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.
Israel will respond with the complete destruction of Iran, and possibly Mecca and Medina too.
Oil will be shut off from the region.
The world will plunge into a depression that will make the 1929 one look like child's play.
It's TEOTWAWKI.
not the leadership. notice that Al Zahwari and OBL and all the rest - do everything they can to stay alive. they only preach suicide to their sheeple islamic masses. the leadership doesn't want to die - and they surely would die if they used a nuke first.
and they don't need to use a nuke first, that's what my post is all about. they have a conventional option, coupled with the announcement that they have a nuke and a north korea demo of it - it just might give them what they need.
its not 1945, the US no longer has the "guts" it did then - decades of liberalism and political correctness has made most americans weak.
I say we supply both sides, get them to kill each other, then when the fighting is over, step in and kill the survivor.
Mark
And I feel fine...
Mark
iran doesn't have a good way to deliver such a weapon. not with 100% reliability.
If that happens, you will receive the FR "Post of the Year" award. LOL
;-)
If it comes true, we may not have the opportunity to nominate or rename anyone on the Internet because there might no longer BE an Internet.
I, too, believe we should take out the "trash" ASAP. In reality, we should have taken out the trash on Sept. 12, 2001.
Sounds like Iran is going to light up the skies by testing their surface to air missles
I think Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and the Il one have already theoretically remapped the face of the earth like Germany and Japan of the 40's.
Let's say Iran hits Tel Aviv. Israel or the US hits back...right?
Maybe not. N.Korea is supposed to have maybe a dozen warheads already. What if one lands in Tel Aviv while Iran overtakes Jerusalem?
And then Iran threatens the US by telling us that one or more is in this country? But not telling us where?
Maybe even setting one off to tell us they really do.
We pause!
The world changes overnight. Once the 25% Muslim population takes over Paris and most of Europe then what city do you hit? Tehran?
Hugo is playing Hitler in S. America, with $3B in new Russian technology, and the Il one is toying with Japan and S. Korea (special favor in return for the unlimited oil supply in exchange for the nuclear warheads delivered last month by Hugo to Ahmadinejad during the Axis of Evil tour).
If it doesn’t happen August 22nd, it would make for a great Tom Clancy movie.
A good place to start would be for us to quit sending all of our money to China to fund their proxies in the war against us.
America we are at the CrossRoads on this war of world wide eivil.
NYT reporting that the Iraqi Kurds are saying that Iran has been shelling Iraqi Kurdistan with 2 civilians killed, 4 wounded.
2) see 1
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