Draft agreement sets U.S. troop withdrawal date of June 30

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari - Getty Images
A news article from today at USAToday.com announced that Iraq and the U.S. have reached a preliminary agreement to withdraw American forces from Iraqi cities by next June.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is quoted as saying, "We're not... talking about an agreement to try to get out of a bad situation... This agreement is based on success."

If the withdrawal occurs as a consequence of the agreement, and her assertion remains true, that withdrawal is not an abandonment to "get out of a bad situation", we can be sure then that the current conflict in Iraq is NOT the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of doom upon Babylon as found in chapters 50-51 of the book of Jeremiah in the bible.

The reason? The withdrawal of the occupying forces from the land of Babylon, as prophesied by Jeremiah, will be a direct result of frustration over the failure to "heal" her -- "We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed; forsake her and let us each go to his own country, for her judgment has reached to heaven..." (Jer 51:9).

This giving up, admitting failure and going home will be precipitated by disaster -- the burning of the cities with fire: "I shall set fire to his cities, and it will devour all his environs... Her high gates will be set on fire, so the peoples will toil for nothing, and the nations become exhausted (because of the) fire" (Jer 50:32; 51:58).

Should the troops withdraw by next June, reconstruction hailed as a success, and no firestorm having had raged through Iraqi cities, then I will be the first to admit this current conflict has no relation to Jeremiah's prophecy.

Just as I was willing to admit that if the U.S. had killed Saddam on March 20th, 2003 before the fall of Baghdad 20 days later, that event would also have proved my premise false. But Saddam was not dead, as I strongly suspected and as we all found out 9 months later on December 14th, when he was found hiding in a rat hole in Tikrit.

And so, should the cities of Iraq burn before the withdrawal, and the coalition forces then leave, not in celebration at the success of reconstruction, but rather by outright abandoning Iraq in frustration that rebuilding has failed, the parallels of this conflict to Jeremiah's sequential prophecy will continue to prove out milestone after milestone.

For nine months I waited for Saddam to be found. I can wait another nine months.

A new power rises in Iraq

This was the headline of a March 19, 2007 blog post by independent journalist Michael Totten, in which he described the progressive changes he'd found in Erbil, Kurdistan in his most recent visit as compared to a previous visit he'd made just fourteen months previous.

Michael's post highlighted the sense of security and lack of violence he found on the one hand, and the economic prosperity and growing infrastructure on the other.

Of his latest visit Michael wrote, "I felt none of the fear and apprehension I experienced the first time I came here. Instead I saw considerable signs of progress... Massive new construction projects are literally everywhere. Most of those that had started when I arrived for the first time are finished, and ambitious new projects are well underway."

Michael touched on the reasons for change in his blog post: "Iraqi Kurdistan is de-facto independent already. The three northernmost provinces exist as a liberal-democratic state-within-a-state with their own parliament, their own laws, their own immigration policies, and their own military, border guards, and police. That much was already known. The region now, though, is even closer to formal sovereignty and actual independence than it recently was."

And of course, Kurdistan is home to the Iraqi Kurds, the present-day manifestation of the people of the land of ancient Media, the Medes. And of these people Jeremiah wrote, "The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes... Consecrate (these) nations..., the kingdoms of Ararat [Turkish Kurds], Minni [Iranian Kurds] and Ashkenaz [Iraqi Kurds]... Consecrate (these) nations... the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and (all the) land of their dominion..." (51:11, 27-26)

For what purpose does the LORD arouse and consecrate the Kurds? "His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it... To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitants" (Jeremiah 51:11,29).

Invasion, occupation, execution, burning, abandonment, military defeat, plundering, flood and drought -- nine judgments on Babylon are described in Jeremiah 50-51. We are through the first three, awaiting the fourth and fifth. The sixth is being prepared for by the strengthening of nations of the Medes, the modern-day Kurds, and by the preparation of a flashpoint source of future conflict between them and the Chaldeans, the modern-day Iraqis, the "treasures" of Iraq, the Kirkuk oil fields.

Are the Iraqis willing to fight over control of these treasures? A Reuters blog post of August 12, 2008 would indicate so: "'Kirkuk will never be part of Kurdistan, even if the blood comes up to our knees!' (an Arab Iraqi) lawmaker hissed as he passed a group of reporters outside (the Iraqi)parliament."

It seems the LORD is willing and ready to give them exactly what they ask for.

Up next: the burning. Then the abandonment (our troops come home! Work quickly, Lord!). Then the decisive defeat by the Kurds and the plunder of Babylon's treasures.

Interesting times we live in.

"Farming is latest casualty in drought-stricken Iraq"

This was the headline from an August 6th, 2008 article at NPR.org describing the on-going drought besieging farmland throughout Iraq. Some Iraqi farmers say, according to the article, that it is the worst drought they have seen in their lifetimes.

U.S. Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, is quoted as saying,
"It really is heart-wrenching to see the Iraqi people be driven to go through so much. They've had multiple wars, they have had this insurgency and terrorist action, and now they've got to contend with the drought."

Jeremiah describes drought as the final judgment on Babylon that results in complete desolation, one that leaves the land of Chaldea uninhabited forever: "Here cities have become an object of horror, a parched land and a desert, a land in which no man lives, and through which no son of man passes... This place (shall be) cut off, so that there will be nothing dwelling in it, whether man or beast, but it will be a perpetual desolation" (Jeremiah 51:43, 62).

This final desolation of Jeremiah's prophecy follows a catastrophic flood event, which follows a massive military defeat at the hands of the "Medes", the present-day Kurds of the north. That defeat follows an abandonment by the occupying forces, which follows widespread burning of the cities by fire. That follows the execution of the "arrogant one", the "king of Babylon", and that follows the capture of his city and the scattering of his army in a mass invasion by a "great king and many nations."

And so the present drought is not yet the final desolation, but seems to be another small-scale harbinger of that doom upon the country, just as the devastating flooding in Kurdistan two years ago warned of the coming flood judgment that wipes out the cities of Iraq and destroys the canals and waterways that give the land its life-sustaining capability.

Just as the first Gulf War was the harbinger for the second.

And so Jeremiah offers the warning of the harbinger: "Be afraid of the report that will be heard in the land -- for the report will come one year, and after that another report in another year, and (then) violence will be in the land..." (Jeremiah 51:46).

Withdrawal deal could prove occupation is NOT fulfillment of prophecy!

The Associated Press today announced Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that.

If this timetable is carried out so that all coalition troops leave, and no firestorms had broken out across the cities of Iraq beforehand, then this development will prove that the current occupation is NOT the fulfillment of the prophecy of doom on Babylon as described in Jeremiah 50-51.

Here are the pertinent passages of the prophecy: "(After) the arrogant one [Saddam Hussein] will stumble and fall [executed by hanging]... I [the LORD] shall set fire to his cities, and it will devour all his environs... Her high gates will be set on fire, so the peoples [reconstruction forces] will toil for nothing, and the nations [of the occupying coalition] become exhausted (because of the) fire... (saying,) we applied healing to Babylon [reconstruction efforts], but she was not healed; forsake her and let us each go to his own country" (Jeremiah 50:32; 51:58; 50:9).

If the coalition forces leave merely because of some withdrawal timetable deal with the Iraqi government, and not because of an announced abandonment out of frustration that reconstruction has failed following a major burning of the cities, the prophecy will have failed to play out literally, and sequentially. Jeremiah's prophecy will not be about today's events in present-day Iraq.

U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed to.

In other words, the announcement by the AP could be premature. I still await the burning of Babylon. And then the abandonment. And then the battle between the Kurds and Iraqis. And then the flood. And then the drought.

And then the complete desolation in our time. We shall see.

The LAND of Babylon, not just the one-time capital city also called Babylon


A prevelant dogma held by certain mainstream 'biblical scholars' is that Jeremiah's prophecy of doom and desolation upon Babylon as described in chapters 50-51 refers narrowly and only to Nebuchadnezzar's capital city of the ancient Babylonian Empire, the city once known as Babylon. They point to the uninhabited ruins of that ancient long-gone city as proof Jeremiah's prophecy was fulfilled long ago, and has no relevance towards any other entity.


The problem with that viewpoint is that Jeremiah's prophecy specifically refers to "the LAND of Babylon" (Jer 50:28), "Babylon, the LAND of the Chaldeans" (Jer 50:1), and not simply to the capital city of the ancient Babylonian Empire also once called Babylon.


On the WikiAnswers web site, a poster asked this question: "Is Babylon no more today inhabited fulfilling Jeremiah 50 v39?" The first answer was given as, "A failed prophecy, since present-day Iraq is quite occupied." I then answered, in part, "A prophecy unfulfilled is not failed, but simply yet future. But the first answer is correct in this -- Babylon is 'present-day Iraq.'"


A third poster objected to both our answers: "Since Babylon refers to a particular city and not to a nation or to an empire this prophecy began to be fulfilled when Babylon was indeed captured by Cyrus the Mede. It has not been inhabited in any significant way since and is today a tourist attraction and archeological site..."

Here the poster states the false premise that Jeremiah's prophecy refers narrowly to "a particular city" when that is simply not true. The poster audaciously accuses both of us previous posters of ignorance of "what the Bible says"(!) -- writing:

"This is another example (in the first comment above) of a mis-interpretation of the Bible, either deliberate or ignorant (not actually reading or bothering to find out what the Bible says) being used to allege that the Bible is in error. It is nothing but entirely accurate. Babylon, in terms of the original prophecy, has indeed been judged."


Here then was my response to that answer: "The original question posed refers specifically to the prophecy of Jeremiah 50, which states, "Concerning Babylon, the LAND of the Chaldeans..." (Jer 50:1) not just the one-time capital city also called by the name "Babylon." It is repeated: "For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her LAND an object of horror..." (vs 3), not just the 'city' uninhabited.

"All through the two chapters, the identification of Babylon as the "land", the nation, the empire, and not just the one-time capital city also once called Babylon, is repeated over and over: "Chaldea" -- not just the city of Babylon -- "will become plunder..." (vs 10); "Behold she will be the least of the nations," -- not least of the 'cities' -- "a wilderness, a parched LAND, and a desert..." (vs 12); "I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his LAND..." (vs 18) not just his 'city'; The noise of battle is in the LAND..." (vs 22); "It is a work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the LAND of the Chaldeans..." (vs 25) not just the one-time capital 'city' also called at one time "Babylon."

"There is a sound of fugitives and refugees from the LAND of Babylon..." (Jer 50:28); that means from the country, the empire, the nation, not just the one-time capital city also once called Babylon.

"I shall set fire to his CITIES," -- plural, not just some one city -- "and it will devour ALL his ENVIRONS" (Jer 50:32).

"His purposes which he has purposed against the LAND of the Chaldeans..." (Jer 50:45).

"Foreigners... (will) devastate her LAND... Devote all her army to destruction, and they will fall down slain in the LAND of the Chaldeans..." (Jer 51:2-4).

"I will repay Babylon and ALL THE INHABITANTS OF CHALDEA.." (vs 24) not just the inhabitants of the one-time capital city once also called Babylon.

"The purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, to make the LAND of Babylon" -- not just the city -- "a desolation without inhabitants..." (vs 29).

"The sea has come up over Babylon; she has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves. Her CITIES" -- plural, not just one -- "have become an object of horror, a parched LAND and a desert..." (vs 42-43).

"AND HER WHOLE LAND WILL BE PUT TO SHAME..." (vs 47)

It is so ironic that the third poster would conclude that "this is another example (in the first comment above) of a mis-interpretation of the Bible, either deliberate or ignorant (not actually reading or bothering to find out what the Bible says)", when the bible says over and over and over again that this Babylon of Jeremiah 50-51 is referring to the "whole land" of Babylon, and not just to the one-time capital city also called at one time Babylon.

The "land of the Chaldeans" has never been un-occupied, and so Jeremiah's prophecy is of a future time. The assertion of this weblog is that we are in the time of Jeremiah's judgment right now, and the events of the present occupation and upheaval in Iraq will prove it out, or disprove it. So far, the events of the invasion and occupation, the fall of Baghdad and the capture and execution of Saddam have proven it out.

Next up, Babylon burning. Then the abandonment. Then the defeat and plundering by the Kurds. Then the flood. Then the drought. And finally, complete desolation and uninhabitableness.

And there's nothing we can do about it, but watch.

Babylon is Burning

"(After) the arrogant one will stumble and fall... I shall set fire to his cities, and it will devour all his environs... Her high gates will be set on fire, so the peoples will toil for nothing, and the nations become exhausted because of the fire" (Jeremiah 50:32, 51:58).

This is up next for the land of Babylon, present-day Iraq.

So as we wait for the fires to begin, let's enjoy the anthem of the flames as recorded by the 70's UK punk rock band The Ruts, "Babylon is Burning" --

Kurds want Kirkuk in Kurdistan

This was the headline of a Reuters UK news article from July 31, 2008 describing a call by Kurdish members of a provincial council meeting for the city of Kirkuk and its surrounding oil-rich Tamim Province to become part of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. The meeting was boycotted by Arab and Turkmen council members.

Kurds regard Kirkuk, which lies just outside the largely autonomous region of Kurdistan, as their ancient capital.

"We completely reject Kirkuk becoming a part of Kurdistan and consider this the beginning of a crisis and strife in the city. It could lead to civil war in Kirkuk," said Mohammed al-Jubouri, an Arab member of the provincial council, as reported by Reuters.

As a requirement prescribed in the Iraqi Constitution, a referendum deciding the alignment of the province was to be voted on by the residents by December 31, 2007, but the Iraqi Parliament has delayed that vote indefinitely.

A nytimes.com article from December 9, 2007 reports that Kirkuk adjoins some of Iraq's most lucrative oil reserves. As reported in that article, the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization that seeks to prevent or resolve deadly conflicts, warned that “the Kirkuk question could... trigger total deadlock, breakdown and violent conflict."

In such violent conflict between Iraq and the Kurds of the north, Jeremiah wrote: "Consecrate these nations against (Babylon), the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their lieutenant governors, and every land of their dominion... for the destroyers will come to (Babylon) from the north" (Jeremiah 51:28, 48).