Posted on 08/08/2006 7:34:50 AM PDT by Former Fetus
WSJ: Scholar Warns Iran's Ahmadinejad May Have 'Cataclysmic Events' In Mind For August 22 Tue Aug 08 2006 10:22:35 ET
In a WALL STREET JOURNAL op-ed Tuesday, Princeton's Bernard Lewis writes: "There is a radical difference between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the apocalyptic worldview of Iran's present rulers."
"In Islam as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time -- Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the US about nuclear development by Aug. 22," which this year corresponds "to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to 'the farthest mosque,' usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1).
"This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind."
'Knowing this nutjob, his "final answer" to the US could be a dirty bomb or a nuclear test of some sort. I think Iran may be closer to the bomb than we think."
Iran has a bomb. They got it from Pakistan and they got the missile to launch it with from North Korea.
Question is how are they going to set it up and launch it without anyone knowing it came from Iran?
Something else needs to be said about August 22.
Let's say the Iranian lunatic does have a bomb and a missile to launch it with. Let's say he launches his missile at Tel Aviv because launching it at Jerusalem destroys a major part of Islam.
Now let's say the Israelis shoot the missile down. What's next?
I doubt it. As far as I know, the US and Pakistan are watching those Pakistani nukes like a couple of hawks and Bush is two steps ahead of Iran at stopping this threat. The US has given Pakistan a lot of help in nuclear weapons security, for their benefit and ours.
Interesting question. Reflex would be to nuke one of their cities as a "deterrant". My guess would be Israeli's bomb the hell out of every known nuclear site. The US would then attempt to lead the charge via the UN, which would likely be unsuccessful despite an initial showing of "outrage". The UN will do absolutely nothing and it will be left to the US and Israel to clean up the mess.
They know that any nuke attempt at Israel at this time would be futile. Not only would Israel's Arrow system shoot down their one or two firecrackers, but Israel could respond with a salvo that would wipe Iran "off the face and all that."
Their least detectable delivery system for a nuke would not be missile based. It will be a smuggle attempt. It might be up through South America. Our ports have increased geiger counter security as far as containers, and a ship-hidden device would only do half-damage.
bttt
Film at eleven.
Think about it - they fire one nuke tipped Shehab at Israel. Israel shoots it down, fires 10 back which Iran can't shoot down. Iran knows they are at a complete disadvantage until they get a missile shield of Russian S-300 Favorits.
Remember watching clown cars? Sometimes they rigged them to bounce up and down and swerve left and right...Paris Hilton is a clown car.
Israel responds with a "disproportianate" response and the UN cries about it.
Hmmm....I wonder if those 11 missing Egyptians have anything to do with this?
~If they are Egyptian or just on Egyptian passports.
The 12 Imams are in Islamic lore, with the 13th being the Mahdi. The Iranian president might consider himself number 12.
The FBI might want to consider finding these men very quickly.
Could you possibly add a certain moon rock to your list??
I had noticed that Paris seemed to have a standard, patented way of posing, and you just proved it!
I think Iran probably only has one missile that is functional at this point. Remember, in his brief radio press conference the other day, Bush said that Iran should get rid of its nuclear weapon and not develop others.
I thought that Amadinejad would have used his nuke by now if he had it, but I suspect he's waiting for a more symbolic moment.
I don't think Iran expected the Israelis to react at all to their most recent provocations, and I think Iran was genuinely surprised and thrown off its timetable. However, what they have always relied on - the UN - is coming into play now, and I think will be successful in buying them time. Plus, Iran has had time to study Israeli warfare and also the international response - and most important, the domestic response here in the USA.
They probably think by now that all they need is that one nuke. And they may be right.
Something tells me if Iran prepares some sort of WMD missile launch, we're going to know about it well in advance - unless they've built underground silos.
An Iranian missile would be easy to detect days before it's ready to launch. All their missiles are liquid fueled and take a long time to get ready. The US and Israel would see them fueling and take out the missile/s.
It's much more likely that they have a smuggling network to get the bomb into Israel or the US. Again, that would be no easy task, what with radiation detectors and the like. But it could be done.
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