Wars and Rumors of War

Today's news really makes that point:

Top CIA officer: Israel will probably attack Iran in Sept.

Robert Baer tells LA radio that strike on Tehran likely to happen before vote on Palestinian state, that PM wants US to be involved, and that "there is a warning order inside Pentagon to prepare for conflict with Iran."

Israel will probably attack Iran in September, Robert Baer, a veteran CIA officer who spent 21 years in the Middle East including in Lebanon and Syria, told a Los Angeles radio show on Tuesday.

While the CIA officer didn't reveal the sources behind his prediction, he referred to former Mossad chief Meir Dagan's warnings of an Israeli attack on Iran as "no bluff."

Baer told the KPFK Los Angeles show Background Briefing that previous comments made by Dagan that an Israeli attack on Iran could lead to a regional war "tell us with near certainty that Netanyahu is planning an attack, and in as much as I can guess when it's going to be, it's probably going to be in September before a vote on the Palestinian state."

The senior CIA officer predicted a scenario in which Israel would attack the Natanz nuclear facility as well as "a couple of others to degrade their capabilities."

Also see:

'Israel plans to strike Iran in September'

Baer didn't name sources for his prediction of an Israeli attack, but the few he did cite are all Israeli security figures who have publically warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was adamant to strike Iran, such as former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan.

"Our special forces are already looking at Iranian targets in Iraq and across the border (in Iran) which we would strike. What we're facing here is an escalation, rather than a planned out-and-out war...it's a nightmare scenario. We don't have enough troops in the Middle East to fight a war like that. I think we are looking into the abyss," he said.

More rumors of war and war preparations:

'Syria increasing arms shipments to Hezbollah'

Damascus is increasing shipments of advanced missiles and other weapons to Hezbollah amid continuing unrest in Syria, The Times of London reported Friday quoting Western intelligence officials.

The missiles "are accurate to within tens of meters and bring all of Israel, Jordan and large parts of Turkey within Hezbollah's range," the officials were quoted by the newspaper as saying.

They also said that, "This is the first time that a terror organization has obtained a missile of this type," which is considered a "strategic weapon" that "has been held only by national armies."

Hizballah rides high in Lebanon, installs member as security chief

Very quietly, Hezbollah has been completing their takeover of Lebanon, and subsequent war preparations:

Hassan Nasrallah quietly completed the organization's takeover of Lebanon's security and intelligence agencies and took delivery of advanced ballistic missiles from Syria.

...the Lebanese cabinet will Monday, July 18, go through the motions of endorsing the key appointment dictated by Hizballah promoting Brig. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim's from Deputy Director of Lebanese Military Intelligence to General Security Director.

This a sensitive all-powerful post never before been held by a member of the Shiite community. It puts him – and Hizballah – in charge domestic surveillance, espionage, counterintelligence and all of Lebanon's clandestine branches.

DEBKAfile's Middle East sources note that this step opened the door for Hizballah to take a hand for the first time in making top military appointments.

Its oversight of domestic security will now spill over to the armed forces and military control of Lebanon's borders with Israel and Syria.

These developments show how far from reality were the self-congratulatory comments broadcast this week by Israeli generals and pundits and their view that the uprising threatening Syrian President Bashar Assad had weakened his ally Hizballah.

Just the reverse: Even with his back to the wall, the Syrian ruler has clearly assigned top priority to continuing to upgrade Hizballah's war arsenal.

Caroline Glick has an interesting perspective on current events in the Middle East:

Caution: Storm Approaching

After a discussion of the economic problems that plague Egypt, Greece and Syria, and the consequences of such, she gets to the bottom line - and we quickly see how more rumors of war appear:

Beyond that, with the rising double specter of Egyptian economic collapse and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, Israel must prepare for the prospect of war with Egypt.

Recently it was reported that IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz has opted to spread over several years Israel's military preparations for a return to hostilities with Egypt.

Gantz's decision reportedly owes to his desire to avoid provoking Egypt with a rapid expansion of the IDF's order of battle.

Gantz's caution is understandable. But it is unacceptable. Given the escalating threats emanating from Egypt - not the least of which is the expanding security vacuum in the Sinai -- Israel must prepare for war now.

So too, with the US's weak economy, Obama's Muslim Brotherhood friendly foreign policy, and Europe's history of responding to economic hardship with xenophobia, Israel's need to develop the means of militarily defending itself from a cascade of emerging threats becomes all the more apparent.

The economic storms may pass by Israel. But the political tempests they unleash will reach us. To emerge safely from what is coming, Israel needs to hunker down and prepare for the worst.

Also see:

All quiet on the northern front...for the moment

The situation along the Gaza border might be relatively quiet, but since the revolution in Egypt earlier this year, the tunnels under the Gaza-Egyptian border are bringing in similarly unprecedented amounts of explosives, missiles and other arms, according to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

As the years pass, though, and the threat grows, there is also a constant challenge within the IDF to make sure it is preparing for the war of the future and not the war of the past.

“The next war will be completely different,” Maj.- Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, who finished his term as head of the Northern Command this week, would tell his staff. “Hezbollah will be better prepared, but so will we.”

...the IDF will have the ability to bomb hundreds and possibly even thousands of Hezbollah targets immediately at the beginning of a war.

On the other hand, this will most likely not be enough to stop the rocket and missile attacks against the North and Center, which will therefore require the immediate insertion of large numbers of ground forces into southern Lebanon.

One of the major questions that will most likely be determined during the war is whether the IDF should or will attack Syria.

...the Lebanese guerrilla group now maintains bases in Syria, where it stores some of its advanced and so-called strategic weaponry.

The possibility of bombing these bases will most definitely come up in the first days of a future war.

And lastly, another interesting article from the American Thinker:

The Worldview War

The conjunction of humanist and Islamic worldviews will threaten to destroy America from within throughout the 21st century. Indeed, there is a war of worldviews raging in America, with secular humanism and Islam as co-belligerents on one side and Judeo-Christian America on the other.

That represents an interesting premise: That somehow secular humanism and radical Islam share many of the same goals. Hmmm.... Food for thought.

The worldview war is spiritual in origin. The Bible states in Ephesians 6:12 that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Worldviews incorporate theology and therefore reflect spiritual beliefs.

We should never forget that passage in these last days.

Secular humanism increasingly supports the Islamists' position in the battle against the Judeo-Christian worldview. Secular humanists currently dominate the government, education, the media, and the legal institutions in the United States.

Indeed. And then we see this:

Why are humanists and Islamists united in their opposition to the Judeo-Christian worldview?


- Humanists and Islamists share the primary goal of removing Christianity from public life so that their worldview can gain power.

- They both seek government solutions to accomplish utopia on earth. The humanists desire a one-world government that perfects man on earth (via the United Nations, EU, etc.), while Islam seeks a one-world caliphate and a sharia legal system that perfects man on earth.

- Both use each other in attacking the Constitution. The Muslim uses humanist doctrine (separation of church and state) in attacking the Constitution through judges, etc. to open the door for Sharia, food regulation, sanctioned prayer, and state suppression of Christian expression. The humanist uses the Islamists to counter Christian "oppression" and attack the Constitution.

- Both use each other in a "termite strategy." Termites destroy a house slowly and then suddenly. By the time you see them, it may be too late.

This is a long article but a must read. Here are just a few tidbits worth mentioning:

Estimates of Christians persecuted worldwide have reached 200 million. Seventy-five percent of worldwide religious persecution is perpetrated against Christians, yet Christianity represents only approximately 30% of the world's population. According to Open Doors International, the top ten oppressors are Islamic or humanist countries.

More consequences from this "world view":

Detroit used to be an all-American city with the highest per capita income in the 1950s. However, the advance of unions (private and public), growing corruption of secular interests, and significant growth in the Arab-Islamic population have resulted in the collapse of a once-great city.

Great Britain is the best international example of humanist-Islamic cooperation. Great Britain was the leading empire in the 19th century, and the British pound was the world's reserve currency. But Great Britain is now a shadow of its former self. Will America follow the secular humanist model of Great Britain and experience a similar decline?

This last point is worth reflection and pondering in a very serious way:

There are evil, incompetent, and indifferent combatants in this worldview war. Evil combatants (radical Islamists and secular humanists) do bad things on purpose. Incompetent combatants (secular Christians) do bad things by accident.

Indifferent combatants (majority of Americans) don't care whether others do good or bad as long as their personal peace and prosperity is not disturbed.

The evil combatants use the incompetent and indifferent to accomplish their goals for society.

Judeo-Christian believers must educate themselves (and others) and engage the culture (schools, churches, synagogues, families, government, and communities) to reverse secular humanism and slow the progress of Islamic cultural and physical jihad in the U.S. We must focus our efforts on the incompetent and indifferent population within the U.S. if we are to defeat those who are evil combatants.

Indeed.