Alert Focus: Wars and rumors of wars / The Iron and the Clay / The prince of the kingdom of Persia / Ezekiel 38 & 39 / The Second Seal / The Kings of the East
Revelation 6:3-4
When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
Matthew 24:6a
"You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.
Daniel 7:4
"The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it.
Daniel 2:41-43
"In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. "As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.
Daniel 7:7
"After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
Three large explosions reported in the S. Iranian town of Khorramshahr Thursday
DEBKAfile - January 11, 2007 -- Khorramshahr, which faces the Iraqi town of Basra across the Shatt al Arb waterway, is one of the main towns from which Iran smuggles fighters, weapons and explosives into Iraq, for delivery to Iraqi Shiite supporters.
http://www.debka.com/
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3721
U.S. Troops Raid Iranian Consulate In Iraq
RADIO FREE EUROPE – Source: IRNA, Reuters, AFP - January 11, 2007 -- Iraq state television reported today that U.S. troops raided the Iranian Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil and arrested several Iranian officials.
The Iranian news agency IRNA confirmed the raid, saying U.S. troops arrested five Iranian officials at the consulate in the Kurdish region and confiscated documents and computers.
IRNA also reported that the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad has handed over a note of protest to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry criticizing what Iran is calling the "illegal move" and demanding the immediate release of the arrested consulate staff.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/01/98d94516-bcca-4c33-9289-c7550ef83a34.html
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Three US Norfolk-based amphibious assault ships set out for Persian Gulf Saturday
DEBKAfile - January 7, 2007 -- They are part of the USS Bataan Strike group carrying 2,000 Marines and equipped to insert forces ashore by helicopter, landing craft and amphibious vehicles. The Baatan is equipped with helicopters and fast hovercraft capable of landing thousands of Marines on beaches and providing the landing with cover. The Shreveport, known as the Super Gator, combines the logistical-intelligence support of a command ship with the assault capabilities of combat loaded marines. It is designed for extended amphibious operations. The USS Oak Hill is designed to assist distressed vessels.
DEBKAfile’s military sources add that another three warships are due to sail out of Norfolk for the Gulf this week with marine personnel aboard. This will bring to more than 20,000 the complement of sailors, marines and pilots either heading for the Gulf region like the USS John C. Stennis strike group, or already present like the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Boxer.
The deployment of the USS John C. Stennis strike group, announced last week, was billed as “a warning to Syria and Iran.”
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3705
Bush Poised to Stake His All on Iraq Victory
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
DEBKAfile - January 6, 2007 -- President George W. Bush is poised to stake every US resource to hand on a no-holds-barred military operation all the way to victory in Iraq, after first bringing Baghdad under control. The chips should all be lined up by the time he goes public next week on his new strategy for Iraq and the Middle East at large.
DEBKAfile’s military and Washington sources report that the new Bush policy will brook no look-in for Iran, Syria or Hizballah in Iraq’s affairs. Exceptionally offensive US military resources have been marshaled to bar any interference with the White House’s plans for Iraq. They will under the hand of the military command for instantaneous responses. To this end, the shakeup of military leaders the US president set in motion over the weekend moves into forward position one of the toughest and most hawkish US military leaders.
Adm. William J. Fallon (picture), 62, hitherto supreme commander in the Pacific theater, takes over from Gen. John Abizaid as commander of the US central command which is in charge of the US fronts in Iraq, Afghanistan and against global terrorism. The admiral specializes in deploying large-scale navy, air and Marines forces simultaneously in different arenas.
And the White House is making sure that Adm. Fallon has plenty of resources to deploy, a veritable buildup, the second in four months, in the Persian Gulf and other waters opposite Iran. The USS John C. Stennis strike group is heading for the Persian Gulf with a mighty air arm of 9-10 fighter-bomber squadrons. Saturday, some sources reported that another task force, the USS Ronald Reagan Strike Group, had been ordered out of Sand Diego on Jan. 4 and was heading in the same direction.
Military observers in the US and Middle East noted that the group’s commander, Rear Adm. Michael H. Miller, reiterated: “When we deploy for real-world operations, Carrier Strike Group 7 will be an example of how the Navy is able to carry out our mission any time, anywhere in the world.”
The original announcement that the Stennis strike group will this month join the USS Dwight Eisenhower aircraft carrier group and USS Boxer strike force in the Persian Gulf described the deployment “as a warning to Syria and Iran” in face of acts seen as provocative, and to give commanders more flexibility in the region.
Deployment of the Stennis group puts a total of 16,000 US sailors in the region as well as another nuclear carrier and 7 escort warships, 10 air squadrons, 2 submarines and helicopters to support amphibious landings on enemy soil.
This massed naval, air and marine forces assembled should provide credible evidence of the lengths the United States is prepared to go to keep Iran, Syria or Hizballah from interfering with the all-out American attempt to stabilize Iraq.
While the Stennis group has a high capability for sowing sea mines across broad stretches of water, thus threatening to disable the Iranian army and corking up its oil export outlets, the Ronald Reagan has the opposite and supplementary operational capability of sweeping up marine mines and explosive charges should Tehran blockade the Persian Gulf and Hormuz Strait against American warships and outgoing oil shipping from Iraq and Arabian oil centers.
DEBKAfile’s military sources foresee these frenzied preparations as spelling a turbulent winter and spring for the region - critical for Iraq and fraught with tension for the rest of the Middle East.
Israel might face extreme danger should Tehran and Damascus target the Jewish state in retaliation for US strikes. Israel is ruled by a volatile, shaky government; its military command under fire for its Lebanon War mistakes. Both may decided to take advantage of Israel’s low state. In fact US and Israeli military leaders do not rule out possible Iranian, Syrian or Hizballah assaults on the pretext that they are really aiming for US military installations in Israel. They may also direct their fire on American locations in Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and its fleet in the eastern Mediterranean.
President Bush’s willingness to go all the way in Iraq, say DEBKAfile sources in Washington, is prompted by a simple line of reasoning. If it ends in victory, he will end his presidency on a high note and be able to boast that American doggedness and courage prevailed over the enemy in the long haul. If the US armed forces fail to deliver, Bush will be in exactly the same position as he is today, namely, heading for the history books as the American president who lost the Iraq war and the struggle against terror.
He therefore has nothing to lose and everything to gain by staking his all on victory.
In pushing ahead in Iraq, the Gulf and the Middle East, Bush faces intense opposition from the Democratic majority which rules both houses of congress since they were lost to the Republicans last year over Iraq.
Democratic leaders Senate leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are urging the US president to reject US troop increases in Iraq and opt for redeployment. Turning them down would also reject the bipartisan spirit embodied in the Baker-Hamilton Iraqi Study Group report.
Using his powers as commander in chief, he continues to bolster the Iraqi front with another key appointment: Lt. Gen. David Petraeus will succeed Gen. George Casey in command of American forces in Iraq. Petraeus commanded the 101st Airborne, the Screaming Eagles, in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Its motto, Rendezvous with Destiny, fits the US president’s present frame of mind.
The appointment of Ryan Crocker to replace Zamay Khalilzad as US ambassador to Baghdad further supplements the all-or-nothing scenario. Crocker led the US campaign in the Indian
subcontinent against al Qaeda and Taliban. Khalilzad moves over to head the US mission at the United Nations.
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1247
US Marines build sand walls in latest Iraq tactic
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - January 11, 2007 -- Adapting ideas tracing back from ancient history to modern Israel, US Marines have sealed off flashpoint towns with sand walls in a new counter-insurgency tactic to quell the wilds of western Iraq.
Driving across the desert to Haditha, one of the war's deadliest and most infamous battlefields, the grey plain suddenly collapses into a ditch and rises into an intimidating 12-foot (around four-metre) bank of bulldozed sand. ... [More]
Troop Surge Already Under Way
90 Advance Troops from 82nd Airborne Arrive in Baghdad
ABC NEWS [America] - By Jonathan Karl - January 10, 2007 -- BAGHDAD, Iraq -- President Bush's speech may be scheduled for tonight, but the troop surge in Iraq is already under way.
ABC News has learned that the "surge" Bush is expected to announce in a prime time speech tonight has already begun. Ninety advance troops from the 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Baghdad Wednesday.
An additional battalion of roughly 800 troops from the same division are expected to arrive in Baghdad Thursday. Eighty percent of the sectarian violence occurs within a 30-mile radius of Baghdad, so that is where most of the additional troops will be concentrated.
It is the first small wave of troops in a new White House strategy that is expected to put more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and likely require new call-ups of the National Guard....
Split Troops to Secure City
Military commanders say there is more to this plan than boots on the ground — it's also how the troops will be used.
The idea is for U.S. and Iraqi forces to become a more integral part of Baghdad neighborhoods such as Dora, which was secured in August 2006 only to see violence spike when U.S. forces left. Under the new plan, the city of Baghdad will be divided into nine separate sections at the request of Iraqis, who want one army and police battalion devoted to each section.
The additional U.S. troops being sent to Baghdad will be divided among the nine sections of the city, nearly doubling U.S. combat power in the region.
In a switch from the current course of action, these U.S. forces will be housed in the very neighborhoods they patrol. Military planners tell ABC News there will eventually be about 30 mini bases, called joint security stations, scattered around Baghdad, housing both U.S. and Iraqi troops.
The plan also includes an emphasis on performance from the Iraqis. White House officials said they have put tremendous pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to crack down on Shiite militias, especially radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is thought to be responsible for most of the sectarian violence.
A senior White House official said that Maliki told the president, "I swear to God, I'm not going to let Sadr run this country."
Maliki must also provide Iraqi troops on schedule and give Sunnis a larger role in the government. ... [More]
Bush to Add 21,500 Troops to Iraq Force
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Terence Hunt - January 11, 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- Unswayed by anti-war passions, President Bush to say Wednesday he will send 21,500 additional U.S. forces to Iraq to break the cycle of violence and "hasten the day our troops begin coming home." He acknowledged making mistakes in earlier security efforts in Baghdad.
The troop buildup will push the American presence in Iraq toward its highest level and put Bush on a collision course with the new Democratic Congress. It also runs counter to advice from some generals. ...
Fact Sheet: The New Way Forward in Iraq
THE WHITE HOUSE - For Immediate Release -- Office of the Press Secretary - January 10, 2007
Text of Bush's speech on Iraq plan
Complete transcript of president's remarks in address to nation
WORLDNETDAILY - January 10, 2007
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53725
Blair refuses to match US troop 'surge' in Iraq
THE DAILY MAIL [LONDON] - January 8, 2007 -- Tony Blair will make clear this week that Britain is not going to send more troops to Iraq even if the US pushes ahead with a "surge" of 20,000 extra soldiers.
The Prime Minister will insist that the UK will stick to its own strategy of gradually handing over to the Iraqi army, as it has been doing with success in Basra and the south. ... [More]
Asian allies offer support for Bush
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Joseph Coleman - January 11, 2007 -- TOKYO -- President Bush's decision to boost American troops in Iraq won support Thursday from U.S. allies as a step toward stabilizing the country, but the move was angrily condemned by opponents of the war.
The leaders of South Korea, Australia and Japan - all longtime supporters of the U.S.-led mission in Iraq - pledged continued political backing and material help to the beleaguered war effort.
"If America retreats in Iraq, then that has enormous consequences for the stability of the Middle East and it will also be an enormous boost to terrorism in our part of the world," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in Sydney.
Howard, whose country has 1,300 troops in and around Iraq, called Bush's plan to increase the U.S. presence by more than 20,000 troops "very clear, calm and above all, realistic."
However, in Pakistan a coalition of hardline anti-U.S. religious groups on Thursday rejected the troop boost, demanding instead that Washington withdraw its forces from Iraq....
The alliance opposes President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's close cooperation with the United States in the war on terrorism.
Bush talked to allies Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun by telephone before his announcement, officials said. Both countries host large numbers of American troops and have contributed forces to Iraq. ... [More]
Democrats Plan to Fight Expansion of Troops
NEW YORK TIMES - By Jeff Zeleny - January 11, 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- The new Democratic leaders of Congress on Wednesday accused President Bush of ignoring strong American sentiment against the war in Iraq and said they would build a bipartisan campaign against his proposed military expansion. ... [More]
President of Iran woos allies in Latin America
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH - By Jeremy McDermott, Latin America Correspondent - January 11, 2007 -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, is to fly to Latin America this weekend in search of new international allies as three of the region's most anti-American leaders are sworn into power.On a four-day trip, Mr Ahmadinejad will be calling on the presidents of Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua – who are being sworn into power within days of each other after election victories in recent months.He will also meet the Left-wing president of Bolivia who took office a year ago.The visit is certain to alarm the Bush administration, which will look on as one of its biggest global foes – who is suspected of wishing to acquire nuclear weapons – courts Washington's regional opponents in its own backyard.President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, the region's most outspoken Left-wing leader, was inaugurated for a third term yesterday and promised Cuban-style reforms to complete his socialist revolution.The former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega was inaugurated in Nicaragua yesterday, returning to power after 16 years in the cold.Rafael Correa, an unabashed fan of Mr Chavez and his fierce anti-Americanism, assumes the presidency of Ecuador on Monday. … [More]
Iran reformists slam government's nuclear policy
REUTERS - By Alireza Ronaghi - January 11, 2007 -- TEHRAN -- Iranian reformist parliamentarians on Saturday blamed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government for failing to prevent United Nations sanctions.
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on December 23 to impose sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material that could be used in bombs.
Iran says it wants nuclear power to generate electricity.
Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami suspended Iran's nuclear work for more than two years in an effort to build confidence and avoid confrontation with the West, but resumed uranium enrichment in February last year.
"The only way to pass the crisis is to build confidence ... but a holding Holocaust conference and financing the Hamas government creates mistrust and tension," Noureddin Pirmoazzen, the spokesman of parliament's reformist faction, told Reuters.
Ahmadinejad's government hosted a conference in Tehran in December, where participants questioned the Holocaust. It also granted $250 million in aid to the Palestinian Hamas government after Western donors withheld funds. ... [More]
U.S. Hunts for Key Terrorists in Somalia
ASSOCIATED PRESS - January 11, 2007 -- NAIROBI, Kenya -- None of the top three suspected terrorists in Somalia were killed in a U.S. airstrike this week, but Somalis with close ties to al-Qaida were slain, a senior U.S. official in the region said Thursday.
A day earlier, a Somali official had said a U.S. intelligence report had referred to the death of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed _ one of the three senior al-Qaida members believed responsible for bombing U.S. embassies in East Africa.
But U.S. and Ethiopian troops in southern Somalia were still pursuing the three, the U.S. official said Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record to the media.
NATO: 150 Fighters Killed in Afghanistan
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Jason Straziuso - January 11, 2007 -- KABUL, Afghanistan -- NATO forces fought two large groups of militants crossing the border from Pakistan, and as many as 150 insurgents were killed, the alliance said Thursday. A Taliban spokesman called the report "a complete lie."
The fighters were attacked with ground fire and airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said. Gen. Murad Ali, the Afghan army regional deputy corps commander, said the insurgents had traveled into Paktika province with several trucks of ammunition. ... [More]
North Korea Prepping Nuclear Weapons Test
ABC NEWS [America] - By Jonathan Karl - January 4, 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- North Korea appears to have made preparations for another nuclear test, according to U.S. defense officials.
"We think they've put everything in place to conduct a test without any notice or warning," a senior U.S. defense official told ABC News.
The official cautions that the intelligence is inconclusive as to whether North Korea will actually go ahead with another test but said the preparations are similar to the steps taken by Pyongyang before it shocked the world by conducting its first nuclear test last Oct. 9. … [More]
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2771492&page=1
Homeland Security turns to media for nuke intel
WORLDNETDAILY - October 10, 2006 -- The Department of Homeland Security is relying on the Washington Post for intelligence regarding the nuclear, biological and chemical threat from al-Qaida, reveals an internal department memo obtained by WND.
The revelation calls into question the credibility, reliability and overall quality of the intelligence that U.S. security officials are receiving in the field.
"Our world-class law enforcement is getting intelligence from the Washington Post," complained a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official, who received the memo from headquarters. "Next, the CIA will be reading the National Enquirer."
The memo, distributed last year to field directors, attached a three-part series published by the Post, and required officials to read the articles and incorporate them into daily musters and training modules as "first steps in protecting our borders against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats." ... [More]
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