U.S. using Apache helicopters, Australia and Indians join fight

(Credit: Courtesy of U.S. Army, Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway/Wikimedia Commons)

In various news reports today, October 5th, 2014, we learn that the U.S. is now using Apache helicopters to attack Islamic State militants in Iraq (READ HERE...), while Australia has entered the conflict, providing air support with F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jets (READ HERE...).

RAAF Super Hornets. Source: Supplied

Also, ABC.net.au reports that "200,000 Indians volunteer to join effort against Islamic State militants in Iraq," (READ HERE...).

It has already been reported that "Britain, Denmark and Belgium (have joined the) air campaign against (the) Islamic State in Iraq," (READ HERE...), as well as Turkey approving "military operations to fight Islamic State militants," (READ HERE...).

The Utah Peoples Post reported September 15, 2014 that the U.S. has formed "an international coalition fighting against the extremist group," (READ HERE...)

Jeremiah the prophet predicted that the invaders who occupied the land of Babylon, having broken her, would attempt to heal her, but then, because of fires in the cities, would give up, and abandon the nation to her judgment.

When the United States and other coalition forces pulled out of Iraq, it seemed this part of the prophecy would not be able to be fulfilled, since the prophesied abandonment would be announced as a failure at reconstruction. The pull out of 2011 was not framed in those terms, but was seen as a success at putting down rebellion and establishing a quasi-peace, along with a stable local government.

But now we see that the possibility of this abandonment judgment is once again restored, as a coalition of nations, led by a "great nation," have once again entered Iraq in an attempt to save her from destruction by insurgents attempting to conquer her.

If the cities of Iraq are set on fire, with the result the nations becoming "exhausted" with the futility of trying to "heal" her, and subsequently an announced abandonment of Iraq, then the next two judgments will have occurred in their order, fulfilling the first five prophecies of judgment on the land of Babylon -- invasion, capture, punishment, burning and abandonment.

With that, the certainty of the fulfillment of the final four judgments -- war with and defeat by the Medes, plunder, flood and drought leading to utter desolation -- will be assured.

Iraqis protest American "occupation"

euronews.com  September 20, 2014

Thousands of Iraqis gathered in central Baghdad on Saturday to protest against American intervention.

Demonstrators waved Iraqi flags and held up pictures of leading Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who says the country should not cooperate with what he calls US "occupiers."

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah the prophet predicted that the invading coalition of "occupiers" who attempted to rebuild the nation of Babylon after having "broken" her would become frustrated with their attempts because of "fires" that break out and consume the city centers and all the environs, and so would announce their pull out: "We applied healing to Babylon, but she could not be healed. Forsake her, each to his own country, for her judgment has reached to the heavens..."

It seems the Chaldeans are just begging the nations to abandon her. It will be easy.

30 countries pledge Iraq support

A September 15, 2014 article at BBC News online reports that thirty countries have pledged to help Iraq fight Islamic State militants "by all means necessary", including "appropriate military assistance."

French President Francois Hollande said the threat posed by IS militants required "a global response."

United States Secretary of State John Kerry, who attended the conference of foreign ministers, has been traveling the globe "drumming up support" for a plan of action unveiled by President Barack Obama.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah prophesied that one of the judgments upon the land of Babylon would be the abandonment of the land by those foreign occupiers who had invaded her and attempted to rebuild her after "breaking" her.  After the troop withdrawal of 2011, it seemed this part of the prophecy, and hence the entire prophecy, would be thwarted, since the abandonment was to be announced as a failure of reconstruction:

"We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed; forsake her, and let us each return to his own country" (Jer 51:9).

But now the coalition of nations is once again engaging in the attempt to salvage Iraq, by fighting the IS insurgency. The prophecy is once again on track, with the burning of the cities the next judgment coming up in the sequence, and then the announced abandonment following that conflagration.

Invasion, capture and execution have occurred. Burning and abandonment up next.

Will the fires begin December 18, 2014?

Obama sending 350 more military personnel to Iraq

An article at cbsnews.com from  Sep 2, 2014, dateline  WASHINGTON, reports that U.S. president Barack Obama is sending 350 more military personnel to Iraq, presumably to help protect U.S. facilities and already deployed personnel in Baghdad, citing a White House release Tuesday night.

The White House claimed the additional deployment will "provide a more robust, sustainable security force for our personnel and facilities in Baghdad."

This brings the number of troops recently sent to Iraq to 820, in addition to the diplomatic security forces already in place, according to Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah's prophecy foresee's the occupying invaders abandoning the nation of the Chaldeans in frustration after having "broken" her, attempting to "heal" her, but then giving up and announcing a withdrawal, "each to his own country," following an outbreak of fires in the "cities" and all her "environs" which cause the nations to become "exhausted" with their reconstruction efforts, leaving the land of Babylon to her "judgment."

After the troop withdrawal of 2011, it seemed this part of the prophecy would no longer be possible, as the foreign presence of the invaders was only diplomatic, security and private contractors. But now the U.S. has returned troops to the land, in an attempt to keep the nation sovereign and secure, putting back into place a presence that can be withdrawn -- "forsake her, each to his own country" -- in fulfillment of the Jeremiah prophecy.

Will the fires break out, and the leaders of the foreign forces within Iraq announce they are abandoning her out of frustration at the inability to heal her? Will the next two judgments -- fire and abandonment -- be coming soon?

300 more U.S. troops headed to Iraq

CBS/AP June 30, 2014

WASHINGTON - The U.S. is sending another 300 troops to Iraq to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy and elsewhere in the Baghdad area to protect U.S. citizens and property, officials said Monday.

The new injection of manpower brings the total number of U.S. personnel sent to Iraq to deal with the recent crisis to approximately 800.

The State Department, meanwhile, announced that it was temporarily moving an unspecified "small number" of embassy staff in Baghdad to U.S. consulates in the northern city of Irbil and the southern city of Basra. This is in addition to some embassy staff who were moved out of Baghdad earlier this month.

READ MORE HERE...

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Just when we thought we were out, we're back in, although we never really left, as the embassy staff was huge, and American contractors are still there in large numbers, continuing the work of "reconstruction."

It had seemed like the fulfillment of the Jeremiah 50-51 prophecy of doom on Babylon would be derailed with the pull out of all troops, since the fifth judgment is the announced abandonment of the nation in admitted frustration and failure -- "We applied healing to Babylon, but she could not be healed. Forsake her, each to his own country, for her judgment has reached to heaven...", but with the return of troops, there will continue to be a comprehensive U.S. presence in Iraq for the time being, making the fulfillment of that judgment possible once again here in this current situation.

But first, the cities must burn, as judgment number four. Then the nations become "exhausted" because of the fires, and the resignation that there is no hope to "heal" Babylon.

We await the fires.

Kurds strengthen their positions as ISIS advances on Baghdad

theguardian.com  Thursday 26 June 2014
Martin Chulov in Baghdad, and Fazel Hawramy in Irbil

As Iraq's government teeters before Isis insurgents, the Kurds now control the oil hub of Kirkuk – and have national ambitions

Tensions are high in Kirkuk after control of the historic Iraqi city was taken over by the Kurds after the Iraqi army abandoned its positions. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Iraqis in Baghdad and the country's south are already calling the events of the past two weeks "the catastrophe". Not so inhabitants of the would-be Iraqi Kurdish capital of Irbil, where joy is unrestrained and a long-held sense of destiny is ever closer to being realised.

As the central government teeters under the insurgent onslaught, the fate of Irbil appears more assured than ever. Kurdish politicians, in the past not shy to criticise Arab Iraqi leaders, but coy about their national ambitions, are now openly touting "a new reality".

To Kurdish officials and locals alike, a tectonic shift in the balance of power between Iraq's two power bases, and peoples, has taken place. And Kirkuk, the bitterly contested oil hub, is at the epicentre.

READ MORE HERE...

Safeen Dizayee, Kurdish regional government (KRG) spokesman, was at pains on Wednesday to highlight the region's resources. "In the governorates under KRG administration, vast quantities of natural resources have been discovered over the last few years – estimates point to more than 45bn barrels of oil and significant quantities of natural gas.

The Kurdistan region has already landed on the global energy map. Regarding the so-called disputed territories, Peshmerga forces have entered these areas after the Iraqi army abandoned their positions. The KRG had and still has an obligation to protect civilians in these areas and to ensure that army bases, cities, and land areas do not fall into the hands of terrorists.

Aref Maroof, 52, a Kirkuk school inspector, said: "I think 85-90% of Kurds want independence. Kurdistan has two options; one is to declare independence without 'separated territories' [disputed territories] in which case it will fail, or to declare independence by including the 'separated territories' in which case the Kurds will face a war with [Nouri al-]Maliki.

"It is in the interest of Kurds (to do so) if the central government and its army is weak. (But) If the KRG assists Iraq ... to rebuild their army, it is like committing suicide."

In Baghdad, a sense of gloom pervades many in government who see little chance of shifting the Kurds from Kirkuk, or even defending their interests while an insurgency and political crisis rages.

"They are getting what they want," said one minister. "While Baghdad burns, and while we all sit back and watch the fire."

---

Jeremiah predicted the cities of Babylon would burn, the reconstructionists would abandon the land, and then war would break out between the Chaldeans -- the Arab Iraqis -- and the Medes -- the modern-day Kurds. "While Baghdad burns." That may happen most literally. Once it does, the One who has tried to "heal" Babylon will announce he is abandoning her, leaving her to her judgment. Then comes the war, defeat and plunder at the hands of the "kings of the Medes" -- the Kurds. Then a catastrophic flood, drought, and eventual "perpetual desolation."

It is a judgment from God. Flee from the midst of Babylon, so as to escape the coming calamity.

Will the cities burn?

Jeremiah pronounced nine judgments upon the land of Babylon, ultimately resulting in complete desolation: "'Thou, O LORD, hast promised concerning this place to cut it off so that there will  be nothing dwelling in it,... but it will be a perpetual desolation.'"

The nine judgments begin with "a great nation [The United States of America] with many kings [The Coalition of the Willing] (being) aroused from the remote parts of the earth. They seize their (weapons); they are cruel and have no mercy [Abu Ghraib tortures]... (They are) marshalled like a man for the battle against you, O (future) daughter of Babylon [Iraq].

"The king of Babylon [Saddam Hussein] has heard the report about them, and his hands hang limp; distress has gripped him, agony like a woman in childbirth. [Samira Shahbandar, Saddam's second wife, said that as the Americans surged into the centre of the capital, Hussein crumbled: "He came to me very depressed and sad. He took me to the next room and cried. He knew he had been betrayed." The Sunday Times Dec 15, 2003]

"Thus says the LORD:... 'I shall dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may... devastate her land... Devote all her army to destruction. And they will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in their streets.'"

The invasion will result in its capture, the second judgment: "Declare and proclaim among the nations...'Babylon has been captured'...  'I set a snare for you, and you were also caught, O Babylon, while you yourself were not aware; you have been found and also seized because you have engaged in conflict with the LORD.'"

Despite what Samira said about her husband -- "If I know my husband, he will not be captured," -- the culmination of this second judgment and the end to all resistance was in fact the capture of the ruler, Saddam Hussein himself, who was hiding in a rat hole in the desert. "In the last analysis, he seemed not terribly brave," quipped US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The third judgment was the execution of the Arrogant One: "I am against you, O arrogant one... For your day has come when I shall punish you. And the arrogant one will stumble and fall [through the trap door of the gallows] with no one to raise him up..." [Saddam's corpse was taunted by those in attendance.]

The hebrew conjunction "and" links the execution to the next judgment: "The arrogant one will... fall with no one to raise him up. And I shall set fire to his cities, and it will devour all his environs." The judgment of fire is repeated: "And her high gates [city centers] will be set on fire; so the peoples will toil for nothing, and the nations become exhausted (because of the) fire."

The exhaustion of the nations because of the fires leads to the fifth judgment: abandonment -- "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 to the very skies.'"

Will the cities of Iraq burn? Is the ISIS militant revolution going to burst into literal flames? Will this be the fulfillment of the fourth judgment?

Is Iraq the Babylon of Jeremiah chapters 50 - 51?

Back to Iraq: Obama sending military advisors

abcnews.go.com

WASHINGTON — Jun 19, 2014, 9:59 AM

By JULIE PACE and HAMZA HENDAWI Associated Press

Inching back into a fight he tried to leave behind, President Barack Obama announced Thursday he was dispatching 300 U.S. military advisers to Iraq to help quell the rising insurgency in the crumbling nation. [...]

Less than three years after Obama heralded the end of America's war in Iraq, he insisted he was not sending the military back into combat. Still, when coupled with previously announced steps, the president's actions could put about 600 additional U.S. troops in the midst of Iraq's deeply unstable security situation. [...] 

Officials said manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft are now flying over Iraq 24 hours a day on intelligence collection missions. [...]

A leading Sunni tribal chief said Washington's decision to send the military advisers would only make the fighting worse. Sheik Ali Hatem al-Suleiman, whose men are involved in the Sunni insurgency led by the al-Qaida inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, said the violence would end only if al-Maliki stepped down. [...]

The 300 Green Beret special operations forces Obama plans to deploy to Iraq will be focused on assessing the state of the Iraqi security forces, which have struggled to hold off the insurgent advances and in some cases have deserted their units. Initially the deployments will be limited to several teams of about a dozen soldiers apiece who will operate mainly in Baghdad at various Iraqi military headquarters.

READ MORE HERE...

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If the cities burn in the near future, and Obama gives a speech announcing our abandonment of Iraq, the next two judgments of doom on Babylon will have occurred in prophetic succession. It will be proof we are witnessing the fulfillment of a 2,600 year old prophecy in our time.

If he quotes Jeremiah 51:9, a cold shiver will run up my spine: "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 the heavens and towers up to the very skies."

"They feel abandoned"

A bbc.com article from June 19, 2014 provides an update to the current conflict in Iraq and the possibility of US military intervention:

Regarding the militant takeover of several towns and cities in Iraq, and the lack of intervention from the US, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey said on Wednesday, "There is very little that could have been done to overcome the degree to which the government of Iraq has failed its people. That is what has caused this problem."

A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's Dawa party, Zuhair al-Nahar, speaking for his government, Sunni Arab leaders and Kurdish officials, told the BBC: "My message from all the leaders in Iraq is that they feel abandoned, that they want America, Europe, the UN, to take immediate action to rectify the military situation."

READ MORE HERE...

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And so Jeremiah's prophecy expresses this same predicament, the abandonment of the nation by those who broke it: "Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail over her! 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). 

The beginning of the end of Iraq?

One of my favorite world affairs columnists, Michael J. Totten, provides an insightful commentary today on the ISIS militant surge towards Baghdad at worldaffairsjournal.org, titled "The Beginning of the End of Iraq?"

Totten began his piece with an update: "Al Qaeda has taken the Iraqi city of Tikrit and the Kurdish Peshmerga has taken the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Iraq's army fled both and hardly fired a shot."

What he wrote next stopped me short: "God only knows what happens next".

Yeah, that's what I've been saying, since 2006. God not only knows, but told Jeremiah what was going to happen next.

Totten continues, clearly in tune with what is going to happen next: "In the future we might see the events of the last few days as the beginning of the end of Iraq as a state".

Actually, the invasion of 2003 (Judgment 1) was the 'beginning' of the end, with Saddam's capture (Judgment 2) and execution (Judgment 3) the next sequential events in the prophecy of doom on the land of Babylon shown to Jeremiah about 2,600 years ago.

Totten makes one prophetic statement after another: "But we are not going to save Iraq".

Oh so right. Judgment 4 is the cities burning, with Judgment 5 the complete abandonment of that land by the reconstructionists (Jer 51:9 -- "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...").

I like how Totten writes. He concludes: "This is the time of festering."

That is one way of putting it.

READ MORE OF TOTTEN HERE...

Kurds take control of Kirkuk as Sunni militants surge toward Baghdad

www.reuters.com

BY AHMED RASHEED AND ISABEL COLES

BAGHDAD/ARBIL Iraq Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:03pm EDT

(Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, after government troops abandoned their posts in the face of a triumphant Sunni Islamist rebel march towards Baghdad that threatens Iraq's future as a unified state.

In Mosul, Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant staged a parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from a collapsing Iraqi army in the two days since ISIL fighters drove out of the desert and overran the northern metropolis. At Baiji, near Kirkuk, they surrounded Iraq's largest oil refinery.

At Mosul, which had a population close to two million before the weeks events forced hundreds of thousands to flee, witnesses saw ISIL fly two helicopters over the parade, apparently the first time the militant group has obtained aircraft in years of waging insurgency on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier.

READ MORE HERE...

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Once the militants have taken over control of the Iraqi government, there will be no reason for the Kurdistan Regional Government not to declare independence, which will set up a scenario for conflict between the two forces. Jeremiah prophesies that after the cities of Iraq burn (Judgment 4), and the reconstructionists abandon their efforts and leave Iraq to face its future alone (Judgment 5), the nation will be invaded by armies from the north, led by the "kings of the Medes", today known as the Kurds of Kurdistan (Judgment 6). The Chaldeans (Iraqis) will be defeated by the Medes (Kurds), who will then plunder the "treasures" of Iraq (Judgment 7). A catastrophic flood event will wipe out the cities of Iraq (Judgment 8), and then severe drought sets in (Judgment 9) to render the nation desolate and uninhabitable (Final Outcome).

If the cities of Iraq go up in flames soon, the Judgments will have resumed in sequential order to the above.  

Iraq army capitulates to ISIS militants in four cities

Martin Chulov and Fazel Hawramy in Irbil and Spencer Ackerman in New York
theguardian, Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Half a million people on the move after gunmen seize four cities and pillage army bases and banks

Burnt vehicles belonging to Iraqi security forces at a checkpoint in east Mosul, after insurgents seized control of the city. Photograph: Reuters

Iraq is facing its gravest test since the US-led invasion more than a decade ago, after its army capitulated to Islamist insurgents who have seized four cities and pillaged military bases and banks, in a lightning campaign which seems poised to fuel a cross-border insurgency endangering the entire region.

The extent of the Iraqi army's defeat at the hands of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) became clear on Wednesday when officials in Baghdad conceded that insurgents had stripped the main army base in the northern city of Mosul of weapons, released hundreds of prisoners from the city's jails and may have seized up to $480m in banknotes from the city's banks.

Iraqi officials told the Guardian that two divisions of Iraqi soldiers – roughly 30,000 men – simply turned and ran in the face of the assault by an insurgent force of just 800 fighters. Isis extremists roamed freely on Wednesday through the streets of Mosul, openly surprised at the ease with which they took Iraq's second largest city after three days of sporadic fighting.

Senior government officials in Baghdad were equally shocked, accusing the army of betrayal and claiming the sacking of the city was a strategic disaster that would imperil Iraq's borders.

The developments seriously undermine US claims to have established a unified and competent military after more than a decade of training. The US invasion and occupation cost Washington close to a trillion dollars and the lives of more than 4,500 of its soldiers. It is also thought to have killed at least 100,000 Iraqis.

READ MORE HERE...

'Corrupt' oil-rich Iraq unable to provide much-needed infrastructure

Wednesday, 19 September 2012


Iraq couldn't provide $36.5 billion in infrastructure services to its people despite $100 billion in oil revenues for 2012. (Reuters)

by Al Arabiya News with Reuters 

Iraq is not capable to provide $36.5 billion for needed infrastructure services to its people, despite more than $100 billion in oil revenues for 2012, a study by the International Center for Development Studies showed. 

"Corruption and bureaucracy are leaving Iraq with no infrastructure services," the London-based center said.
[...]
The study warned that the shortage in funds will also "cause deterioration in vital sectors such as health, agriculture, industry and tourism."
[...]
Iraq needs development in almost every sector, as rubble and incomplete buildings are still commonplace more than nine years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

READ MORE HERE...

Jeremiah the hebrew prophet foresaw a time when the land of Babylon would be invaded, occupied and left in rubble -- "Raise your battle cry against her on every side! She has given herself up, her pillars have fallen, her walls have been torn down... How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut off and broken!" (Jer 50:15, 23). He continues: "Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed," (Jer 51:8).

But Babylon will not be healed, rather she will be abandoned by the reconstructionists, according to the prophet: "'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).

Not only can the invader/occupier/reconstructionists not heal her, she can't even heal herself, despite having billions of dollars worth of liquid treasure.  According to the prophet, even that will one day be "plundered" (Jer 50:37).

Salon: American reconstruction fails

IN a Thursday, August 16, 2012 editorial appearing at salon.com, Peter Van Buren, a 24-year veteran Foreign Service Officer, writes, "I spent a year with the Department of State helping squander some of the $44 billion American taxpayers put up to 'reconstruct' (Iraq)... To this day I'm left pondering...,: Why has the United States spent so much money and time so disastrously trying to rebuild (this nation)...?"

Van Buren, author of the 2010 book "We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People", continues -- "Now, it's definitive. Reconstruction in Iraq has failed. Dismally... The accounts of that failure still pour out. Choose your favorites... (From) a $200 million year-long State Department police training program (that has) shown no results (none, nada),... (to) a long official list of major reconstruction projects uncompleted, with billions of taxpayer dollars wasted, all carefully catalogued by the now-defunct Special Inspector for Iraq Reconstruction."

When Van Buren does media interviews now, only two years later, the question of the day is not "Did we succeed in Iraq?" or "Will reconstruction pay off?", but "Why did we fail?"

READ MORE HERE...

Jeremiah the hebrew prophet presages Van Buren's lament over latter day Mesopotamia's demise: "Babylon has fallen and been broken; Wail over her! 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)

And so, with reconstruction having failed, miserably, the reconstructionists shall abandon her, each returning to his own country, and she shall fall into the remaining judgments alone and without hope.

Invasion by "a great nation and many kings" (Jer 50:41), humiliating capture and occupation (Jer 50:46, 51:14) and execution of her "arrogant" ruler (Jer 50:31-32) has already occurred. The burning of the cities (Jer 50:32, 51:58) and subsequent abandonment by the reconstructionists (Jer 51:8-9, 58) comes next.

Then her "judgment" really begins: war with and defeat by a horde "from the land to the north" (Jer 50:9), the "Medes" (Jer 51:11,28,48) -- the modern-day Kurds of Kurdistan -- who then "plunder" her "treasures" (Jer 50:10,37), a catastrophic flood event (Jer 51:42) and finally a drought (Jer 50:38-40, 51:43) so severe it renders the land "an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it" (Jer 50:3), so that "she will be completely desolate; everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified..." (Jer 50:13).

Will the fires that precipitate the final abandonment be lit soon? Will judgments 4 and 5 occur in 2012?

Shiite militia threatens American interests in Iraq

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, September 13, 6:22 AM

BAGHDAD — A Shiite militant group is threatening U.S. interests in Iraq as part of the backlash over an anti-Islam film it has described as “heinous.”

READ MORE HERE...

Jeremiah's prophecy of doom describes the burning of the cities in the land of the Chaldeans -- "Her high gates will be set on fire; so the peoples will toil for nothing..." (Jer 51:58) -- which results in the abandonment of that nation by those who would attempt to rebuild it after they had invaded, captured and "broken" it -- "Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail over her! 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).

According to the AP report, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad remains the world's largest American diplomatic mission, with an estimated 15,000 employees. Private American contractors continue to vainly toil to rebuild the broken infrastructure across Iraq.  But now, as the AP reports, the Shiite militia is threatening "all the American interests (in) Iraq."

Will the fires burn, lit by Shiite militias funded by Iran, causing America to declare, "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..."?

Iraq's Kurdish tensions over oil worsen

THE NATIONAL | Florian Neuhof | April 10, 2012
The tensions between Baghdad and Erbil over Kurdish control of its oil resources have been further stoked by comments from Iraq's top oil official.

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) last week announced a halt to its exports, frustrated by the continued reluctance of the central government to sign off payments for oil flowing out of the autonomous region.
Hussein Al Shahristani, Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy affairs, responded by criticising the contracts awarded to international oil companies by the KRG as too generous, sayingthe companies were given "what they dreamt of in any place in the world".

The central government "had many remarks on the oil contracts signed in Kurdistan in the north, which do not achieve any profit for Iraq", he told Al Iraqiya TV.

READ MORE HERE...

Jeremiah's prophecy of doom on Babylon the land of the Chaldeans in chapters 50 through 51 in the hebrew bible describes the rise of the Medes -- today known as the Kurds of Kurdistan -- into a conquering power: "Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy (Babylon)..." (Jer 51:11). "'Shout for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers will come to her from the north,' declares the LORD," (Jer 51:48).

"'I am going to arouse and bring up 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. Their arrows will be like an expert warrior who does not return empty-handed. And Chaldea will become plunder; all who plunder her will have enough,' declares the LORD," (Jer 50:9-10). "Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz,... the kings of the Medes,... every land of their dominion," (Jer 51:27-28).

But first Babylon will be softened up by a conflagration of burning cities (Jer 50:32; 51:58), and a subsequent abandoning by the occupying reconstructionists (Jer 51:9). And then, following defeat at the hands of the Kurds and their plundering of Babylon's treasures, Jeremiah describes the final destruction coming by way of a devastating flood event (Jer 51:42) and subsequent drought (Jer 50:38; 51:36) that renders the land completely desolate and uninhabited (Jer 50:39-40; 51:62), a "parched land and a desert, a land in which no man lives, and through which no son of man passes," (Jer 51:43).

Could we be seeing the rise of the Medes into a self-sufficient power through oil wealth, and the building of tensions between the semi-autonomous Kurdistan government and the central Iraqi government? Will the tensions boil over into all out civil war? Will the Kurds plunder Babylon's liquid treasures?

Al-Qaida in Iraq warns of looming war with Shiites

NATIONAL / WORLD NEWS 5:41 p.m. Friday, February 24, 2012

By LARA JAKES The Associated Press

BAGHDAD — A spokesman for al-Qaida in Iraq said Friday that a Sunni Muslim war against Shiites in Iraq is inevitable and threatened relentless waves of attacks like the one a day earlier that killed at least 55 people.

The statement by Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, spokesman for the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq, tap into fears in Iraq and abroad about the country's future stability and the government's ability to protect its citizens following the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops in December.

READ MORE...

Jeremiah predicted burning of the cities and then abandonment by the reconstructionists. Could this "looming war" between Sunni and Shia light the fires that burn "the high gates" of Babylon?

Terrorists attack 12 cities across Iraq

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

by msnbc.com news services
February 23, 2012 Updated at 7:13am ET:  BAGHDAD -- A rapid series of attacks across a wide swath of Iraq killed at least 60 people Thursday, targeting mostly security forces in what appeared to be another strike by al-Qaida militants bent on destablizing the country.
The apparently coordinated bombings and shootings unfolded over four hours in the capital Baghdad -- where most of the deaths were -- and 11 other cities...
READ MORE HERE...

Jeremiah's prophecy of doom on the land of the Chaldeans includes a conflagration of the cities: "I shall set fire to his cities, and it will devour all his environs... (Jer 50:32), "And her high gates [i.e., city centers] will be set on fire; so the peoples [i.e., nations] will toil for nothing, and the nations become exhausted (because of the) fire" (Jer 51:58).
 And so the nations will abandon their reconstruction efforts, leaving Babylon to the rest of her coming judgment: "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 51:9).
The waste of reconstruction efforts is exemplified by this ABC News story from Aug 2, 2010 -- "$9 Billion in Iraq Reconstruction Funds Missing." The article describes that $8.7 billion in reconstruction aid to Iraq is unaccounted for by the Department of Defense, stating, "the vanished money has become a symbol of the dysfunctional American-led rebuilding effort."

"We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed..."

Iraqi VP predicts return to sectarian violence

From Mohammed Tawfeeq and Frederik Pleitgen, CNN

updated 3:41 PM EST, Mon January 30, 2012

Irbil, Iraq (CNN) -- Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi has lashed out at Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, predicting that Iraq could soon return to widespread sectarian violence that could require the return of U.S. forces.
"Al-Maliki is pushing my country to reach a turning point with deeply sectarian dimension," The Sunni vice president told CNN on Sunday during an interview in the semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north, where he has fled so that government forces loyal to the Shiite prime minister cannot execute an arrest warrant for him on charges of running a death squad.
He expressed concern that Americans "will face the same problem as they faced in 2003," when a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein and unleashing a wave of sectarian violence.
And he said he did not understand how U.S. President Barack Obama is able to characterize Iraq as a free, stable and democratic country.
"What sort of Iraq are we talking about?" he asked. "How the Americans feel proud? How the American administration is going to justify to the taxpayer the billion of dollars that has been spent and at the end of the day the American saying, 'Sorry, we have no leverage even to put things in order in Iraq'?"

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Jeremiah lamented, "Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken, wail for her! 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 to the very skies...'" (Jer. 51:8-9). "I shall set fire to her cities, and it will devour all his environs" (Jer 50:32); "And her high gates will be set on fire; so the (nations) will (have) toil(ed) for nothing, and the nations become exhausted (because of the) fire" (Jer. 51:58).

More car bombs rock Baghdad

BBC News 24 January 2012
At least 13 people have been killed and 62 wounded in four separate car bomb attacks in Shia districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, police have said.

Eight died when a bomb blew up close to day labourers waiting for jobs in Sadr City. Minutes later, a blast about 3km (1.9 miles) away killed another two.

Later, car bombs exploded in Shula and Hurriya, killing three.

There has been a rise in attacks in Iraq since US troops left last month, leaving as many as 170 people dead.

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The prophet Jeremiah predicted a series of sequential judgments on "the land of the Chaldeans" that leads up to her utter desolation -- invasion led by a "great nation" and involving "many kings" (Jer 50:41), capture in humiliating defeat (Jer 51:14), punishment of the "arrogant one" (50:31), and then burning of the cities (50:32) and an abandonment by the reconstruction forces (51:9) due to the failure of that reconstruction effort.

While all military forces have been withdrawn from Iraq, a significant force of American contractors remains to continue the efforts of revitalizing the infrastructure of the country. With the increase in violence, will the cities of Iraq soon literally go up in flames? Will the leader of the reconstruction efforts declare a full pullout of reconstruction personnel, leaving the land of the Chaldeans to face the future themselves?

And what is that future? According to the prophet, after the abandonment comes a war with the "Medes" (51:28) -- modern day Kurds -- who then plunder her treasures (50:10), followed by a devastating flood event (51:42) and subsequent drought (51:43) that culminates in the land of Babylon remaining a perpetual desolation without inhabitant (50:39).

With the first three judgments -- invasion, capture, execution -- already accomplished, are we on the verge of burning, abandonment, civil war, plunder, flood and drought?

The wheels of prophetic fulfillment turn slowly, but perhaps irrepressibly.

We shall see. The bombs continue to destroy.