Mulling over LEE LOFASO to STEVE ASHER 20 Dec 2005

G'day Lee,

SA>Iran and Armageddon

SA>Charles Krauthammer / Syndicated columnist

SA>WASHINGTON - Lest you get carried away with today's good news from
SA>Iraq, consider what's happening next door in Iran. The wild
SA>pronouncements of the new Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have
SA>gotten sporadic press ever since he called for Israel to be wiped off
SA>the map. He subsequently amended himself to say that Israel should
SA>simply be extirpated from the Middle East map and moved to some German
SA>or Austrian province. Perhaps near the site of an old extermination
SA>camp?

 LL> The Zionists of the 19th Century wanted the state of Israel to be
 LL> located in present-day Uganda.

Interesting, I wasn't aware of that. It seems that it was proposed as
a temporary refuge (British Uganda Program) that would not affect the
ultimate aim ... a Jewish state in Israel.

SA>Except that there were no such camps, indeed no Holocaust at all, says
SA>Ahmadinejad. Nothing but "myth," a "legend" that
was "fabricated ...
SA>under the name 'Massacre of the Jews.' "

 LL> Roughly 11 million people were slaughtered (or died prematurely)
 LL> under the Nazis.  Of those 11 million, roughly 6 million were Jews.
 LL> And not all of those Jews died as a result of being gassed to
 LL> death.  Some died of disease, others of starvation, etc.  In any
 LL> event, 4 out of 5 European Jews died prematurely as a result of
 LL> Nazi rule.

I have the figures for each nation in a book here, but I will accept
your "4 out of 5" as about right.

SA>This brought the usual reaction from European and American officials,
SA>who, with Churchillian rage and power, called these statements
SA>unacceptable. That something serious may accrue to Iran for this
SA>- say, expulsion from the U.N. for violating its most basic principle
SA>by advocating the outright eradication of a member state - is, of course,
SA>out of the question.

 LL> There are only two religious states in the world recognized by the
 LL> United Nations - Israel and Vatican City.  Of course, Iran is also
 LL> a religious state.  But that's beside the point.

SA>[...]

SA>Everyone knows where Iran's nuclear weapons will be aimed. Everyone
SA>knows they will be put on Shahab rockets that have been modified so
SA>they can now reach Israel. And everyone knows that if the button is
SA>pushed, it will be the end of Israel.

 LL> Nah.  Just the end of Tel Aviv.  And Tehran.

If God is to be believed, no weapon formed against Israel will prosper,
and that would include nuclear weapons ... Tehran may well be destroyed,
Damascus will be a ruinous heap.

SA>But it gets worse. The president of a country about to go nuclear
SA>is a confirmed believer in the coming apocalypse. Like Judaism and
SA>Christianity, Shiite Islam has its own version of the messianic return
SA>u the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam. The more devout believers in
SA>Iran pray at the Jamkaran Mosque that houses a well from which, some
SA>believe, he will emerge.

 LL> Like the American president, the Iranian president wants to bring
 LL> about a self-fulfilling prophecy.  ;)

I don't know about self-fulfilling, but certainly fulfilling Ezekiel 38.

SA>When Ahmadinejad unexpectedly won the presidential elections, he
SA>immediately gave $17 million of government funds to the shrine. Last
SA>month, Ahmadinejad said publicly that the main mission of the Islamic
SA>Revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth
SA>Imam.

 LL> Somebody has to make it happen.  ;)

SA>And as in some versions of fundamentalist Christianity, the second
SA>coming will be accompanied by the usual trials and tribulations,
SA>death and destruction. Iranian journalist Hossein Bastani reported
SA>Ahmadinejad saying in official meetings that the hidden imam will
SA>reappear in two years.

 LL> For the Mahdi to appear, so too must the Dajjal.  As is well-known
 LL> in fido circles, I am he.  ;)

But in Islamic circles, the finger of dajjal-hood is firmly pointed
at Mister Bush ... according to google results, at least. :)

Cheers, Steve..

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