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The October Surprise
By Gary Hart
HuffingtonPost.com
Saturday 23 September 2006
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/the-october-surprise_b_30086.html
It should come as no surprise if the Bush Administration undertakes a preemptive war against Iran sometime before the November election.
Were these more normal times, this would be a stunning possibility, quickly dismissed by thoughtful people as dangerous, unprovoked, and out of keeping with our national character. But we do not live in normal times. And we do not have a government much concerned with our national character. If anything, our current Administration is out to remake our national character into something it has never been.
The steps will be these: Air Force tankers will be deployed to fuel B-2 bombers, Navy cruise missile ships will be positioned at strategic points in the northern Indian Ocean and perhaps the Persian Gulf, unmanned drones will collect target data, and commando teams will refine those data. The latter two steps are already being taken.
Then the president will speak on national television. He will say this: Iran is determined to develop nuclear weapons; if this happens, the entire region will go nuclear; our diplomatic efforts to prevent this have failed; Iran is offering a haven to known al Qaeda leaders; the fate of our ally Israel is at stake; Iran persists in supporting terrorism, including in Iraq; and sanctions will have no affect (and besides they are for sissies). He will not say: ...and besides, we need the oil.
Therefore, he will announce, our own national security and the security of the region requires us to act "Tonight, I have ordered the elimination of all facilities in Iran that are dedicated to the production of weapons of mass destruction....." In the narrowest terms this includes perhaps two dozen targets.
But the authors of the war on Iraq have "regime change" in mind in Iran. According to Colonel Sam Gardiner(author of "The End of the 'Summer of Diplomacy': Assessing U.S. Military Options in Iran," The Century Foundation, 2006) to have any hope of success, such a policy would require attacking at least 400 targets, including the Revolutionary Guard. But even this presumes the Iranian people will respond to a massive U.S. attack on their country by overthrowing their government. Only an Administration inspired by pre-Enlightenment fantasy could believe a notion such as this.
Embracing this reverie requires believing in the Iranian Ahmed Chalabi, or perhaps even Mr. Chalabi himself since he has been working both sides of the street in both countries for some time.
It does not involve much imagination to understand the timing. The U.S. is poised to adopt a Congressional regime change of its own in November. A political strategy totally based on fear can offer few other options to prevent this. Besides, occupation by Democrats of even one house of Congress in January would make this scheme more difficult (one would certainly hope).
Further, time for super-power military conquest may be running short in the emerging age of fourth generation warfare. "...the age of Western military ascendancy is coming to an end." ("No Win," Andrew Bacevich, The Boston Globe, August 27, 2006).
The consequences? The sunny neo-conservatives whose goal has been to become the neo-imperial Middle Eastern power all along will forcast few. But prudent leaders calculate all the risks, and they are historic.
These include: violent reaction throughout the Islamic world; a dramatic increase in jihadist attacks in European capitals and the U.S.; radicalization of Islamic youth behind a new generation of jihadist leaders; consolidation of support for Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and a rapidly spreading malignant network; escalating expansion of anti-American sentiment throughout the world, including the democratic world; and the formation of WWIII battle lines between the U.S. and the Arab and Islamic worlds.
In more rational times, including at the height of the Cold War, bizarre actions such as unilateral,
unprovoked, preventive war are dismissed by thoughtful, seasoned, experienced men and women as mad. But those qualities do not characterize our current leadership.
For a divinely guided president who imagines himself to be a latter day Winston Churchill (albeit lacking the ability to formulate intelligent sentences), and who professedly does not care about public opinion at home or abroad, anything is possible, and dwindling days in power may be seen as making the most apocalyptic actions necessary.
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Twelve Powers in You
2006: A Year of Love
Robert Knapp, MD
Lesson 2 - Peace in the Middle East: Healing Hezbollah
July 23, 2006
Since the current hostilities started in Lebanon and Israel, I have been praying unceasingly for peace in the Middle East. On Sunday, July 23rd, I had the following dream:
I was sitting alone in deep meditation, feeling a strong sense of divine harmony and balance, and resting in the all-pervasive peace of my I Am Self, the holy essence of God within me. My force field evidently was so spiritually charged that it drew Hassan Nasrallah, the current leader of Hezbollah, to see me. I had done nothing outward to prompt this visit, nor did I engage him in conversation when he arrived to try to convince him of the error of his ways. I simply sat in peace.
He watched me carefully for several minutes. I saw that he was deeply affected by the loving, peaceful radiations of my aura. He knew the spiritual power was authentic because he could feel it. In time, I simply said to him, partly to confirm his own impression: This peace is what you are really seeking. Without his saying a word, I knew that he agreed. He then left and in a few minutes, another Muslim showed up wearing a white robe, who evidently was one of Nasrallah's spiritual mentors. Apparently, Nasrallah had told him about my peaceful presence and he had come to check me out for himself. He, too, watched me very closely and eventually concluded that I was demonstrating the peace that Nasrallah had felt radiating from me. I sensed strongly that this mentor, like Nasrallah, would change his ways as a result.
Needless to say, when I awoke from this dream experience, I was deeply moved. For days, I had been seeing the Christ in Nasrallah. At first, this had been difficult, given his past teachings and actions as the leader of what most consider to be a terrorist organization that has vowed to destroy Israel. Moreover, I supported Israel's efforts to defend itself from Hezbollah. Still, violence and war never will bring lasting peace. The only thing that will bring permanent peace to the Middle East and the whole world is a positive change in consciousness.
That is why our primary duty as light workers is to work with the light, for the light, and in the light, seeing the I Am Self in each child of God. More than ever before, we pray without ceasing. To resolve all conflicts, we continually advocate and demonstrate the formula of peace, love, cooperation and coordination.
First, of course, we must be balanced and at peace. If not, how can we rightly radiate the love of God through us? Moreover, we cannot force anyone to change. Yet, I, when I be lifted up, will lift all others unto me, unto the Christ or I Am Self that is equally in all children of God.
So, please be at peace and radiate this powerful peace to uplift others. See the divine essence in the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, Israel and Iran, Syria and Iraq. Stay with it. Stay at it. Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.
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12 Powers in You, PO Box 10, Pioneer, TN 37847
