Tuesday, February 23, 2010

General Odierno: troop withdrawal could be delayed "if we run into problems"

According to an article by Craig Whitlock of The Washington Post published Monday, Feb 22 at the Seattle Times online, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Army General Ray Odierno, said Monday that the planned withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces by the end of August could be delayed if conditions worsen amid election turmoil.

The United States, according to the article, has about 96,000 troops in Iraq. Under an agreement negotiated under former President George W. Bush, all combat troops are to leave the country by Aug. 31, although some 50,000 will remain behind to help train Iraqi security forces. The remaining support troops are to be gone by the end of 2011.

At a news conference at the Pentagon, Odierno said he still expected to carry out the original plan but wanted to be prepared if Iraq experiences fresh instability in the aftermath of national elections scheduled for March 7.

Jeremiah warned of "instability": "I shall set fire to his cities, and it shall devour all his environs" (Jer 50:32). And because of that, the invaders will leave, not because of an agreed to timetable of withdrawal, but out of frustrated abandonment: "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 and towers to the very skies" (Jer 51:9).

Will March 7 be when the cities burn?

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Monday, February 22, 2010

Pre-election violence gets even more gruesome

A BBC News article today, citing security "officials", reported that "unknown gunmen" in Iraq have shot dead a Shiite Muslim family of eight early on Monday, and "beheaded some of the bodies", amid a wave of "pre-election violence." The family was living in a majority Sunni area just outside Baghdad.

The report stated that "Iraq is preparing for elections on 7 March and there are fears sectarian violence could escalate further." It went on to state: "The US - which still has about 100,000 troops in Iraq - fear that if the election lacks credibility among Sunni voters, the country could slide back into sectarian violence."

Jeremiah foretold of violence and turmoil in Babylon: "The broad wall of Babylon will be completely razed, and 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 51:58). And so because of the fire, it will be said, "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).

Declares the Lord GOD of hosts, "I shall set fire to (Babylon's) cities, and it will devour all (the) environs" (Jer 50:32). As noted in the BBC report, the US is preparing to withdraw large numbers of troops by the middle of this year. Will it be a withdrawal in success at reconstruction, as predicted by VP Joe Biden, or will it be a withdrawal out of exhaustion for the fire, and the failure of reconstruction?

The timetable for withdrawal is set, and so we don't have long to find out. Will the cities burn on March 7th?

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Kurdish peshmerga tighten grip in Nineveh, says senior official

An article by Zeena Sami at Azzaman.com published today cites a senior official in the Province of Nineveh in northern Iraq, who claims Kurdish peshmerga militias have "tightened their grip" in several provincial districts and towns.

Osama al-Najaifi is quoted as saying, "The Kurds have controlled these areas through their militias in an attempt to annex them to their region. This is a move which flagrantly violates the law." The article claims that the peshmerga is even present in Mosul itself, the capital of Nineveh province, stating that "at least half of Mosul, the part on the left bank of the Tigris River, is under Kurdish militia occupation."

Mosul lies along the "trigger line", a demarcation separating northern areas of Iraq controlled by the Kurdish peshmerga forces and those controlled by Iraqi government military forces to the south. This standoff is considered the most likely source of future conflict for Iraq by many experts.

The prophecy of doom on Babylon in Jeremiah describes this demarcation line: "I am going to arouse and bring against Babylon a horde of great nations from the land of the north, and they will draw up their battle lines against her; from there she will be taken captive,... and Chaldea will become plunder" (Jer 50:9-10).

Jeremiah identifies these "great nations" that plunder Babylon: "Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz..., the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and every land of their dominion," (Jer 51:27-28).

Who best represents the "Medes" today? According to Prof. M. R. Izady, "what little remains today of the old Medians and the name 'Mede,' is found densely concentrated in southeastern Kurdistan--the site of the rise and twilight of the Medes. In fact there are still some Kurdish tribes and clans who carry the evolved forms of the name 'Mede.'" Prof. Izady asks rhetorically, "which ethnic groups can claim to be the descended from the Medes? If it mattered--and I do not believe it does--then Kurds along with a few others can make this claim."

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Three Christians killed in north Iraq

An AFP article published today at google.com/hostednews describes how three Christians were gunned down over the last three days in the city of Mosul, north of Baghdad, as violence against that minority is rising leading up to the March 7 general election.

"We are terrified... and the security forces are not able to offer us any security," said Hazem Girgis, a deacon at an Orthodox church in the center of town, as reported by Mujahid Mohammed, an AFP writer. According to the article, attacks on Christians occur on a regular basis in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province.

Jeremiah gives a warning in his prophecy of judgment on Babylon to all who would heed it: "Flee from the midst of Babylon, and each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for this is the LORD's time of vengeance; he is going to render recompense to her" (Jer 51:6).

While practically all the Jews have left Chaldea, Christians seem to be holding out hope the nation will escape Jeremiah's prophetic apocalypse.

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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Al-Qaeda in Iraq vows to violently derail elections

Al-Qaeda in Iraq released an audio recording by leader Omar al-Baghdadi on Friday, February 12th, threatening to foil elections scheduled for March 7. Subsequently, late Saturday night, February 13th, four bombs exploded at political offices in Baghdad, as reported by Aljazeera news service.

The recording claimed al-Qaeda in Iraq would attempt to "prevent these elections" using "primarily military means", according to the Aljazeera report.

The Iraq national elections were originally scheduled for January 16, 2010, 1,113 days from the execution of Saddam Hussein. His execution took place exactly 1,113 days from his capture, and his capture was 270 days from the first day of the invasion, March 19, 2003, inclusive of that day. The new election date of March 7 is 1,163 days from his execution.

These day markers may be significant in that numbers in the bible have certain significance. For instance, the number 1 represents God Himself, as expressed in the beginning of the principal prayer of the Jewish faith: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the Lord is one" (Deut 6:4). The number 2 represents division or separation: "Let (the atmosphere) divide the waters (above) from the waters (below)... And (it was) the second day" (Gen 1:6-8). Three represents the works of God, in that his works are performed over the course of three events, e.g., the gathering of Israel out of captivity -- from Egypt (Lev 23:43), from Babylon (Jer 29:10) and from "all the countries where I had driven them" (Jer 23:8). Six is the number of something incomplete (e.g., man himself): "Six measures of barley (Boaz) gave to (Ruth)... And (Naomi) said, 'Wait, my daughter,... for the man will not rest until he has (finished the matter)'" (Ruth 3:17-18). Seven is the number of completion: "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed... By the seventh day God completed his work which he had done" (Gen 2:1). Nine is the number of judgment, for nine judgments are decreed against Babylon: 1) invasion, 2) capture, 3) punishment, 4) fire, 5) abandonment, 6) war, 7) plunder, 8) flood and 9) drought, unto complete desolation, which is represented by zero.

And so the numbers 2-7-0, the number of days from the start of the invasion to Saddam's capture, represents separation, completion and desolation: "Separated (cut off) to complete desolation." This is the core message of the prophecy: "Thou, O LORD, hast promised concerning this place to cut it off... (Babylon) will be completely desolate" (Jer 51:62; 50:13).

The numbers 1-1-1-3, the number of days from Saddam's capture to his execution, say this: " I the LORD, the one true God, the Almighty, these are my works." Repeating God's name or one of his attributes (God is love, God is light, God is good) three times is a 'signature' of God: "1) I am the Alpha-and-Omega, 2) (the one) 2a) who is and 2b) who was and 2c) who is to come, 3) the Almighty" (Rev 1:8).

If the fires were to burn on March 7th, 2010, the new date of Iraq's national elections -- 1,163 days from Saddam's execution -- the message would be this: "I the Lord God, the Almighty, have not yet completed my works [of cutting off Babylon]." And that would be true, for the fire is only judgment number 4; there are still 5 to come after that.

So we wait to see if these countdowns of the days between the nine judgments are actually spelling out the messages of doom on Babylon, or whether this is a silly bunny trail I'm chasing as I wait for the burning of the cities to begin.

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Thursday, February 11, 2010

VP Joe Biden: Iraq could be one of Obama's 'great achievements'

As reported at the Los Angeles Times 'Nation' blog today, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in a televised CNN interview with Larry King the evening of February 10th, suggested that things might turn out really well in Iraq:
I am very optimistic ... about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.

I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two (or) three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It's impressed me. I've been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.

BidenJoeLarryKingshakelorenzobevilaquacnn2-10-10


Now, if what Biden projects actually happens, then we can know with certainty that the current conflict in Iraq has nothing to do with the prophecy of doom on Babylon predicted by Jeremiah in chapters 50 through 51 of his book in the bible. Why? Because Jeremiah describes the withdrawal of the invasion/occupation forces as being an outright abandonment due to failure to "heal" Babylon, rather than as a withdrawal in success at reconstruction --
"'Bring balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed.' '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 and towers up to the very skies'" (Jer 51:8-9).

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Iraq's dangerous trigger line
The Economist published an article online today titled "Iraq's dangerous trigger line; too late to keep the peace?" The article describes a "fortified line" snaking across northern Iraq, separating "Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, keen to relaim land taken from them by Saddam Hussein more than two decades ago", and "Iraqi regular-army troops sent by the central government in Baghdad to stop ancient cities along the Tigris river falling into what it fears may become purely Kurdish sphere."

The article goes on to describe several small skirmishes that could have "easily spark(ed) a wider conflict." The standoff between the two forces along a "trigger line", the article claims, "is now the biggest threat to Iraq's stability."



Amazingly, Jeremiah's prophecy of doom on Babylon explicitly mentions this "trigger line" -- "I am going to arouse and bring against Babylon a horde of great nations from the land of the north, and they will draw up battle lines against her; from there she will be taken captive" (Jer. 50:9).

The conflict between the two sides is inevitable, according to the prophecy: "The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes [modern-day Kurds], because his purpose is against Babylon [modern-day Iraq] to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for his (dwelling place [i.e., Israel])" Jer 51:11.

But first the cities must burn, and then the coalition forces must abandon Iraq. Then the battle can begin in earnest. And then the plundering, then the flood, then the drought. And Babylon shall become a complete desolation, where neither man nor beast dwells forevermore.

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