It appears that the U.S. military is about to clash with Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite leader in Iraq.
Sadr has a dangerous connection to Iran, and it is critical that you understand what it means. Several reports have stated that Iran is sending agents and armaments into Iraq. It is blatantly supporting Sadr and his violent followers (see p. 2).
President George W. Bush was asked by a reporter about how America was going to deal with Iran. There was no clear answer. Iran poses a problem for which we have no answer. That is because our people lack the will to confront the number-one powerhouse in the Middle East.
The Iraqi conflict has been compared to the Vietnam War. There were many mistakes made in Vietnam, but one of those errors we rarely ever discuss. We had a lack of will in that war. This weakness has plagued us since we failed to win the Korean War.
The Iraq War will never be won, unless America confronts and conquers its dangerous lack of will to use its military might.
I knew that Sadr was going to pose a serious threat to the U.S. That is why I wrote about him in our Trumpet magazine about six months ago. His radical hatred for the U.S. was also written about in my booklet The King of the South. You should write for a free copy of it to understand how dramatically dangerous this problem could be. Iran is destined to shock the Western world very soon. This booklet will show you what is
really going to happen in the Middle East.
In my Personal in our November 2003 issue, I quoted a disturbing excerpt from a Newsweek article, Sept. 8, 2003: “Especially worrisome are statements attributed to Muqtada al-Sadr, the son of a revered ayatollah murdered by Saddam in 1999. Although he has little religious standing, al-Sadr has shown himself capable of rallying enormous crowds to his anti-American banner. ‘The Americans will not protect our clerics nor let us provide that protection because the Americans are the enemy,’ said a spokesman for al-Sadr, speaking on Al Arabiya television after Friday’s [Aug. 29, 2003] bombing.
“Then again, many Iraqis, including residents of Najaf, believe it was al-Sadr who ordered the earlier murder near the Imam Ali shrine [of the leading Shiite cleric in Iraq] and possibly last week’s attack. … And the murkiness doesn’t end there. Because al-Sadr is not himself a high-ranking Islamic scholar, he depends on a radical Iran-based ayatollah to give his organization religious direction and credibility” (emphasis mine).
I then went on to write the following:
“Why is this considered ‘murkiness’? The Newsweek article, titled ‘The Danger Is Very Close,’ didn’t elaborate. But I think it should have. This bombing fits Iran’s pattern of terrorism for over 20 years! …
“America and Britain are standing in the way of Iran’s very ambitious goal for the Middle East. And so far it has let nobody stand in its way. …
“How can we ever win this war in the long run? Oil-rich Iran can keep providing terrorists and armaments endlessly! They are fighting this war from their strength and can’t lose. America and Israel are both fighting the terrorists from a dangerously weak position and can’t win. Both are either ignorant of the basic cause of terrorism or they are afraid to use their superior military might. Regardless, our lack of will is why we can’t solve the terrorist problem. What a great advantage for the terrorist-sponsoring nations!
“Several Middle Eastern nations support terrorism. But all of them know that the king of state-sponsored terrorism is Iran. And they generally follow the leader.
“This is the kind of reality that most of our leaders refuse to face. Until we do, we have no chance of winning our war against terrorism.
“The real power base of Mideast terrorism is Iran. This nation is the king. Iran leads the ‘axis of evil’ in the Mideast. Labeling this axis is not enough. Endless talk and writing won’t stop this deadly problem. Sponsoring terrorism is an act of war. Terrorism will continue to flourish until we deal with this reality. …
“But there is a deeper problem. We fear to face the cause of this problem. Our will has been broken, so we try to solve the problem the way the Israelis do—and their terrorist problem grows worse! The Israelis also lack the will to deal with Iran—the origin and primary source of world terrorism!
“We are essentially fighting the terrorist war as the Israelis are. So look closely at their pathetic failure. That is going to be our outcome in this war unless we radically change our strategy.
“Iran, along with Syria and other nations, will keep undermining whatever we do. We may slow the process, but in the long run, Iran will win this war.
“Iran should be given a choice: Stop sponsoring terrorism or the war will be extended into your nation. The U.S. has never been in a greater geographic position to put pressure on Iran. But do we have the will? That will continue to be the big question.
“How can we win the war against terrorism if we don’t see, or refuse to fight, the real enemy?”
Recent events in Iraq make this question even more important. The Shiite uprising under Sadr shows that Iran has dangerous cards to play. But, just as God has prophesied (Lev. 26:19), as the situation gets more dangerous, America’s lack of pride in its power becomes even more plain.