"Touchdown Panthers!"
Posted on 08/19/2006 4:19:05 PM PDT by Flavius
Washington is keeping a sharp weather eye out for Tuesday, August 22, which this year corresponds in the Islamic calendar to the date on which many Sunni Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on his winged horse Buraq to “the farthest mosque”, which is traditionally identified with Jerusalem.
According to the Muslim legend, on that day, a divine white light spread over Jerusalem and the whole world.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that information rated “highly credible” has reached US undercover agencies of a secret report presented to Iran’s supreme ruler Ali Khamenei by Abdollah Shabhazi, one of the heads of the Supreme National Security Council. He claims to expose a mega-terror plot against Jerusalem scheduled for August 22, which aims at killing large numbers of Jews, Arabs and Christians.
This atrocity will reportedly arm the United States and Israel with the pretext for hitting Iran’s nuclear installations, as well its capital, Tehran, and other big cities.
Shabhazi says the US and Israel need to launch a military campaign to restore the deterrent strength they lost in the Lebanon war.
The massive attack will reportedly focus on the Old City of Jerusalem and its eastern suburbs. The Iranian report claims that the plotters, who are not identified, are eager to recreate the divine white light whish spread over Jerusalem in the year 632. It does not rule out the use of a non-conventional weapon.
DEBKAfile reports that the authorities in Israel do not appear to be taking this threat seriously, unlike Washington – and Tehran.
Deeply impressed, Iran’s rulers launched a large-scale are, sea and ground exercise Saturday, Aug. 19. The maneuver, dubbed the Blow of Zolfaghar (the sword used by Imam Ali), involves 12 divisions, army Chinook helicopters, unmanned planes, parachutists, electronic war units and special forces. State-run television reported a new anti-aircraft system was tested “to make Iranian air space unsafe for our enemies.”
The massive military exercise will spread over 14 of Iran’s 30 provinces and last about five weeks.
DEBKAfile adds: The point of this massive display of might is in fact to place Iran’s armed forces on the ready for the contingency of a US-Israeli offensive on August 22 as per Shabhazi’s prediction. The exercise will be moved to Tehran to prepare the capital for a potential assault.
August 22, furthermore, is also the day of Iran’s formal reply to the incentives packages on offer from the West in return for halting its uranium enrichment projects.
For weeks, Tehran was under pressure from the United States and Europe for an earlier reply, but insisted on August 22.
Prof. Bernard Lewis, the great scholar of Islam and the Middle East offers the background in the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 8:
“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… Mr. 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 U.S. about nuclear development by Aug. 22. This was at first reported as "by the end of August," but Mr. Ahmadinejad's statement was more precise.”
Revolutionary Iran habitually links fundamentalist symbolism to political events.
Prof. Lewis explains the significance of Aug. 22 and adds ominously:
“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.”
The Shiites do not recognize Rajab 27 as the date of Muhammad’s purported flight to Jerusalem but celebrate Mabath to commemorate the day they believe Allah appeared before Mohammed in a cave and told him he had been chosen as the prophet to spread the divine message across the world. Mabath is marked by Shiites in Iran and other parts of the Middle East with great ceremony.
Claiming to represent the true Islam, the Shiite rulers of Tehran are expected by Washington to mark the date by demonstrating their military superiority for all Muslims to see.
In addition to Bernard Lewis’s hypothesis, speculation is rife in Washington about what Iran has in store for next Tuesday. Tehran may announce success in producing enriched uranium of a higher grade, meaning it is no more than six months away from a weapons-grade capability. While providing justification for UN Security Council sanctions, Tehran prefers to believe that this announcement will be its passport for admission to the world’s nuclear club and its attendant privileges, including the right to enrich uranium independently.
In the meantime, the Iranians are putting on a spectacular show of military bravado to show the world and reassure their own people that they are not afraid of threats.
8.22=0hour?
I am trying figure out when the Miraj begins. Tuesday night at dusk??? Monday night at dusk???
I would say Monday night at dusk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isra_and_Miraj
The truth is that it would be better if they attacked now, before they get the bomb.
I suspect they won't, though.
The real reason this guy talks about Aug 22 is that he really believes that the Twelfth Imam is returning on that date.
The single sword stroke that killed the King of Persia as he was trying to find his opponent in the dust kicked up by the battle.
Just to add this to the mix. New York City is often referred to as the New Jerusalem.
Many people refer to it as the New Babylon, but I guess it doesn't matter in the long run. That said, I don't think anything is going to happen on the 22nd, and people are getting needlessly freaked out. Which is exactly what he wanted.
With the Muzzies, a bit of bluster and spear shaking outside the gates is as good as anything else. They declare a propaganda victory and go back to deciding how they can kill the most civilians in some sneak attack. Gutless wonders of the Mad Mo cult.
If there was not the very real possibility of Iran lobbing a nuke at Israel, this would all be hilarious material worthy of the Marx Brothers, consider:
You have a sawed off little runt of a dictator (Ahmadjihad) who shouts down, prays down, ejaculates down, WHATever it is he does at some obscure well, thinking that the 12th Imam is hiding down there and will climb out on the 22nd of August to destroy all the enemies of Islam, establish a world wide caliphate or whatever he's supposed to do, the Jews will be wiped out, everyone will convert to Islam or die, and universal peace will reign all over the world (after they kill untold millions of people of course).
Now here is what may or may not happen next Tuesday:
Iran will be continuing their vaunted military exercises, and they may or may not decide to have a test launch of a Shahab-3 missile. If they have the stones to aim it at Israel, it is game over for Iran because Israel will immediately retaliate and if Iran does NOT have a nuclear weapon, they will after Israel pulls the trigger on them, and it won't be pretty. Tehran, Tabriz, Esfahan and Shiraz? Say bye-bye to them all and more.
And in the midst of the Israeli retaliation, all the Iranians have to do is to so much as look funny at any U.S. military forces in the region, make a threatening move, and you can bet that there will be a concentrated and focused tactical nuke strike on any and every Iranian military-industrial target that U.S. pilots can reach, and I'll bet they can reach them all, and faster than the MSM would have you think.
If Syria is stupid enough to side with Iran, those prophecies in Isaiah about Damascus will become a reality, as Syria will suddenly be in need of a new capital, assuming there is anything left of Syria when they finally get theirs.
And should this all come to pass, it will be due to the virulent Islamofascist/jihadist virus, which in duped individuals at the bottom of the food chain, are used as were the 9/11 hijackers, creating mass carnage using low-technology methods (box cutters, etc.). And at the top of their food chain, there are the political leaders like Ahmadjihad who have the power of a government and military at their disposal, and they have the ability to unleash the same sort of terroristic mass murder, but on a larger scale.
And this is why we need to throw the so-called rule book out the window, stop playing by late 19th century and early 20th century concepts of "fair play", and recognize that we are facing the equivalent of rabid animals who are determined to wipe our asses out one way or the other. They are not going to negotiate, they are never going to agree to any sort of cease fire or peace treaty, because we are the INFIDELS they are sworn to destroy and the majority of those deluded fools are unable to break loose of the death cult ideology that holds them in it's grasp.
And that my FRiends, is why we (meaning America and the West) need to kill those sons-of-b!tches NOW while we still have the strategic advantage.
they won't use a nuke - they would be incinerated within 15 minutes.
but what they can do - is launch many regional attacks on strategic targets - oil fields in iraq, tankers in the persian gulf, use their syrian and hezbollah proxies in israel, terrorism and shia militias inside iraq - all at once, and at the very same time, north korea sets off a nuclear test, and iran announces they have purchased 10 of the now proven weapons.
the US won't use nukes first - so, what do we do in this scenario?
I got your back, m...
If that's the case, then it will occur Monday, 9:16am EDT.
Absolutely nothing except throw a welcome to the club party. China and Russia will never buy into sanctions. Iran supplies them with enormous amounts of energy and buys enormous amouts of weapons. We (the west) have been immasculated in Iraq and Lebanon. There is nothing left to do except try to pit the sunni against the shia throughout the ME and hope they battle it out amongst themselves. I don't know which side we will pick.
This is such crap. Even if this wasn't Debka, it's beyond ridiculous to believe the Iranians are going to tell us the exact hour they plan an attack. We'll have to deal with these clowns soon, but a lot of people are going to look silly on the 23rd. This has all the hype and letdown factor of Y2K.
Ummagumma
I would guess since we're talking Islamic mysticism here that it will be before dusk Baghdad time, as Iraq is where Ali is buried.That's ZULU plus three hours. Say before 1600 ZULU or 1100 EDT. I think we'll know by then if anything is happening
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