Learn what will happen during the tribulation period from beginning to end
Your comments and questions are always welcome. To send comments and questions please click here to go to our main page. July 20, 2002 By Amir Oren The U.S. operation
to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will take place in the coming months, even
before November's Congressional elections, according to high-level sources in
the French government following talks with American decision-makers and
professionals in Washington. This article makes good sense for all involved in the Middle East situation. It will certainly take away a lot of the problems and financing for terror that the Palestinians are receiving. It may also serve as a wake up call to other nations knee deep in financing terrorism (Iran, North Korea & Saudi Arabia to name a few). Whenever the United States and allies choose to attack Iraq, it will be after an extensive propaganda campaign that will cause mass defections and place fear in the hearts of the Iraqi soldiers. Look for Iraq to fold up their tent quickly. And for those who are wondering, this attack is not prophesied in the Bible although I'm sure many will try to connect it to scripture. Pastor Malone
The French assessment is based, in part, on what National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told new French Foreign Minister Dominique de
Villepin this month. Rice emphasized U.S. President George W. Bush's
determination to topple Saddam "soon," according to the French
sources.
Frequent media reports about difficulties in deploying
American troops and completing preparations for the operation are meant,
according to French government experts, as disinformation to achieve tactical
surprise with regard to the timing, place and method of the assault. This will
partly make up for the lack of strategic surprise given Bush's declared policy
and Saddam's preparations to absorb an attack.
Reports and analysis based on official sources in Washington
reiterate the assumption that the operation will take place this winter, so that
any failure will not reflect badly for the Republicans at the polls. But the
French regard that as a strategy to lower Saddam's guard in the coming three
months, while Congress is in recess and the election campaign heats up. Paris
won't be surprised if the blow comes in the middle of August, while Bush is seen
vacationing at his Texas ranch, in the form of a special forces raid backed by
the CIA and precision air attacks.
The French officials believe the the chances are good for an
American operation to succeed, since it will take far less effort than the 1991
Gulf War when Iraq was expelled from Kuwait. But the officials do have their
doubts about the U.S.'s ability to form a government to their liking in Baghdad.
That skepticism is derived from both the weak opposition to Saddam inside Iraq
and the failure to protect the new Afghan government. The officials said they
won't be surprised if Afghani President Hamid Karzai, like his vice president,
is assassinated. "And we don't know what will happen then to the gamble the
Americans took on Karzai."
In the Foreign and Defense ministries in Paris, officials are
more worried about Iranian nuclear ambitions. French experts say that Iran won't
forgo its nuclear ambitions, and they expect, at the current rate of
development, Tehran will have a bomb by 2008 or 2010, three-to-five years after
Israel believes the Iranian nuclear program will reach fruition. But Iran can
accelerate its project, with foreign help, especially from North Korea.
"The Iranians tell us they're only doing what we did 50 years ago,"
said one French official, adding, "and what you Israelis did, with a bit of
help from us. That may be true, but global politics is not based on absolute
justice and equality, and even if Sharon has a bomb, that's nonetheless less
worrisome than if [Iranian President Mohammed] Khatami has one."
France's traditional reservations about a military operation
against Iraq have been blatantly weakened in the weeks since French President
Jacques Chirac was re-elected without the need for power sharing with the Left.
Bush's military doctrine, which calls for a preemptive strike against countries
and entities that might use terror or weapons of mass destruction, is accepted
by Paris despite its reticence. "If we know that Libya is going to launch a
missile at Marseilles, we won't wait until [Libyan leader Moammar] Gadhafi
pushes the button, but why say so ahead of time?" said one strategic
planner in the French Foreign Ministry this week.
One of his colleagues added that his government now tilts
toward welcoming an American decision to topple Saddam, both because of the
general intra-Arab politics and within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. For the Arab world, the collapse of dictatorial or dynastic regimes
and intensification of the democratic process will eventually sweep through
countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. France is
worried that without an added degree of democracy, the political protests could
be channeled into Islamic fundamentalism and result in civil wars, which would
send hundreds of thousands of refugees onto the country's southern beaches
seeking asylum.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian context, the establishment
of a pro-Western government in Baghdad would loosen the stranglehold on Jordan,
"which is, in effect, only a buffer-state between Iraq and Israel and is
run with the inspiration of the IDF and Mossad," said one French source.
Without an Iraq hostile to Israel breathing down Jordan's neck, the Palestinians
would have to sober up from their far-reaching illusions and chances would grow
for an arrangement that suits the needs of all three sides - Jordan, the
Palestinians and Israel. And an end to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's regime is
also now acceptable to France's planners, in the spirit of the "change the
regime" rule Bush set in place in Kabul and his plans for Baghdad. If it's
good for them, why not for Ramallah, say the French officials.
A French source as informed as any about Chirac's closed-door
views, told Israel's Ambassador to France, Eli Bar-Navi, that Chirac is
disappointed in Arafat, referring to him as "the rug salesman," a
euphemism for someone who cannot be trusted. END