Storm Clouds

Perhaps I'm being particularly bleak but it seems to me that we're about to enter a period of intense, violent and bloody war.

Syrian troops on Thursday reportedly have penetrated three kilometers into Lebanese territories, taking up positions in the mountains near Yanta in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

And-

The American ambassador to Iraq has urged policy makers in Washington to give "some very, very serious thought" to the consequences that could follow an early reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq, warning of a surge in sectarian killings in which civilians "by the thousands" could die.

But the Dems aren't listening or don't care that they might be about to enable a genocide to take place-

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the U.S. troop surge in Iraq is not working and the war "is headed in a very dangerous direction."

"We believe that it's time to change course," he said.

Not to mention Al Qaeda's insistence that Iraq is central to their plans to spread their particular brand of bloody mayhem further afield- and note too how you never hear anyone mention any more that a US withdrawal would prove Bin Laden's assertion that America is a paper tiger correct. We've seen time and again how murderously depraved the terrorists in Iraq are- hacking off hostage's heads on camera, blowing up women out shopping, beheading children, mass graves; the list goes on and on and on. These are the very people who will feel emboldened by a US retreat, who will feel that their barbarous tactics have been vindicated by the withdrawal of a superpower. People who will see these tactics- bloody mass murder of innocents- as a successful tool to be used again in order to obtain their goals.

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Turkey has massed 140,000 soldiers on its border with northern Iraq, Iraq's foreign minister said Monday, calling the neighboring country's fears of Kurdish rebels based there "legitimate" but better resolved through negotiation.

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Commercial satellite imagery indicates Iran is tunneling into a mountain near its Natanz uranium enrichment complex, possibly to protect nuclear equipment against air attack, a US think tank reported Monday.

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The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, officials said, in the government's latest gesture of support for moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his struggle against the Hamas militant group.

There is one tiny problem with that last piece- Olmert promised that no prisoner with blood on their hands would be let go- but out of 10,000 prisoners they are having real trouble finding only 250 who fit that criteria.

The situation does not look good.