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Interestingly enough, their literature says that the Mahdi will appear after what appears to be a "blast from the sky." Believers are cautioned to stay away from windows, as the blast will send shards of glass flying everywhere.

And the Jihadist's references to the volcano in Yellowstone? Another veiled reference, I think.

re post 1215 and a "blast from the sky"...A couple links of interest...

An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding an ANANOVA.com article: "TWO KILLED IN PHILIPPINES AIRPORT DRAMA" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Officials have confirmed that two men who tried to seize the air traffic control tower at Manila airport have been killed in a shoot-out with security officers. Former air transport office chief Panfilo Villaruel and Ricardo Gatchalian were killed in the incident, Edgardo Manda, general manager of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport said. "Our special operations unit has neutralised the situation," he said. Officers tried to persuade Villaruel to surrender after he occupied the control tower office but negotiations failed. It is believed the victims were carrying handguns. National security adviser Roilo Golez said Villaruel took over a highly sensitive installation that required immediate police action. He said Villaruel's action could have paralysed air traffic and affected national security and the economy." (Read More...)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman - PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: "MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA" (PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT SNIPPET: "Credible information has indicated terrorist groups may be planning attacks against U.S. interests in the Middle East. Terrorist actions may include suicide operations, bombings, hijackings or kidnappings. These may also involve commercial aircraft and maritime interests. While conventional weapons such as explosive devices are a more immediate threat in many areas, use of non-conventional weapons, including chemical or biological agents must be considered a possible threat. Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets. Increased security at official U.S. facilities has led terrorists and their sympathizers to seek softer targets such as public transportation, residential areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, hotels, schools, outdoor recreation events, resorts and beaches.") (November 6, 2003) (Read More...)

Excerpt from http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EK07Ak02.html

"...Muqtada al-Sadr, also issued a conciliatory statement on Saturday, November 1. The young Sadr and his followers in the Army of the Mahdi have been increasingly clashing with US troops, as well as more moderate Shi'ite groups. Alarmed by US army threats that he would be arrested as a rabble rouser threatening Iraqi stability, Sadr issued a statement asking American troops to spare Iraqi lives, calling for unity and brotherhood between the Americans and the Iraqis.

He stated that Saddam Hussein was a "sinful aggressor" and that he and his backers were the real and only enemies of Iraq, not the Americans. Sadr described Americans as guests in Iraq, adding that they were "peace loving people". He also stated that the Iraqi people only want good for the Americans (credit for translation of Sadr's statement goes to Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan ).

These statements were a repudiation of Sadr's earlier comparison of the IGC and the new Iraqi regime to Saddam's government. Sadr has been lashing out at the US as a result of Pentagon threats to arrest him. Many of his followers have already been arrested and his house was searched last month after he declared a shadow government and an unarmed militia that was in fact heavily armed.

Sadr had also accused the US and CPA of provoking Shi'ite infighting in order to divide their ranks, though he had simultaneously discussed recognizing the IGC if it were enlarged (presumably to include him) and if Bremer's veto power was removed.

However, Sadr's radical departure from his previous hostility to the US was contradicted in private the same day by one of his main deputies in Baghdad. Seyid Hasan Naji al-Musawi, the 38-year-old imam of Sadr City's Muhsin mosque and commander of Sadr's Army of the Mahdi in Baghdad, said that the final days were approaching in which the Mahdi would return. Shi'ites believe that the 12th imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, a descendant of Mohammed, went into an invisible supernatural location when he was a child, and he has ruled the world from there, but that he will one day return to the corporeal world and restore justice, accompanied by Jesus Christ.

Musawi declared that America's real purpose in coming to Iraq was to kill the Mahdi. "Iraq will be the end of America," he said, "the Mahdi will be coming soon and when he comes he will kill the Jewish leadership," which he equated with the Americans, adding that Julius Caesar was Jewish, and the Jews were the Romans. Musawi quoted a verse from the Koran prognosticating the eventual defeat of the Jews. He added that the Mahdi would be coming from the Hejaz area of Saudi Arabia, accompanied by Jesus, and he would also kill many clerics who wear the imama, or Shi'ite turban."