Arab allies of the United States in what could spark a regional war.

China Signs Secret Agreement With Pakistan

China and Pakistan have concluded two major military agreements US officials fear may signal the transfer of missile and nuclear technology from Beijing to Islamabad.

The agreement is in the form of a ‘memorandum of understanding’ on military cooperation and collaboration in the area of defense production.

Intelligence reports say the memorandum also includes a secret defense pact covering weapons transfers from China to Pakistan.

China has been a major supplier of arms and technology to Pakistan for decades. Pakistan s nuclear weapons are based on a Chinese design and its armed forces rely heavily on Chinese equipment.

The Bush administration imposed economic sanctions on China and Pakistan in September following the transfer of Chinese ballistic missile goods to Islamabad. The transfers included ballistic missile material for Pakistan s Shaheen 1 and Shaheen 2 missile systems.

The new defense agreements are being carried out because of the new strategic situation in the region, according to Pakistani sources.

Another key indicator of the new defense relationship is China s construction of a major port facility on the western Pakistani port of Gwadar. God willing, the construction of this project will be an antidote against the American poison being spread in this region, said one Pakistani official.

Assessment:

The winds of global war are undeniably whipping up, blowing across the Middle East and South Asia. China is allowing itself to be drawn into the conflict between Pakistan and India, which will in turn step up Russian military cooperation with New Delhi.

Beijing is drawing on the Muslim hatred of America to expand and maintain its regional hegemony. That anti-American sentiment has its roots in the Islamic hatred of Israel and extends itself into America in part because of Washington’s support of Israel.

The US Defense Intelligence Agency says a regional war is inevitable. Why? Because of Arab hatred for Israel. And by extension, for America.

Syria is attempting to join Iran and Iraq in the quest for the Bomb.

The Arabs claim they just want to balance the scales with Israel’s rumored 400+ nuclear arsenal. Except Israel has been nuclear for years, and refrained from their use even when it looked like they were about to lose the 1973 Yom Kippur War. If Syria or Iraq got them, they’d use them on Israel at the first opportunity.

It is apparent that the Arab-Israeli conflict could begin a chain reaction that could spread from the Middle East all the way to South Asia, involving too many nuclear powers, including, China, Pakistan, India, Russia and Israel.

Since the recently leaked Nuclear Weapons Assessment says Washington would use nuclear weapons to defend Israel in a regional war, add the United States to that list.

And notice that the list does not include Europe. The rest of Europe has evidently decided that if world war erupts, they are going to sit this one out.

But the UK is considering breaking with the EU and joining NAFTA. So add England’s nuclear arsenal to the mix.

The situation lends itself to an intriguing possibility. A number of prophecy teachers believe that it would take a kind of ‘false Armageddon’ that will bring the planet so close to the brink of self-extinction that they overwhelmingly embrace the antichrist when he brings peace between the Arabs and the Israelis.

Note that we said ‘intriguing possibility.’ God will accomplish His purpose in His own way. What is significant is that we are eyewitnesses, participants in the fulfillment of God’s plan for the ages. The Bible reveals who will play what role when the curtain does go up. And they are all right where they are supposed to be.

Inflation Rearing Ugly Head?

Inflation Rearing Ugly Head?
Vol: 6 Issue: 24 Sunday, March 24, 2002

We dodged the bullet all through the nineties. Even when the markets’ runaway earnings were exposed as so much smoke and mirrors, the Fed continued to manipulate the economy, raising and lowering interest rates, somehow actually ‘softening’ the blow when it came.

That isn’t to say that it didn’t hurt — millions of ordinary Americans saw their paper wealth evaporate — but as recessions and market collapses go, this one was relatively painless. Anyone who remembers the recession in the 70’s — together with the inflation that followed — knows this could have been much worse.

Twin Threats — Inflation and Deflation

The recession is over, says the Fed. It was so painless that some economists question whether we were ever really in an recession in the first place. Greenspan’s interest policies threatened to tip us too far the other way, toward deflation, but managed to hold the line.

Deflation is inflation’s evil twin. Inflation is when too few goods are being sought be too many people. Prices rocket skyward, causing inflation. Deflation is when too many goods are being offered to too few buyers. Prices plummet, causing deflation. Inflation was responsible for the pain of the Recession of the 70’s and early 80’s.

Deflation caused the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

The Fed has done all it can do to lower interest rates. If rates got much lower, banks would have to pay borrowers.

Sticker Shock

After decades of relatively steady prices, consumers are once again beginning to experience what we old-timers called ‘sticker shock.’ Clothing prices in February saw their biggest one month jump in a year. Airline tickets rose in each of the past two months. Gas prices are currently rising at the fast pace in a year. Medical costs are up 4.5 percent over the past twelve months.

“Just as the Fed was caught by surprise by the recession last year, they could be surprised this year by the strength of the economy and a jump in inflation,” said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis.

“We could get a triple whammy coming from stronger economic demand, higher energy prices and higher medical costs,” Sohn said. Recently imposed lumber tariffs have builders worried it will dampen the housing boom, currently the highest in four years.

Assessment:

The overall Consumer Price Index is only up 0.2% — just a modest increase. But the Index of Leading Economic Indicators remains flat, suggesting sluggish profits and weak export demand will continue. That is a perfect breeding ground for the twin specters of a period of domestic inflation in the midst of a global deflationary spiral.

While the major economies are struggling along, economies like that of Argentina are in free-fall. The global economy overall is like a delicately balanced house of cards. Pull out the wrong card, and the whole thing collapses.

The Ride of The Four Horsemen

The Apostle John wrote of what we often refer to as the ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’. These four riders encapsulate an overview of the unfolding of the Tribulation Period.

The first, the rider on the white horse,[Rev 6:2] is the Antichrist. He is catapulted to power after he appears to bring peace to the Middle East. The rider of the second horse [Rev 6:4] is War. There was given him a great sword.

The rider of the black horse symbolizes global economic collapse. He holds a pair of balances, and cries, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’ [Rev 6:6]

A ‘measure of wheat and three measures of barley’ symbolizes a day’s food. A ‘penny’ is a day’s wages. “Oil and wine” symbolize wealth. We see a picture, then, of an economy in which the average working man can barely feed himself, while the wealthy scarcely feel the pinch.

The fourth rider, on the black horse [Rev 6:8] is Death. His ride claims a quarter of humankind with war, famine, and with the ‘beasts of the earth’.

It is no stretch to say that scenario is an increasingly probable outlook for the near future. The Arab-Israel conflict rages on, demanding the intervention of the rider on the white horse. Meanwhile the global war on terror would need little to push the world over the brink and into a global conflict. The economy needs only a gentle nudge in the wrong direction to collapse under its own weight.

The ride of the Black Horseman would logically follow.

That is not to say we are in the Tribulation. But global conditions are certainly poised to make that transition.

The only event remaining before all this takes place is recorded in Revelation 4:1.

John finished recording the letters to the Seven Churches, and, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither…”

Maranatha!

Arafat Paid Contract Killers

Arafat Paid Contract Killers
Vol: 6 Issue: 23 Saturday, March 23, 2002

After seizing Palestinian offices and scouring thousands of papers, Israel says documents show Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat authorized payment to a militant who allegedly had been involved in killing several Israelis.

Israel’s Public Security Ministry says the documents are important because they indicate that instead of arresting militants, Arafat provided support to fighters in his Fatah movement, which includes a militia responsible for many deadly attacks including a suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Thursday.

The Palestinians said the money was for political and social activities only.

A document recently uncovered by the ministry shows Arafat’s signature on a July 9 letter approving a $300 payment to Atef Abayat, a leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades later killed by a bomb in his jeep.

9/11 Hijacker Had Anthrax

There is growing evidence linking the 9/11 hijackers to the wave of anthrax letters that ended as mysteriously as they began. Item: a Florida doctor remembers treating one of the hijackers for a skin lesion.

Item: a prescription for an anthrax treatment believed to belong to one of the hijackers was discovered in the rubble of the WTC.

Item: Another hijacker, Mohammed Atta was treated for chemical burns to his skin. [Bleach is an effective anthrax decontanimation agent]

Item: The first anthrax victim lived a mile from where Atta took flying lessons.

Item: The anthrax letters began shortly after 9/11 and stopped as suddenly as they began.

Item: The Pentagon confirmed this week that US forces uncovered an anthrax lab under construction outside Kandahar. It was not the first.

Assessment:

The government’s theory of a lone domestic nutcase doesn’t stack up against the overall evidentiary picture. From the beginning, the DoJ has resisted any connection between al-Qaeda and the anthrax letters.

It is significant to note as well that there is a mounting body of evidence suggesting an al-Qaeda-Iraqi link to the OKC bombing in 1995. It is also known that Mohammed Atta met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague in August, 2001.

Something is wrong with this picture. It seems odd that the DoJ would resist examining the obvious al-Qaeda link, just as everything about the OKC prosecution seemed odd, from abandoning the pursuit of John Doe #2 to withholding the documents that resulted in delaying Tim McVeigh’s execution.

There are various conspiracy theories springing up in an effort to explain the discrepancies. Most of them are pretty far-fetched or sensational.

There is an old saying to the effect that, ‘truth is the first casualty of war’.

There is no question that there is something amiss here.

At this point it is hard to tell exactly what. The most optimistic scenario gives the benefit of the doubt to the government’s war effort, ostensibly begun following the first WTC bombing in 1993. Disinformation is a necessary part of the war making process.

In the most pessimistic scenario, Washington is trying to keep the threat from the public to forestall mass panic.

In either case, it seems clear that Washington knows more than it is telling.

Saudis Crack Down on Shi’ites

Saudi authorities are preparing for a showdown with the Shi’ite minority in the southeast. The Islamic Wakf Ministry, responsible for more than 50,000 government mosques, plans to wage an indocrination campaign to force Shi’ites to convert to the Wahabi brand of Sunni Islam. Wahabi Islam is the militant brand practiced by al-Qaeda. It is among the Wahabi Islamic population that Osama enjoys the most unqualified support.

The ministry will construct two huge mosques and a center for propagation in the mainly Ismaili Najran region at a cost of $11 million. The purpose of the mosques is to spread Wahabi, what Saudi ministry officials term the “true Islam.”

There have been pitched battles there between Saudi security forces and Shi’ite dissidents. Shi’ites make up more than 10 percent of the Saudi population. The kingdom has launched several crackdowns on the community over the last year, the latest after Shi’ite leaders publicly alleged that their rights were being violated by Saudi authorities. Saudi opposition sources said the National Guard even used U.S. tanks and armored personnel carriers in attacks on the Shi’ites.

Assessment:

Assuming the White House was right when it contended that the hijackers were following a perverted form of Islam, Wahabi is that perversion. Except Wahabi Islam is the one that adheres the most closely to the literal teaching of the Koran. It is for that reason that it is the most militant.

That exposes the circular nature of the administration’s argument. If Wahabi is the most literal form is Islam, then the ‘perversions’ of Islam are the ones who don’t support al-Qaeda, the 9/11 attacks, or the destruction of America.

When I was in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, I attended a series of compulsory classes during pre-deployment staging entitled, ‘Know Your Enemy.’

In those classes, we studied the ideology of the Vietcong, their religious beliefs, including Communism and atheism, and studied at length how those beliefs motivated our enemy.

The instructor explained it simply. “If you don’t know what makes your enemy tick, he’ll kill you.”

The administration continues to tell us our enemy is al-Qaeda, and not the ideology that spawned it. That is analogous to blaming a Nazi guard for the Holocaust, but ignoring the Nazi philosophy that created him.

We do so at our continued peril.

Cheney s Failure

Cheney s Failure
Vol: 6 Issue: 22 Friday, March 22, 2002

Vice President Cheney’s Middle East tour has been given the thumbs down by the major media as a ‘failure’ because our Arab ‘allies’ didn’t line up to back us against Saddam Hussein. But Cheney knows his way around this part of the world.

During Election 2000, Cheney’s background in Big Oil was a liability that nearly derailed the Bush/Cheney ticket. Unlike President Bush, Dick Cheney really was a big-league oilman. [Bush’s only oil venture failed miserably].

Cheney made his career navigating the two-tiered reality of the Middle East negotiating oil contracts when not in government service. And he honed his experiences to a fine point as US Secretary of Defense during the Gulf War. Armed with that background, Cheney’s visit looks somewhat less unsuccessful than the public is being led to believe.

Cheney took hard words of rejection at the press conferences that concluded each visit. Each Arab leader took pains to tell Cheney in public that Iraq wasn’t the real menace, Israel was, and admonished him to put pressure on Jerusalem.

Two-Tiered Reality

In the Middle East, things don t operate the same way they do for most of us. Reality there exists on two levels. There is the international reality, which exists only for the heads of state.

And there is the popular reality. The popular reality isn t bound by international reality.

In the popular reality, killing Jews is cause for celebration. War with Israel is a state of being. No price is too steep and no sacrifice too high, if it means the annihilation of the Jewish State.

In the popular reality, there is little difference between America and Israel, except America doesn t live in their neighborhood.

Arab heads of state hold power by representing the popular reality in public. But they recognize that in the international reality where the rest of the world lives, concessions have to be made. Those concessions are usually made behind closed doors. In that setting, Cheney explained international reality in blunt terms.

There Can Be Only One

As we pointed out, Cheney is an adept at negotiating the intricacies of Arab diplomacy, making his point in a variety of ways. In some cases, Cheney baited political traps, brilliantly manipulating Arafat and Saddam Hussein, as discussed in yesterday s Omega Letter Digest.

But Cheney reserved his harshest reality check for the Saudis. Cheney didn t even give lip service to the popular reality, instead sorting out a few of the Saudi royal family s misconceptions about the reality they were going have to live with. It was the only one he offered.

If You re Not With Us, You re Toast

Cheney didn t take off his hat. He didn t bow to Prince Abdullah. Cheney told the Saudis we could find more oil, and made them believe it. He put them on notice that when President Bush made his if you aren t with us you re against us speech, he had Riyahd in mind at the time.

Cheney told the royals to take another look at the international reality. He reminded them that most of the hijackers were Saudi, as is bin-Laden. Saudi money finances al-Qaeda and Saudi reaction post-9/11 hasn t exactly endeared them to the American people. Reality isn t America supporting Israel s destruction. Reality is Afghanistan.

Get With the Program

Cheney didn t ask, he ordered the House of Fahd to get itself in order. Withdraw from the political and economic bloc it was developing with Iran and Iraq, or share its fate. The House of Fahd s international recognition as the legal government of Saudi Arabia was put on the table. Cheney presented to the assembled Saudi princes and princelings a modified version of the Netanyahu Doctrine, surrender terror or surrender power .

Cheney ordered the Saudis to begin an immediate crackdown on al-Qaeda and those within the kingdom providing it support. Cheney warned the Saudis that, if you don t, we will.

Assessment:

It seems the die is cast. Cheney s trip was billed by the press as an effort to obtain international support for a future US action against Iraq. And if that actually were its purpose, the media assessment of failure would be accurate.

The US has repeatedly denied imminent action is being planned against Iraq. Cheney s tour seems to support the conclusion imminent action is being planned. His ultimatum to Arafat is aimed at forcing both Arafat and Saddam to either step over the brink or stand down. Clearly, Cheney is betting they ll call his bluff. The tour wasn’t to get permission to act. It was to issue a warning to the bystanders.

We re not bluffing. Pick a side.

Special Report: Middle East Tour 2002

Special Report: Middle East Tour 2002
Vol: 6 Issue: 21 Thursday, March 21, 2002

Special Report: Middle East Tour 2002

“One War At a Time”

Vice President Cheney learned a lot on his eleven-nation tour of the Middle East. His mission was to change Arab minds about supporting a US-led 1990’s-style coalition against Iraq. He learned that wasn’t going to work.

Background:

Ten years ago the Iraqi invasion was joyfully supported by Palestinian popular demonstrations carrying pictures of Saddam. Yasser Arafat paid a visit to Baghdad to express his solidarity with Saddam and the Iraqi people. Both kingdoms viewed Arafat s support as the double-cross that it was. After the war, both expelled their considerable populations of expatriate Palestinians to Jordan.

Jordan was forced to absorb hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The steady flow of cash back home from Palestinian expatriates working in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait dried up. Instead of sources of income, the expelled workers became a heavy drain on Jordan s meager resources.

Arafat embraced Saddam because Saddam promised to strike Israel. Given ten years to reflect, memories of Kuwaiti incubators dumped of their Kuwaiti occupants so the hardware could be sent back to Iraq fade against this noble purpose.

Considering the thirty-nine lashes administered against Israel by Iraqi Scuds in 1991 eases the Saudi royal family s hurt at knowing Saddam s next target after the rape of Kuwait was Riyadh.

The economic catastrophe visited on Jordan via Saudi Arabia and Kuwait caused directly by the joint actions of Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat are but a memory.

Israel s unqualified support for the liberation of Kuwait — characterized by her restraint in the face of the unprovoked Scud attacks is totally erased from the collective Arab memory.

Dick Cheney learned that none of these nations are willing to support Washington against Iraq. All they wanted to know was how much support Washington would give Yasser Arafat and the oppressed Palestinian people against the evil aggression and state sponsored terrorism visited upon them by the Israeli warmongers.

Attacking Baghdad Would Be A Disaster

Cheney learned in Jordan that the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan is only as valid as the shakiest cease-fire between Israel and her worst enemies.

King Abdullah of Jordan told Cheney that attacking Baghdad would be a disaster because the Middle East cannot support two wars at the same time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an American intervention against Iraq.

King Abdullah of Jordan is considered the most pro-Western Arab government in the Middle East. Jordan earned its pro-Western label, not be being necessarily pro-Western, but by generally being the last Arab country to join the various pan-Arab wars against Israel and by being the first to surrender at their conclusion.

In the same way, the Saudis earned their reputation of being pro-Western by only supporting those wars in secret, financing and encouraging the war effort but not actually contributing troops.

Egypt s Check Is In the Mail . . .

Cheney learned the Egyptians whose annual US aid check is second only to that doled out to Israel will only go as far as necessary to keep the checks coming. Hosni Mubarak told Cheney Egypt would only support military action if diplomacy fails .

Since diplomatic efforts with Iraq have been in a constant state of failure for ten years, Egypt s offer is meaningless and was worded so as to make that clear. Egypt decides diplomatic efforts have failed. Only then will it support military action.

We ll Call You If We Need You

The Arab nation that owes the most to Dick Cheney is the tiny kingdom of Kuwait. Kuwait was the object of Saddam s wrath. The atrocities inflicted on the Kuwait people during the occupation were medieval.

Washington swooped in like an avenging angel, swept Kuwait clean of Iraqi troops, restored their government, repaired their oilfields, returned their stolen property and earned Kuwait s undying ambivalence.

Cheney learned from Kuwait s foreign minister that even the supreme sacrifice offered by American soldiers for Kuwait s freedom doesn t buy loyalty.

At a joint news conference, Cheney stood glumly by as Kuwait s foreign minister announced that Kuwait is not in support of any military strike on Iraq before he went on to urge Cheney instead to put pressure on Israel.

Thank You For Your Support

Cheney also learned that America has two allies. Israel, whose support for US policy in the region, no matter how it affected them, has never wavered, and Great Britain, the only other nation on the eleven-nation tour not to give Cheney the bum s rush.

The Iraqi press immediately started crowing about its diplomatic victory. The Iraqi News Agency published a commentary proclaiming the Cheney diplomatic offensive a bitter disappointment for the evil American administration.

Assessment:

Cheney s Middle East Tour 2002 lays out the tactical reality, stripping away all the pie-in-the-sky political fictions about America s allies in the Middle East.

The Arabs can talk about peace. The Saudis can proffer peace plans and the Arabs can send emissaries to Arab gatherings to discuss ways to bring about a just and lasting peace , but when pressed, their true aims always surface. A just and lasting peace to the Arab mind means a Middle East without a Jewish state.

Having been the recipient of Saddam s tender mercies, Kuwait would prefer Saddam s Iraq on its doorstep to countenancing Israel s continued existence. It would rather back the same Palestinians who chanted in the streets carrying pictures of Saddam while Kuwait suffered under his heel.

Arab reaction laid bare the actual Arab blueprint for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East with undeniable clarity.

Plans Within Plans Within Strategies

But while Vice President Cheney seemed to be taking a diplomatic pounding, he was subtly weaving a diplomatic trap of his own. Cheney promised he d meet with Arafat in Egypt next week and would eventually restore Arafat to Washington s good graces. But that was the sugar coating covering a make-or-break ultimatum.

Cheney said all that would happen if Arafat made good on his promise to fully implement the obligations imposed on the PA by the Tenet Plan.

Innocuous as it seems, given the number of times it s been said before, Cheney s move was a brilliant diplomatic riposte. In diplomacy, timing is everything.

Zinni is in Israel, looking over Arafat s shoulder. His job is to report Arafat s progress to Cheney. The Tenet agreement requires Arafat to cease acts of war and terror and disband officially designated terror groups, including his own Fatah-Tanzim, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP.

To comply with Tenet, Arafat must also arrest its leadership.

Arafat will have to round up all illegal weapons, explosives, mortars and rockets. The PA is required to sever all its relations with terrorist groups abroad, including Hezbollah.

And Arafat will have to end all Palestinian incitement, especially the PA controlled media and educational system.

With Zinni watching his every move, Arafat will either have to comply with his signed agreement or lose the US entirely.

And if Arafat meets the terms of Tenet, his political, military and intelligence infrastructures will collapse.

The Cheney ultimatum to Arafat will either accelerate the spiral in the Middle East or it will end Saddam s influence in the region. If Arafat meets Cheney s ultimatum, Saddam will lose its forward line of defense against the US and eliminate any serious threat of opening up a new front in Israel.

In either case, Cheney s trip has effectively untied Washington s hands, making it possible for Washington and London to move unilaterally, if necessary. The next move is up to Arafat. And Saddam.