THE CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST:
WHAT IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT

INTRODUTION

Things are not always what they seem to be - and no more so than in the Middle East.  At first glance, the present war in the Middle East seems to have been ignited by happenchance: a soldier was kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza, igniting Israel's firestorm there; then a few days later two more Israeli soldiers were taken hostage by Herzbollah on the border with Lebanon. From there, everything just seemed to explode. But - again - things are not always what they seem to be!

For some time now, both Israel and the United States have been CRAVING for an excuse to go to war with both Iran and Syria, and the present war in Lebanon may give them the "justification" (really, the pretext) to do so.  Each country has its own particular reason for wanting war: in the case of Israel, self-survival against the unquenchable hatred of the radical Islamists (who are sponsored by Syria and Iran); in the case of the United States, LUST for the oil riches of the Middle East.

Dr. Michel Chossudovsky, a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and the Director of the Center for Research on Globalization, writing on America's appetite for war with Syria and Iran, says:

"The Bush administration has officially identified Iran and Syria as the next stage of 'the road map to war'. TARGETING IRAN IS A BIPARTISAN PROJECT, WHICH BROADLY SERVES THE INTERESTS OF THE … AMERICAN OIL CONGLOMERATES, THE WALL STREET FINANCIAL ESTABLISHMENT AND THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX."

And insofar as Israel is concerned, it certainly isn't any secret that Iran and Syria are now in its crosshairs! Professor James Petras, Global Research ContributingEditor and a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York, writes:

"Never has an imminent war been so loudly and publicly advertised as Israel's forthcoming military attack against Iran. When the Israeli Military Chief of Staff, Daniel Halutz, was asked how far Israel was ready to go to stop Iran's nuclear energy program, he said 'Two thousand kilometers' - the distance between Jerusalem and Tehran.

"More specifically Israeli military sources reveal that Israel's … Prime Minister … has already ordered Israel's armed forces to prepare for air strikes on uranium enrichment sites in Iran According to the London Times the order to prepare for attack went through the Israeli defense ministry to the Chief of Staff …"

Now, one must understand something here: Insofar as the interests of both Israel and the United States are concerned, THE PREDATORY INTERESTS OF AMERICA TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER THE INTERESTS OF ISRAEL FOR SURVIVAL. And it's easy to see why. In the eyes of America's moneyed elites, money trumps everything else, and that's certainly true insofar as Israel's survival is concerned. In this world, oil means money, and most of the world's oil is located in the Middle East.

Indeed, according to Eric Waddell, the author of The Battle for Oil, the broader Middle East-Central Asian region encompasses more than 70% of the World's reserves of oil and natural gas. Iran possesses 10% of the world's oil and ranks third after Saudi Arabia (25 %) and Iraq (11 %) in the size of its reserves. In comparison, the US possesses less than 2.8 % of global oil reserves.

THE SECOND STAGE IN AMERICA'S ATTACK ON IRAN

It's in the light of America's lust for the oil of the Middle East (and not so much in the light of Israel's interest in self-survival) that one should view the developing crisis in the Middle East between Herzbollah and Hamas (on the one side) and Israel (on the other side): America is using Israel's war with Hamas and Herzbollah as a "STALKING HORSE" in transitioning into the second stage of its plan to take control of the oil assets of the Middle East and Central Asia (the first stage being America's war on Iraq) - a stage that is ultimately aimed at both Syria and Iran (Herzbollah's and Hamas' sponsors).

THE PROBLEM: GAINING THE SUPPORT OF
THE ISRAELI AND AMERICAN POPULATIONS

The problem for the United States is that overwhelming numbers of Americans want nothing to do with such a war - and this is especially true in the light of Bush's subterfuge in getting America involved in the war in Iraq. And the same is true insofar as Israel is concerned: People there want nothing to do with a war with Syria and Iran; for example, a survey in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, reported by Reuters shows that 58 per cent of the Israelis polled believed the dispute over Iran's nuclear program should be handled diplomatically while only 36 per cent said its reactors should be destroyed in a military strike.

The problem - especially for the American oil elites - is how to get the American people (and the Israeli people) to go along with a war against Syria and Iran. The PR strategy hit upon by the Bush administration and the American oil elites appears to be a two-part one:

1. Demonstrate the implacable hatred of Herzbollah and Hamas for Israel - which should not be hard to do. In doing so, the Bush administration will accomplish the following:

   • It will enlist the support of its core constituency - the evangelical Christian community - for a war against Iran and Syria because of their sponsorship of these two radical Islamic groups.

   • In addition - and over time - it will enable the administration to paint all Muslims as nothing more than rabid animals that are good for nothing except to be hunted down and exterminated - something that growing numbers of Christians in America are beginning to think.

2. The administration can use the present fighting in the Middle East as an excuse to demonstrate the fact that America, and America alone, is the only guarantor of peace in the Middle East - not the U.N., not the E.U., not Russia, not anyone else. This will accomplish the following: It will enable the United States to conclude a defense pact - with U.N., E.U., and Russian support - with Israel, a defense pact that will guarantee Israel's security and one that will persuade Israel to continue "trading land for peace" insofar as the Palestinians are concerned - a goal fervently desired by the U.N., the E.U. and Russia.

OBLIGATING AMERICA TO THE
DESTRUCTION OF SYRIA AND IRAN

Now, insofar as such a defense pact is concerned, it isn't so much that the United States thinks - even for a minute - that such a pact will do much to stop Herzbollah, Hamas, or any of the other innumerable radical Islamists in the Middle East; that's not it at all. BUT WHAT IT WILL ULTIMATELY DO IS OBLIGATE THE UNITED STATES - WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE U.N., THE E.U. AND RUSSIA - TO DEFEND ISRAEL AGAINST HERZBOLLAH'S AND HAMAS' SPONSORS - SYRIA AND IRAN.

The United States would then have carte blanche in carrying out a murderous war of extermination against the people of the Middle East, beginning first with Syria and Iran - A WAR IN WHICH IT IS OBLIGATED TO TAKE ON, and for which it will have a mandate from the United Nations to do so.

WHAT'S NEXT?

What comes next is anyone's guess. But be clear here - the U.S. is pushing the fighting in the Middle East to its limits. How far it will have to push is difficult to say. If the U.S. can achieve its goal of justifying a defense pact between itself and Israel in the eyes of the world with the simple destruction of Lebanon, then the fighting will stop there.

If not, the fighting will be pursued into both Syria and Iran - not necessarily with the aim of destroying these countries - at least not now - but with the aim of securing the acquiescence of the U.N., the E.U. and the other nations of the world for a defense pact between Israel and the United States - A DEFENSE PACT THAT ALL MUST ACQUIESCE IN. No other guarantor will suffice for Israel - certainly not the UN, the EU and Russia, all of whom Israel sees as toothless tigers that are biased against them. Thus, if the UN, the EU and Russia want peace in the Middle East - as they see it - they will have to acquiesce in this pact.

THE DOCTRINE OF "END TIMES" INSOFAR
AS RADICAL ISLAM IS CONCERNED

Now one might ask, Are the Muslims of the Middle East blind to what's going on? Can't they see that they are being maneuvered into a war of extermination with the world's sole super power, a war that they have about as much chance of winning that a snow ball has in not melting in hell?

But it's here - it's precisely here - that the eschatology or "doctrine of end times" for the radical Islamists comes into play. The eschatology of the radical Islamists is to a very large degree a strange amalgamation of Christian and Jewish eschatology: It pictures a final great battle in the "end of days" between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness for mastery of the world. On the one side will be gathered the forces of Islam (the "Righteous of the Earth") and on the other side will be gathered the forces of Darkness (all those who have refused to convert to Islam (especially Christians and Jews).

As this battle progresses, the forces of Light will be driven to the wall by the forces of the ungodly, and so much so that it will seem that all is lost. But then suddenly - in the twinkling of an eye - CHRIST WILL APPEAR WITH THE PROPHET MOHAMMAD AT HIS SIDE - to rescue the Islamists from certain defeat and to take vengeance on all those who have been in league with the "GREAT SATAN," meaning the United States of America.

You're surprised? - well, you shouldn't be if you had taken the time, as most people would put it, to "know your enemy." In the light of this eschatology, it should come as no wonder that the forces of radical Islam will march, virtually unarmed, into the trap that the American oil elites have set for them, because while you may not have been aware of the eschatology of the radical Islamists, the oil elites and the CIA are more than aware of it, and THEY ARE PLANNING TO MAKE USE OF IT TO DESTROY THE ISLAMIC WORLD IN A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST THAT WILL DWARF ALL THE WARS THAT MANKIND HAS EVER BEEN PREVIOUSLY INVOLVED IN: THE GOG / MAGOOG WAR.

Now, again, how far the Americans will have to push the present conflict in the Middle East to precipitate the conditions necessary for the U.N., the E.U. and the rest of the world to acquiesce in supporting a defense pact between Israel and the United States - A DEFENSE PACT THAT WILL OBLIGATE THE REST OF THE WORLD TO SUPPORT THE UNITED STATES IN ITS MURDEROUS, VILE SCHEME AGAINST THE MUSLIM WORLD - is, as I have already stated, anyone's guess. I should imagine, however, that it will take the expansion of the present conflict beyond its present parameters to do so - possibly so far as to involve a limited nuclear strike against Iran.

NUCLEAR WAR: IT'S NOT THAT
FAR OFF IN THE DISTANCE NOW

And one should be very clear here, the United States has been planning for just such a war in the Middle East - one that will see the use of nuclear warheads - for some time now. Chossudovsky warns ominously that -

"… an outright war using nuclear warheads against Iran is now in the final planning stages."

Chossudovsky continues:

"The broad national security interests and objectives expressed in the President's National Security Strategy (NSS) and the Chairman's National Military Strategy (NMS) form the foundation of the United States Central Command's theater strategy [insofar as the Middle East is concerned]. The NSS directs the … [the military] to protect the United States' vital interest in the region - [which is] uninterrupted, secure U.S. … access to Gulf oil."

Insofar as the use of "tactical nuclear warheads" is concerned in pursuit of this policy, America has been laying the groundwork for their employment in the Middle East for several months now. The use of these weapons is based on the Bush administration's doctrine of "preemptive" nuclear war under the 2002Nuclear Posture Review.

NUCLEAR WARHEADS "HAVE BEEN MADE SAFE"

The publicity (really, the propaganda or "newspeak") that undergirds the use of these warheads is based on the astonishing belief that such warheads "have been made safe" in recent years, and that - as a result - these "mini-nukes" (some of which have an explosive capacity of up to 6 times the Hiroshima bomb) are instruments of peace rather than war. This is, of course, a bold-faced lie - but it's a lie that has enlisted the support of "authoritative" nuclear scientists and even the U.S. Congress.

Chossudovsky says that Bush administration officials argue that low-yield nuclear weapons are needed as a credible deterrent against "rogue states" such as Syria and Iran.Their logic is that existing nuclear weapons are too destructive to be used except in a full-scale nuclear war. Hence, potential enemies do not consider the threat of nuclear retaliation to be credible; but with the development of these so-called "low-yield" nuclear weapons such an argument by nations such as Syria and Iran is no longer credible; that would make these "mini-nukes" more effective as a deterrent.

There are, of course, many who argue otherwise. For instance, the Japan Economic News has voiced a deep-seated pessimism about this kind of thinking. The newspaper maintains that this "new definition" of a nuclear warhead has dangerously blurred the distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons. The paper goes on to warn:

"The implication of this obviously is that nuclear weapons are being brought down from a special category of being a last resort, or sort of the ultimate weapon, to being just another tool in the toolbox."

According to sources that Chossudovsky has developed, a nuclear attack against either Syria or Iran using tactical nuclear weapons would be coordinated out of US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) Headquarters at the Offutt Air Force base in Nebraska in liaison with US command units in the Persian Gulf, the Diego Garcia military base and Israel.

PLANNING FOR A NUCLEAR WAR

David Ruppe, elaborating  on Chossudovsky, says that USSTRATCOM has evidently been in "an advance state of readiness" for over six months - following the conduct of relevant military exercises against a "fictional" country (assumed by many to be Iran) in November of 2005.  Ruppe goes on to say that USSTRATCOM -

"… has 'met all the requirements necessary to declare an initial operational capability as of Nov. 18, 2005.  A week before this announcement, the unit finished a command-post exercise, dubbed Global Lightening … The command's performance during Global Lightning demonstrated its preparedness to execute its mission of providing integrated space and global strike capabilities to U.S. forces [in an attack against Iran]."

On December 30^th, 2005, the Japanese Economic Newswire reported that Japanese officials concur with Ruppe's analysis; commenting on the mission of USSTRATCOM as postulated by Global Lightening, the newspaper reports:

"[Japanese] nuclear specialists and governmental sources pointed out that one of its [i.e., USSTRATCOM's] main missions would be to implement the 2001 nuclear strategy that includes an option of preemptive nuclear attacks on 'rogue states' with WMDs [meaning, of course, Iran]."

CREATING A TRIGGER FOR A NUCLEAR WAR

According to Hans Kristensen of the Nuclear Information Project, the operational plan for Global Lightening is called Global Strike and is euphemistically referred to as Concept Plan 8022 (CONPLAN 8022). Kristensen writes that Global Strike is a plan envisioned as a "TRIGGER FOR A NUCLEAR WAR WITH IRAN."

William Arkin of the Washington Post writes that -

"CONPLAN 8022 is distinct from othermilitary operations in that it does not contemplate the deployment of ground troops.[Instead], it posits an … operation with no "boots on the ground." The [usual] typical war plan encompasses an amalgam of forces -- air, ground, sea -- and takes into account the logistics and political dimensions needed to sustain those forces in protracted operations ... [In contrast to this], the Global Strike plan is an offensive AIR campaign … [that can be] triggered by a simple presidential order."

USING ISRAEL AS A "STALKING HORSE"

The United States envisions using Israel in Global Strike both as a FRONT behind which it (i.e., the United States) can mask its leading role in the war against Iran, and as an ancillary strike force. To that end, Gordon Thomas reports that the United States has been supplying Israel with US made conventional and nuclear weapons for several months now.

This provision of nuclear weapons to Israel has been financed by USmilitary aid, and has now been largely completed.Israel has taken delivery from the US of several thousand "smart air launched weapons" including some 500 "bunker-buster bombs;" specifically the conventional "bunker buster" (the BLU 113), and the B61-11, which is the "nuclear version" of the BLU 113. In addition, Israeli Dolphin-class submarines have been equipped with US Harpoon missiles armed with nuclear warheads that have been targeted at Iran.

IRAN IS NO IMMEDIATE THREAT TO ANYONE

The subterfuge behind which Israel is planning to join the United States in an attack against Iran is its fear of a nuclear armed Iran. But Professor Petras says that such fears are grossly inflated - AND THAT ISRAEL KNOWS THIS; that even -

"… Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Daniel Halutz, has … denied that Iran represents an immediate nuclear threat to Israel, let alone the United States. According to Haaretz (12/14/05), Halutz stated that it would take Iran time to be able to produce a nuclear bomb - which he estimated might happen between 2010 and 2015."

Petras continues:

"Israeli intelligence has determined that Iran has neither the enriched uranium nor the capability to produce an atomic weapon now or in the immediate future, in contrast to the hysterical claims publicized [in] …  the US.

"Mohammed El Baradei, head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has inspected Iran for several years, has pointed out that the IAEA has found no proof that Iran is trying to construct nuclear weapons. He criticized Israeli and US war plans indirectly by warning that a 'military solution would be completely unproductive'."

The fact is, as Petras reports, the Iranians are at an elementary stage in the processing of uranium, not even reaching the point of uranium enrichment, which in turn will take still a number of years, and the need to overcome many complex technical problems, before it can build a bomb. There is no factual basis for arguing that Iran represents a nuclear threat to Israel or to the US forces in the Middle East.  In addition, Petras says that scores of countries with nuclear reactors by necessity use enriched uranium. The Iranian decision to advance to processing enriched uranium is its sovereign right as it is for all countries which possess nuclear reactors in Europe, Asia and North America.

The vague formulation by the United States and Israel of Iran's potential nuclear capacity is so open-ended that it could apply to scores of countries in both Europe and Asia.  Nonetheless, both countries are determined to press the issue - the United States because it has larger fish to fry (so to speak), specifically, it needs a pretext to topple the present Iranian government in order to "get at" Iran's oil wealth, and Israel because it wants to continue to ingratiate itself to the United States and prove its worth as America's lap dog in the Middle East.

ISRAEL AS AMERICA'S ROTTWEILLER?
THINGS ARE MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT

Many believe that "The US wants to set Israel loose;" or that, in the words of Vice President Dick Cheney, the United States wants Israel "… to act on America's behalf and 'do it' (i.e., attack Iran) for us;" that -

"Israel is [nothing more than] America's Rottweiler on a leash."

While this may be true, Chossudovsky contends that things are much more complicated than that; Chossudovsky writes:

"The foregoing statement [by Cheney] is misleading. The US is not 'encouraging Israel'. What we are dealing with is a joint US-Israeli military operation to bomb Iran, which has been in the active planning stage for more than a year. The Neocons in the Defense Department, under Douglas Feith, have been working assiduously with their Israeli military and intelligence counterparts, carefully identifying targets inside Iran … Under this working arrangement, Israel will not act unilaterally, without a green light from Washington. In other words, ISRAEL WILL NOT IMPLEMENT AN ATTACK [ON IRAN] WITHOUT THE PARTICIPATION OF THE U.S."

According to the Arab Monitor, the reasoning in American circles behind such an attack is that an -

"… US-Israeli bombing raid of Iran's nuclear facilities will stir up ethnic tensions AND TRIGGER 'REGIME CHANGE' IN FAVOR OF THE US … Bush advisers believe that the 'Iranian opposition movement' will unseat the Mullahs."

This is an idea that Petras thinks is absolutely asinine and represents the kind of naοve thinking that went into America's attack on Iraq. BUT, AGAIN, PETRAS MAY BE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE IN UNDERESTIMATING THE DUPLICITY AND CUNNING OF THE UNITED STATES HERE: look what the U.S. has accomplished in its war against Iraq; it has enabled the U.S. -

1. To place 135,000 COMBAT TROOPS IN THE VERY HEART OF THE MIDDLE EAST.

2. To build a large number of SUPER-BASES in Iraq which most Americans are not even aware of, bases which allow the U.S. to stage air raids anywhere in the Middle East without the necessity of enlisting the "iffy" support of the Saudi Regime.

3. This in turn has allowed the U.S. to put the Saudi Regime on its target list if the Saudis refuse to "cow-tow" to the American war plans.

And all this at the cost of a mere 2800 American lives - a pittance insofar as the American oil elites are concerned; after all, what do they care for the sons and daughters of average Americans!

Finally, the war in Iraq has led to the sullen acquiescence of the Europeans and the United Nations insofar as American military power is concerned; it has also led to their realization that the Americans are willing to use this power. While the people "in the street" in Europe and elsewhere may think that the war in Iraq has demonstrated America's weakness, the elites in the United Nations and the E.U. know better. They know that in the end all the United States is doing in Iraq is playing with the people of Iraq like a cat plays with a mouse just before it kills it - AND THEY DON'T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN TO THEM. They know that in this world POWER FLOWS OUT OF THE BARREL OF A GUN, AND THE U.S. HAS ALL THE GUNS - OR AT LEAST ALL THE GUNS THAT COUNT.

SETTING IRAN UP FOR AN ATTACK

As a result, they have bowed to American power, and the proof of this fact lies in the way the so-called European Quartet (France, Germany, Russia and Britain) has played along with the Americans insofar as the subterfuge against Iran is concerned. Petras writes:

"The European Quartet has raised a bogus issue by evading the issue of whether or not Iran has atomic weapons or is manufacturing them, and focused instead on attacking Iran's capacity to produce nuclear energy - namely the production of enriched uranium. The Quartet has conflated enriched uranium with a nuclear threat and nuclear potential with the danger of an imminent nuclear attack on Western countries, troops and Israel. The Europeans, especially Great Britain, have two options in mind: To impose an Iranian acceptance of limits on its sovereignty, more specifically on its energy policy; or to force Iran to reject the arbitrary addendum to the Non-Proliferation Agreement AND THEN TO PROPAGANDIZE THIS REJECTION AS AN INDICATION OF IRAN'S EVIL INTENTION TO CREATE ATOMIC BOMBS AND TARGET PRO-WESTERN COUNTRIES.

"The Western media would echo the US and European governments' position that Iran was responsible for the breakdown of negotiations … [and] that since 'reason' had failed, the only recourse [was] … to take the issue to the Security Council and approve international sanctions against Iran.

"The US then would attempt to pressure Russia and China to vote in favor of sanctions or to abstain. There is reason to doubt that either or both countries would agree, given the importance of the multi-billion dollar oil, arms, nuclear and trade deals between Iran and these two countries. HAVING TRIED AND FAILED IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL, THE U.S. AND ISRAEL WOULD … MOVE TOWARD A MILITARY ATTACK ..."

UNLEASHING THE FORCES OF HELL

The Arab Monitor warns, however, that such an attack would unleash the forces of hell:

"The mullah's of Iran will not be unseated by such an attack. WHAT IS MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR IS THAT IRANIANS WILL RALLY BEHIND A WARTIME GOVERNMENT AGAINST FOREIGN AGGRESSION. IN FACT, THE ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST AND BEYOND WOULD LIKELY RISE UP AGAINST US INTERVENTIONISM."

In order to stop the aggression, the UN and the EU will bend over backwards to kiss America's ass (so to speak), and in doing so, they will acquiesce to America's plan for peace in the Middle East; specifically, a defense pact between Israel and the United States that is supported by the UN and the EU - one that they (i.e., the Europeans, the UN, etc.) believe will "force" Israel to continue to trade land for peace - a peace that they hope will bring tranquility to the Middle East.

But that kind of thinking is folly. The furies that would be unleashed by a nuclear strike against Syria and Iran by the United States and Israel will lead inexorably to further war - a war, specifically, the Gog / Magog War - that will open up the "Tribulation Period," a tornado of demonic frenzy that the Bible says will lead to the destruction of five-sixths of the population of the Middle East (Ezek. 39:2).

There is, of course, the possibility that the present conflict will stop short of an attack against Syria and Iran; that the "troubles" in Lebanon will be enough for the UN and the EU to acquiesce in the defense pact between Israel and the United States - A DEFENSE PACT, AGAIN, THAT HAS CLEVERLY BEEN DESIGNED TO ENLIST THE SUPPORT OF THE WORLD FOR THE COMING HOLOCAUST OF THE ISLAMIC PEOPLES OF THE MIDDLE EAST. That's possible. But the more likely scenario is that it will take a broadening of the present conflict to bring about such a result. Either way, God help us all! - especially, in this case, Israel because Israel has made a pact with the devil!

Brothers and sisters, listen to me now! It's time for you to begin taking the Prophetic Scriptures to heart. If you fail to do so, and if you fail to act upon them, you will surely pay a terrible price.

God bless you all!

S.R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries.

WE URGE ALL OF YOU TO TAKE THE TIME TO SUPPLEMENT THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE BY READING (1) "Fearful Sights and Great Signs from Heaven" for a detailed description of the Gog/Magog War and Israel's defense pact with the United States (Israel's "Treaty with Death and Hell"), (2) "Here Comes the Judge," and (3) "A Dreadful Nation; an 'Overflowing Scourge': the Rise of American Nuclear Superiority."

We also URGE you to sign up for our "training" which will enable you to become conversant with the Prophetic Scriptures yourself. To get details on signing up, just send an email to fred@antipasministries.com