August 21, 2006
Be afraid, very afraid—and cash in your life insurance policy. "In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time—Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined," warns neocon doyen and "Orientalist," Bernard Lewis, in the War Street, er Wall Street Journal.
"Mr. Ahmadinejad and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the U.S. about nuclear development by Aug. 22. This was at first reported as "by the end of August," but Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statement was more precise."
Naturally, since them Ay-rabs—er, Persians, not that most Americans can tell the difference—are crazy, hate our freedoms, and want to convert every last human on the planet to Islam—or short of that, kill 'em all—we need to make darn sure Iran does not get its hands on nukes, and also confront Ahmadinejad over his desire to build up a stockpile of nukes, never mind there is no evidence of this. But since when did the neocons ever need evidence?
Lewis’ admonition of apocalyptic Muslims was echoed by the neocon Joel C. Rosenberg a few days ago on Fox News. Rosenberg, who bills himself as "an evangelical Christian from an Orthodox Jewish background with an interest in end times prophecy," speculates Ahmadinejad may have a "cataclysmic event" up his sleeve for August 22, a mere few hours away.
Ahmadinejad "is telling colleagues in Iran that he believes the end of the world is rapidly approaching and that the way to hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah is to launch a global jihad to destroy Israel, the little satan, in his view, and the United States, the great satan," gibbers Rosenberg breathlessly. "In the speech last October … in which Ahmadinejad gave his 'we’re gonna wipe Israel off the map’ speech, he also urged the Muslim world to envision a world without the United States and he asked, rhetorically, 'is that possible?’ and then he began to lay out the strategy of a Muslim attack against Israel and the United States."
Of course, Ahmadinejad said no such thing. His speech was purposely mistranslated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Jabotinksyite propaganda outfit run by Meyrav Wurmser and Yigal Carmon, the former married to the virulent neocon David Wurmser and the latter a one-time Israeli military intelligence officer. For more on this, read Anneliese Fikentscher and Andreas Neumann. Naturally, after the mistranslation was thrown against the wall and stuck, the corporate media ran with it and ever since we have been told Ahmadinejad wants to kill all the Jews and as many American infidels as possible.
According to Lewis, the only sane response is to take out the Iranians before they nuke up, because "mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, would have no meaning. At the end of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the dead—hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement." Lewis does not advocate shock and awing Iran outright, but rather beats around the bush, urging "immediate precautions."
In this country, we have around 40 million pretrib Christians who believe likewise nonsense, but then they don’t have their fingers on the nuke trigger—but wait a minute, Bush is supposedly a born-again Christian, so I guess they do, never mind that Bush is not really a Christian, his religion is the New World Order, what I call the Neolib World Order with a neocon twist.
Over at the Register, Thomas C. Greene was unable to contain himself. "The Register regrets to report that the world is about to end. It seems that Iran is going to attack Israel tomorrow, 22 August, with nuclear weapons, and initiate World War III, as famous Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis explains in his recent Wall Street Journal editorial…. On the bright side, there’s no better time for saying goodbye to the world than just as the mainstream press is gearing up to inundate us with speculation regarding the death of JonBenet Ramsey, from broadcast locations in Boulder, Colorado. That we will be spared Greta Van Susteren’s daily musings about what might or might not have happened, surely, must prove the existence of a loving and merciful God."
Seriously, it seems the neocons are so desperate they will latch on to anything to push forward their plan to attack Iran, kill Iranians, and turn the country into Iraq II, a cesspool of hatred and violence, thus breaking it up into bite-size pieces, ready for neolib micromanagement with Israel providing the management services, as they attempted to do in Lebanon, that is until Hezbollah kicked them out.
In fact, it appears the American public is turning against the all-war, all-the-time mantra of the neocons. "The latest nationwide survey shows that most Americans believe that the Iranian threat 'can be contained with diplomacy now.’ According to a CBS News survey released June 12, 55 percent of respondents said the Iranian threat could be contained, 21 percent said the threat 'requires military action now’ and 19 percent said Iran was 'not a threat at this time,’" reports Hearst Newspapers. Of course, Iran poses absolutely no threat to Israel or the United States, but even so, these numbers, if they can be believed, are significant.
"For Osama bin Laden, 2001 marks the resumption of the war for the religious dominance of the world, that began in the Seventh Century," wrote the British octogenarian Lewis in October, 2001 (see following link). "If bin Laden can persuade the world of Islam to accept his views and his leadership, then a long and bitter struggle lies ahead, and not only for America. Sooner or later, al-Qaeda and related groups will clash with the other neighbors of Islam—Russia, China, India—who may prove less squeamish than the Americans in using their power against Muslims and their sanctities. If bin Laden is correct in his calculations and succeeds in his war, then a dark future awaits the world, especially the part of it that embraces Islam."
"Lewis is lionized inside Israel, and by the Israeli Lobby in America as a geopolitical giant," write Scott Thompson and Jeffrey Steinberg. "On Feb. 19, 1996, Lewis was feted in Jerusalem, where he delivered the ninth annual B’nai B’rith World Center 'Jerusalem Address’ on 'The Middle East Towards the Year 2000.’ His son, Michael Lewis, is the director of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee’s super-secret 'opposition research section.’ This is one of the most important wellsprings of propaganda and disinformation, presently saturating the U.S. Congress and American media with war-cries for precisely the Clash of Civilizations Bernard Lewis has been promoting for decades."
In other words, the Hidden Imam warning, indeed absurd, is simply more of the same, yet another cracked neocon effort to demonize Muslims, in this case Shia Muslims, and push the impending Iran Attack up to the next level. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans believe this sort of stuff, especially those plugged into Fox News, where propaganda operatives such as Joel C. Rosenberg are allowed air time. It should be noted, for the sake of context, Rosenberg once worked for the neocon loudmouth Rush Limbaugh as "research director," that is to say he whipped neocon lies and fabrications into shape for the former Oxycotin drug addict.