In newsletter #45 and #46 I spoke of G-d’s warning in regard to the war in Iraq. He cautioned against the TIMING of this war, and unmistakably forewarned that He would NOT be with this war! 

Ecclesiastes summarizes the matter of timing so very clearly, saying “For EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for EVERY MATTER under heaven.”

This second endeavor of going to war against Saddam Hussein with coalition forces missed the appointed TIME! And Iraq is quickly turning into quicksand, gradually swallowing up both allied troops and Iraqis alike. On Wednesday, April 21, suicide attackers detonated five car bombs - all but one of them simultaneously - killing 50, including 20 children, and wounding many, some critically¹¹. The attack targeted police buildings in Iraq's second largest city, Basra, striking rush-hour crowds¹². 
 

Basra is overwhelmingly Shiite.

Woefully, the American Western/Christian mindset cannot appreciate the differences between itself and  the Arab/Muslim mindset. The ‘fatalism’ that characterizes the Arab/Muslim (and Oriental) mindset is totally foreign to Americans who neither believe in nor understand fatalism - “whatever will be will be.” Americans believe man charts his own course and destiny. Muslim fatalism is the diametrical opposite --- it surrenders to “fate”, whatever that might be.

America’s military might is impotent vis-a-vis this deeply entrenched mindset: who could understand the Japanese harakiri pilots? Only the bomb on Hiroshima stopped the Japanese nation from carrying on this war indefinitely. It also is the main reason why the U.S. could not secure victory in Vietnam.

For the Arab/Islamic culture it is a sought-after honor to give one’s life for the "jihad", for “the cause”, whatever that may be. As Islamic clerics fan religious fervor among the people, this “war” of terror, ambushes and suicide bombings carries on and on with no end in sight, just as in the case against Israel.

How long can Washington withstand these Islamic forces? How long will the troops’ morale hold up until they themselves ask what they are still doing in Iraq, thousands of miles away from home, fighting a “war” against whom? While believing they are bringing freedom and prosperity to Iraq, they find themselves loathed, cursed, attacked, and killed, with hardly any Iraqi expression of gratitude for America’s “war of liberation.”

Can America afford to “lose face” in Iraq as she did in Vietnam? The Arab/Muslim world would view a retreat from Iraq as a sublime victory over the ‘great satan’, and a veritable tide of terror would be unleashed against American cities and infrastructures.

Already Spain has been bullied into retreat. What will America do if forsaken by the others as well?

Will the very powers which for decades have sought Israel’s destruction now turn against America? For rather than standing with Israel against those forces of lawlessness, America encouraged them by negotiating with them and applying relentless pressure on Israel.

'What we sow is what we will reap,' says G-d’s Kingdom law; and 'the violence we plan for others will come upon ourselves.'

President Bush said, spontaneously, on his first campaign for President that “It is high time to act as a true friend and ally of Israel.” May he remember his words and know that because he did the very opposite of that, America is headed for trouble.

Some people who support Israel, strongly support President Bush as well. They claim him to be a man of faith who seeks G-d’s counsel and begins each day with prayer and reading the Bible. How is it, then, that the President does not know what G-d says concerning Israel and the Jewish people, and fails to heed the divine warning in regard to dividing up His Land¹³? How is it, then, that President Bush has not heard from G-d not to touch the apple of His eye, and not to burden himself with negotiations over Jerusalem?

If President Bush were indeed honestly seeking G-d for guidance and counsel, then the Holy One of Israel would answer his prayers and order his steps and decision making. G-d has not changed but is the same yesterday, today and forever. Who then has changed?

What will it take to end the Iraqi nightmare? Will it drag on until the appointed time for those terrible four angels to be released at the Euphrates? One third of mankind is marked to perish in that war¹⁴. Did America unleash its horror before the time?

After the first Gulf war, the Lord said to “keep watching because this is not over!” When He warned about the ‘EAST WIND’ blowing against the shores of America ,”¹⁵ I did not imagine a literal fulfillment of planes flying in the wind, piloted by men from the East, literally blowing up the twin towers in the ‘Great City’on America’s most important and vulnerable shore.

When will the shepherds of G-d’s churches finally wake up?U John the Baptist was clothed in camel hair garments (not $ 500 suits), lived in caves (not in mansions) and ate locusts and honey. I am not implying that G-d’s prophets must live spartan lives. But I am saying that saints are looking in the wrong direction, seeking that which is impressive according to world standards. Yet the King of kings came to us in a lowly manger and as a humble carpenter.

We must be on our guard where to look lest we miss the Lord’s messengers and His signals.

Always you are in my heart and prayers. May Yeshua’s steadfast love and great faithfulness guard and keep you from evil and all harm.

Yours in Him, 

Annelore