MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

AP – “BAGHDAD – A gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of Al Qaeda in a carefully planned early morning shooting spree in western Iraq, officials said.

The killings in Haditha highlight Al Qaeda’s success in regaining a foothold in an area they once dominated through police executions and murdering city officials.

By going after police, the militants demonstrate to the residents of Haditha, a desert city closer to the Syrian border than to Baghdad, how isolated they are from the central government’s protection and intimidate those who want to join the security forces.

The city’s proximity to the border, just 65 miles away, means it is vital territory to Al Qaeda if they want to ramp up operations in Syria to help overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. Already, Sunni militants who revile Assad because he’s a member of an offshoot religion of Shiism are crossing from Iraq into Syria.

The killings carried out by Al Qaeda Monday morning demonstrated a high degree of coordination, knowledge of their targets and a boldness that indicated little fear of the local security forces ability to fight back.” Read more.

Huge death toll doubles in Yemen ‘slaughter’ by Al Qaeda affiliated Islamists – “The death toll from a sophisticated attack by Islamic extremists against soldiers in Yemen jumped to 184 Tuesday, three Yemeni officials told CNN. Air raids on militant positions since the attack have left at least 42 militants dead in Abyan province, security officials said. The attack Sunday at an army base by Ansar al-Sharia, which is allied with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), originally claimed the lives of 90 soldiers and wounded many others. A spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington issued a statement giving a much lower death toll, saying ’73 martyrs’ died in the ‘battles in Abyan.’ But officials on the ground in Abyan gave CNN the higher death toll. The attack ‘illustrates AQAP’s complete disregard for human life,’ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.” Read more.

According to Israel’s News 2, US officials believe that Israel has already made the decision to attack Iran and are worried that this attack will precipitate a “Third World War” in which other Arab states will join the fight against Israel “under pressure from the Arab street” …

Google translation: “U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change in the coming weeks or months the Iranian nuclear program. A senior official stressed that the conversation with News 2 there is a dispute between Israel and the United States on the question of ‘day after’, which means the price of attacking Iranian nuclear facilities. Americans warned by various messages, an Israeli attack would cause a regional war and possibly a third world war…

They describe a scenario where an attack will lead to thousands of missiles thousands of deaths. Ben Gurion Airport will be closed and the stock market will collapse, leading to a fatal damage to the economy and this will lead to an arms race in the region such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.” Source (Hebrew) – News 2.

Flashback: NBC’s Engel ‘Worried’ About ‘Ferociously Anti-Israel’ Arab Street and Concludes ‘This Thing Ends in Jerusalem’ – “A clip from NBC’s interview has now been added below. This clip was uploaded to Youtube by a Muslim poster who states, unequivocally, ‘Yes, insha’Allaah, [Allah willing] just like before, we will get back our Al Quds [Jerusalem].’ The Muslim world longs for the battle of all battles to come as soon as possible …” Read more.

“(Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least two civilians Monday after detonating explosives at the gates of the NATO base where copies of the Koran were burned, Afghan officials said.

The bomber targeted a vehicle belonging to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said district governor Kabir Ahmad Rahil, adding there could be foreign casualties, although a NATO spokeswoman said no coalition troops had been harmed in the attack on Bagram airfield.

Four more civilians were wounded in the attack, Rahil said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was ‘revenge’ for the Koran burning, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a text message to media. He added that ‘a number of Americans’ were killed and their tanks destroyed in the attack, although the Islamist group often exaggerate casualties.

Afghanistan’s army chief has said the burning of Korans last month at the NATO base an hour north of Kabul advanced the Taliban’s cause and warned that any repeat of such ‘negligence’ by Western forces could be disastrous.” Read more.

Afghan investigator: US burning of Qurans was intentional – “The burning of copies of the Quran at an American base in Afghanistan was intentional, said a member of the team investigating the incident that triggered widespread and deadly anti-Western protests. ‘We believe it is intentional,’ Maulavi Khaliqdad, a member of the panel established by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Monday. ‘If they burnt one or two copies, then we could have said it could have been a mistake. But they took hundreds of such books to burn. Everyone knew those were religious books.'” Read more.

‘Suicide bombings fair response to Koran burnings’ – “Matihullah, 24, had always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Then news spread that Western soldiers had burned many copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base in Afghanistan. He gave up his studies and embarked on a new mission in life — to become a suicide bomber. “Since the desecration and burnings of holy books of the Koran, I have been burning with the desire of revenge. It is running in my blood,” said Matihullah, wearing the traditional white skull cap worn by many Afghans.” Read more.