August 22nd. Why all the fuss?
As this article by Robert Spencer details the fuss may be because that is the day that Iran has picked to unveil their fully operational Death Star nuclear weapons program. August 22nd because August 21st is symbolic in Islamic culture as the time of Mohammed's "night journey" where he dropped acid took a tour of heaven and hell and traveled on a magical creature. (Because this journey allegedly included Jerusalem as a way point Islam claims Jerusalem as a holy city.)
Did Muhammad really go anywhere? According to his favorite wife, Aisha, he did not: "The apostle's body remained where it was but God removed his spirit by night." Nevertheless, the Night Journey has become firmly embedded in the Islamic consciousness, such that Muslims today celebrate it as one of the central events of Muhammad's life. And now, according to Ghadry, Ahmadinejad is planning an illumination of the night sky over Jerusalem to rival the one that greeted the Prophet of Islam on his journey. What the Iranian President, he says, is "promising the world by August 22 is the light in the sky over the Aqsa Mosque that took place the night before. That is his answer to the package of incentives the international community offered Iran on June 6."
I have always maintained that Iran is stalling the world because it has every intention of developing nuclear weapons and will one day simply set one off as proof of their defacto membership in the nuclear club.
That event will be bad news for Israel and the rest of the world. After that it is only a matter of time before Iran attacks Israel with nuclear weapons. Indeed, if the message is to be literal, then Iran will not just set one off in a desert, they will set one off in Israel. They will argue that wiping Israel off the face of the map is worth whatever losses the Islamic world has to bear in response from Israel. They will no doubt hope that the very people they lied to during their development of nuclear weapons-the UN-will prevent the United States from intervening through vetoes by Iran's allies on the Security Council.
Iran seriously underestimates Israel if they think that country will sit back and wait for the missiles to fall out of the sky before they respond. They blew up a nuclear reactor in Iraq rather than let Iraq develop nuclear weapons. Now that Israel has demonstrated that Iran is actively participating in the current attacks on Israel they will have no qualms about destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities in a similar fashion.
And Israel does not need to demonstrate that it already has nuclear weapons. Any proof that is required will be seen in a mushroom cloud over part(s) of Iran.
If that happens I hope the United States join Israel in destroying one of the world's great evils. Nuclear weapons were good enough to use against Imperial Japan (and would have been used against Nazi Germany if necessary) and are good enough to use against fascist Islam.
Did Muhammad really go anywhere? According to his favorite wife, Aisha, he did not: "The apostle's body remained where it was but God removed his spirit by night." Nevertheless, the Night Journey has become firmly embedded in the Islamic consciousness, such that Muslims today celebrate it as one of the central events of Muhammad's life. And now, according to Ghadry, Ahmadinejad is planning an illumination of the night sky over Jerusalem to rival the one that greeted the Prophet of Islam on his journey. What the Iranian President, he says, is "promising the world by August 22 is the light in the sky over the Aqsa Mosque that took place the night before. That is his answer to the package of incentives the international community offered Iran on June 6."
I have always maintained that Iran is stalling the world because it has every intention of developing nuclear weapons and will one day simply set one off as proof of their defacto membership in the nuclear club.
That event will be bad news for Israel and the rest of the world. After that it is only a matter of time before Iran attacks Israel with nuclear weapons. Indeed, if the message is to be literal, then Iran will not just set one off in a desert, they will set one off in Israel. They will argue that wiping Israel off the face of the map is worth whatever losses the Islamic world has to bear in response from Israel. They will no doubt hope that the very people they lied to during their development of nuclear weapons-the UN-will prevent the United States from intervening through vetoes by Iran's allies on the Security Council.
Iran seriously underestimates Israel if they think that country will sit back and wait for the missiles to fall out of the sky before they respond. They blew up a nuclear reactor in Iraq rather than let Iraq develop nuclear weapons. Now that Israel has demonstrated that Iran is actively participating in the current attacks on Israel they will have no qualms about destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities in a similar fashion.
And Israel does not need to demonstrate that it already has nuclear weapons. Any proof that is required will be seen in a mushroom cloud over part(s) of Iran.
If that happens I hope the United States join Israel in destroying one of the world's great evils. Nuclear weapons were good enough to use against Imperial Japan (and would have been used against Nazi Germany if necessary) and are good enough to use against fascist Islam.