PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM
Same old tune with Spam!
And still the rhetoric’ s a Sham!
Gomer Pile Must Cry Out Shazam!
All Must be ended by the Great I Am!
Until Then the U.S. will sit on its Sands!
Israel strike if Iran gets a nuke in Hands!
I Don’t expect an Israeli strike before 2010!
But Anything Can happen in a M.E. Loony Bin!
July 4, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Iran’s response to the threats issued against it since they accelerated a date with doom, such as the one issued to begin 2007 by Anne Penketh in the UK Belfast Telegram, has followed the oft quoted phrase: “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
The Current Situation
Everyone is wondering: Will Israel or the United States, or both, attack the Iranian nuclear facilities this year? I have already given my opinion on this in previous blogs, but I will give it again following the next two Scriptures. I think these two Scriptures graphically describe what the general moral characteristic of mankind will be at the time of the return of the Lord, and I would say the politicians and world leaders have been successful in sinking to this level before most of the world’s population.
II Timothy 3:1-7 – This know also, that in the last day s per
ilous times shall come. [2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, [3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, [4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; [5] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. [6] For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, [7] Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Jude 14-16 – And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, [15] To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. [16] These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
I’m not hedging, but considering these Scriptures from Timothy and Jude, how can anyone forecast precisely what these characters from the loony bin will do next? So, I admit my opinion may not be worth a plug nickel! I have stated my reasons for it in previous blogs, so I won’t go into all that again. I do not believe an attack will be launched against the Iranian nuclear facilities until it is known she has actually produced a nuclear bomb!
I suspect Iran will soon, at least for a while, because of fear Israel is going to strike its nuclear sites, engage in talks that will finally get it to agree to halt its nuclear enrichment program. While the talks are going on Iran will frantically accelerate the program, and even after they do agree, will continue to secretly continue until they make a nuclear bomb they can place on a Shihab missile warhead. All this will hold Israel at bay because of the international effect an attack would have while talks were going on. So I do not expect an Israel strike against the Iranian nuclear complex prior to 2010, but I do expect a major Middle East war to break out between the Islamic nations and Israel at some point in time between 2010 and 2015.
The Situation in January 2007
Begin Excerpt from Archives of UK Belfast Telegraph
Israel raises nuclear stakes with Iran
[Published: Thursday 25, January 2007 – 09:33]
By Anne Penketh in Tel Aviv
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, dramatically raised the stakes in the international showdown with Iran last night, with a clear warning that his country was prepared to use military force to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“The Jewish people, with the scars of the Holocaust fresh on its body, cannot afford to allow itself to face threats of annihilation once again,” Mr Olmert said in a speech to a high-level security conference in Herzliya. “No nation has the right even to consider its position.
It is the obligation of every country to act against this will all its might.” “We can stand up against nuclear threats and even prevent them,” he said.
Israeli military officials warned this week that Israel – acting alone or in coordination with the US – could launch preemptive military strikes against Iran before the end of this year.
Israel describes Iran’s nuclear programme
as an “existential threat” to the Jewish state which should be stopped
before Iranian scientists manage to produce a nuclear bomb. There is particular concern because of statements by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, threatening to wipe Israel from the map. But Israeli and western experts say that even without the firebrand Mr Ahmadinejad, who is currently in political difficulties, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, has made it clear that the Iranians will not back down from their confrontation with the West over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The Israeli officials say that action should be taken to stop Iran before it reaches the “point of no return” in progressing towards the possible production of a nuclear bomb. They are referring to the moment when Iran, which announced last year that it is capable of enriching uranium to the 5% necessary for nuclear energy, is able to overcome technical problems with centrifuges used in the process so that they can run on a sustainable basis. Once that happens, Iran would be theoretically capable of enriching uranium to the 90% required for a nuclear weapon, depending on the number of centrifuges. Iran continues to insist, however, that its intentions are peaceful.
Nuclear researcher Gary Samore, director of studies at the US council on Foreign Relations, told the Herzliya conference that Iran was still years away from being able to manufacture a bomb.
Israel – the only Middle East power with nuclear weapons – has long made it clear that it will not allow Iran to have a nuclear bomb. Reports that Iran is close to the “point of no return” towards building a bomb have caused widespread alarm throughout the Middle East, with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and most recently, Jordan, warning that they could embark on “peaceful” nuclear programmes, triggering fears of a nuclear arms race in the tinderbox region. Israeli officials – who admit there is an internal debate on how to respond to what could be a bluff – expect a triumphant announcement next month or in March that Iran has mastered the centrifuge technology, confirming Tehran as the regional superpower.
In a further significant development, thanks to Iran’s deep engagement in Iraq, there is now an open rift between the majority Sunni branch of Islam and and the Shiites. Israelis now boast that the “moderate” Arab Sunni states, who feel threatened by the newly empowered Iran and its regional reach through its Shia allies, are cooperating with Israel out of a new-found confluence of interests.
A senior British military source said yesterday that the Israelis were serious about the use of military force to stop Iran, and were now engaged in preparing public opinion for such a prospect. “They’re watering the turf. The Iranians are not under enough pressure,” the source said.
One theory is that Israel, which is disappointed at the impact of limited UN economic sanctions and the slow process through the United Nations which is out of step with the accelerated pace of Iran’s nuclear research, aims to heighten pressure on Iran to halt enrichment in line with UN demands, by invoking the military threat.
However, the British source said, “the trouble with talking about military action is that you actually end up bombing.”
Israeli officials who spoke to the Independent this week refused to go into details about the possible catastrophic regional fallout from military strikes, although one source said that if they were restricted to Iran’s Natanz facility where its centrifuges are known to be enriching uranium, “there would be headlines in the papers for two days.”
But any military campaign would provoke retaliation by Iran which is expected to reactivate its Hezbollah allies on the border with Israel, who according to officials here have been rearming with missiles since the end of the summer campaign.
The 140,000 American troops inside Iraq could be significant targets of the Iranians. Syria could also be drawn into a wider war, although the Israelis
believe that both Syria and Russia would remain on the sidelines.
Other questions concern the Bush administration’ s appetite for another war, already bogged down in Iraq and facing call
s from the Democrat-led Congress for a phased withdrawal.
And the strength of the Israeli armed forces would be further tested after their flawed campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. “The IDF are not as good as they think they are,” said the British source. “It’s an army of conscripts, commanded by reserve officers. Do you want to send conscripts into a war for the national interest?”
Some analysts say that in any case, military strikes would be counter-productive as they would only delay, and not stop, Iran’s nuclear programme.
End 2007 Excerpt by Anne Penketh in the UK Belfast Telegram
The Current Status of the Attack, No Attack, Syndrome
Begin July 1, 2008 YNet News Excerpt
Begin YNet News Excerpt
Ex-intelligence official: World expects Israel to bomb Iran
July 1, 2008
West assumes Israel will hit Iran, Jewish State to be blamed in case of global flare-up, ex-intel officer Yossi Kuperwasser says; Tehran believes likelihood of strike on its nuke facilities very low, he says
Roi Mandel
The West believes that Israel is aware of the magnitude of the Iranian nuclear threat and assumes that the Jewish state will bomb Iran, ex-IDF intelligence officer Yossi Kuperwasser told Ynet Tuesday.
Kuperwasser, the former head of the IDF’s Research and Assessment Division, believes that the Pentagon source’s assessment that Israel will likely strike in Iran by the end of the year shows that the West assumes Israel will do the dirty work for it.
“That way, in case of a global flare-up, Israel could be blamed,” Kuperwasser says.
The former senior officer, who for many years dealt with Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, told Ynet the most problematic issue was Tehran’s ability to produce industrial quantities of high-grade uranium.
“Within a year to a year and a half, the Iranians will have enough uranium for a nuclear bomb,” Kuperwasser says. “This is also the American intelligence estimate, which at the time was harshly criticized, and rightfully so. As far as we know, the Iranians have not yet reached this capability…at the same time, they continue their research uninterrupted.”
Turning his attention to the SA-20 aerial defense system purchased by Iran from Russia, Kuperwasser admits that the missile system could make an aerial strike considerably more difficult to carry out.
“This is a missile system that can to protect against missiles and airplanes.
The Iranians have another aerial system today, but they view it as inadequate. Clearly, every addition to the aerial defense system may minimize the effectiveness of an aerial strike,” he says.
‘West is sensitive to pain, money’
While the West has increasingly internalized the Iranian nuclear threat, the process has been too slow and insufficient, the former military officer says.
“The West realizes that this is an Iranian challenge to the existing world order, aiming for Islam to enjoy a different status,” Kuperwasser says. “Finally people have woken up, but the question is whether officials in the US and Europe realize the gravity at this time. It looks as though everyone is trying to shift the responsibility to someone else, and they believe that ultimately, if nothing changes, Israel will do the job for the West.”
Kuperwasser says the Iranians are continuing their nuclear project unabated, in the belief that nobody will stand in their way.
“Iran realizes that the West is sensitive to pain and money, and won’t embark on an operation that would significantly boost oil prices,” he says. “Every time the possibility of a military strike is raised, the Revolutionary Guard’s commander speaks out and warns against the chaos. They believe that the likelihood of a strike is very low.”
“In this poker game, the Iranians are leading at this time,” Kuperwasser says. “The pressure should be boosted considerably, and it should be made clear that a military move will be carried out if needed…if the Iranians believe that the West is serious, they will think twice about whether it is worthwhile for them to continue.”
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