In the environmental and agricultural field, companies such as Monsanto of St. Louis in Missouri are developing genetically engineered crop plants that are hardy to insects, fungi and other pests. Some firms, such as Mycogen of San Diego in California, have won approval from regulatory authorities to sell genetically engineered  biopesticides. But environmental pressure groups such as Greenpeace and  the Genetics Forum in Europe question the safety of releasing genetically altered organisms²²

The following excerpts from an article in the British newspaper, The Telegraph, and from the CNN Message Board on Human Cloning, will bring the chilling facts of prophetic fulfillment even more into focus: 

Iraqi scientists have been given the mother of all biological challenges - to clone their leader, Saddam Hussein. 

zA prominent Iraqi doctor, who has just arrived in Britain from Baghdad, told The Telegraph last week that the dictator is fascinated by new discoveries in genetic research. The doctor, who would not be identified, reports that Saddam has set up a CLONING LABORATORY in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. 

After studying reports in British newspapers about the successful cloning of  "Dolly", the sheep produced earlier this year in a Scottish laboratory, Roslin Institute, the Iraqi leader summoned his scientists and questioned them closely about the possibility of cloning humans.

Saddam has also been encouraged by reports that Western scientists had the technology to create human clones within two years. The procedure is said to be straightforward. Doctors in Belgium claim that they cloned a twin boy, four years ago, "by accident". 

u In September 1987 the First International Babylon Festival, under the patronage of Saddam Hussein, was held in the newly revived city of Babylon, the restoration of which began in 1978. For this event Saddam Hussein had a special seal minted which featured his portrait side by side with the great Nebuchadnezzar of Daniel's days, stressing the similarity of their appearance. The festival's official theme was: "From Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein, Babylon undergoes a renaissance." 

Saddam Hussein sees himself as the incarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, as the successor of the ancient world leader to rule again a mighty empire from Babylon. That empire comprised the modern nations of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Kuwait. In August of 1990 Saddam Hussein attempted to reclaim a portion of that empire when he invaded Kuwait. The invasion was stopped --- BUT NOT Saddam Hussein! Why?! The man who has no misgivings to execute anyone who even only remotely opposes him, and who has been known to arrest and imprison people for not paying homage to his image displayed throughout the country of Iraq, was NOT overthrown when the American general Schwarzkopf  was poised to sack Baghdad. Has Saddam an evil mission -- that of Revelation 13?u²⁴

Saddam, who turned 60 on April 30, 1997, has become obsessed with his own mortality. The possibility of making a team of identical dictators to continue his legacy is clearly too hard to resist. News of Saddam's interest in producing clones of himself will undoubtedly reinforce the international clamor for experimentation with human cloning to be banned. Experts have already argued that the technology could be dangerous in the hands of "unscrupulous scientists."

That certainly applies to the Iraqi experiment. Saddam's only recorded achievements in the world of science to date have been his ongoing interest in nuclear engineering and germ warfare. 

Iraq is said to have enough biological weapons to kill the world's population several times over... 

...Dr Al-Rubeai, an Iraqi scientist and reader in bio-technology at Birmingham University, said that Saddam would find the idea of cloning intriguing. "He considers himself the father of science in Iraq and is interested in any technology if it could help him or his regime to survive. It would be in Saddam's interests to explore this technology. If it is not too costly and does not need sophisticated equipment, it would be tempting for him to try." 

But however much Saddam may need clones to prop up his regime, few experts believe his research will lead anywhere. 

My Note: There the “experts” may be wrong! 

Professor Robert Winston, Britain's leading expert on fertility, said the project would also be difficult for practical reasons. "You have to examine the logistics," he said. "Given the failure rate in previous published cloning experiments, Iraqi scientists would have to transfer genes to the uteruses of 40,000 primed women to produce one hundred Saddams, then they would have to wait 30 years before they look much like Saddam²⁵.z