The Exchange - I'm not as Young as I Used to Be

The Exchange - I'm not as Young as I Used to Be

I have recently been thinking a bit about prophetic matters. Tonight while watching the news regarding troop movements along the Israelis-Lebanese border I suddenly realized something.

I know now why Bush felt it so imperative to invade Iraq. Of course he could not have foreseen all of the consequences ahead of time, and I'm sure he only sort of vaguely perceived this but he did try to enunciate it as a policy by saying he intended the US, and his administration in particular, to spread democracy throughout the Middle East and in the area of the Arabian states and Iran. And we've certainly seen some success in that regard in Qatar, in Kuwait, in Iraq and in Lebanon.

But suppose Hamas and Hezbollah had launched this present attack, with Iranian and Syrian assistance prior to the groundwork of nascent democracy that had been lain by the prior invasion and preliminary self-determination of Iraq?

What if the current conditions, or something similar were underway with Israel-Lebanon and with Hezbollah, Iran and Syria and Saddam Hussein were still in power and either assisting Hamas in Palestine, sheltering Al Qaeda representatives and cells or beginning preliminary negotiations to establish even stronger ties with Syria and then Iran? Or doing all of these things? Imagine if Iraq had not happened, what would be the present state of Wahabism and their stance and distribution of power throughout the region in regards to Israel, the US and the West?

Imagine the Taliban still held sway in Afghanistan or even that Afghanistan were the only Islamic regime we had liberated and set on the path to self-determination? Imagine the stance of Pakistan right now and their relationship to India were Israel at war with Hezbollah and possibly Syria, and the only projection of US power and ideals nearby in Afghanistan?

Imagine the power and influence of the UN still not broken by the invasion of Iraq and it still considered a real force in the world and trying to lead world political and geopolitical policy? Imagine powers like the government of France and Germany attempting to control these situations, and with the help of China and Russia still brokering covert arms deals to Iraq, Iran and various other despotic and fanatical regimes?

Imagine the current situation with those conditions and factors in play?

Imagine Israel was the only real democracy in the entire region and Kuwait the only real friendly Arabic/Muslim regimes and no democratic movements of any kind were currently underway in the area to counterbalance both Islamic religious fanaticism and Arabic and Iranian despotic or autocratic regimes?

I should have foreseen all of this long before, should have realized it much earlier.
Should have known, and to tell the truth I did vaguely, but I should have long ago realized that Iraq was just a groundwork, a short-fuse, a backfire sent forth and set ahead of time to burn the ground clean so that when the real fire came it would have far less fuel to consume. So that if the entire region exploded the force of the blast would be far less and far worse things could be avoided because the bunkers and the bulwarks would already be built, because we would already have in place fortifications and outposts prepared to withstand the attack. I should have seen what Iraq really was instead of just intuitively perceiving the possible future function(s).

But I'm not as young as I used to be.
It takes me awhile.


I still though wonder why it was Iraq instead of Iran. Maybe it's because of the Sunni-Shia split, but as many of you well know if someone had asked me this years ago I would have said it would be Iran that would be free now and Iraq still under Saddam. That if it had come down to it we would have invaded Iran instead of Iraq. But then again I don't get to make the rules or write the script, do I? I just try and figure why the plays the thing.