Armageddon: Bringing it on

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GE20Aa01.html

(in re: Koran in toilet)

-snip-

A largely disjointed al-Qaeda could not have wished for better, as its underlying ideology is to stoke the fires of a civilizational battle leading to Armageddon - which the Bible sees as the final battle between the forces of good and evil, prophesied to occur at the end of the world when Christ will return to smite his enemies, led by the Antichrist. The same battle is predicted in the Islamic faith.

-snip-

The initial spontaneous reaction in Afghanistan against the report on the desecration of the Koran has now turned into an organized anti-US movement. Together with rising Taliban resistance activity in the east and southeastern border areas, a political movement against the presence of US-led troops in the country is gathering pace.

-snip-


"End of Time" programs are sold in CDs and DVDs across the Muslim world, which romanticize the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Hizbut Tehrir and add to their popularity.

Al-Qaeda is working to turn the story of Megiddo and the End of Time into reality. And the president of the United States, George W Bush, believes Armageddon is at hand: "The evil one is among us," he said in 2002, in a clear reference to the Antichrist. To quote Michael Ortiz Hill, "he Commander in Chief of the most powerful military force in human history has located American foreign policy within a Biblical narrative that leads inexorably towards the plains of Megiddo ..."
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and we have the end times books the american religiously insane adore.

the writer of this article calls al-qaeda "disjointed". I wonder why?

[rkc3]

1. Probably because he believes the bible contains the only true story

of the Armageddon. Any other version would only be read by loonies (or those dijointed from reality).

For reference, "Biblical Interpretation and Middle East Policy" by Irvine Anderson is an interesting read on how we got to this point. He takes a critical look at the history of biblical interpretation by evangelicals in the US and Britain and explains how these interpretations have shaped public policy - mostly through the indoctrination of bible thumpers who won't consider history outside the bible (the inerrant word of God).

[nashville_brook]

2. when i was in the ninth grade, i was in honors "history" which was

basically a political science class. it was oddly called Urban Society. it was one of those wonderful interactive classes where you are introducd to a topic, you are assigned a position to argue from, and you research and carry out orders of business given what you learned in your research.

we did lot of diff kinds of issues -- Energy Crisis, Latin American issues, and Middle East.

in our study and role play of the middle east, we were assigned groups like: Israel. OPEC, US governement, Iran and Syria. we played the scenerio out TWICE b/c we couldn't accept the outcome the first time. both times, no matter how we went to the noegotiating table -- IF THERE WAS OIL and/or LAND in the offing -- it ended in armageddon.

just thought i'd share. i think of that class all the time. i knew when bush was appointed the first time, this would eventually come up. just been waiting.

[nashville_brook]

3. just to add -- in none of our scenarios, did we allow for the US president

to have psycho-religous tendencies.

[donsu]

5. how interesting - excellent schooling you got

here we are: religious-oil-water-resources war meeting head on with global warming crises.

between the two, will anything alive be left on the planet?

[nashville_brook]

7. this was 1979, so the energy crisis was still fresh -- also the cold war

to things went Nuclear. it always starts with Israel. we weren't taught the word then, but it's called hegemony. israel has unequal hegemony and isn't a commodious neighbor. it's what sparked the escalation every time -- we rotated students out of representing the diff interests too. it wasn't just b/c of the players in the room. we did it like a geometry proof.

basically we learned israel's vulnerability and militarism requires intervention from a greater power to keep them in check. once the US gets jiggy and uses the middle east for our own purposes -- we set israel up to start a conflict (or justify a conflict) and go in and try to prop up our economy with oil.

we knew nothing about petro-dollars and that whole mess:
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney04082005.html

[jaxx]

4. ;-)

[gordianot]

6. Shades of the Sepoy rebellion of 1857. "Bush Jihad" of 2005

Never underestimate the power of religious conviction in fomenting a war. A probable rumor in 1857 that Enfield cartridges were coated in pig fat managed to start a rebellion that united Muslims and Hindu's aka the Sepoy rebellion. In the end it did not matter if the rumor was true or not.

Desecrating religious icons "Koran" is the perfect method of uniting converting any moderates in this part of the world. Let's get everyone off of the fence and make as many enemies as possible. It does not matter if the rumor is true or not.

When Iran takes up this cry my prediction that is the beginning of the end.

Message to the Bush** administration: It is impossible to win hearts and minds when you have neither a heart or mind yourself! George has the crusade he asked for.

Excellent article, what passes for news seldom addresses how the rest of the world views America.