The timing of the Haiti tragedy was of particular interest to us at the Trumpet because of its proximity to an anniversary we often draw attention to.
In August 1990, after Saddam Hussein invaded the little nation of Kuwait, the United States began mobilizing its military across the Middle East. On Jan. 12, 1991, the U.S. Congress authorized the use of military force against Iraq to drive it out of Kuwait. Four days later, on January 16, Operation Desert Storm officially began.
A year earlier, we had asked our readers if “some dramatic event in the world” might happen Jan. 16, 1991, because that happened to be the anniversary of Herbert W. Armstrong’s death.
Soon after the Gulf War started, our editor in chief, Gerald Flurry, highlighted the repercussions the war would have on the Middle East and the United States. “The truth is we won a battle in Kuwait,” he wrote in May 1991. “[But] we did not win a war. The job was left unfinished.”
To this day, Iraq hangs as a millstone around the neck of the United States. In fact, removing Saddam Hussein from power in 2003 only cleared the way for Iran to emerge as the king of the entire region, which fulfills another Bible prophecy we have highlighted for over 15 years.
What about the timing of the Haiti quake? In the Trumpet’s last issue, we again noted the significance of January 16. Four days before that date, Haiti was ravaged in the earthquake. On January 14, President Obama pledged $100 million to support the relief effort. The next day, the USS Carl Vinson reached Haiti, and the president promised that much more help was on the way.
On Saturday, January 16, Hillary Clinton became the first White House cabinet member to arrive on the scene. That same day, in Washington, President Obama met with former presidents Clinton and Bush to discuss how to enlist the support of the American people in rebuilding Haiti.
After their meeting, President Obama announced that he was “moving forward with one of the largest relief efforts” in U.S. history. It will be a long-term effort, he said, that will not be measured in days or weeks, but in months and even years.
Will this nation-building endeavor, which effectively began on Jan. 16, 2010, become another millstone that ends up sinking America?