The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
 

Vol: 34 Issue: 29 - Thursday, July 29, 2004

Ezekiel's Roster
by Jack Kinsella

The mad mullahs running Iran are convinced that the United States won't
dare attack because Washington doesn't think it can win.  At least, that
is the assessment of Iranian Army commander Brig. Gen. Nasir Mohammadifar.
Mohammadifar told Iranian troops on July 25 that Teheran could engage in a
war with Israel AND the United States.

"America would have attacked Iran by now if it were sure it could defeat
us," Mohammadifar said. "It has been intensely aware of its absolute
inability to attack Iran."

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps public relations chief Masood Jazairy
was quoted by the official Iranian student news agency ISNA as saying that
Teheran would destroy Israel if it attacked Iranian nuclear facilities.
Jazairy said both Israel and the United States have been deterred by
Iran's military capabilities.

"The United States is showing off by threatening to use its wild dog,
Israel," Jazairy said. "They will not hesitate to strike Iran if they are
capable of it. However, their threats to attack Iran's nuclear facilities
cannot be realized. They are aware that Teheran's reaction will be so
harsh that Israel will be wiped off the face of the Earth and U.S.
interests will be easily damaged," he said.

Two days ago, the London Daily Telegraph reported that the Iranians had
broken the seals on nuclear equipment monitored by the IAEA.  The paper
also said that Iran had resumed construction and testing of components
capable of producing fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Iran's intelligence community believes an Israeli attack is not imminent
either, because of a downward-revised Israeli intelligence threat
assessment issued last week.

Israeli intelligence concluded that the International Atomic Energy Agency
has significantly affected Iran's drive toward nuclear weapons capability.
The revised assessment says that Iran would require three years to reach
nuclear weapons capability and another year to develop its first atomic
bomb.

The latest assessment was relayed to Israel's cabinet on July 21. Israeli
military intelligence chiefs and a representative of the Mossad determined
that Israel's leading threat was from Iran's nuclear weapons program.

The intelligence assessment was that Iran would reach the "point of no
return" in developing nuclear weapons capability in 2007.

"We are talking about an assessment that has political implications," said
an Israeli official. "If the Iranian nuclear threat won't emerge until
2007, then there is no sense of immediacy in dealing with the issue."

The revised threat assessment lists Iran's nuclear program as the number
one military threat to Israel, followed closely by Syrian ballistic
missiles already in place and pointed at the Jewish State.

Syria has been developing an arsenal of medium-range surface-to-surface
missiles, including the Scud C and Scud D missiles, with ranges of 550 and
700 kilometers, respectively.

The threat assessment report also said Syria could be trying to begin
uranium enrichment as part of its weapons of mass destruction program. But
intelligence officers could not say for sure if Damascus has launched a
significant uranium enrichment project of its own.

The Tehran Times ran an interesting report under the headline: "U.S.,
Israel Have No Claim on Iran Nuclear Program: Russian Official."  The
report quoted from an interview with a member of the Russian Duma
(parliament), Youri Savilov.  Savilov told the interviewer for the
website, 'Iranro' that, "The threats by the U.S. and Israel against Iran
contravene international law."

Savilov said Israel's claims has no basis since it posses a large arsenal
of nuclear armaments.  He also said that the US administration has "misled
its public and international community by falsely claiming the existence
of biological and chemical weapons in some nations."

Gee, I wonder where our enemies learned stuff like that to use against us?
Oh, wait, I know. The New York Times, Richard Clarke, the LA Times, John
Kerry, John Edwards, the whole of the Democratic National leadership,
etc., etc.   They continue to broadcast the message that America is
untrustworthy and its leadership corrupt -- even though they know it's not
true.

They also know that every time they raise those charges; they damage
America's standing abroad, providing a form of aid and comfort to the
enemy while increasing the risk for Americans abroad.  And they don't
care.  As long as it will win votes.

And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Egyptian journalists that
Russia 'supports the right of Iran as a member-state of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes'.

"We praise prospects for Russian-Iranian relations. Iran is our neighbor
and our traditional partner," he said.  "The two sides intend to implement
projects that will amount to about 10 billion U.S. dollars," Lavrov added.

Assessment:

No matter how many times I revisit the subject, I am continually
awestricken by it.  Ezekiel's prophecy of the Gog-Magog War, I mean.  The
precision and attention to detail of Ezekiel's description is simply
staggering.

"Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, [Russia] the chief prince of Meshech
and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and PUT HOOKS INTO THY JAWS, and I
will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of
them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers
and shields, all of them handling swords . . ." (Ezekiel 38:2-4)

It is fascinating to watch Russia being slowly, inexorably drawn into the
Middle East conflict, almost against its better judgment, forced by its
economic need into what could easily become a showdown over Iran.

The current situation mirrors the precise image that Ezekiel conveyed with
the 'hooks in the jaws' word picture -- and the even more fascinating, "I
will BRING thee forth".

Ezekiel's roster of nations for the Gog-Magog war continues to fill me
with awe:

"Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and
helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north
quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee." (v5-6)

Iran was known as 'Persia' until the early 1920's when the country's name
was changed to Iran. The other nations on Ezekiel's Roster are all either
Russian client states or old Soviet client states, with the exception of
Turkey -- which is rapidly being pushed back into the Islamic world by the
European Union.

"After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt
come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered
out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been
always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall
dwell safely all of them." (v8)

We learn much from this one passage.  We learn that the war is slated to
take place in the 'latter years' -- once Israel had resumed her place at
the table of nations. The entire history of the Israeli Diaspora is
contained in this one verse.

In Ezekiel's day, "Israel" had not existed for generations and the Kingdom
of Judah was in Babylonian hands. From 702 BC until 1948, there was no
place on earth called 'Israel'.  Israel was 'gathered out of many people'
the land was 'brought back from the sword' (it took five wars, including a
War of Independence to do it).

Until the Jews returned to the Land, it had 'always been waste' exactly as
Ezekiel predicted, but now that it is 'brought forth out of the nations',
the Jews again have a homeland where they can take refuge from
persecution.

Ezekiel's prophecy is like a jigsaw puzzle.  The more pieces that fall
into place, the clearer the final picture becomes.  Iran's nuclear plans
cannot be permitted to come to fruition. It is just as simple as that.
And the mad mullahs are right -- the United States is unlikely to start a
war with Iran -- we're spread too thinly now. And both Iran and Russia are
keenly aware of the fact that eventually, Israel WILL attack Iran's
nuclear facilities rather than let them go operational.

There can only be one possible way to prevent Israel from attacking Iran:

"Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same
time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil
thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled
villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of
them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates." (v10-11)

According to Ezekiel, the invasion of Israel will be a sneak attack,
prompting a weak diplomatic protest from abroad, but not much more.

"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions
thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou
gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to
take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" (v13)

The puzzle piece that has been missing down through the ages is the one
that explains why.  Why does the Gog-Magog alliance take the risk?  What
does Israel have that makes it worth invading?  There's no oil wealth, no
mineral wealth apart from that in the Dead Sea which so far remains
unrecoverable. The whole country isn't as big as Rhode Island, most of it
is desert or mountains and the only ones who really even want it are the
Israelis.  The Russians don't want it. Neither do the Iranians.

Iran's nuclear dilemma is the missing piece that brings Ezekiel's vision
into focus. The closer we get to the actual event, the clearer Ezekiel's
picture becomes.

Iran's nuclear ambitions will also be the Gog-Magog alliance's ultimate
undoing:

"And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will
rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with
him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone."
(v22)

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up
your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."  (Jesus Christ, Luke 21:28)