Terrorism & War (2003-2005)
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August 2005
Recalling the Kamikazes of 60
Years Ago: "August
15 effectively ended World War II, a conflagration more terrible than any
other in history, claiming almost 60 million lives. No one was so foolish
in 1945 as to say that it was a war to end all wars, as Woodrow Wilson had
hoped World War I would be....
"It was in Japan where
the 'kamikaze' was born.... The Japanese military chose not to use experienced
pilots, who were in short supply. But they had no trouble recruiting idealistic
young men to learn the rudiments of flying and then take to the air in obsolete
aircraft loaded with a 250-pound bomb.
"The young martyrs were
similar in purpose to the youths
terrorists recruit today to
explode bomb vests in crowded places.... By war's end, Japan had sent almost
4,000 youngsters out over the ocean to be shot down or consummate a fiery,
metal-wrenching life's end crashing into an American ship."
Human Nature
42-year-olds now in Pentagon's
sights: "As part of a package of
'urgent wartime support initiatives,' the Defense Department has requested
that Congress raise the maximum age for military recruits to 42 for all
branches of the service.... Recruitment goals for most of the months this
year have not been met, and military leaders have begun instituting various
creative incentives to try to boost the numbers."
Homeland Security and the transformation of
America
Warning: 9-11-05 attacks seen
for N.Y., L.A., Chicago: "The FBI is warning police that al-Qaida
cells may attempt to use fuel trucks as weapons to attack Los Angeles, New
York and Chicago on the fourth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack
in history. Though officials stress the warning is based on uncorroborated
intelligence, the FBI used a computer network to spread the word that Osama
bin Laden's terrorist network could hit the U.S. again on or around Sept.
11.... Confirming what the FBI has never confirmed before – that al-Qaida
has active sleeper cells in the U.S. – the report said 'the attackers will
be members of small al-Qaida cells, which are spread throughout the U.S.'"
July 2005
White House 'concerned' about
al-Qaida drug link:
"Bin Laden has spent billions of dollars on the successful purchase and
development of nuclear weapons – money his al-Qaida terrorist network earned
by directing poppy cultivation in the fields of Afghanistan, right under
the noses of U.S. occupation forces.
"...the
vast drug fortune already has aided al-Qaida in smuggling nuclear weapons
– along with thousands of sleeper agents – over the Mexican border with
the help of the MS-13 criminal street gang....
"According
to captured al-Qaida leaders and documents, bin Laden's terrorist network
has a plan called 'American Hiroshima' involving the multiple detonation
of nuclear weapons already smuggled into the U.S. Al-Qaida has obtained
at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union – including suitcase
nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even some missile warheads."
See
Homeland Security and the
transformation of America
Al-Qaida's U.S. nuclear targets:
"The series of attacks is designed to kill 4 million, destroy the economy
and fundamentally alter the course of history.... The cities chosen as optimal
targets are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco,
Las Vegas, Boston and Washington, D.C. New York and Washington top the preferred
target list for al-Qaida leadership."
Signs of the times
March
Army raises enlistment age for
reservists to 39: "The U.S. Army, stung by recruiting shortfalls
caused by the Iraq war, has raised the maximum age for new recruits for
the part-time Army Reserve and National Guard by five years to 39, officials
said today. ...The Army said the move, a three-year experiment, will add
about 22 million people to the pool of those eligible to serve."
Panama's Security Chief: al-Qaida
is here: "Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that the al-Qaida
terrorist group is active in Panama and may be making the Central American
country a base of operations. Panamanian security chief Javier Martinez...said
al-Qaida also is planning an attack on the Panama Canal."
Lebanon: Syria out, Iran in:
"As Syria prepares to withdraw some of its troops from positions in Lebanon,
Iran has been fortifying Hezbollah bases and positioning itself to become
the dominant force on the ground in Lebanon.... Syria has been under intense
international pressure to withdraw its nearly 20,000 troops from Lebanon....
"Iran
is taking action on the ground to fill the resulting void ... Iran
has made preparations to supply Hezbollah bases with tanks, rockets and
missiles."
Recruit foreigners for U.S.
military: "With the Army and Marines having trouble maintaining
their ranks, it's time to sign up aliens - even illegal aliens - as volunteers...
Just to stay at their present sizes, the Army and Marines are shoveling
money into more advertising, extra recruiters and bigger enlistment bonuses.
And yet it's clear... that the U.S. military is far too small to handle
all the missions thrown its way."
February 2005
Letter to Congress on Increasing
U.S. Ground Forces
:
"...our national security, global peace and stability, and the defense and
promotion of freedom in the post-9/11 world require a larger military force
than we have today. The administration has unfortunately resisted increasing
our ground forces to the size needed to meet today's (and tomorrow's) missions
and challenges. So we write to ask you and your colleagues in the legislative
branch to take the steps necessary to increase substantially the size of
the active duty Army and Marine Corps....
"Article
1, Section 8 of the Constitution places the power and the duty to raise
and support the military forces of the United States in the hands of the
Congress."
See
The Draft is Back
January 2005
Iraqis Brave Long Trips, Cold
to Vote: "Emotional
and jubilant Iraqi expatriates braved long trips and frigid weather to cast
their votes across the United States on Friday.... Those who were born in
Iraq or have a father from there and are over 18 are eligible to vote for
a slate of political parties or candidates to form a transitional national
assembly that will write a new Iraqi constitution."
Insurgents Vowing to Kill Iraqis
Who Brave the Polls on Sunday
(Registration required):
"The black sedan made its way down Madaris Street, the young men inside
tossing leaflets out the window. 'This is a final warning to all of those
who plan to participate in the election,' the leaflets said. 'We vow to
wash the streets of Baghdad with the voters' blood.' ...'To those of you
who think you can vote and then run away,' the leaflet warned, 'we will
shadow you and catch you, and we will cut off your heads and the heads of
your children.'"
December 2004
Iraq-Bound Troops Confront Rumsfeld
Over Lack of Armor:
"Specialist Thomas Wilson, a scout with a Tennessee National Guard unit
scheduled to roll into Iraq this week, said soldiers had to scrounge through
local landfills here for pieces of rusty scrap metal and bulletproof glass
- what they called 'hillbilly armor' - to bolt on to their trucks for protection
against roadside bombs in Iraq.... Why don't we have those resources readily
available to us?'"
The Shia party :
We now know not only that there will be an election in Iraq on Jan. 30th,
but who is going to win it. This is because a single party slate has been
assembled out of the various Shia factions to contest it; and the Shia are
three-fifths of Iraq's population. In defiance of any advice I might have
given, the electoral system cuts several Gordian knots by making the whole
of Iraq into a single constituency. It is thus a radical system of proportional
representation, in which each party will be assigned seats according to
its share of the overall vote. ...
November 2004
Gulf syndrome is beyond doubt,
inquiry finds
(UK): "The Government should 'publicly
acknowledge'that 6,000 British veterans are suffering from Gulf war syndrome
and set up a fund to compensate them, an independent inquiry concluded yesterday."
Pentagon Wants Women In Combat:
"...last May the Army told Pentagon officials in a special report that if
it was forced to keep the vital FSCs all-male, it would simply not have
enough soldiers. 'Army manpower cannot support elimination of female soldiers
from all units designated to be unit of action elements,' the Army report
concluded. '...pool of male recruits too small to sustain force.'"
October 2004
Female soldiers eyed for combat:
"The Army is negotiating with civilian leaders about eliminating a women-in-combat
ban so it can place mixed-sex support companies within warfighting units,
starting with a division going to Iraq in January. ... The ban prohibits
the Army from putting women in units that 'collocate' with ground combatants....
"Gen. Schoomaker is increasing
the number of combat brigades from 33 to 48, and naming them 'units of action.'
The brigades are being married up permanently with support units so they
can move out more quickly to war zones, instead of waiting for the additional
personnel to arrive."
More troops are needed and
many who finished their assignment are being recalled, but our President
has promised not to reinstate the draft. Let's pray that he will keep his
promise -- and use the ongoing battles to draw His people to Himself.
Prayer
Russia tied to Iraq's missing
arms: "Russian special
forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out
of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military
operation.... Most of Saddam's most powerful arms were systematically separated
from other arms like mortars, bombs and rockets, and sent to Syria and Lebanon,
and possibly to Iran.... The RDX and HMX, which are used to manufacture
high-explosive and nuclear weapons, are probably of Russian origin, he said....
"
Disclosure of the missing
explosives... was used by the Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. John
Kerry, who accused the Bush administration of failing to secure the material....
[However] U.S. forces defeated the defenders around April 3 and found the
gates to the facility open.... The Pentagon said there was no evidence of
large-scale movement of explosives from the facility after April 6....
"'The organized effort
was done in advance of the conflict,' Mr. Shaw said. The Russian forces
were tasked with moving special arms out of the country.... The Russian
units were dispatched beginning in January 2003 and by March had destroyed
hundreds of pages of documents on Russian arms supplies to Iraq while dispersing
arms to Syria.... Officials believe the Russians also can explain what happened
to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs."
September 2004
US troops 'coerced to re-enlist':
"A US congresswoman has called for an investigation into claims that Iraq
war veterans were threatened with being sent to Iraq unless they stayed
on."
Pastors' children confirmed
dead in Russian hostage drama:
"After days of searching for them, two pastors in the Russian southern town
of Beslan have now discovered that six of their eight young children died
in the local school hostage drama that shocked the nation, their Christian
mission organization confirmed....Neighbors of the Totiev family reportedly
told the parents 'with tears' in their eyes, 'You lost your children, but
we feel like they were our children too. They were shining lights on our
street.' ...
"As
others in the crowd began cursing and vowed to take revenge against 'the
terrorists,' Pastor Sergey Totiev, who lost two children in the siege, stood
up at the end of the service and reportedly said: 'Yes, we have an irreplaceable
loss, but we cannot take revenge. As Christians, the Bible teaches us that
we must forgive. Vengeance is in God’s hands.' The Russian Ministries team
described it as 'the most powerful sermon and witness that has perhaps ever
been heard in that community.' It said 'the crowd was very moved by what
Pastor Totiev said.'"
Isaiah 45:3
July 2004
The next two links are month-old news
stories, but we were in Romania at the time and didn't read about it. Whether
you did or not, this faithful Korean Christian is worth remembering.
Hostage Dreamed of Missionary
Work in Arab Nations:
"Kim Sun-il, the 33-year-old Korean being held captive by Iraqi insurgents,
first went to Iraq in June of last year as a translator for a Korean trading
company. A native of Pusan and a devoted Christian, Kim graduated from a
local theological seminary but later enrolled at the Hankuk University of
Foreign Studies in Seoul to study Arabic."
He learned their language and
was willing to give his life in order to share Christ with the needy in
Iraq. His work as translator was simply his entrance pass for the assignment
God had given him. Read the next link and pray for his grieving family.
List of Foreigners Taken Hostage
in Irag: "Here is
the status of some of those taken captive: ...Kim Sun-il, 33, South Korea.
Translator, beheaded June 22 by al-Qaida-affiliated group."
Phil 1:20-21
May 2004
Understanding the War in Iraq
- The Third Jihad:
"Iraq is but a footnote in the bigger context of this encounter, but an
important one none the less. This war is what the Jihadists themselves are
calling the 'Third Great Jihad' and are doing so within the framework of
a time line which reaches back to the very creation of Islam in the seventh
century.... No religion in history grew as fast, in its infancy, than did
Islam....
"
The
long-range strategy of the Third Jihad counts on three strategic goals.
1. The U.S. withdrawing from the region just as it did in Southeast Asia,
following Vietnam. 2. Taking control of the oil wealth in the Muslim countries,
which would be upwards to 75% of known reserves, and 3. Using nuclear weapons
or other WMDs to annihilate Israel. A further outcome of successfully achieving
these objectives would be to place the United
Nations as the sole arbiter in East/West negotiations....
"Evidence of
the Bush Administration awareness of this plan is found in the facts that
immediately following the 9/11 attack, their first move was to shore up
Pakistan and Egypt."
I don't like the tone at the
beginning of this article, but some of the information on Islam is important.
See
Chronology of Conquests in
the Name of Allah
and pray for our president.
Romans
8:26-27
U.S. proposes drafting women:
"The Selective Service System has proposed revamping the draft to include
the registration of women, expanding the age limits and requiring that young
Americans keep the government informed about those critical skills most
valuable to the military."
See
The Draft is Back
April 2004
Republican senator: Bring back
the draft
: "A Republican U.S. senator is calling for
a return of the military draft so the cost of the Iraq operation could be
borne by people of all economic strata. ... 'Why shouldn't we ask all of
our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?' Hagel said,
arguing that restoring the draft would force 'our citizens to understand
the intensity and depth of challenges we face.' The senator also argued
re-instituting the draft, which ended in the early '70s, would cause the
burden of military service to be spread among all economic classes of people.
'Those who are serving today and dying today are the middle class and lower
middle class,' he claimed."
See
The Draft is Back
Bin Laden Comes Home to Roost:
"The CIA, ever mindful of the need to justify its 'mission,' had conclusive
evidence by the mid-1980s of the deepening crisis of infrastructure within
the Soviet Union. The CIA, as its deputy director Robert Gates acknowledged
under congressional questioning in 1992, had decided to keep that evidence
from President Reagan and his top advisors and instead continued to grossly
exaggerate Soviet military and technological capabilities in its annual
'Soviet Military Power' report right up to 1990. Given that context, a decision
was made to provide America’s potential enemies [Bin Laden & al-Qaida] with
the arms, money - and most importantly - the knowledge of how to run a war
of attrition violent and well-organized enough to humble a superpower."
Psalm 27:1-4
Nader tells youths to brace
for draft : "'The
Pentagon is quietly recruiting new members to fill local draft boards, as
the machinery for drafting a new generation of young Americans is being
quietly put into place,' Mr. Nader said in a press release.... Mr. Russo,
one of three front-runners vying for the Libertarian nomination, said at
a party forum in Virginia last month that 'the draft is a bipartisan effort
between Republicans and Democrats that will start after the 2004 presidential
election, for obvious reasons,' a prediction he repeats on his campaign
Web site.
"It would
take legislative action by Congress to reinstate the draft...."
Both the House and Senate bills
have been written.
See
The Draft is Back
Inside camp of troubles:
"Last year, more than
a dozen of the company's soldiers were transferred back to Fort Dix for
treatment of a variety of maladies. ...'One night, I had 10 or 15 people
with temperatures over 103, unexplained night chills, all kinds of things,'
said Sgt. Juan Vega, the company's principal medic. About a dozen of the
160 soldiers in the company suddenly developed kidney stones, he said.....
"Pentagon
officials have confirmed that tanks hit by DU shells are the biggest potential
sources of battlefield radioactivity.... In addition, a UN environmental
report on Iraq warned last year of a 'high risk of inhaling DU dust' within
150 meters of any target hit by DU shells 'unless high-quality dust masks
are worn.' The soldiers never received dust masks."
See
The Draft is Back
March 2004
Agency initiates steps for selective
draft: "The government is
taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with
special skills in computers and foreign languages."
Oiling up the draft machine?
"...a few weeks ago, on an obscure federal Web site devoted to the war on
terrorism, the Bush administration quietly began a public campaign to bring
the draft boards back to life. 'Serve Your Community and the Nation,' the
announcement urges. 'If a military draft becomes necessary, approximately
2,000 Local and Appeal Boards throughout America would decide which young
men ... receive deferments, postponements or exemptions from military service.'"
February 2004
The Costs of Empire, Part 1:
"The process of creating and maintaining an empire... is costly, very costly,
in terms of lives, money and liberty. It requires a large military establishment,
which can consume a substantial, if not disproportionate amount of the national
treasury. And it requires stationing and deploying forces around the world....
"Currently
Pentagon officials are in the final throes of crafting an updated National
Military Strategy that is expected to acknowledge a need to redistribute
US forces and revamp their chains of command throughout the globe."
The Revolutionary Roots of
the UN
December 2003
Army 'forcing out sick Gulf
war veterans' (UK):
"The Ministry of Defence forced 'hundreds' of victims of Gulf war syndrome
to quit the Army under a system known as manning control
to avoid paying them medical pensions.
If the soldiers were medically discharged they would have been automatically
eligible for a medical pension. But because they were forced to quit, they
received nothing."
U.S. soldiers face similar injustices.
See
Military
and
The Draft is
Back
November
US National Guard Pay Delayed,
Denied: "While National Guard soldiers fulfill their duty, risking
their lives around the world, the Pentagon apparently is not living up to
its obligation to pay them the right amount or on time. In six Guard units
examined by the General Accounting Office, a stunning 94 per cent of soldiers
had pay problems, including: Under- and over-payments. Three-month delays
in active duty checks. Pay and benefits cut off for wounded soldiers in
the hospital. 'They were being told they weren't entitled to certain health
care benefits, in spite of their injuries.'"
Mystery Illness Causing Major
U.S. Casualties in Iraq:
"The overwhelming majority of soldiers sent home for recovery from the current
Persian Gulf War were not injured in combat but probably by a doctor’s needle.
Were some “shot to death” by vaccinations?... A series of anthrax and smallpox
vaccinations are blamed by some for leaving soldiers so gravely ill they
have difficulty breathing and sleeping and experience loss of memory. Others
have been diagnosed with lupus and heart ailments. At least six died shortly
after receiving their shots. But the Pentagon has rejected such claims in
such a routine and intimidating manner that many GIs say they no longer
report the illness. They’re told to 'suck it up' and move on."
Please pray for our soldiers.
John 15:7-8
4,000 names given to military
recruiters:
"The Oakland school district turned over names and phone numbers of almost
4,000 students to military recruiters this week, in a controversial move
required to comply with federal law. A provision of President George W.
Bush's No Child Left Behind Act gives recruiters special access to names,
phone numbers and addresses of high school juniors and seniors."
See
The Draft is Back
Rumsfeld Visits Asia to Discuss
Adjustments to US Forces:
"Rumsfeld said in the post-Cold War era, the U.S. was moving from a static
defensive posture to 'a footprint that recognizes it's not possible today
to predict with precision where a threat may come from or exactly what kind
of a threat it might be.' The U.S. and its allies need 'more agility' and
access to a larger number of locations to face those threats."
The
Draft is Back
Notice sparks return of US military
draft fears: "A routine notice advertising the need for people
to serve on US draft boards has prompted suggestions the Pentagon may restart
the military draft. But officials have
denied a move to return to the draft,
which was abolished in 1973. 'There are no secret discussions,' said Pat
Schuback, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, the government agency
that would be in charge of conscription if the US had it."
Yet the bill for the draft
has already been written:
The
Draft is Back
U.S. to Call Up Thousands of
Troops for Iraq Duty:
"U.S. defense officials said on Wednesday the Pentagon would begin ordering
thousands of fresh troops to prepare for service in Iraq...."
Joshua
1:9
US raises spectre of conscription:
"The American defence department has begun a recruitment drive for local
draft boards, raising questions about a possible revival of conscription....
There has been no draft in the US since it was ended by Congress in 1973,
the year that US troops pulled out of Vietnam.... Re-instatement would require
action by the president and approval by Congress...."
And the twin bills for the
House and Senate have already been written.
The Draft is Back
Nato hints at undertaking pre-emptive
missions:
"NATO’s military commander said on Tuesday he sees the alliance taking on
more stabilisation missions in the future, pre-emptively going into troubled
regions to try to prevent them from becoming runaway breeding grounds for
terrorists. US Marine Corps General James L. Jones, who took over in January
as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the alliance has to transform
from a 20th century reactive force to one willing to actively deploy its
troops to hotspots."
The
Draft is Back'
Reaction to Rumsfeld memo mixed
:
"...the memo said the United States has no way to measure whether it is
winning or losing the war, has not made "truly bold moves" to fight terrorists
and is in for "a long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan.... The memo suggested
that
the government
might need a "new institution" to fight the war and should consider
a way to counter radical Islamic schools that are churning out terrorists.
-------...James Dobbins... director of international security and defense
for the Rand think tank, said ... solving the problem may call for "restructuring
institutions."
October
2003
Senator Says Downed Chopper
Lacked Protective Gear:
"Many U.S. helicopters in Iraq lack routine anti-missile equipment that
might have thwarted last weekend's attack on a Chinook helicopter that killed
15 U.S. troops, a Democratic senator said on Wednesday.... '
Israel will be destroyed:
"The official television station of the Palestinian Authority has begun
broadcasting a video clip depicting the destruction of Israel and its replacement
by a Palestinian state...."
But our God is in charge of
Israel's destiny. No one can thwart His purposes!
See
The Lord
July
2003
A Former Special Forces Soldier
Responds to Bush's Invitation for Iraqis to Attack US Troops:
"...the first image in my mind was a 20-year-old soldier in an ever-more-fragile
marriage, who'd been away from home for 8 months. ... His weapon weighs
seven pounds, ten with a double magazine. His boots are bloused, and his
long-sleeve shirt is buttoned at the wrist. It is between 100-110 degrees
Fahrenheit at midday. He's been eating MRE's three times a day, when he
has an appetite in this heat.... Mosquitoes and sand flies plague him in
the evenings, and he probably pulls a guard shift every night, never sleeping
straight through...."
Let's
keep praying for our soldiers in Iraq.
John 15:7-8
June
2003
Abbas threatens to resign Palestinian
prime minister blames Arafat for inciting Hamas: "Abbas has has
accused PA Chairman Arafat of inciting Hamas to escalate attacks against
Israel in an attempt to undermine the new prime minister."
Luke 21:10
Israel declares all-out war
on Hamas:
"The Israeli army has been ordered
to 'completely wipe out' the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas, army
radio reported on Thursday, a day after a suicide bomber killed 16 people
on a Jerusalem bus."
April
2003
Putin and Schroeder: UN Should
Manage Iraqi Settlement Process: "Putin says he and German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder agree that their main task is to return the
Iraqi settlement process to the United Nations.... The speaker of
Russia's lower house of parliament, Gennady Seleznyov, says Iraq is not
yet America's 51st state and suggested the United States pay Moscow for
the Russian contracts interrupted by the war."
Lamentations 1:2
Does
the European conflict over who will rebuild Iraq remind you of "The Little
Red Hen"? If so, take a look at the
politically correct version.
In Baghdad, a power vacuum:
"Anarchy appeared to be widening in Baghdad on Friday as the jubilation
accompanying the collapse of Saddam Hussein's rule gave way to a spree of
violence and looting."North
Korea and the US 'on a slide towards conflict':
"War in North Korea is now almost inevitable because of the country's diplomatic
stalemate with America, a senior UN official claims. Ahead of this week's
crucial talks between members of the UN Security Council, Maurice Strong,
special adviser to the Secretary General Kofi Annan, was gloomy on the chances
of a peaceful settlement. 'I think war is unnecessary, it's unthinkable
and unfortunately it's entirely possible,' he said." Read about the powerful,
behind-the-scenes UN strongman in
Rapid Reaction against UN Foes
Across the Euphrates:
"Since this war began there have been plenty of media references to the
Euphrates, which along with the Tigris River (east of the Euphrates) defines
the heart of Babylonia, or Mesopotamia, meaning literally 'Between Rivers'...."
See map and history at
Israel-Arafat
'History in a Nutshell'
Basra's last-stand militia using
five-year-olds as human shields:
"Pro-Saddam Hussein militia in Basra are using children as young as five
as human shields and threatening men with death if they do not fight for
them, British troops revealed yesterday."
March
Suicide bombers now 'routine
military policy' for Iraq: "...a car exploded at a checkpoint
near the Shi'ite Muslim shrine city of Najaf, about 160km south of Baghdad,
killing four soldiers who were searching it. The driver also died in the
blast. Iraqi television said President Saddam Hussein had awarded the bomber,
Ali Hammadi al-Namani, two posthumous medals."
Let us pray for our
soldiers, for our president, for the wounded -- and for the grieving and
frightened families in both the U.S. and Iraq -- that many would turn to
the true God and receive His truth, strength, peace and comfort.
John 15:7-8
Human shields-turned-hawks:
"They arrived as Saddam apologists willing to die for the despot—but they
left Iraq weeks later with changed hearts and a determination that Saddam
must go. Many of the human shields who had arrived with much fanfare to
'stop' the United States and Britain were swayed by the strongest supporters
of Saddam’s ouster: the Iraqi people.'"
Jeremiah 32:26
Children forced to take up guns?
"Iraq has sunk to a new low in unconventional warfare, with regime forces
threatening children and having them take up guns on the battlefield, according
to U.S. officials and a reporter embedded with coalition troops. Coalition
leaders report Iraqi paramilitary forces are going into homes and threatening
whole families with death if they don't join the battle.
"'...in the vicinity of Najaf ... Iraqi regime forces are seizing
children from their homes and telling their families that the males must
fight for the regime or they will all face execution,' Brig. Gen. Vincent
Brooks said this morning."
John 15:7-8
Iraqi soldiers tell of forced
fighting: "...the Iraqi private with a bullet wound in the back
of his head suggested something unusually grim. ... that many Iraqi soldiers
were fighting at gunpoint, threatened with death by hard-core loyalists
of President Saddam Hussein. ...`
"`The officers threatened to shoot us unless we fought,' said a wounded
Iraqi from his bed in the American field hospital here. 'They took out their
guns and pointed them and told us to fight.'
" ...American medics patched up the wounds of three other Iraqi soldiers...."
Military Analysis / Iraqi military
relying on guerrilla tactics:
"The general view is there are four grades of Iraqi forces. First
there are conscripts who, like conscripts in most countries, are
fairly ineffective in military terms. Then there is the regular army.
Next there is the Republican Guard. It's like moving in on a dart
board. Finally there is the Special Republican Guard, many of whom
are from Tikrit, north of Baghdad, Saddam's hometown....
"T
he
psychological warfare is clearly geared toward the first two groups--the
regular troops and the conscripts...
"The allies will certainly
win. But what happens is that you start forcing coalition casualties. Significantly,
the allies do not take casualties as well as the Iraqis. Even if a small
number of soldiers are killed, it will be all over the media that night.
There is a certain squeamishness about death."
Of course.
2 Chronicles 20:6-12
And as our soldiers face the threats ahead, let's pray that God open their
eyes to see Him as their
Savior
and their dearest
Friend.
repeat
3 Russian Firms' Deals Anger
U.S.: "Iraq Purchased Jamming Gear, Missiles, Night-Vision Goggles
... The United States delivered a protest to the government of President
Vladimir Putin yesterday for refusing to stop Russian arms dealers from
providing illegal weapons and assistance to the Iraqi military."
Battle teaches Marines dangers
of complacency: "The Marines decided to sleep here Friday in
a makeshift camp near a tomato field flanked by old farmhouses they decided
not to search. And why should they search them? The enemy — the Iraqi soldiers
they had encountered since pouring across the Kuwaiti border and into war
that morning —wanted to quit. ...
"On that moonless night, Iraqi soldiers crawled from an armory and
communication center — the farmhouses the battalion neglected to search.
Beneath the farmhouses, unknown to the Marines, lay tunnels laden with arms,
ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades. ... Then... Boom! ... Iraqi soldiers
had launched a Soviet-built rocket-propelled grenade."
An object lesson
for all of us! Engaged in spiritual warfare that rages as fiercely as the
Iraqi war, we cannot afford to close our eyes to "Wiles
of the devil" nor neglect our spiritual armor.
See
Clothed by the King
and
Armor of God
Cruise missiles found in hidden
bunker (scroll down to this title): "Cases of rockets, giant
anti-shipping mines and other ammunition are piled from floor to ceiling
in dozens of bunkers at what is marked on maps as the Az Zubaya Heliport.
The most disturbing find was two Russian-made Al-Harith anti-shipping
cruise missiles, each 6m long and 1m in diameter, and nine warheads,
hidden in two enormous reinforced concrete bunkers.... Some of the boxes
are clearly marked with the names of British manufacturers."
See next link:
Military Policy Suppresses Religious
Expression Among U.S. Troops: "That policy prohibits American
troops from wearing Christian or Jewish symbols or singing hymns in order
to avoid offending Muslims...'
"'There's a strange political correctness that even extends into
the military,' Whitehead says. '...I don't think we should bow to religious
intolerance of other countries.' ...the U.S. Constitution applies to American
citizens in whatever part of the world they might find themselves."
Matthew 10:32-39
U.S., British Forces Take Iraqi
Port: "... Iraqis waved in celebration as members of the 1st
Marine Division hauled down giant portraits of Saddam Hussein.
"'We're very
happy... Saddam Hussein is a butcher,' said a man in the back of a pickup
truck... A woman fell at the feet of the Americans and embraced them....
Television images from other parts of Iraq also showed Iraqi prisoners,
marching in single file with their hands behind their heads. Sahhaf, the
Iraqi information minister, said the images were fabricated."
Iraqi misinformation? Sahhaf's
assignment is propaganda, not honesty.
Psalm 12:8
Pak Islamic parties threaten
to send youth to Iraq: "Pakistan's religious coalition has threatened
to send the country's youth to Baghdad to fight American forces. ..
the alliance would send its youth to fight against US in Iraq as it did
to oppose American intervention in Afghanistan....
"Meanwhile, Afghanistan announced that it would soon be setting free
900 Pakistani militants taken into custody for fighting along with Taliban
regime."
See
Four Faces of Islam
First shots fired at sea as
allied battle plan unfolds: "The first shots of the war have
been fired, killing at least one Iraqi during a suspected operation to mine
the waters off Kuwait. But that opening skirmish is about to be dwarfed
by the most formidable military assault in modern warfare: 250,000 British
and American troops — backed by more than 1,000 aircraft, 400 tanks and
a 110-strong armada — are poised to unleash their awesome power on Saddam
Hussein’s Iraq the moment the order is given."
Troops... on the eve of combat:
"If you ask an infantry soldier what he's fighting for, it usually has nothing
to do with grand ideals or even protecting loved ones back home. When battle
comes, an infantry soldier fights for the man to his left and his right,
and for little else. Combat breeds a sense of camaraderie that's impossible
to find anywhere else."
That's true among Christians
as well. So let us stand together and battle in prayer for His will to be
done. Pray that God protect His faithful ones -- especially in Arab countries
-- and use this threatening circumstances to draw many to Himself.
2
Chronicles 20:12
Iran
Warns U.S. 'Biggest Blow' Is Coming: "President Bush has given
Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq. Now U.S. officials worry
we now face a dangerous window of vulnerability.
"Top concerns: A pre-emptive Iraqi attack against U.S. and allied
forces and/or Israel using weapons of mass destruction. A terrorist attack
by al-Qaeda operatives using chemical, biological or radiological weapons
within the U.S. A wave of suicide bomber attacks by terrorist cells trained
by or paid for by Iraq."
Psalm 62:5-8
Mortal fear rules Saddam's inner
circle: "Saddam Hussein knows it can be lonely at the top. In
the grip of a crisis he turns - like any other leader - to his inner circle
for advice. But at the moment when he needs them most, President Saddam's
choice of confidants is limited. Decades of dictatorial rule have left him
with an inner circle where no one is totally trusted and the penalty for
giving sound but unpalatable advice is death....
"Today,
the former bodyguard with little formal education is the third or fourth
most powerful person in Iraq, according to exiled dissidents. He may also
pose the biggest internal threat to President Saddam. 'He's a dangerous
person because of his silence,' said Salah Umar al-Ali, a former diplomat
and fellow Tikriti. 'He has ambition and wants to be leader.'"
Ponder this
quote by Thomas Sowell.
It refers to socialist totalitarianism but applies to more traditional dictatorships
as well. Human nature doesn't change with time.
Galatians 5:19-26
Mask, gun: check. Bullets: not
so fast: "This may surprise the folks back home, but the U.S.
Army forces massing across the Iraqi border are largely unarmed. Even though
all U.S. soldiers deployed to the six main Army camps in northern Kuwait
must carry their rifles at all times -- even to the latrine in the middle
of the night -- few are carrying any bullets.
"This is not an oversight.... it's an effort to stave off the sad
inevitable: Once the Army starts issuing ammo en masse, soldiers will accidentally
shoot themselves and each other."
Psalm 61:1-4
February
2003
Germany's leading role in arming
Iraq: "German firms made up the bulk of suppliers for Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction programs. What's galling is that German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder and his minions have long known the facts.... Over the
years, well over half of the precursor materials and a majority of the tools
and know-how for their conversion into weapons were sold to Iraq by German
firms."
Young Guns:
"Dolores Paige told the Marine Corps recruiter he could enlist all the students
at Willowridge High School -- except her son. 'I told him, 'You take all
these kids if you want to, but don't you call my house -- you ain't getting
my baby.'"
Psalm 23
January 2003
Pentagon eyes mass graves Option
would fight contamination after bioterror deaths: "Since the
Korean War, the U.S. military has taken great pride in bringing home its
war dead, returning bodies to next of kin for flag-draped, taps-sounding
funerals complete with 21-gun salutes. But the 53-year-old tradition could
come to an abrupt halt if large numbers of soldiers are killed by chemical
or biological agents..."
America's Ultra-Secret Weapon:
"If there's a second Gulf War, get ready to meet the high-power microwave.
HPMs are man-made lightning bolts crammed into cruise missiles. They could
be key weapons for targeting Saddam Hussein's stockpiles of biological and
chemical weapons. ...
"The powerful electromagnetic
pulses can travel into deeply buried bunkers through ventilation shafts,
plumbing and antennas. But unlike conventional explosives, they won't spew
deadly agents into the air, where they could poison Iraqi civilians or advancing
U.S. troops."
In contrast, Iraq's
chemical and biological reserves alone could bring unthinkable, torturous
harm and death to large civilian population centers. But let's pray that
we can avoid war -- not the least for the sake of Christian missionaries
who serve the poor in Arab countries. For war is certain to fuel explosive
rage and revenge among militant Muslims.
See
Four Faces
of Islam
and
Psalm
62:5-8
Previous links on this topic:
The War - Part 1
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