Cheney tried to provoke Iran-Israel war

September 24, 2007 - 5:57am.

VP wanted Isreael to attack Iranian nuke site

Vice President Dick Cheney: Another day, another controversy (AFP Photo)

US Vice President Richard Cheney has considered provoking an exchange of military strikes between Iran and Israel in order to give the United States a pretext to attack Iran, Newsweek magazine reported in its Monday issue.

But the weekly said the steady departure of neoconservatives from the administration over the past two years had helped tilt the balance away from war.

One official who pushed a particularly hawkish line on Iran was David Wurmser, who had served since 2003 as Cheney's Middle East adviser, the report said.

A spokeswoman at Cheney's office confirmed to Newsweek that Wurmser left his position last month to "spend more time with his family."

A few months before he quit, Wurmser told a small group of people that Cheney had been mulling the idea of pushing for limited Israeli missile strikes against the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz -- and perhaps other sites -- in order to provoke Tehran into lashing out, the magazine reported, citing two unnamed "knowledgeable sources."

The Iranian reaction would then give Washington a pretext to launch strikes against military and nuclear targets in Iran, Newsweek reported.

When Newsweek attempted to reach Wurmser for comment, his wife, Meyrav, declined to put him on the phone and said the allegations were untrue, the report said.

A spokeswoman at Cheney's office told the weekly the vice president "supports the president's policy on Iran."

10-21-07

Cheney: Iran faces 'serious consequences' over nuclear drive

LANSDOWNE, United States (AFP) — Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday the United States would not permit Iran to get nuclear weapons and warned of "serious consequences" if it refuses to stop enriching uranium.

Cheney, considered the US administration's toughest hardliner on Iran, did not mention the possibility of military action amid reports that President George W. Bush could be laying the stage for war with the Islamic republic.

"The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences," he said in a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"The United States joins other nations in sending a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," he said, after Bush warned last week that a nuclear-equipped Iran evoked the threat of "World War III."

"Our country and the entire international community cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its most aggressive ambitions," Cheney said, accusing Iran anew of abetting attacks on US troops in Iraq.

Cheney's warning to Iran recalled UN Security Council resolutions in 2002 that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein faced "serious consequences" if he failed to come clean on his alleged stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

Speaking on CNN Sunday, Democratic Representative Jane Harman said the administration's threatening language against Iran was "very dangerous."

"We heard about mushroom clouds and other images before the military action in Iraq. I wish the president would avoid that," she said, calling for tougher UN sanctions on Iran instead of "war-mongering threats."

Unbowed by the morass faced now by the United States in Iraq, and by warnings that the US military is dangerously overstretched, the hawkish Cheney reportedly favors attacking Iran.

In a New Yorker article last month, celebrated investigative reporter Seymour Hersh said there was US planning for "surgical" raids against Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which Washington accuses of targeting its forces in Iraq.

On the campaign trail for next year's White House race, top Republicans and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton also insist that they will never tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran menacing its neighbors and Israel.

Clinton last month voted for a Senate resolution that declared the Revolutionary Guards a terror organization -- a step that her Democratic rival Barack Obama said represented a "blank check" for Bush to wage war on Iran.

Iran, which insists it only wants peaceful nuclear energy, has brushed aside US warnings, and announced Saturday that its top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had resigned and was being replaced by an ally of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In a gloomy speech that ranged over threats facing the United States from Islamic terrorism, and the need for Congress to renew controversial surveillance tactics, Cheney also said that Washington would not abandon Iraq.

"We're going to complete the mission so that another generation of Americans does not need to go back and do it again," he said.

Cheney also accused Syria of using "bribery and intimidation" to undermine Lebanon's upcoming presidential election and said the vote should go ahead "free of any foreign interference."

In May Cheney declared, from the potent venue of a US aircraft carrier steaming in the Gulf, that the United States would not let Iran acquire nuclear arms.

Middle East experts who spoke at the Washington Institute conference after Cheney's speech noted that US rhetoric against Iran was being sharply escalated.

"The language on Iran is quite significant," former Middle East presidential envoy Dennis Ross said. "That's very strong words and it does have implications."

Commenting on Bush's "World War III" warning, Jane's Information Group Alex Vatanka said: "The United States could take care of Iran militarily in short order.

"But it's still not useful for policymakers to use this kind of alarmist talk, even if Bush feels that Iran is an urgent issue that needs to be dealt with in his remaining time in office," he told AFP.

R E G I O N: ‘Bush’s World War III remark was rhetorical’

10-20-07

* Top military officer says US has the resources to attack Iran if needed despite Iraq, Afghanistan engagements

WASHINGTON: The White House says President George W Bush was simply making “a rhetorical point” when he suggested that if Iran could make nuclear weapons, it could lead to World War III.

“The president was not making any war plans, and he wasn’t making any declarations,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday. “He was making a point, and the point is that we do not believe - and neither does the international community believe - that Iran should be allowed to pursue nuclear weapons.”

If Iran acquired nuclear weapons, she said, “that would lead to a very dangerous - a potentially dangerous situation, and potentially lead to a scenario where you have World War III. But he was using that as a rhetorical point, not, you know, making a declaration.”

Bush, at a news conference on Wednesday, said, “I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.” Iran denounced Bush’s comment. “This sort of policy will jeopardize peace and security at the international level, and is a barrier for peace,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said in a statement.

Hosseini said Bush was resorting to “warlike rhetoric” to divert the American public’s attention from White House failures on international issues such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

‘US capable of attacking Iran: While military action against Iran would be is a last resort, the United States has the resources to attack if needed despite the strains of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, says the top US military officer. Navy Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the focus now is on diplomacy to stem Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions and its support for insurgents in Iraq.

But, he told reporters, “there is more than enough reserve to respond (militarily) if that, in fact, is what the national leadership wanted to do.” Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons could set off an arms race in the Middle East. “The risk of an accident or a miscalculation or of those weapons or materials falling into the hands of terrorists seem to me to be substantially increased,” he said.

Appearing together before reporters for the first time since Mullen became chairman on Oct 1, the two expressed unease about Iran and Turkey, hot spots commanding attention even as the military focuses on the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gates also said he believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about trying to play a constructive role in resolving the crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.

“President Putin takes Iran seriously as a security concern for Russia, and I think they are prepared to take some actions as befits that,” Gates said. Mullen said the US military is working hard to stem the flow from Iran into Afghanistan of high-tech materials for roadside bombs. The military has said that parts from the armour-piercing bombs, which have killed hundreds of troops in Iraq, are now getting into Afghanistan.

Mullen said he is not aware of any high-level Iranian government connection to the weapons in Afghanistan, although officials have said that is a concern in Iraq. ap

19/10/2007

From Israel, it looks different

By Aluf Benn
This is the assessment of the situation at the top diplomatic and military levels in Israel: Iran is moving, unhindered, toward a nuclear bomb. Blocking it with economic sanctions has failed, mainly because Russia, Germany and Italy refuse to stop doing business with the Iranians. Two options remain on the table: to come to terms with Iran's nuclearization because there is no alternative, or to stop it by force.

The United States has military capability, but there is opposition within the administration to an action in Iran. The chances of an American attack appear small; the final decision will be taken by President George W. Bush. In Jerusalem they are finding it difficult to assess what will weigh most in the president's thinking - the strategic and political considerations against another war after the imbroglio in Iraq or his belief it is incumbent upon him to free the world from the nightmare of nuclear weapons in the hands of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Recent weeks have seen a lively debate in the U.S. about what should be done regarding Iran - either dialogue, which would mean coming to terms with the nuclear program, or war. American strategists are talking about "the Cuban missile crisis in slow motion" and are looking for a third way between attack and acceptance. In Israel, there is no such debate, except within a narrow circle of those who are knowledgeable and interested. Israel, it seems, is waiting for Bush's decision, which will be taken during the coming year, before it decides to attack Iran itself.

The public debate in America reveals the different outlooks of the decision-makers in Jerusalem and in Washington. From here, the Iranian threat looks much more palpable and scarier and the response much simpler and more focused. Presumably, Iran, like Iraq and Syria in their turn, will find it hard to respond. Perhaps it will launch some missiles at Israel plus Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon, and perhaps it will initiate a terror attack on an Israeli target abroad. This would be painful but bearable and would be perceived as a justified price for getting rid of an existential threat.

In American parlance, "attacking Iran" sounds like a World War III, as Bush warned on Wednesday: weeks of bombing Iran's military and civilian infrastructures, following attempts at dialogue and an open ultimatum that would be followed by the blocking of oil supplies to the West and acts of terror in which thousands of Americans are killed, if not an all-Muslim jihad against America that lasts for years. Of course, the danger of destabilizing the world order and economic destruction in the West seems excessive in the face of a few nuclear bombs in Iraq.

When Israelis talk about "the point of no return" in the Iranian nuclear program, they are referring to "crossing the technological threshold." That is, the moment the Iranian engineers and scientists get hold of the knowledge of how to produce nuclear weapons and are able to replicate it, even if the existing installations are destroyed by bombs or shut down in the wake of diplomatic negotiations. The American red line is the more distant date, when Iran has an operational bomb.

The differences in outlook are understandable. Someone who lives in Chicago or Miami can live comfortably with an Iranian bomb, just as he lived under the Soviet threat. An inhabitant of Tel Aviv, whom the president of Iran is threatening to deport to Alaska or Canada, must be far more worried.

"The world" is aware of these differences and in its refusal of sanctions and serious organization against Iran, it is quietly pushing Israel toward a decision to attack. The international silence that greeted the action in Syria could be interpreted as encouragement of Israeli muscle-flexing. The exchanges of threats between Israel and Iran have met indifference in the international community, at least until Bush's speech on Wednesday, in comparison to the concern and efforts focused on the Palestinian issue. Perhaps an American expert who has been following events for years was on target when he said: "You h ave a million and a half Palestinians in Gaza who could march on Tel Aviv tomorrow, and you're worried about nuclear weapons in Iran?"

However, from Israel it looks different: In the eyes of the decision-makers, we will manage somehow with the Palestinians. But the Iranian threat is perceived as intolerable. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not dare speak out openly, at least not until it emerges that either there is a way to stop the Iranians, or that it is already too late.

As Bush warns of WWIII, Peres and Putin in war of words

By Israel Insider staff
October 18, 2007

US President George W. Bush warned Wednesday that if Iran gains nuclear capability, there could be a third world war, according to the New York Times.

"We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Mr Bush told a White House press conference.

"So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War Three, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

Bush's remarks came as Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinjad and expressed doubts that Iran was pursuing a nuclear arms program.

President Shimon Peres said that governments throughout the world have proof that Iran is pursuing a nuclear arms program, in a statement issued in response to Russian President's objection to imposing further sanctions on Iran.

"Even if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin says he is not convinced, that Iran is conducting nuclear development for the purpose of war, everyone know their true intentions, and many intelligence agencies throughout the world have proof that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons for the purpose of war and death," Haaretz quoted Peres as saying.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Wednesday that he is to meet with Putin as part of a plan to gain support to lobby the United Nations Security Council members for tougher sanctions on Iran.

Putin recently concluded a visit to Teheran to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, marking the first time a Russian leader since Stalin visited Iran's capital. The president called for "direct dialogue" with Iran, saying it was the "more productive and is the shortest path to success, rather than a policy of threats, sanctions, and all the more so resolution by using force."

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu echoed Peres' concern in a phone conversation with Olmert, stressing the urgency of the Iranian crisis.

"In Israel we are all united in the belief that Iran must not obtain nuclear arms. On this issue Israel has no coalition and opposition," Netanyahu told the prime minister, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Olmert, however, does not appear to need convincing. "We must not underestimate Iran's statements about annihilating Israel or moving it to Alaska," Olmert said Wednesday at a gathering of dozens of mayors from around the world.

"Sometimes we don't take [President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements] seriously, but we must not forget who is making them. He is the president of a state with a population of 70 million, which has military and technological capabilities and advanced weapons," he continued.

Iran to fire '11,000 rockets in minute' if attacked

Oct 20 07:28 AM US/Eastern

Iran warned on Saturday it would fire off 11,000 rockets at enemy bases within the space of a minute if the United States launched military action against the Islamic republic.

"In the first minute of an invasion by the enemy, 11,000 rockets and cannons would be fired at enemy bases," said a brigadier general in the elite Revolutionary Guards, Mahmoud Chaharbaghi.

"This volume and speed of firing would continue," added Chaharbaghi, who is commander of artillery and missiles of the Guards' ground forces, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

The United States has never ruled out attacking Iran to end its defiance over the controversial Iranian nuclear programme, which the US alleges is aimed at making nuclear weapons but Iran insists is entirely peaceful.

Iran has for its part vowed never to initiate an attack but has also warned of a crushing response to any act of aggression against its soil.

"If a war breaks out in the future, it will not last long because we will rub their noses in the dirt," said Chaharbaghi.

"Now the enemy should ask themselves how many of their people they are ready to have sacrificed for their stupidity in attacking Iran," he said.

Iranian officials have repeatedly warned the military would target the bases of US forces operating in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan in the event of any attack and already has these sites under close surveillance.

Chaharbaghi said that the Guards would soon receive "rockets with a range of 250 kilometres (155 miles)" whereas the current range of its rockets is 150 kilometres (91 miles).

"We have identified our targets and with a close surveillance of targets, we can respond to the enemy's stupidity immediately," Chaharbaghi added.

He said that the Guards' weapons were spread out throughout the country and so would not be affected by any isolated US strikes against military facilities.

“Powerful Iran” war game to be held
Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN, Oct. 20 , 2007 (MNA) – A massive war game codenamed “powerful Iran” will be held near Qom on October 23-25, the Commander of Basij (volunteer) Forces in Ministries and Organizations Masoud Chinigar-Zadeh said on Saturday.

The maneuver in which ten thousand Basijs will participate is aimed at boosting the Basij forces’ defense capabilities, Chinigar-Zadeh insisted.

The commander said the main characteristic of this war game is that it will be held far from capital Tehran and in the vicinity of Qom.

Through maneuvers Basijs show that they are always prepared to protect the country’s borders against any possible invasion by the enemies, he pointed out

U.S. army chief: Iraq war has sapped ability to fight Iran

By Haaretz Service

10-21-07
The new chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview published Monday that the prolonged military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan may have undermined the military's ability to fight wars against major adversaries - including Iran. With the United States already heavily committed in wars in two Muslim countries, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told The New york Times that an offensive against Iran, a third Mideast Islamic state "has extraordinary challenges and risks associated with it." He counseled against an immediate attack on Iran, saying that the military option should be a last resort. But Mullen warned Iran and other nations not to "mistake restraint for lack of commitment or lack of concern or lack of capability." Because we have had such an intense focus on the Middle East and Iraq and Afghanistan, there is risk associated with those other parts of the world," Admiral Mullen said. Asked whether the American military should aim at sites inside Iran if intelligence indicated that such action could stem the flow of bombs into Iraq, he said "the risks could be very, very high." "We're in a conflict in two countries out there right now," he added. "We have to be incredibly thoughtful about the potential of in fact getting into a conflict with a third country in that part of the world." Speaking of his visits to soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent weeks, Mullen said: "They're tired. They've been doing unbelievably great work for our country. And we need to make sure we take care of them and their families." Regarding prolonged and repeated deployments for the ground forces in Iran and Afghanistan, he said, "The ground forces are not broken, but they are breakable." WHY SATURN? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? ASTROTABLETALK SATURN-NEPTUNE (YET AGAIN) Saturn-Neptune Opposition again. The first crossing is in just a few days, so it's already happening, and I can see one theme at least that hadn't occurred to me in advance: film stars being brought down to earth! First we had Mel Gibson a few weeks ago, caught on tape, drunkenly blaming the Jews for all the wars on the planet. This could easily spell the end of his career. And now Tom Cruise has been sacked by Paramount, his film studio - and with a few barbs from Sumner Redstone, the boss, about Cruise's erratic behaviour, his 'creative suicide'. But, of course, a lot of it came down to money. Maybe this transit will bring about a re-adjustment of the power of individual stars vs the studios. I predicted a few weeks ago that the transit could bring about a reality check on the consumer credit boom, due to a Venus-Jupiter Square being involved with the first moment of the Saturn-Neptune Opposition on 31st August. What I didn't think of was that this could work both ways - ie the lenders could get a reality check, and in the news today (in the UK) the banks are being given a hard time over their rates of credit card interest. Then there is Iran, which today boasted of having opened a heavy water reactor, the next stage in its project to develop nuclear power - and, though it denies this, nuclear weapons (See my earlier blog on Iran, where the astrology strongly suggests its intention is to create weapons, as if we needed telling!) Iran: 1 April 1979, 15:00, Tehran. Iran's ASC/DESC axis is at 17 Leo/Aquarius, just one degree off the current Saturn-Neptune Opposition. The 7th House is the House of Open Enemies, and Neptune is entering it. So who is deceiving who? I really don't think that Iran is deceiving anyone. We all know exactly what they are up to, we just can't be quite sure of exactly how advanced they are in their intention to build nuclear weapons. So here is today's astrological insight: THE DECEPTION IS THEREFORE IRAN'S SELF-DECEPTION ABOUT HER ENEMIES, IN THAT IRAN THINKS THAT NO-ONE WILL STOP HER DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Iran is certainly behaving as if it thinks that. As for today's announcement by Iran that Israel has nothing to fear: Iran has natal Mars square to Neptune, and transiting Mars square Pluto is currently hard-impacting that. The announcement was, astrologically, a declaration of war. Israel responded by saying it would prepare itself militarily. Given that it is Iran that is deceiving itself about its enemies (for we are not deceived), we can therefore expect a surgical attack sooner or later to destroy its nuclear programme. OK, the USA is in a weakened position internationally, and may have to opt out. But for Israel it is a SURVIVAL issue. Israel will feel it has to act regardless of the international consquences, for Iran (in the person of its President) has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. (As has much of the rest of the Arab world). Israel 14th May 1948 16:00 Tel Aviv Saturn-Neptune is the main transit hitting Israel's Chart at the moment, hard aspecting its fixed Sun-Saturn/Pluto-Chiron t-Square. A pretty heavy natal configuration, that also has Mars at 28 Leo hovering in the wings, square to the Sun and Chiron. So it is easily roused to battle, and fearsome. Saturn-Pluto-Chiron indicates Israel's origins in the worst of what humans can do to each other - the 19th century pogroms as well as the holocaust - but also suggests that Israel itself is capable of the worst sort of behaviour. It will stop at nothing. So Iran be warned, especially as Israel's Saturn-Pluto in Leo sits close to Iran's Ascendant. This synastry has yet to be activated, but it may be Saturn-Neptune that does it. The Guards are Iran's elite ideological army and responsible for its most significant weapons such as the longer range Shahab-3 missile which has Israel and US bases in the Middle East within its range. FROM: http://astrotabletalk.blogspot.com/2006/08/saturn-neptune-yet-again_26.html

Hogue Prophecy Bulletin 53
(22 July 2006)

UNDER SKIES PORTENDING WAR:

(1.) Israel Attacked and Attacking Iranian backed Hezbullah and Hamas.
(2.) Iranians aid and abet North Korea's Missile Tests.
(3.) While Lebanon burns and Iraq Descends into open Civil War.

All material © John Hogue

La republique miserable infelice,
Sera vastee de nouueau magistrat:
Leur grand amas de l'exile malefice,
Fera Sueue rauir leur grand contracts.

Nostradamus (1556) Century 4 Quatrain 66

In the year when Saturn and Mars are equally fiery,
The air is very dry, a long comet:
From hidden fires a great place burns with heat,
Little rain, hot wind, wars and raids.

Friends,

The Nostradamian prophecy suggesting great heat waves, hidden fires, wars and raids during a future transit of Mars across Saturn in the fire sign of Leo seems to be about our times. Mars began its transit of Leo on 4 June, conjoining with Saturn in mid June. Mars ends the transit of Leo later today (22 July).

I write this on the eleventh day of what I will call the Israeli-Hezbullah War. It began when a terrorist unit of Hezbullah raided an Israeli armored personnel carrier, killed eight and abducted two Israeli soldiers on their northern border with Lebanon. Israeli retribution in the next few days was swift and devastating to Lebanon's infrastructure. Hezbullah's leader, the Shia cleric Nasrallah, declared open war on Israel. The long cylindrical shafts of a thousand low and high caliber Katyushka rockets built in Iran so far have rained down like Nostradamus' long comet across Northern Israel as far south as Haifa and Nazareth. An even larger rain of lethal Israeli ordinance fell on Lebanon setting a number of its heavily populated urban forests of high rise apartments from Sidon, Tyre all the way north to Beirut on fire. Over a half million Lebanese civilians pick their way over bombed out roads moving to the northern frontiers of Lebanon and east across the Syrian border. Hundreds of Israeli and perhaps thousands of Lebanese civilians lie dead or injured. I write this on the day thousands of Israeli troops began incursions in force into Lebanon. A new and bloody phase of the war begins: close quarter combat between thousands of Hezbullah fighters and Israeli soldiers. Thousands more Lebanese fighters from other militias, as well as the Lebanese army, pledge to fight alongside Hezbullah to stop the invasion of their country by threatening a protracted guerilla war.

I write this on the 18th day after North Korea test fired up to six regional--and one intercontinental ballistic--missiles in defiance of American threats to desist. A new crisis was born. Japan's parliament for the first time considered overturning over a half-century old constitutional restriction on their military waging preepmtive strikes on other countries. The ominous splashdown of North Korean missiles off their Western coastline so spooked Japanese legislators that they openly debated a new Pearl Harbor scenario. This time North Korean missile launch sites might suffer a surprise Japanese naval and air attack before they can rocket death down on Japanese cities. I write this on the day the world press confirmed rumors that Iranian officials and missile scientists stood side by side in solidarity with North Korean generals and scientists at the test launch sites of those No-Dong and Taepo Dong missiles.

I write this on the 27th day after what I call the Israeli-Hamas War began with the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas terrorists in a raid out of the Gaza strip into southern Israel. Tanks of Zion have since then rumbled into the Gaza strip. The armed forces of Israel have begun a systematic, though far less devastating campaign compared to what would come in Lebanon, degrading Gaza's infrastructure with bombs and their own "long comet"-like missiles.

I write this three years and 83 days after President Bush stood on a US aircraft carrier deck under a sign saying "Mission Accomplished" and made a photo op-friendly speech about all major military action in his invasion of Iraq ending.

I write this six weeks and three days after the the terrorist leader of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (Iraq), Abu Musab al-Zarqawi--a clear candidate for Nostradamus' Third Antichrist "Mabus" (code for "Musab"?)--was killed by US airstrikes on his safe house 30 miles North of Baghdad.

I write this on the day it was reported that 6,000 Iraqi civilians in the last seven weeks have died from sectarian violence between Shia and Sunnis across Iraq. I write this after a bloody fortnight of new wars in the Middle East and a missile crisis with North Korea has turned the news media's attention away from the bigger story. They overlooked a deadlier flash point for the spread this summer of the fires of war under the bellicose sign of Mars transiting Saturn in Leo. Our attention has been diverted from a dangerous turn for the worst in Iraq. The long smoldering threat of religious civil war in Iraq has sprouted naked fires. It would seem that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has gotten his death wish.

I share quotes with you today from the past year of HogueProphecy Bulletins that presaged all the above concerning what would happen in the summer of 2006.

It is indeed a summer much like that inferred by Nostradamus, where the air is "very dry." Enough so that great brushfires rage across the American West and along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The "great place" of Europe is under record temperatures, and much of North America "burns with heat" under protracted heat waves above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Hidden fires also plume from clandestine missile launches across Lebanon, Gaza and Israel. North Korea aims to arm their test missiles with the "hidden fires" of nuclear warheads. Iran arms Hezbullah with long cometlike rockets while it works to "hide" the fires of its own nuclear program deep within underground facilities.

Here are some of the passages in the last year of HogueProphecy Bulletins that presaged this:

"Mars will end its transit of equal fire with Saturn in Leo on 22 July. A full-scale civil war in Iraq and/or a widening conflict including Iran and Israel can happen at any time during or a few months after the end of this astrological aspect. Perhaps fate and fiery planets will throw a little doomsday Korean seasoning into the mix."

The Death of Abus Musab Al-Zarqawi--
26 June 2006

"What I said about the latter-half of 2005, in my last New Year prophecy report will be magnified this year (SEE Saturn's President: 24 December 2004.) It will not be a time to hold onto old and habitual ways and resist adapting new ideas to meet the challenges of a new era. A leader or people not heeding Saturn's transit through the next 23 degrees of Leo will face the coming challenges looking backwards. They will become more bellicose rather than diplomatic, more self-righteous and dismissive when criticized. They will seek to end wars in 2006 only to widen them because they will be stubbornly blind to their part, their unconscious contribution, to the problems of the world. They will be closed when they should be open, wax dictatorial when they ought to conciliate."

"Saturn in Leo will see [President Bush] try to achieve is goals, no matter what cautions cry. And in doing what he thinks is good, he will make things worse, in the Middle East, in Korea, in the American economy and in the domestic life of his people."

"If only level heads in Israel, Iran and the Arab nations would use Saturn in Leo's fire to launch new peace initiatives rather than war. So many astrological factors conspire against a peaceful passage through June-July of 2006 because of the collective unawareness of our leaders and people to the influential forces of Saturn and Mars "equally fiery" in Leo. Ultimatums, dictatorial stubbornness, reactive passions rule the hot days of the next summer. One hopes that they will be a time for peace, but it looks more like a time for war."

The Middle East stands on the verge of angry stars of war. America's proxy (Israel) fights its battle against terror for them. Iran and Syria fight their poxy terrorist war in return on Israel and America through Hamas, Hezbullah, and Shia militias in Iraq. Open clashes between US-Israeli forces against Syria and Iran may erupt any time this summer.

The US Secretary of State, Condi Rice, flies to Israel tomorrow (23 July) to begin diplomatic efforts to end the Hezbullah-Hamas wars and forestall a full-scale Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It so happens that Sunday is the first full day after Mars left the sign of Leo. Mars enters Virgo, the ruler of discernment or judgementalism depending on whether wisdom or ego reigns. May Rice and the diplomatic missions of France, Germany, the UN, also gathering in Israel this weekend, be successfully discerning. I doubt they will if negotiations do not include Syria and Iran.

Saturn continues its peace-limitating transit of Leo until September 2007. Negotiating a road map to Middle Eastern peace could still see diplomats take self-centered "my way or the highway" stances in peace talks that go nowhere.

There will be a call for an international UN stabilization force to guard Southern Lebanon. Most likely this will happen after Israeli troops occupying the area hand it over to the UN forces. I am wondering how they will adequately do this while bogged down in a guerilla war with the Lebanese and Hezbullah. The potential for UN intervention begs me to explore soon the famous and often mistranslated prophecy of Nostradamus in Century 2 Quatrain 2. It describes a leader in the Middle East with a "blue turban." The literal translation of "teste bleu" is "blue head." Perhaps rather than turbans, Nostradamus infers the blue helmet of UN troops guarding the Israeli-Lebanese border in the near future. I will also soon share with you the prophecy that names "Hamas" and its future outright in a trick word play.

--END--

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John Hogue
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NOSTRADAMUS: The War with Iran eBook

THE SATURN/NEPTUNE OPPOSITION, August 2006 - June 2007

The challenging aspects of Saturn and Neptune can make it difficult to integrate the building of form and focus on the material world that Saturn urges with the Neptunian tendency to dissolve form and seek a more transcendent experience. In the opposition (180 degree aspect) there is a tension between these two planets that result in an experience that is disorienting and destabilizing. The effects of the Saturn/Neptune opposition bring our fantasies and illusions (Neptune) into collision with the cold facts of reality (Saturn).

Like the moon cycles, planetary cycles begin with the conjunction or new moon, then the opening square or challenge, the culmination of the opposition or full moon point, followed by the waning square which completes the cycle. In the opposition, Saturn's urge to create form and establish solid structures confronts head-on the principle of Neptune which is to dissolve and transcend form in the material world. Remember that Saturn strives to build form where Neptune reminds us that there is a world beyond form; Saturn rules incarnation in the body and Neptune draws us into experiences that go beyond the body and the material world. In the opposition, where the two planets are 180 degrees apart, there is a tension between them that requires balance. This is a challenging aspect, but not so difficult as the square in which there is open conflict. The opposition is the apex of the cycle; it is the pinnacle of understanding the process before integration takes place. The combination of Saturn and Neptune requires that the spiritual self (Neptune) connect with the material self (Saturn). The result of the opposition is a disconnect between the grounding of the self into spirit of the Saturn/Neptune and the establishment of the individual identity (Sun).

The current opposition of Saturn in Leo to Neptune in Aquarius will affect most personally those of us with planets in the fixed signs of Scorpio, Taurus, Leo and Aquarius and will challenge us to keep our feet on the ground (Saturn) while ascending into realms of creativity and fantasy that expand us and connect us to the divine (Neptune). Not an easy balance to achieve!

From a global perspective, Saturn/Neptune cycles often witness the dissolution (Neptune) of governments (Saturn) and erosion of power structures. Saturn/Neptune events are never enjoyable, but always leave us with a little more wisdom and a little less gullible than before. It's always fascinating to look back into the historical record to see how planetary configurations applied themselves during those times in order to learn more about how those planets work together and to derive clues of how they may manifest this time around. Saturn/Neptune is a 36-year cycle which gives us plenty of interesting information.

In the opposition between Saturn and Neptune our fantasies and illusions (Neptune) are disappointed by Saturn's lessons, but there is also potential for manifesting our dreams (Neptune) into physical form (Saturn) and incorporating a life of spirit (Neptune) into our day-to-day existence (Saturn). Politically, the cycle of these two planets tends to bring conflict that arises as a result of the desire to manifest an ideal (Neptune) against the established order of Saturn. This cycle can also manifest in the exposure of governmental (Saturn) corruptive and deceptive behavior (Neptune).

In this century, Saturn in Pisces opposed Neptune in Virgo in March and October of 1936 and then again in January of 1937. This was a heavily Neptunian period since Pisces is ruled by Neptune, and Saturn in Pisces has difficulty grounding into material reality and confusion abounds. Saturn/Neptune is also associated with the destabilization (Neptune) of governmental structures: This period bore witness to the rise of nationalism with the expansion of the Nazis in Germany, a civil war in Spain between nationalist troops of General Franco and Spain's democrative government. This era also marked the beginning of Arab nationalism and riots in Palestine in reaction to Jewish immigration and the British government, as well as the abdication of Edward VIII in England who left the throne (Saturn) to marry the woman he loved, a very Neptunian romantic notion.

One of the more interesting events of the previous Saturn/Neptune opposition of 1899-1900 (with Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Gemini) was the Boxer Rebellion against foreign influence in China which took place during the final years of the Qing Dynasty. The Boxer Rebellion sprange out of nationalist fervor against foreigners and Chinese Christians. The rebellion was ironically put down by a multinational force and the resulting humiliation led to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty by 1905. The Boxer Rebellion brought previously hidden (Neptune) ideology and frustration to a culmination point.

The opposition of Saturn in Gemini to Neptune in Sagittarius occurred in June and November of 1971 and April of 1972 and was marked by increasingly violent demonstrations and rebellions around the world as idealism (Neptune in Sag) came face to face with governmental repression (Saturn). In the US, demonstrations against the Vietnam War grew in numbers and in power and the Supreme Court permits publication of the Pentagon Papers, exposing corruption in the government (Saturn/Neptune). The Attica prison riots exposed the poor conditions in US prisons (prisons are ruled by Neptune). The end of 1971 also witnessed civil war in Cambodia and between India and Pakistan, as well as increased fighting between British troops and Irish nationalists which culminated in the famous Bloody Sunday massacre in early 1972. All of these events showed the culmination of understanding that is the highlight of the opposition and paved the way for change that occurred during the waning phase of the cycle. The end of the opposition in 1972 also saw a treaty that banned (Saturn) biological weapons (Neptune) was signed by 70 nations.

The Saturn/Neptune cycle has been associated by some astrologers with the flu of 1918, but the conjunction of Saturn and Neptune in Leo actually completed months before that epidemic and the planetary cycle in place during the deadly flu epidemic was an opposition between Saturn and Uranus as well as a conjunction between Jupiter and Pluto. However, with any Saturn/Neptune contact there is the potential for hidden dangers that may not make themselves known right away.

So what can we expect during this year's Saturn/Neptune opposition which begins this month and will continue through June of next year? A few possibilities:

You don't need to be an astrologer to predict that Iraq will devolve into Civil War, resulting in the downfall of the US neocon movement and partition of Iraq into ethnic divisions.
Fighting between Israel and Iran through its proxies of the Lebanese government and Hamas in Palestine will continue through next year but escalating casualties and pressure from within will force Israel to negotiate a more permanent resolution to the conflicts that surround it.
In the US, voters are distracted by television and other media (Neptune) and it may take another serious event (probably weather-related) to force (Saturn) their attention to the world stage. However, next year when Jupiter squares Uranus we are likely to see a radical shift towards the left in American politics and probably elsewhere as citizens tire of war and devastation.
On the negative side, the Saturn/Neptune tendency towards nationalism and xenophobia will erupt into renewed fervor with demonstrations against immigrants and occupying forces. With Pluto completing its pass through Sagittarius we are likely to see a continued spread of religious fundamentalism of all flavors as part of this trend.

ISRAEL DATABASE

My impression of this is that I was either in Israel or in a Jewish school. ... On Easter night I was given a vision of Israel, as I was standing there two ...
www.greatdreams.com/israel_database.htm

IRAN DATABASE

WWIII DATABASE

The 1111 date will be the beginning of WWIII. I am not the only person that has been seeing the 1111 as you well know. I wonder if others have come to the . ...
www.greatdreams.com/wwiii_database.htm

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