Al Qaeda Threatens Major Attack in Britain

In what they claim will rival "Hiroshima and Nagasaki," terrorists from Al Qaeda are threatening a major terrorist attack in Great Britain.

TimesOnline Reports:

The report was compiled by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) - based at MI5’s London headquarters - and provides a quarterly review of the international terror threat to Britain. It draws a distinction between Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda’s core leadership, who are thought to be hiding on the Afghan-Pakistan border, and affiliated organisations elsewhere.

The document states: “While networks linked to AQ [Al-Qaeda] Core pose the greatest threat to the UK, the intelligence during this quarter has highlighted the potential threat from other areas, particularly AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq].”

The report continues: “Recent reporting has described AQI’s Kurdish network in Iran planning what we believe may be a large-scale attack against a western target.

“A member of this network is reportedly involved in an operation which he believes requires AQ Core authorisation. He claims the operation will be on ‘a par with Hiroshima and Naga-saki’ and will ‘shake the Roman throne’. We assess that this operation is most likely to be a large-scale, mass casualty attack against the West.”

2007 Has Started, and Already the World is Going Crazy

Looks like 2007 is off to a tumultuous start. I've always said that odd years are the bad ones. Here's just a few headlines from today:

New York City plagued by mysterious fumes that cause panic and require evacuations.

Downtown Austin, Texas evacuated and shut down due to mysterious bird deaths.

Fund Manager who predicted the 1987 market crash and the 2001 gold rush predicts severe market "correction" in 2007. That means, sell now before the crash.

Killer Bees found near New Orleans.

Iran threatens to stop oil flow.

Possible bomb found at Port of Miami.

London Braces for Attack; 'Miracle' If There Isn't One

This is a scary sign of the times. If there is an attack, this will mark the first time authorities have successfully predicted (and failed to stop) a terrorist event. While this warning is specific to England, and not America, all Christians should be vigilant during the Season.

British intelligence and law enforcement officials have passed on a grim assessment to their U.S. counterparts, "It will be a miracle if there isn't a terror attack over the holidays in London," a senior American law enforcement official tells ABCNews.com.

Terrorist Attack in Europe Imminent

Or so says John Reid, Britain's top law enforcement official. Apparently, Ayman al-Zawahiri is expected to make some statement that may or may not be the precursor to an attack around the holidays.

Al Qaeda's media division, Al-Sahab, described the upcoming announcement to address "the truths about the clash between Islam and atheism."

Read ABC News article HERE.

Limited Nuclear War Would Be Damaging to Environment

On first blush, one would be tempted to reply, "duh." But what's most ironic is how these scientists highlight the potential damage to the environment as the ultimate catastrophe in this scenario. Never mind the fact that the entire human race would be irrevocably changed. But I guess to the scientific elite, humans are the worst thing that has happened to this planet since it's creation. Nonetheless, the study itself is interesting.

SAN FRANCISCO—A small-scale, regional nuclear war could disrupt the global climate for a decade or more, with environmental effects that could be devastating for everyone on Earth, researchers have concluded.

[...]

The lingering effects could re-shape the environment in ways never conceived. In terms of climate, a nuclear blast could plunge temperatures across large swaths of the globe. "It would be the largest climate change in recorded human history," Alan Robock, associate director of the Center for Environmental Prediction at Rutgers' Cook College and another member of the research team.

[...]

For a regional conflict, fatalities would range from 2.6 million to 16.7 million per country. "A small country is likely to direct its weapons against population centers to maximize damage and achieve the greatest advantage," Toon said.

[...]

Will the conclusions result in worldly changes? "We certainly hope there will be a political response because nuclear weapons are the most dangerous potential environmental danger to the planet. They're much more dangerous than global warming," Robock said.

Again, duh.

Is The Middle East Coming Unraveled?

It would appear so, at least on the surface.

In Iraq, the perception is that the terrorists have the upper hand. Even though, when engaging US troops, the terrorists haven't won a single gun battle. They have, however, been extremely successful in turning the American population against their own leadership. The terrorists know that they can't win on the battlefield, but if they can consistently pick off US soldiers now and again, they can win the war of public image. They know Americans have no patience for a war that lasts more than a few months. So they hold out, inflicting little in the way of physical damage, but causing intense psychological trauma.

The same thing happened in Lebanon between the Israeli military and Hezbollah terrorists in the hills of Lebanon. Hezbollah knew they were no match for Israel's military strength, so they brought the war into Lebanon's infrastructure - hiding weapons in hospitals, and using office buildings as shields. They knew it would only be a matter of time before the West called for an end to the "Israeli aggression." After all, they learned how to fight a successful public image war in Iraq.

In both cases, large modern military forces were proven impotent in the theater of urban warfare. The terrorists know that Western armies are unwilling to wage the kind of war it would take to truly eradicate the terrorists - a war of total annihilation. That doesn't fly in today's world of media-covered battles. Just the fact that civilians are still living in Baghdad should tell most people that this is not a war like WWII where cities were left in total ruins. For the most part in Iraq, business goes on as usual around the fighting. This is something completely new to the world of warfare and should be appreciated as such.

But aside from who may be winning the physical war vs. the media war, there has been one constant force behind almost all of the major unrest in the Middle East - IRAN.

This isn't some conservative attempt to take the focus off of Iraq, this is a fact. And if we shrug it off, we'll be as guilty as those who, through their complacency, allowed Nazi Germany to rise to power in the 1930s. We are facing a similar threat now, and it needs to be recognized and dealt with.

Iran is behind Hezbollah, which is now marching on the Lebanese parliament demanding the ouster of its Prime Minister. If that pro-Western government falls, it would go a long way to proving Iran's power in the region. If the US leaves Iraq due to the insurgency that is also backed by Iran, it would create a vacuum that would result in Iran controlling a third of the world's oil supply by going into Iraq. That would provoke Sunni powers (like Saudi Arabia) to stand up to Iranian expansion. None of this would be pleasant for a world conveniently ignoring what needs to be done in Iraq by burying their heads in the sand.

Iranian Paper: Great War to Wipe Out Israel Coming

More frightening rhetoric from the Islamic fascist republic of Iran. This time the state-controlled Iranian media is attempting to prepare the public for potential war by whipping religious zealotry into a frenzy. Ynet News reports:

"The great war is ahead of us, (and will break out) perhaps tomorrow, or in another few days, or in a few months, or even in a few Years... Israel must collapse."

Scary days are ahead, and I'm inclined to believe that this will rupture into a full scale conflict between the West and Iran within 5 years. Watch and be ready!