Sabbath 20/13/25/120 Part B
Dear Friends,
One is reminded, in viewing the coverage of the war in Iraq, of a feint like the race to Benghazi in WWII where the allies pursued the retreating Italians only to fight their way back again with a reinforced German force on their tails. Iraq may well be giving in to secure a more optimum peace situation after the war. Then again they may not be doing that either. The way of peace they know not is a Bible saying that has a reality here.
Iraq has been invaded four times now by the Anglo Saxons in a hundred years. Each time it has been invaded because they allied themselves against their interests.
The first invasion was in 1917–1921 after the Ottomans allied themselves with the Germans. In 1921 the country of Iraq was virtually invented using the rule of King Faisal. Many will recall this monarch from the film Lawrence of Arabia and the resultant betrayal of the interests of Damascus shown there.
In WWII Iraq allied itself again with the Germans, as did Syria with the Vichy French. In 1941 Iraq was again invaded. What is not known generally was that the French Foreign Legion in Syria was also allied to the Nazis and the Commonwealth had to deal with those nations. The Australians found themselves, after winning at El Alamein with the British, Indians and New Zealanders, faced with defeating the French Foreign Legion in Syria before they could get back to defeat the Japanese threat in the Pacific with the Americans.
The Commonwealth and the USA had to go in again in 1991 and now again because they failed to do it correctly in 1991 as we said they would.
The political intrigue in the Middle East and the despots who rule it are sometimes puzzling to the casual observer. Why would a regime make the mistake four times in a hundred years of forcing themselves into wrong alliances that ran counter to their own interests and to be reliant on the good graces of a victorious enemy to be rebuilt and rehabilitated? The wonder is that they were and are going to be rehabilitated again and they are not appreciative of the fact of the matter. One might suppose it is at least intellectually more honest than Thailand who in 1942 declared war on the allies and sided with Japan, and when faced with the fact of Japan’s probable loss rewrote their history saying that they had been on the side of the allies. The USA allowed them to get away with this charade for future long-term stability of the region and US interests. The real problem is that they do not understand the power of the common law interests and determination of a free and independent people.
We are still in the early stages of the war. The allied force is a third lighter than it was in 1991. It is moving into Iraq and the force is suffering roadblocks in Kuwait getting out. An 8000 strong Iraqi division in the southern port city has surrendered and some hundreds of hungry soldiers have surrendered on the way. Only sporadic fighting is occurring. Let us hope that it is as easy as it looks and the people suffer only a little and are rehabilitated quickly. But there are a million soldiers there who showed themselves able to fight Iran for eight years. Has the Iraqi lion forgotten how to roar?
If this were the hardened force of the North Vietnamese Regular Army, one would expect this to be a ruse and after extending the allied lines of communication, a counter attack would be launched that would take advantage of all the weaponry at the disposal of the Iraqi forces and see these oil spills set alight after battle was joined. Let us hope that is not the scenario. However, it would be if it were a trained and determined enemy.
The injury of Saddam Hussein and the loss of three of his generals so early will probably reveal the weakness of every despotic system. Their subordinates cannot act on initiative and that may cause the fall of Iraq.
One can not but stand in wonder at the weakness of the UN Security Council and the national aspirations at play there which have prolonged the suffering of the Iraqi people and made this war necessary. The assumption is very tempting that we are merely looking at national objectives now being played out that were placed on hold after the defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of WWII. Why did France not pursue the UN agenda more vigorously? Why is Saddam Hussein not on trial for War Crimes or Crimes Against Humanity? Could it be the fact that France and Russia made a deal with Saddam on oil and that while Saddam pulled the plug on Russian, the deal with France stood and they were willing to sell out the UN and the world for short term gain? How unusual for the French.
Why is France not on trial for supplying Iraq with the means of making thermo-nuclear weapons of mass destruction and also Switzerland as we might recall happened not so long ago. For that matter, why is China not on trial for the supply of the 22 nuclear missiles to Pakistan in 1992, and why is North Korea not on trial, and why is Israel not on trial for supply to China? And on it goes. The answer is that might is right and only the little countries get pushed around if it suits the big ones and there is no justice in the earth.
Islam is now waiting to see what happens over the next few days. Slowly the cancer will spread north, south, west and later east.
Also, if the War Against Terrorism is correct and not a confidence trick of the west, why is there no terrorist activity underway? One would expect much activity to follow if Iraq is a terrorist nation, would one not?
Turkey is now waiting to invade Iraq to stop the Kurds forming the northern Republic of Kurdistan. They do not want them in possession of the northern oil fields, which will increase their power. Of all the people in this sorry exercise, the Kurds and the Marsh Arabs have suffered most. You have seen Bible prophecy fulfilled with the drying up of the marshes so that the Easterners can walk over the great rivers dry-shod.
The paper The Last Thirty Years: The Final Struggle (No. 219) is important in understanding the sequence, as it will unfold. We know that news from the north and west alarms the king of the North and it goes forth to utterly exterminate many. Daniel 11:40-45 shows us the sequence of what we might expect in this last sequence of events. The north and west is from Jerusalem and covers Iraq and the Southern Steppes.
This occupation of the Middle East will continue now like a tar baby. Islam,
having pushed at the Northern Alliance, will be faced with the continued occupation
and attacks and counter attacks that will flow from this problem. This war will
extend from the Middle East now and on later into the Russian Steppes one month
following the next in heavy succession. In the end, the occupation of the area
from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean will be a fact. This occupation will be
followed by the wars of the end described from Daniel 12:1 ff.
Let us hope that we are spared much of the suffering. However, the next step
will deal with the other Middle Eastern states and they all see that as a fact
of succession of war. North Korea is preparing and on it goes.
Let us pray for the strength of the people of God so that they might overcome and be protected in these troubling times ahead.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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