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A Ghastly Middle East Halloween!

Halloween T or T (Terror or Terror) for Lebanon

and Israel

Armies of Hizbullah Terror N, Syrian Terror NE, and Hamas Terror SW for Israel and Assassination Terror from Syria for Lebanon!

October 31, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com

I am afraid the “trick or treaters” in Gaza are not after Israeli “treats,” but Jewish blood, as were the Philistines when they defeated the Israeli IDF lead by Saul, who sought to kill David, the figure of Messiah.

Hamas in Gaza now occupies the ancient stronghold of the Philistines, who caused the Israelite Saul to be in a precarious situation, not too long before the Philistines beheaded him. Because he had turned from the spiritual promises of God, Saul was out of communication with God, so he turned to the Witch of En-dor to raise the Prophet Samuel from the dead to seek information of how he could be delivered from them. The nation of Israel has been out of communication with the same God for some 2000 Years, and now finds itself facing the descendants of all its ancient enemies. They will lose their battle with them initially, but the Son of David, their Messiah, Jesus Christ, will return to lead them to victory some three and one-half years

after they are initially defeated.

I Samuel 28:3-8 – Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. [4] And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. [5] And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.

[6] And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim, nor by prophets. [7] Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. [8] And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.

Ezekiel 37:24-28 – And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe

my statutes, and do them.

[25] And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. [26] Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. [27] My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [28] And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

The latest three articles from the Jerusalem Post, which follow, paint a grim Halloween picture for this year’s frightening possibilities of future repeat major Middle East acts of terror and murderous assassinations.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article 1

‘Hamas establishing bunker system along Gaza fence’

Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST

October 29, 2007

Hamas is trying to establish a bunker system as well as fortified rocket-launching and surveillance positions along the security fence with the Gaza Strip, Brig.-Gen. Moshe (Chico) Tamir, head of the Gaza Division, said Monday.

Tamir said that Hamas was “building an army” in the Gaza Strip and had obtained unprecedented capabilities through smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. On Monday, head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Yuval Diskin said that since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians have smuggled over 112 tons of explosives into the Strip.

“They are trying to dig tunnels, build surveillance positions and mortar-fire stations along the fence,” Tamir told reporters during a briefing concerning the death of IDF reservist Ehud Efrati during clashes with Hamas gunmen early Monday morning. “They are trying to build this up and we are trying to stop them.”

Tamir said that Hamas was studying Israeli tactics during the IDF’s daily operations along the fence and was trying to use this knowledge in its fighting methods.

“This is ongoing warfare and as such there is also a simultaneous brain war taking place,” he said. “We are always studying what we do and modifying our tactics. They are trying to study us and to be wise with that knowledge.”

Tamir said that for the IDF’s current purposes there was no point in expanding the operations deeper into Gaza. He also said that while the IDF was working to reduce the Kassam fire from Gaza there was no perfect solution.

“They can fire Kassams from one edge of Gaza all the way to the other and farther,” he explained. “We are operating close to the fence since that is where they fire mortar shells, anti-tank missiles and dig tunnels.”

Begin Jerusalem Post Article 2

Mining for trouble in Lebanon

LENNY BEN-DAVID, THE JERUSALEM POST

October 29, 2007

Last summer Yitzhak Goren went out to his orchards to check the damage after a barrage of more than 100 Hizbullah Katyusha rockets slammed across Israel’s Galilee. No one was working the orchards those days. The plums rotting under the trees gave off a sweet fermented smell. Branches were strewn everywhere. Yitzhak noted the craters left by the rockets, but one seemed different. He didn’t see the bottom of the crater and or the shrapnel left by the rocket. In fact,

he couldn’t see the bottom of the crater at all. Just darkness.

Goren had stumbled on one of the surprises promised by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. It was the exit of a mile-long tunnel dug from Lebanon. The tunnel’s mouth was in a stone quarry purchased by Hizbullah five years ago. The dust and trucks around the quarry raised no suspicion. Nor did the North Korean advisors and equipment brought in by the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (a.k.a. Changgwang Sinyong Corporation) to assist the Iranians and Lebanese Shi’ites digging the 100-foot deep tunnel shaft.

The North Korean-Iranian cooperation in Lebanon is an extension of North Korea and Iran’s conflict with the United States and its allies, a cooperation that also includes the provision of long-range missiles and nuclear research to Syria.

Indeed, despite its “mining” appellation, Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation was sanctioned by the United States for missile development and proliferation activities.

As for the tunnels, North Korea had 50 years of experience digging tunnels under the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, some 500 feet deep and two miles long. Equipped with electric lines and ventilation, some of the DMZ tunnels were large enough for the passage of a thousand soldiers an hour. Hizbullah’s plans were more modest: to send 200 guerrillas behind Israel’s lines to shoot up civilian targets and military vehicles waiting to move into Lebanon. Hundreds of advanced shoulder-fired RPG-29s and laser-guided Kornet-E anti-tank missiles were already in place in their subterranean storerooms 100 yards from the end of the tunnel when the errant Katyusha punched a hole in the tunnel exit.

The above description of Yitzhak Goren’s tunnel is fiction. The description of North Korean tunnels and cooperation with Iran are based on fact.

Hamas, Hizbullah’s Sunni allies in Gaza, had already perfected the tunnel tactic in a small scale attack on an IDF tank and its crew in Israel when it abducted Gilad Schalit, on June 25, 2006. Tunnels dug to Egypt’s Sinai desert represent Hamas’ materiel and financial lifelines.

Earlier this summer, Hizbullah’s Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned of a “big surprise” if there’s another round of fighting with Israel. Some analysts believe he was hinting at the acquisition of new missiles, possibly even anti-aircraft missiles. But tunnels from Lebanon may just be the “surprise” Nasrallah keeps promising.

SINCE ISRAEL’S withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Iranian money, troops and experts have been assisting Hizbullah to build their bunkers and underground bases throughout the country, including a warren of offices and headquarters deep beneath Hizbullah’s autonomous Al Dahiyeh quarter in southern Beirut. “Hizbullah is rebuilding underground positions from which they can store weapons and defend and attack whomever they choose,” said Toni Nissi, head of the International Lebanese Committee for UN Security Council Resolution 1559, The Washington Times’ W. Thomas Smith, Jr., recently reported.

Just in the first half of 2006, 60,888 Iranian “tourists” visited Lebanon, according to published reports.

Hizbullah’s military bases, armories, bunkers and communications networks were much more extensive than Israel’s intelligence services estimated on the eve of the 2006 war. Israeli news reports have subsequently confirmed the existence of deep and well-fortified bunkers in Hizbullah’s “nature reserves” all along Israel’s northern borders.

Missing from the accounts, however, is the obvious question: If Hizbullah was building bunkers along Israel’s (east-west) border, what is to stop them from building (north-south) tunnels – with Iranian and North Korean assistance – under Israel’s border? Indeed, during the war one of Israel’s TV news crews picked up on their microph

one a conversation between a senior IDF officer and a wounded soldier. The officer revealed that such a tunnel was discovered from one position north of the border to an IDF position south of the border. But no further mention was ever made of the revelation.

AT THE END of the 2006 war Israel Defense Forces did discover the entrance to a very elaborate subterranean mini-city several dozen yards from a UNIFIL position, some 350 yards inside Lebanon. The fortification contained dozens of rooms connected by phones and equipped with showers, toilets, air conditioning and escape hatches.

Last year, a garrulous officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard revealed to the Arabic publication Sharq al Awsat that Iranian diplomats smuggled North Korean experts into Lebanon under the guise of “domestic workers.” They joined “hundreds of Iranian engineers and technicians… to build a 25 kilometer (!) tunnel.” The officer did not reveal the location but bragged “each opening in this [tunnel] measures 12 to 18 square meters, and has a mobile floor and a semi-mobile ceiling. Each four openings are connected by a passage that allows fighters to pass easily [from one opening] to the other.”

THE IRANIAN supply of funds, weapons, and training is seemingly unlimited. The Iranian-sponsored civilian infrastructure, schools and welfare systems have transformed parts of Lebanon to nothing short of a full-fledged, Shi’ite, jihadist colony on the eastern Mediterranean. Even while Iran is facing its own financial turmoil (unemployment, inflation and gasoline shortages), hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in Hizbullah institutions in Lebanon. Visitors to Hizbullah areas under construction report seeing many “Thank you Iran” signs.

Iranian influence and Islamist fundamentalism may have already undermined the foundations of Lebanon’s fledgling democracy beyond repair.

And what Iran hasn’t corrupted, Syria has.

After being run out of Lebanon almost two years ago, neighboring Syria is determined to return and reassert its kleptocratic rule in Lebanon, as well.

After all, President Bashar Assad and his thugs seem to have literally gotten away with the murder of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. Earlier this month, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fouad Siniora provided the UN Secretary General with details on the Syrian links to the Fatah al-Islam terrorist group that held off Lebanese forces in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon for three months. Many of the jihadists had crossed into Lebanon from Syria, and many were trained by the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.

The bottom line: There is no way that Iran, Syria and Hizbullah will honor UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calling for the Lebanese army to deploy to the border with Israel and for the disarming of the militias (ie. the Shi’ite Hizbullah or the Sunni Fatah al-Islam). These axis-of-evil regimes and terrorist groups will do all they can to endanger the stability of the precarious Lebanese government and to disrupt Lebanese elections. Assassinations of anti-Syrian parliamentarians are shaving down the anti-Syrian majority’s numbers. And it is questionable if they will permit the establishment of the special international tribunal to try the suspects in the Hariri murder.

President George W. Bush’s support for Lebanon’s democracy in early October was an important message to Syria, Iran and Hizbullah. “I am deeply concerned about foreign interference in your elections,” Bush told Lebanese parliament member,Saad Hariri, the son of the murdered Rafik Hariri.

“The message has been sent to nations such as Syria that they should not interfere in the election of the president. We expect Syria to honor that demand.”

Bush went on to assure Hariri that “the United States is more than just an admirer; we want to help as best as we possibly can.”

The best way to help is to press back against Hizbullah, Syria, Iran, and that new Middle East player, North Korea. Last month Israel took out a purported North Korean nuclear facility in Syria. New aggressive measures by the United States, France, and other Western countries, starting with stronger economic sanctions, must be the next step. Beyond that, as administration officials insist, all options must remain on the table.

The writer served as Israel’s number two diplomat in Washington. Today he heads an international consulting comp

any.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article 3

Lebanon’s parliament majority leader: Syria wants me dead

Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST

October 30, 2007

The leader of Lebanon’s parliamentary majority Saad Hariri claimed Tuesday there is a plot to assassinate him and the country’s US-backed prime minister ahead of crucial presidential elections next month, and alleged that Syria was behind it.

Hariri made the remarks to reporters after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a one-day visit to Egypt.

“The assassination is not only of me but of (Lebanese) Prime Minister Fuad Saniora also,” said Hariri, whose father, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in a massive Beirut 2005 truck bombing that was widely blamed on Syria.

Hariri did not elaborate on the plot but when asked about reports that Syrian officials were behind it, he said, “We have information about this (assassination plans) and it is correct.”

Syrian officials in Damascus could not be immediately reached for comment.

Lebanon’s anti-Syrian groups that dominate the government claim Damascus is behind a two-year killing spree that has claimed the lives of several anti-Syrian politicians and public figures.

The latest was the Sept. 19 slaying of lawmaker Antoine Ghanem in a Beirut car bombing, a week before Parliament was to meet to start electing a new president.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has rejected accusations that Syria orchestrated any of the killings.

Hariri on Tuesday also accused Syria of trying to stall the election of a new Lebanese president by “influencing recent developments in Lebanon which have negatively affected reconciliation” between the country’s rival factions.

Hariri is in Cairo for talks with Mubarak and other officials amid Egyptian efforts to help resolve the Lebanese political deadlock over choosing a new president. Media here say Cairo is trying to convince rival Lebanese factions to accept Lebanese army commander Michael Suleiman as a compromise presidential candidate. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit visited Beirut last Thursday to offer his country’s mediation.

Last week, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri postponed the parliamentary session to elect a new president until Nov. 12, to give rival factions more time

to find a compromise. The 128-member parliament, dominated by anti-Syrian legislators, failed to meet two times to choose a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who steps down Nov. 24.

There had been hopes that the presidential vote could break a 10-month political deadlock between Lebanon’s US-backed government and pro-Syrian opposition factions led by the militant Hezbollah.

Under Lebanon’s complex sectarian-based political system in place since independence won in 1943, the president traditionally hails from the Maronite community which makes up the largest sect among minority Christians.

The election of a consensus president is certain to ease the political power struggle taking place since last year. The parliament majority is hoping to put one of its own in the post, but the opposition has rejected a president they don’t endorse. Over 15 declared or undeclared candidates are vying for the post.

Many Lebanese fear divisions over the presidency could lead to the creation of two rival governments _ a grim prospect for Lebanon, which suffered through a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

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CALIFORNIA BURNING!

Are Fanatics Burning Infidel Forests as Judgment Fires of Allah

?

October 30, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

While I certainly do not believe every time we have a forest fire we can blame it on the followers of Allah, I do believe in the times in which we live, when a large number of fires occur under very predictable wind driven meteorological phenomena, which will produce widespread loss and damage the economy, we are not amiss to seek Islamic fanatics as the culprits involved in setting the blazes.

Having read and studied the Koran, one of the things quite evident in its content, is the many times it lets the infidel reader know he will one day suffer the fiery judgment of Allah in a burning inferno forever.

It may be that the Islamic fanatics are anxious to give Allah a little help to send this fiery judgment for us infidels a bit ahead of schedule.

Begin WorldNetDaily Exclusive

From Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin

Terrorists plotted setting U.S. Fires

Muslim bulletin boards advocated arson BEFORE California blazes

October 29, 2007

Editor’s note: The following report is adapted from the latest issue of Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND.

Annual subscriptions to G2 Bulletin are $99. Monthly trial subscriptions for credit card users are $9.95 and provide instant access to the reports.

WASHINGTON – While websites frequented by jihadis have been ablaze with claims of responsibility for setting the California wildfires, terror leaders also urged arson attacks as a tactic last summer, according to a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

In July, a post was made to numerous jihadist boards and then spread to a number of blogs citing a previously issued fatwa authorizing the setting of forest fires as a weapon of jihad. The post began “this is an invitation to the Muslims of Europe and America, Australia and Russia to burn forests.” It went on to state the justification under Islamic Sharia law

for this action and to cite its benefits for jihadists.

The post, revealed in G2 Bulletin’s report, cites an undated video that shows Abu Mus’ab al Suri, author of “Call to Global Islamic Resistance” and advocate of the doctrine of individual terrorism, discussing the benefits to the jihad of setting forest fires.

Last year, the report points out, Maj. Robert Arthur Baird of the U.S. Marine Corps wrote in the May 2006 issue of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism: “The United States is at significant risk of a future pyro-terrorist attack – when terrorists unleash the latent energy in the nation’s forests to achieve the effect of a weapon of mass destruction – the threat, must be defined America’s vulnerabilities understood and action taken to mitigate this danger to the United States.”

In his master’s thesis, Major Baird also discusses arson as a terror tactic and sees it as a very real risk: “Instead of using expensive, complex and readily detectable nuclear or radiological bombs, a terrorist could easily ignite several massive wildfires to severely damage regional economies, impact military and firefighting forces and terrorize the American people.”

He goes on to state that a terrorist has the potential to “unleash multiple fires creating a conflagration potentially equal to a multi-megaton nuclear weapon.”

Is that what has happened this year?

California authorities have confirmed some of the wildfires were set deliberately, and a terror watch organization says the circumstances match terror plans the FBI alerted law enforcement to several years ago.

“In 2003 an FBI memo alerted law enforcement agencies that an al-Qaida terrorist being held in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States,” the National Terror Alert Response Center warned.

“It was reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country,” the advisory continued.

“The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies.”

WND reported in 2004 that an Arabic-language jihadi website also posted a message purporting to be “al-Qaida’s plan of economic attack” on the U.S. that including proposals to turn the nation’s forests into raging infernos.

The National Terror Alert Response Center report said, “We are NOT implying that the California fires are an act of terrorism; however, the threat of pyro-terrorist attacks pose a significant risk to the U.S. and the fires in California and Greece earlier this year should be a wake-up call.”

Less than two months ago, between four and five dozen people were killed and scores more hospitalized with serious injuries as a result of wildfires in portions of Greece. Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis expressed his suspicions.

“So many fires sparked simultaneously in so many places is no coincidence,” he said when the blazes erupted.

And Terror W atch notes

a top prosecutor in Greece now has begun investigating whether the arsons were, in fact, terrorism.

Dimitris Papangelopoulos said the investigation will determine “whether the crimes of arsonists and of arson attacks on forests” should be prosecuted under the nation’s anti-terrorism law.

Arab terrorists in Israel have started dozens of major forest fires over the years.

As far back as 1988, Israeli police caught more than a dozen Palestinian adults in the act of setting fires, while other Arabs confessed to arson after arrest.

Some fires followed specific calls by underground Arab terrorists. A leaflet issued by the Palestinian uprising’s underground leadership called for “the destruction and burning of the enemy’s properties, industry and agriculture.”

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A Muslim Chief investigating Muslims of WMD Production to use against Infidels is a Hard Pill to Swallow!

October 30, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Quite frankly, I have never had the slightest shred of confidence in the Chief UN watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei the Egyptian, a follower of the Islamic God Allah, when it comes to not being highly biased in favor of his fellow Iranian believers. I do confess myself to be guilty of religious bias towards those of like faith and order, and it would be very unwise to put me in charge of investigating them for an offense, since I would bend over backwards to find some way to justify what they were doing, if I found it within the bounds of reasonable doubt. Dr. ElBaradei may not be guilty of religious bias, but it seems inappropriate to have a man of the same like faith and order as those being investigated in charge of that entire UN IAEA.

Chief ElBaradei has recently been quite critical of Iranian opponents, responding to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warnings that the world had to be prepared for the possibility of war if Iran acquired atomic weapons, he characterized talk of attacking Iran as “hype”, saying: “I would not talk about any use of force.

There are rules on how to use force, and I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 70,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons.” “We need to be cool,” he said, adding: “We need not to hype the issue.”

He further added “I do not believe at this stage that we are facing a clear and present danger that requires we go beyond diplomacy.”

The U.S. used several diplomatic channels in an attempt to remove ElBaradei from his position as IAEA director, but despite months of extensive behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts, the U.S. was not able to identify a sufficient number of other countries willing to support ElBaradei’s ouster. In addition, no rival candidate could be found willing to compete against ElBaradei for Director General, although the U.S. tried to convince Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to run for the job (he declined). The decision of the IAEA board of governors was postponed through May 2005.. On 9 June, after a meeting between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ElBaradei, the U.S. dropped its objections, and ElBaradei was unanimously re-appointed by the IAEA Board on 13 June.

ElBaradei has also been accused by the US of having a lenient approach in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program in light of revelations that Iran had covered up substantial aspects of its nuclear program for nearly two decades, and Iran’s insistence on continuing to develop uranium enrichment capability. ElBaradei and the IAEA have also been criticized for failing to detect the “nuclear supermarket” run by the Pakistani scientist A.

Q. Khan.

OTHER QUOTES FROM DR. ELBARADEI ARE AS FOLLOWS:

In an interview with the BBC in May 2007, Dr ElBaradei gave one of his sternest warnings against using military action against Iran -a state signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Referring to “the extreme people who have extreme views” he said:

“…You do not want to give additional argument to some of the ‘new crazies’ who want to say let us go and bomb Iran”

His remarks are likely to be interpreted as a swipe at those who advocate a military strike against Iran.

In other comments on Iran, in an Oct. 22nd interview with France’s Le Monde newspaper, ElBaradei said:

“I want to get people away from the idea that Iran will be a threat

from tomorrow, and that we are faced right now with the issue of whether Iran should be bombed or allowed to have the bomb. We are not at all in that situation.

Iraq is a glaring example of how, in many cases, the use of force exacerbates the problem rather than solving it.”

In an op-ed piece on the dangers of nuclear proliferation, in the New York Times (February 12, 2004), ElBaradei stated:

“We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security – and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use.”

In the same article, in the New York Times (February 12, 2004), ElBaradei stated:

“If the world does not change course, we risk self-destruction.”

ElBaradei explained to the Cairo Times (October 23, 2003):

“You remember that book called ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?’ Well that’s very much true. I find a lot in common in the way I manage things and the way she [Aida Elkachef] manages three-year olds.

We humans are the same when we are three years old and when we are 50!”

Begin Excerpt from “The Australian”

IAEA chief lashes out over Israeli raid in Syria

From correspondents in Washington

October 29, 2007

CHIEF UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei overnight accused Israel of taking “the law into their own hands” with a raid on Syria last month and demanded more information about what was hit.

Neither Israel nor the United States has furnished “any evidence at all” to prove that the Syrian site bombed in early September was a secret nuclear facility, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency told CNN.

“That to me is very distressful because we have a system, if countries have information that the country is working on a nuclear-related program, they should come to us. We have the authority to go out and investigate,” he said.

“But to bomb first and then ask questions later, I think it undermines the system and it doesn’t lead to any solution to any suspicion, because we are the eyes and ears of the international community.”

Israel has said it bombed a military target inside Syria on September 6 but has provided no additional details, amid speculation that the target may have been a site storing nuclear materials from North Korea.

Mr ElBaradei said he had been told by Syria that the site was a military facility and “has nothing to do with nuclear”.

“I would hope if anybody has information, before they take the law into their own hands, to come and pass the information on,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has meanwhile acknowledged that Israeli warplanes may have violated Turkey’s air space during the incursion into Syria, an official said overnight.

Mr Olmert apologized to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan when the two men met in London on Wednesday, the Israeli official said.

Turkey had demanded an explanation from Israel after it was embarrassed by the discovery of jettisoned fuel tanks on its territory in the aftermath of the raid.

US officials have also stayed tight-lipped about the Israeli raid.

Assistant Secretary of State Chris topher Hill said last week that Washing

ton would keep an eye on reports that North Korea may be selling nuclear know-how, but declined to discuss allegations that Pyongyang had offered nuclear help to Syria.

At a congressional hearing on Friday, Mr Hill faced tough questioning by lawmakers who questioned the US administration’ s diplomatic approach with North Korea in light of the allegation

s surrounding Syria.

Mr Hill said he could not discuss North Korea’s alleged role in Syria’s nuclear program at an open hearing because that information was “classified”.

But Mr ElBaradei said overnight that only the IAEA, through inspections of Syrian facilities, is in a position to conclusively say whether the country is pursuing a nuclear program.

“If Syria were working on a nuclear program, clandestine program, we’d obviously be able to draw the consequences. But today I don’t know where to go. I didn’t get any information,” he said.

Commercial satellite images appear to show that a building in Syria that analysts believe may have held a nuclear reactor has been razed since the Israeli air strike.

The Institute for Science and International Security posted imagery on its website taken on October 24 by DigitalGlobe that it said “effectively confirms that this site was indeed the target of the Israeli raid”.

It said the images raise questions about whether Syria is in violation of its agreements with the IAEA under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Mr ElBaradei said the UN agency is studying the satellite pictures but cannot draw any conclusions yet.

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Syrian Durham Wheat for North Korean Plutonium Reactor close to a Smoking Gun!

October 29, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Please consider the following excerpt from DEBKAfile and the three old Archive Prophecy Update Quotes

from 173A, 137E, and 81A.

They tell an interesting story which I am convinced paints a picture of the WMD activity that has been carried on by Syria with Iraq and North Korea in the past, and helps one to understand the reason for the IAF air strike in northern Syria on September 6, 2007.

The current head of the UN Agency responsible for the monitoring of such episodes by Iran and Syria is a Muslim Egyptian, who has proven to be a watchdog, not on the nuclear activities of his fellow believers in Allah, but a watchdog against anyone who might seek to disrupt any of their nuclear bomb activities. Expect him to scream against any effort on the part of Israel or the U.S. to use anything other than diplomacy.

Begin DEBKAfile Report

Clear Evidence Implicates Assad Personally in North Korean Nuclear Deal

October 27, 2007, 11:24 PM (GMT+02:00)

President Bashar Assad was personally involved in Damascus’ nuclear deal with Pyongyang. Documentary proofs of this, obtained from the presidential bureau and signed by Assad in person, are now in the hands of the US and Israeli intelligence services, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report. In one, Assad hands down a specific order in his own handwriting that North Korea not be charged for Syrian goods, including an annual shipment of 100,000 tons of Durham wheat for five years worth a total of $120 million. This is the equivalent of the value of the reactor for producing plutonium up to its most radioactive stage, which North Korea promised Syria.

A high-ranking Western intelligence source speaking to DEBKAfile described the evidence against Assad in US and Israeli hands as solid and much closer to a smoking gun than the West has turned up against Iran’s nuclear program.

The following sequence of events unfolds from the garnered documents:

Damascus and Pyongyang settled between them that the nuclear transaction would be masked as a joint venture to build a cement factory in northern Syria; meanwhile, North Korea would sell Syria cement for its development projects.

According to DEBKAfile’s sources, North Korean freighters, which began putting in at Syria’s Latakia and Tartus ports in January 2007, unloaded cargoes of cement in which nuclear reactor components and materials were concealed.

The North Korean traffic at these ports and the Durham wheat transaction attracted the attention of US and Israeli secret services.

During the next eight months – up until the Israeli attack on Syria’s North Korean installation – wheat prices shot up on international markets. Indeed the price of Durham wheat doubled.

Had this been a normal commercial transaction, Syria would have claimed additional North Korean goods in compensation. In fact, when import-export officials in Damascus, who knew nothing of the nuclear reactor tradeoff, pointed Assad’s office to the price fluctuations on the wheat market, they were told that the contracts signed by the president in person must go through without changes.

When later, the Syrian wheat crop fell short of expectations, Syrian officials were again told to fill the North Korean orders in full.

On Sept. 3, the North Korean “cement ship” Al Hamed docked at Tartus.

The freight it unloaded was trucked directly to the “cement factory” at Al Tibnah in the Syrian Desert, east of the Euphrates River. The Israeli attack took place three days later.

Last Tuesday, Oct.

23, the Syrian ambassador to Washington Imad Mustapha was invited to address the prestigious Institute on Religion and Public Policy. In answer to a question, he acknowledged, “Syria gives North Korea wheat, oil and other products.”

He declined to disclose what Syria got in return. When pressed on this point, Mustapha said in exasperation: “Stuff. We get stuff.”

Thursday, Oct. 25, a number of leading American media simultaneously ran satellite images of a nuclear installation standing at Al Tibnah in August 2007 and the same site in the second half of September, after it had been cleared of the debris left by the Israeli attack.

This time, Damascus found nothing to say – although Syrian officials had commented on former leaks related to the episode. DEBKAfile’s Syrian sources report that this and other symptoms indicate that Assad finds himself in a tight corner. He is at a loss to explain to the Syrian public and, worse, to most of his colleagues in the political and military leadership who were kept ignorant of the nuclear transaction with North Korea, how he came to entangle the country in this ill-fated adventure.

In the view of DEBKAfile’s Western intelligence source, the Syrian president’s internal and international plight is more acute than that of the Iranian regime or Saddam Hussein in the days leading up to the 2003 US invasion. No incontrovertible proof has so far been shown to demonstrate that Iran has attained the capacity to produce nuclear or radioactive weapons, any more than the Iraqi ruler was positively shown to have weapons of mass destruction. Assad’s case is more unfortunate; it is now supported by solid evidence in American and Israeli hands.

Begin Quote of Archive Special Prophecy Updates 173A, 137E, & 81A

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 173A

May 24, 2004

Looks Like WMD Speculation of Update 137E May be Correct!

In the first Prophecy Update in our Archives, issued in January of 2001, titled, “Significant World and Mid-East Events,” I reported what was a rather strange event on the Syrian border involving two regimes that had never liked each other. I now believe it likely that it was much more significant that I thought at the time. An extract from it reads:

“The beginnings of a pattern of military unity between Syria, Iran, and Iraq are now emerging in the Mid-East.

Iraq recently conducted large scale military maneuvers on the Syrian border, reportedly by prior agreement with Syria’s new President, Bashar Assad. Assad then made a trip to Iran to hold talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. The talks were described as a strategic dialogue.”

I now believe those military exercises could well have been maneuvers to prepare for the contingency of a possible future transfer of Iraqi WMD into Syria in the event of a U.S. attack against Iraq.

In Special Prophecy Update Number 81A, August 17, 2002, I quoted the January Update of 2001, and the following extract is from 81A.

“In previous Updates we have told how recent prisoner exchanges from previous wars have softened the bitterness between them. The relations between Iraq and Syria, which are ruled by two rival wings of the Baath party, were severed in the eighties, but have been on the mend since 1997, fueled mainly by trade links.

We have covered these trade links in detail in previous Updates, as well as the sneaky way that Syria is militarily assisting Iraq and receiving oil benefits in return. So, as much as Syria and Iran do not like, or trust, Saddam Hussein, any attack against Israel must include Iraq in order to succeed.

This is one of the reasons that Bashar, last month, sent a message to Saddam on the thirty-fourth anniversary of his rival Baath party rising to power in Iraq. In the message he underlined his desire to boost the brotherly ties between Iraq and Syria. A Jordanian newspaper, Al-Hilal, reported that last week Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the border between the two countries. The article said Assad took his brother, Maher, and the head of Syria’s Intelligence Service with him to the meeting.

During the meeting the report stated that Saddam presented Assad with an ancient rifle taken from the Iraqi Museum.”

Since the conquest of Iraq, we have only found small amounts of Mustard and Sarin gases in-country. I have always believed Saddam destroyed most, but not ALL of his WMD.

But where was it? So, in Update 137E I speculated that, based on the extracts from Update 1 in January of 2001 and Update 81A in August of 2002, what was left of Saddam’s WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), may well have been transferred by convoy into Syria. And, a recent report obtained from the WorldNetDaily gives me reason to believe my analysis was more than speculation. It will be very interesting to see just how much was dumped in

to Syria.

(BEGIN QUOTE OF SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE 137E)

“In the Spring of 2002, Saddam Hussein and Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, had a meeting at the border between Iraq and Syria. As far as I know, this was their only meeting.

I must confess that, at the time the meeting occurred, its immediate purpose puzzled me. The Baath parties of Syria and Iraq had not been on friendly terms up to that point in time. As I recall, Saddam presented Bashar with a large, ancient rifle as a present. A year later, after their meeting, Operation Iraqi Freedom put Saddam on the run, and no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have yet been found in appreciable amounts

in Iraq. This has caused me to suspect that the major purpose for the border meeting was to discuss the transfer of the Iraqi WMD into Syria for safekeeping if the United States were to attack Iraq. I admit this is speculation, but time will tell!

Syria is still continuing its support for the terrorist groups, whose suicide bombers have taken a great toll of Israeli lives, and it is continuing its program for the development of WMDs. Bashar Assad is now the main troublemaker in the Middle East. Assad and Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Hizbollah, a large terrorist army in southern Lebanon, have met on many occasions. Countless stockpiles of weaponry have flowed freely from Iran to Hizbollah military camps across Syria for years. Syria, which in reality has control of Lebanon, and refers to it as “greater” Syria, could cut off this horrendous buildup of firearms, explosives, and missiles to Hizbollah, but it’s leader encourages, rather than hinders, all activity that will lead to the destruction of Israel.

Without question, the majority of foreign fighters captured in Iraq are Syrian and Lebanese. The New York Times quoted an intelligence agent as saying more than 60 percent of all those captured were of Syrian origin, and the London Times has indicated that many of them are being trained in Syria to kill Americans in Iraq. According to the article, three of the trainees, calling themselves Martyrs

of Islam, say that 140 men have entered Syria to increase their skills in terrorist killing methods.

As you know, from my many articles on the subject, I believe that the antichrist is likely to come from Syria. I keep my prophetic eye keyed on Syria. If a coup should occur in Syria, and a new leader immerge who possesses bonding skills between the other Islamic nations, I recommend watching him like a hawk.

My reason for believing antichrist will come out of Syria, or the area immediately surrounding it, can be found in Prophecy Updates 62 to 70, (Those without alphabetic suffixes) in our Archives. (END OF QUOTE FROM SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 137E)

The following information was sent to me by my family physician, who had received it from WorldNetDaily.com. Over the last few months, it seems that

the U. S. Intelligence community has received new evidence that reports a sizeable amount of Iraqi WMD systems, components and platforms, were transferred to Syria during the weeks leading up to the launching of operation Iraqi Freedom. However, I assure you, until an absolutely provable package is in hand, one that liberal congressmen and news media cannot degrade in a congressional investigation, it is debatable if the information will be released to the public.

The convoys were first spotted by U.S. satellites in early 2003, but the contents of the WMD were not confirmed. Confirmation came later from Iraqi scientists and technicians questioned by a U.S. team that was searching for Saddam’s conventional weapons, but all they knew for sure was that the convoys were headed west to Syria. However, over the last few months, U.S. Intelligence managed to track the Iraqi WMD convoy to Lebanon’s Bekka Valley, the home of the Palestinian terror group Hizbullah. Through the use of satellites, electronic monitoring devices, and human intelligence, the intelligence community believes that much, if not all, of Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons assets are being protected by Syria with Iranian help, in the Bekka Valley. I doubt if the Syrians or Iranians would be crazy enough to release any of them to Hizbullah at the present time.

Saddam and Assad met at the border in August of 2002. According to this latest intelligence report, the Syrians received word form Saddam in late 2002 that the Iraqi WMD would be arriving, and Syrian units began digging huge trenches in the Bekka Valley. According to the report, Saddam paid more than 30 million in cash for Syria to build the pits, acquire the Iraqi WMD, and then conceal them. At first, U.S. Intelligence thought Iraqi WMD were stored in northern Syria, but in February of 2003 a Syrian defector told U.S. Intelligence the WMD was buried in or around three Syrian Air Force Installations. Intelligence sources said the Syrians kept all the dual-use nuclear components for themselves, but transferred any incriminating evidence to Lebanon.

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SYRIA’S ALAWITE MINORITY DICTATOR

October 28, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The major question in my mind since Bashar Assad took over his strong man Father’s dictatorship in Syria has been – How long will he las

t? I am surprised it has lasted as long as he has, but Bashar has been able to keep enough ‘need’ in the minds of those who really matter in Syria to stay in power, and the financial and military support he has been able to finagle out of Iran has also helped to keep him in office.

One area, in which Bashar has shown a great degree of talent that does seem to exceed the talents of this father, is to trade what little Syria does possess to procure weapons of war from other countries.

He has been directly involved in procuring the ingredients necessary for production of WMD from North Korea and Iraq, and the assassination of several Lebanon Parliament Members, which sooner or later will be proven.

This is an excellent article about the inner workings of the Bashar type of procedure that is holding a mixed bag of clay and iron government together for the time being.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Bashar Assad’s battle cry

ASAF ROMIROWSKY, THE JERUSALEM POST

October 25, 2007

The Truth about Syria
By Barry Rubin
Palgrave Macmillan
304 pages; $24.95

Syria has long presented a solemn problem for the region, US foreign policy and Israel. Its mix of competing religious and ethnic groups, radical ideologies and political repression makes it a 72,000-square-mile time bomb waiting to explode.

This reality has become increasingly self-evident since Bashar Assad took over for his father Hafez in 2000. In his latest book, The Truth about Syria, Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center, dissects some of the volatile and enigmatic issues we confront when dealing with Syria.

Of late, after an alleged IAF attack on Syria, the northern border is heating up as Assad looks for an excuse to open an active front against Israel. The aftermath of the attack could help rally support for Assad, including the popular vote he desperately needs.

Rubin’s essential point is that Syria is not radical as a result of mistreatment by the West or Israel, but because the regime needs radicalism to endure.

Syria is governed by a small, Alawite minority dictatorship that restricts its approximately 19 million citizens’ freedoms and opportunities for advancement.

Demagoguery is essential to the regime’s survival as it justifies the scapegoating of America and Israel, the abuse of Lebanon

and a destabilized Iraq. All these elements boost the Syrian ego and morale.

Assad today is one of the biggest supporters of Islamism in the region,

even as he heads a secular Arab regime. Furthermore, Assad uses his support of Islamism to mobilize and bolster animosity toward America and Israel, thus diverting attention from Syria’s internal problems of corruption, a crumbling economy and a lack of civil rights. Despite Syria’s woeful performance, this has been a splendid strategy.

Understanding this is key to realizing that Bashar’s talk and intentions for peace are worthless, and therefore, we have to be careful not to fall into his trap – he is an Islamist.

Moreover, since Bashar was not his father’s chosen heir one might think that he would have been less devoted to the cause.

But after his elder brother’s death in 1994, Bashar, an ophthalmologist, was called back from London to report for duty and was put on a fast-track dictatorship tutorial.

Nonetheless, Rubin explains how Bashar’s inexperience and brashness come to life in his governing style as well as his belief that he can do whatever he pleases without any consequences.

Unlike Bashar, Rubin writes, Hafez Assad did not need to prove anything to anyone: “He was a career military officer, a pilot, a real military commander, a political conspirator who outmaneuvered dangerous rivals to seize total power.” Bashar does not even come close to his father’s governing let alone the fear he engendered throughout the country.

Bashar was Hafez’s only son educated outside of Syria. Despite his Western influence, however, he hasn’t taken the country in that direction.

Unlike his peer, King Abdullah II of Jordan, he has put pan-Arabism before economic vitality through strengthened ties with the US and Israel.

Rubin illustrates how Syria’s Achilles’ heel is its military weakness; though there has been much talk about the possibility of renewed Russian aircraft and missile sales, Syria’s military is badly outdated.

Furthermore, Syria has no superpower as an ally and it cannot depend on a single Arab government. Most of the regime’s threats and its use of terrorism, however, act as a smoke screen to distract from this reality.

As for Syria’s objectives in the Golan Heights, the real issue is whether or not there would be lasting peace if Syria were to get control of the territory, and if so, would Syria be able to justify its military leadership and failing economy? It is these and other questions that Rubin examines in his book, revealing the regime’s true intentions.

Rubin clearly shows that Bashar views the world from a pan-Arabist lens that calls for Israel’s destruction. In Bashar’s version of history, he writes, three generations of Arabs fought Israel and lost but – though Westerners might expect that the desire to fight would decrease due to repeated failure and high cost – now Bashar proudly proclaims that a fourth generation is eager for more battle, and the desire for struggle is in fact increasing over time.

This battle cry was bolstered after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri cost Bashar the support of his Arab brothers as well as France. To regain approval in the Arab world and boost his regime at home, Bashar is counting on a war with Israel. Or more precisely, he believes that the threat of a war will force Israel to beg the US to facilitate peace negotiations.

Such negotiations will inevitably raise the demand to legitimize the Syrian presence in Lebanon, stop investigation of the Hariri murder and grant other concessions. And like the past peace talks they will likely lead to another dead end.

So Bashar is caught in a gamble; he hopes that defiance of Washington will strengthen his position at home in conjunction with his ties with Iran, Hizbullah and al-Qaida – and that when President George W.

Bush leaves office, US policy toward Syria will soften.

In this vein, Syria under Bashar Assad is even more dangerous than it was under his father because he is so unpredictable and lacks the support of his father’s old guard.

There is no doubt that Syria is a wild card in the region. To better understand it, one should read Rubin’s book, a guide to the country’s complexities and nuances.

His v ast knowledge

and experience of the Middle East have produced a much needed examination of a significant state.

The writer is an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum and manager of Israel and Middle East affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.