"Could Iraq's banning of top Sunni officials reignite violence?"

"Could Iraq's banning of top Sunni officials reignite violence?" That was the headline yesterday on The Atlantic Wire news website covering a story by Max Fisher about the barring of 500 candidates from participating in the upcoming Iraq national elections in March.

Interesting choice there -- reignite. The next judgment on Babylon decreed in Jeremiah's prophecy is the burning of the cities. As the news article states, "the move has Iraq analysts extremely worried." Some of those comments from experts include --

"...a sinister anti-Sunni campaign..." Ranj Alaaldin

"...complete system failure in the new democracy..." Reidar Vissar

"...stupid... likely to incite anger and violence..." IraqPundit

"...surprise, surprise, most of those barred are Sunnis... a witch hunt..." Hoda Hamid

"...original De-Baathification program #3 blunder of the decade transformed the country into a bloody, chaotic mess..." referencing article by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

We will have to see if this move by the current Iraq politicians is the spark that ignites the fire in the cities and all their environs.

Will Iraqi cities burn tomorrow?

January 16th, 2010 is 1,113 days from Saddam Hussein's execution. That event took place 1,113 days from his capture. Is there a pattern being set? If so, the remaining judgments can be predicted to the day. If not, well, we wait.

Invasion, capture, punishment, burning, abandonment, civil war, plundering, flood and drought. The nine catastrophes that lead to complete desolation, a land devoid of inhabitants, as read in Jeremiah's prophecy of doom on Babylon in chapters 50 through 51. Never in history has Chaldea suffered anything remotely nearing such devastation. On the contrary, she remains a bustling, albeit less crowded, crossroads.

But the first three judgments have indeed occurred here in our time, beginning March 19, 2003 with the invasion by the U.S.-led multi-national forces, their capture and occupation of Iraq and capture of its dictator, Saddam Hussein, and his punishment by hanging.

So we wait for the burning of the cities, as Jeremiah decreed from the Lord: "I shall set fire to his cities, and it will devour all his environs" (Jer 50:32). Will that occur just a few short hours from now, as the sun rises over the Tigris?

What could trigger such a conflagration? Could it be the frustration at the coming election, and the banning of Sunni candidates accused of being Baathists, as reported today by Anthony Shadid in the New York Times online? --

"A knot of young men stood Friday outside the Umm Al Qura Mosque, once a nest of insurgent fervor where a year of relative tranquillity has softened the jagged edges of nearby bullet holes. They were angry, frustrated and quick to punctuate their denunciations of a decision to bar scores of Sunni candidates from Iraqi elections in March with a single word: sharaiyya, Arabic for legitimacy. "

His report continues:

"The decision to disqualify nearly 500 candidates, many of them Sunni Muslim, plunged Iraqi politics into turmoil on Friday. Leading candidates vowed a boycott of the vote, perhaps the most important since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Protests were threatened, and anger rippled through Iraq’s Sunni communities."

Will these protests provide the match that lights the fuse? Or have I climbed out onto a prophetic limb, as countless fools have done, and sawn through it from the wrong side?