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Old Black Dog Seen with Elvis Presley at North Pole!

March 6, 2007

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Ali Reza Asghari, a retired general in the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards and a former deputy defense minister, vanished in Turkey on February 7th, and has not been seen since. It was kept on the QT by Iran and those involved in his disappearance for most of February, but by March Iran was frantic to locate him. And now the whole world is aware of his disappearance, as well as the serious ramifications it could produce by gained intelligence information of Iran’s nefarious activities.

When we first picked up on this report of the missing Iranian General (Old Black Dog), it was just an obscure story. Now that it has attained the air of mystery and conspiracy, it seems to have caught the attention of the main stream media, because everybody loves a good soap opera mystery. One of my preacher friends suggested that I change the main subject’s name to “Old Yeller.” I attempted to present a very important event, which was not getting much attention, in my usually weird way to initially get people to notice it. I emphasized this in our first report of it, an excerpt of which follows.

Begin March 3 Blog Excerpt

Where O’ Where has My old Dog gone, I wish they’d bring Him Back!

March 3, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Wherever Iranian Revolutionary Guards General Asquari is today, I hope he is alive and in American hands. His first hand knowledge of the most secret workings of the inner Iranian military mechanism would be a fantastic intelligence coup by the United States.

I am also hopeful he defected to the West because he feared reprisals by his Irani an s

uperiors for his part in the recent failure to smuggle five kidnapped U.S. officers into Iran. A defector will, of course, normally give more information than a kidnapped one.

Begin DEBKAfile Report

The Vanishing Iranian General: Did He Leave or Was He Taken?

March 2, 2007, 10:49 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran’s dep. defense minister for eight years up until 2005 – and before that a prominent Revolutionary Guards General, Alireza Asquari, 63, has not been seen since his disappearance in mysterious circumstances in Istanbul on Feb. 7.

End March 3 Blog Excerpt

I am including several articles from different news stories, which show the wide diversity of opinions of his fate and current location.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Iranian police chief: General missing in Turkey kidnapped

Yaakov Katz, JPost.com Staff and News Agencies, THE JERUSALEM POST

March 6, 2007

Iran officially announced on Tuesday that its former deputy defense minister was missing while on a private trip to neighboring Turkey, and its top police chief accused Western intelligence services of possibly kidnapping the official.

Ali Reza Asghari, a retired general in the elite Revolutionary Guards and a former deputy defense minister, had arrived in Turkey on a private visit from Damascus, Syria, the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Tuesday.

Iran’s top police chief, Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam, said Iran was investigating the fate of Asghari through the Turkish police.

“It is likely that Asghari has been abducted by the Western intelligence services,” IRNA quoted the Iranian police general as saying.

The general did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, however, the London-based Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat said on Tuesday, quoting high-profile sources, that Asghari may have sought asylum in the US.

The newspaper reported that the Iranian official had left for the US shortly after arriving in the Turkish capital.

Other reports from the Arab media suggested that the Mossad and the CIA were behind Asgari’s disappearance. Israel has denied involvement in the general’s disappearance, but The Daily Telegraph speculated on Monday that Asgari could have been abducted by Israel to shed light on the whereabouts of missing IAF navigator Ron Arad, who Israel has claimed might have been held at one point by Iran.

Fearing that Iran will try to kidnap senior Israeli officials who are traveling abroad, the Israeli security establishment was reevaluating Tuesday and adjusting security arrangements for certain officials visiting non-Western and Muslim countries.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) – the agency in charge of providing security for Israeli officials – said: “We formulate our security arrangements according to developments in the field and intelligence information.”

Meanwhile, Iran has asked Turkish officials to investigate Asgari’s disappearance, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted Monday as saying.

Mottaki said Iran was “taking all the necessary steps” to solve the case of the missing general.

“A director-general from the (foreign) ministry has traveled to Turkey (to follow up the case). We have asked Turkey to investigate Asgari’s case,” said Mottaki.

Reportedly, Asgari, who was a Revolutionary Guards commander at the end of the eighties and beginning of the nineties, was involved in a deal to transfer Arad to the Iranians in exchange for a large sum of money.

The Telegraph said it was understood that Hizbullah guerillas might have passed Arad up the chain of command to

their Iranian handlers.

The Telegraph also suggested that the former spy chief was not kidnapped by an intelligence service but defected while visiting Turkey, escaping to a Western country, and Israel and the US were showing special interest in the case since Asgari might be able to shed some light on the fate of Arad.

In Turkey, the Interior Ministry said it was investigating the matter, but would not confirm or deny that Asghari had disappeared or been kidnapped.

Begin ABC News Report from Jerusalem Center for Public Information

Has a Top Iranian General Defected?

Hoda Osman and Christopher Isham (ABC News)

A respected analyst with sources in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard says Gen. Ali Reza Asgari has defected and is now in a European country with his entire family, where he is cooperating with the U.S.

“This is a fatal blow to Iranian intelligence,” said the source, explaining that Asgari knows sensitive information about Iran’s nuclear and military projects.

Asgari arrived in Istanbul from Damascus on Feb. 7 but failed to show up at his hotel.

Asgari’s years with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian defense ministry would make him an invaluable source of information.

He was reportedly based in Lebanon in the 1990s and was in charge of ties with Hizbullah.

Begin Report from Haaretz

Report: Missing Iranian former defense official has ‘fled to U.S.’

March 5, 2007

By Yoan Stern. Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

The Iranian former deputy defense minister who disappeared in neighboring Turkey last month is said to have sought asylum in the United States. Tehran said was Ali Reza Asghari went missing while on a private trip to Turkey.

The pan-Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat on Tuesday quoted high-profile sources as saying that Asghari left for the U.S. shortly after arriving in the Turkish capital.

Earlier Tuesday, Iran’s top police chief accused Western intelligence services of possibly abducting Asghari, who is also a retired general in the elite Revolutionary Guards.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat’s sources, however, claim the official was not abducted but left for the United States “along with the secrets he carried.”

Security was beefed up in Israeli embassies worldwide Tuesday following reports that Iran suspected the CIA and the Mossad of involvement in Asghari’s disappearance.

A British newspaper reported Monday that Asghari is likely to possess information on missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad.

Arad, an IAF navigator, was captured by the Lebanese Shiite Amal militia after ejecting from his warplane, shot down over southern Lebanon in 1986. Media reports have said the pro-Iranian Hezbollah took Arad from Amal security chief Mustafa Dirani the following year.

Reports have also said that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard took Arad in 1988 and transported him to Iran.

Asghari had arrived in Turkey on a private visit from Damascus, Syria, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday.

Iran’s top police chief, General Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam, said Iran was investigating Asghari’s fate with the cooperation of the Turkish police.

“It is likely that Asghari has been abducted by the Western intelligence services,” IRNA quoted the Iranian police general as saying. The general did not elaborate.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the Iranian Embassy there had reported Asghari’s disappearance and had asked Turkey’s Interior Ministry to investigate.

In Israel, defense officials are concerned that there may be an attempt to kidnap embassy workers and strike Israeli targets.

According to a British Daily Telegraph report, Iranian intelligence official Asghari is also likely to have intimate knowledge of Iran’s defense establishment and nuclear development program.

Although Asghari’s disappearance in Turkey sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping, Haaretz has learned that he may have defected.

Asghari served in the senior defense post under former defense minister General Ali Samahani.

Israeli media have said that for many years, Asghari was the most senior Iranian intelligence official in Lebanon, with responsibility for Iran’s ties with Hezbollah.

Israel Channel 10 television said late Sunday that Asghari was kidnapped on February 7, after arriving in Istanbul from Damascus, Syria.

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Chapter 3 in the Continuing Saga of the Disappearing Ole Black Dog!

March 6, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

This is the third update we have issued on this particular news entity on our Blogs in the last few days.

This saga seems to be of the caliber of “The Spy who came in out of the Cold,” with perhaps a more appropriate title of “The Spy who ran away from the Heat.” This sure isn’t attracting the degree of television media coverage as the “Whose ‘Yo’re’ Daddy Bermuda Triangle Mystery,” but it is certainly more interesting and deserving of coverage.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Report: Iranian general has info on Arad

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

March 5, 2007

Ali Reza Asgari, the Iranian general and former spy chief, who went missing after checking into an Istanbul hotel on February 7, was a key figure in the case of

captured IAF navigator Ron Arad, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday.

Reportedly, Asgari, who was a Revolutionary Guards commander at the end of the eighties and beginning of the nineties, was involved in a deal to transfer Arad to the Iranians in exchange for a large sum of money.

The Telegraph said it was understood that Hizbullah guerillas might have passed Arad up the chain of command to

their Iranian handlers.

The Telegraph also suggested that the former spy chief was not kidnapped by an intelligence service but defected while visiting Turkey, escaping to a Western country, and Israel and the US were showing special interest in the case since Asgari might be able to shed some light on the fate of Arad.

The report followed Iranian claims that Asgari was kidnapped by the Mossad and the CIA.

Meanwhile, Iran has asked Turkish officials to investigate Asgari’s disappearance, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted Monday as saying.

Mottaki said Iran was “taking all the necessary steps” to solve the case of the missing general.

“A director-general from the (foreign) ministry has traveled to Turkey (to follow up the case). We have asked Turkey to investigate Asgari’s case,” said Mottaki.

Begin Haaretz Article

Missing Iranian official may have information on airman Ron Arad

By Yoan Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

March 6, 2007

A former Iranian deputy defense minister whose reported disappearance in Turkey has sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping is likely to possess information on missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, a British newspaper reported Monday.

Arad has been missing in action since a 1986 mission over Sidon, Lebanon.

According to The Daily Telegraph report, Iranian intelligence official Ali Reza Azkari, 63, is also likely to have intimate knowledge of Iran’s defense establishment and nuclear development program.

Azkari’s disappearance in Turkey sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping, but Haaretz has learned that he may have defected.

Azkari served in the senior defense post under former defense minister General Ali Samahani. Israeli media have said that for many years, Azkari was the most senior Iranian intelligence official in Lebanon, with responsibility for Iran’s ties with Hezbollah.

Unnamed Arab diplomats have been quoted in Israeli media as charging that the Israeli Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agency kidnapped Azkari, who reportedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances from Istanbul, Turkey a month ago.

Israel Channel 10 television said late on Sunday that Azkari was kidnapped on February 7, after arriving in Istanbul from Damascus.

There has been no official Iranian statement on the reported affair.

According to one report, Azkari was to have stayed at a luxury hotel in the city, but disappeared before his planned arrival there. Another report held that he had checked into the hotel and was staying there at the time of his disappearance.

The second account said that he left the hotel at one point and never returned, his baggage still in his room.

Iran reportedly sent a delegation of defense officials to Turkey last week to investigate the incident. It has also been reported that Iran has asked Interpol to open an investigation into the disappearance.

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Good Assessment of Situation after Middle East Policy Changes!

March 5, 2007

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Loss of control to the Democratic Party, in both the U.S. House and the Senate, has been instrumental in policy shifts and accompanying actions in the Middle East.

The writer in this article, extracted from the Khalee Times, offers a good assessment of the current situation in the Middle East.

Begin Excerpt from the Khaleej Times

Meeting of minds, finally?

BY CLAUD SALHANI

March 4, 2007

SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice announced an important change of US policy earlier this week when she revealed that the United States would participate in a meeting with Iran and Syria over Iraq’s future.

The “meeting of neighbours,’ as the gathering is being called, heralds an important reversal of policy for the Bush administration. Until now Washington refused to accept the idea that Teheran and Damascus can play important roles in the region. Both Iran and Syria carry enough clout that they can influence developments in Iraq in either a positive or negative manner.

The Bush administration’s view — until now — was that inviting Damascus and Teheran to negotiations would be rewarding them, something the administration refused to do on the ground that Syria

and Iran support groups considered by the US to engage in terrorist activities.

In short, the administration has decided to follow the advice put forward by James Baker and the Iraq Study Group.

Rice said there was hope these governments would “seize this opportunity to improve their relations with Iraq and to work for peace and stability in the region.”

This meeting of neighbours may well be a last ditch effort to try and avoid a greater disaster in Iraq — and possibly in the rest of

the region. The Syrian-Iranian alliance in fact holds the key, or at least part of it, to many of the region’s problems.

Consider the following:

Iraq: Iran commands and/or controls much of the country starting just south of Baghdad either through militias loyal to Teheran or through agents the Islamic republic has managed to infiltrate into Iraq in the last four years. The two countries share hundreds of miles of unguarded border, making it easy for Iran to smuggle men and munitions.

Likewise for Syria, who also shares a long and mostly unprotected border with Iraq. The US has accused Syria of allowing thousands

of jihadi fighters to slip through the border to join the insurgency. Lebanon:

Both Iran and Syria are able to affect the volatile political situation in Lebanon by pulling the strings on Hezbollah. Lebanon’s leader of the Druze community, Walid Jumblatt, who met with President Bush and his top advisers in Washington this week, accused the Shia militia of attempting a coup d’etat in Lebanon.

Of course, without support from Syria and Iran the Shia militia would loose much of its clout, or, given continues support from the two countries Hezbollah could be in a position to re-kindle the civil war. This correspondent has learned that truckloads of 60mm mortars have recently been smuggled into Lebanon from Syria for delivery to Hezbollah. Sixty-millimetre mortars are typically used for short range fight ing, such as

in cities.

Hezbollah would not find much use in those short-range mortars in fighting Israel.

In the Palestinian Territories: Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement also receives much support from Iran in the form of weapons and money. And Damascus hosts the group’s political leadership, as well as other radical Palestinian groups, whom the US has placed on its list of terrorist organisation.

The meeting of neighbours comes at an appropriate time as all sides are continuing to flex their military muscles. There is much at stake riding on the future of this “Meeting of neighbours.” A successful outcome may lead to further negotiations to help diffuse the tension in Lebanon and hopefully revive the Middle East Roadmap to bring about a peaceful settlement to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian dispute. That is why, at least from this analyst’s perspective, the outcome of this first encounter between US, Iranian and Syrian negotiators will be all so very important.

Over the years in the Middle East failure to reach a peace agreement in the past typically led to decades of political stagnation, usually interrupted by a war or two. This time around we may not be so lucky. The stagnation may be skipped over in favour of going straight to war.

The United States now has a second aircraft carrier task force in the Gulf, giving Washington more firepower than it had in the region since the war in Iraq began in 2003. And neither has Iran’s military been standing by idly either. The Iranians have been is carrying out one of their largest military exercises ever, involving live ammunition, and including missiles.

Adding to the rhetoric Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week his country’s disputed nuclear programme was like a train without brakes or a reverse gear. To which Secretary Rice shot back, saying Iran needs “a stop button.” Rice hinted that the US could volunteer to “install” that button. Meanwhile, the Islamic republic has test-launched a sub-orbital rocket it said was for scientific research only.

Now is all this is not enough to keep you awake at night thinking that the sky might fall any minute, a report from the International Media Intelligence Analysis says that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert instructed the country’s defence establishment on Sunday to prepare for the possibility of an all out war with Syria.

Israel’s various intelligence agencies, the Mossad, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Military Intelligence, the National Security Council and

the Foreign Ministry briefed the Israeli cabinet on pending threats. Military Intelligence chief Maj-Gen.

Amos Yadlin opened the briefing and told the ministers “Israel is surrounded by negative processes… that create more instability in the Middle East than in the past.”

Meanwhile, the commander of the US Fifth Fleet currently deployed in the Gulf warned that Iran poses a greater security threat to the strategic

Gulf region than does Al Qaeda.

We consider this moment in time unprecedented in terms of the amount of insecurity and instability that is in the region,” Vice Adm. P atrick W

alsh said at a Press conference in Bahrain earlier this month.

“Our presence in the Arabian Gulf is for defensive and not offensive purposes,” said Walsh. But, added the commander of the US Fifth Fleet, “the US will take military action if ships are attacked or if countries in the region are targeted or US troops come under direct attack.”

Indeed, much is riding on the Meeting of Neighbours. Its success or failure could impact the region for the next decades.

Claude Salhani is International Editor and a political analyst with United Press International in Washington. He may be contacted at Claude@upi.com.

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in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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Has Anybody Seen My Ole Black Dog? The Mystery Deepens!

March 5, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

This is a follow up to our Blog of March 3, 2007, titled “Where O’ Where has My old Dog gone, I wish they’d bring Him Back,” which contains details of the initial disappearance of

the Iranian General Ali Reza Askari. Two articles are included in this update on an event that occurred in February, and is still unresolved.

Begin Article 1 from Jerusalem Post

General disappears; Mossad/CIA blamed

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

March 4, 2007

Arab newspapers are hinting that the Mossad and/or the CIA could be behind the disappearance of an Iranian general, Ali Reza Askari, who was last seen February 7 in Istanbul, Channel 10 reported Sunday evening.

Askari is a former general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and served in t he c

abinet of

former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami.

Baztab, a Web site linked to the Revolutionary Guard, first reported that Askari may have been kidnapped.

Baztab recently reported that Askari’s name was one of 20 appearing on what “appeared…to be a CIA hit-list [of former Guard officers].”

Askari reportedly arrived in Turkey, where he was visiting for personal reasons, on a flight from Damascus. According to reports, he checked into the Hotel Ghilan, and has not been seen since.

Interpol is conducting an investigation into his disappearance, but thus far no concrete information has been released.

Begin Article 2 from YNet News

Israel involved in Iranian general’s disappearance?

Former Iranian deputy defense minister vanished about a month ago on his way from Damascus to Turkey.

Iranian officials say Mossad, CIA may have been involved in his disappearance

Dudi Cohen

March 4, 2007

A senior Iranian general, Ali-Raza Asgari, went missing nearly a month ago in Istanbul and Iranian officials claim that Israel and the United States may have had a hand in his disappearance.

Several days ago, Iranian website Baztab, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported that dur ing the 1980s Asgari held a senior position

in the Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon , and that following his return to Iran he was appointed deputy defense minister.

No official source in Iran has commented on the report about the disappearance, but a top official told Baztab that “some of the claims in the report are unequivocally incorrect.”

The general’s disappearance was first reported at the end of February in the Saudi newspaper al-Watan.

The paper said that at the beginning of February Asgari visited Damascus and later flew o Istanbul in Turkey, where he checked into a hotel.

“Several Turkish citizens reserved a room for Asgari at the Gilan Hotel in Istanbul and paid for it, but haven’t heard from him since,” the paper stated.

“In a meeting held by the Turkish security officials with an Iranian delegation, the possibility was raised that the Mossad and the CIA were involved in his disappearance,” it added.

Security sources in Turkey told a local newspaper that so far, the searches for Asgari have yielded no results.

According to a Turkish official, “The records do not show that a person under this name left Turkey, but given his sensitive job and the important information he possesses regarding the Iranian nuclear program, the possibility that he left Turkey using a fake passport and an alias is being examined.”

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A growing Problem with Israeli Ground and Air Superiority!

March 4, 2007

The Islamic military’s acquisition of multiple high tech weaponry, has dramatically changed the once great military advantage held by Israel since the 1967 war,

In the 1967 and 1973 wars between Syria and Israel, the IAF dominated the skies, while the Israeli tank corps dominated the surface, being far superior to their Syrian counterparts.

Syria’s acquisition of high tech anti-aircraft missiles, and new anti-tank missiles that can penetrate the Western-made tanks, is

canceling out some of that advantage.

Russia has crouched like an old wounded bear since her economic and political crash in the last century, but she has continued to produce new high tech weapons, the sale of which to Iran and Syria have rescued her economy, while Putin has consolidated his power as the ruler of Russia.

These high tech weapons, combined with the numerical superiority of the Arab forces, will be instrumental in Israel being driven into the Negev Wilderness by 10 Islamic nations in the next war.

Russia, China, and Europe will not be a part of the initial attack against Israel.

However, some three and one-half years after the Islamic forces drive Israel south of Beersheba, they will join with them to come against Israel at the final battle in the war, the battle of Armageddon.

I believe we are eventually headed for a hudna false peace between the PA and Israel, which will end in a vicious Jihad attack that drives Israel into the Negev, where she will remain for some 1260 days. I guesstimate the initial attack is likely to occur at some point in time between 2008 and 2012.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article 1

J’lem slams Russian decision to supply weapons to Syria

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

March 2, 2007

Jerusalem aimed harsh criticism at Russia on Friday for its decision to supply Syria with advanced missiles, including anti-aircraft missiles and new anti-tank missiles that can penetrate Western-made tanks.

Senior Israeli officials expressed concerns that the arms would be transferred to Hizbullah, warning that missiles that were supplied to Syria in the past got into the hands of the group and were used against IDF tanks during the summer’s war in Lebanon.

Vice Premier Shimon Peres said that the supply of arms to Syria “encouraged Damascus to turn to war.”

“Syria is moving between peace overtures and its temptations to go to war to which arms supply is an incentive,” added Peres.

The vice premier went on to say that the UN had admitted that

the weapons flow from Syria to Hizbullah was continuing, adding that Israel needed to exert pressure on Moscow to stop supplying Damascus with arms.

MK Silvan Shalom (Likud) said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “seemingly decided to restore Russia’s Soviet-Empire status,” adding that the Russian president was “playing with fire.”

Shalom told Israel Radio that Damascus had already paid all its dues to Russia in the form of money Moscow had received from Iran.

Begin Excerpt from Jerusalem Post Article 2

Syria ups army infrastructure on border

Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST

March 1, 2007

Syria has spent the past few months constructing and moving infrastructure to its sou

thern border that could be used to launch a war against Israel, senior defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post.

According to the officials, the Syrian military – while restricted in the number of troops it is allowed to deploy along the border – has moved military infrastructure, including fuel depots, closer to the frontier. The Syrians have also built structures in the area that could serve as weapons stores and military bases.

“There is no doubt that something out of the ordinary is taking place on the Syrian side of the border,” a high-ranking official said.

The IDF and Syria raised their levels of alert along the Golan Heights during the second Lebanon war last summer. The IDF has noted a reinforcement of forces on the Syrian side but the meaning of the move is unclear. Some security officials believe Syria is preparing to initiate a war. Others believe that President Bashar Assad is concerned that Syria will be attacked by Israel as Lebanon was last summer, and that the beefing-up of forces is a defensive measure.

The commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), deployed in Israel and Syria and responsible for maintaining the cease-fire between the two countries, told the Post in an interview that he had not noticed any military changes on the ground.

“From our point of view the situation is quiet and there is no indication from our side that anything has changed in last weeks or months,” Maj.-Gen. Wolfgang Jilke said in a phone interview from Syria. UNDOF conducts weekly inspections of the demilitarized zones on

the Israeli and Syrian sides of the Golan Heights.

The IDF, however, is not taking any chances, gathering intelligence on Syria on a daily basis using some of the most advanced technology means in existence.

End Article 2

Begin Archive Prophecy Update Number 5, 2001

PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 5

February, 2001

Every nation has a war contingency plan. And, the smaller the country, the more imperative is the requirement for a detailed war contingency evacuation plan.

Israel began to formulate, plan, and build her evacuation area in the early fifties.

She chose the only reasonable zone, the Negev wilderness. The Negev comprises more than one-third of the total land area of Israel, beginning just north of Beersheba, and extending all the way southward to the Gulf of Aqaba. Why was the Negev the only reasonable area? From the historical prospective, the majority of Israel’s major conquerors have come down from the north. Even Nebuchadnezzar, whose great empire began to the east of Israel in Babylonia, first went northwest through southern Syria to eventually attack Israel from the north.

Once Israel had signed a peace treaty with Egypt, and then with Jordan, it became evident to her political and military leaders, that they had been correct in selecting the Negev. At present, it appears very unlikely that an attack will be made against Israel from any zone other than the Syria-Lebanon area. Some minister, no one knows who, during the early part of the last century, visited Petra in Jordan, and formed an erroneous opinion, which has become very popular among many teachers of prophecy.

Whoever he was, his military training was sadly lacking, for he looked Petra over, and decided it would make a great defensive position for Israel to occupy, that is, if she ever had to flee her homeland. As a graduate of a military academy, and a retiree from the USAF-NSA, I can assure you, Petra is the worst possible place to evacuate the survivors of a successful Arab attack against Israel. I doubt if the one who first advanced this idea actually walked all the way through Petra’s narrow northern entrance and then continued to walk out on the vast open plain to the southwest. Petra may have been a great place to defend in biblical times with the weaponry of those days, but it would be impossible to defend today.

But there are other compelling reasons why Israel would never flee to Petra.

There are no natural water sources in that area, and water collection by its ingenious ancient inhabitants from desert thunderstorms was never able to support a population of more than 20,000. And food production in the soil horizons of this area could never support the evacuation of one-third of Israel’s population. It is also a certainty that the modern day occupants of Jordan would not offer to help Israel escape the Antichrist. But the belief that Israel will flee to Petra has become so popularized by many prominent ministers, it makes it very difficult to dissuade most followers of prophetic events. However, the fact that Israel has spent billions and billions of dollars turning the Negev into the most fortified, best camouflaged, zone on the earth, gives me the assurance that this is the place the woman Israel, who is described as going into the wilderness in the 12th Chapter of Revelation, will soon end up for the last three and one-half years of the tribulation period. In the next prophetic update, Lord willing, I will discuss the military developments that turned the Negev into the best prepared evacuation zone in the world.

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