World War III

Sunday, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appeared on Meet the Press. He was talking about the various hot spots accross the face of the globe. After doing so he said: "We are in the early stages of what I would describe as the third world war, and frankly, our bureaucracies aren’t responding fast enough. We don’t have the right attitude about this . . . And frankly, the Israelis have every right to insist that every single missile leave south Lebanon and that the United States ought to be helping the Lebanese government have the strength to eliminate Hezbollah as a military force, not as a political force in the parliament, but as a military force in south Lebanon.”

Tim Russert, the host, queried: "This is World War III?”

"I believe if you take all the countries I just listed, that you’ve been covering, put them on a map, look at all the different connectivity, you’d have to say to yourself this is, in fact, World War III,” replied Gingrich.

What are some of the things he cited as evidence? "North Korea firing missiles. We say there’ll be consequences, there are none. North Koreans fire seven missiles on our Fourth of July; bombs going off in Mumbai, India; a war in Afghanistan with sanctuaries in Pakistan … the Iran/Syria/Hamas/Hezbollah alliance. There is the war in Iraq funded largely from Saudi Arabia and supplied largely from Syria and Iran.” He also talked about some things occuring in Great Britian, Canada & the USA. & that the roots of the war can be traced back58 yrs to the 1st attempts to destroy Israel.

He appeared Monday on Hannity & Colmbes as well as on Sean Hannity's radio show talking about the same thing.

Is he right?

I'm not sure. Part of me wants to say "No!". But, I have to say that what he says does make sense. People at the start of WWI didn't see til later that the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand marked the start of the war. & many of the causes of WWII can be traced back to the Treaty of Versailles, clause 231. In 1937 Japan invaded China. In 1939 Germany invaded Chechoslovakia. At the time nether was called WWII. As the fighting spread people began to call it what it was in fact already true, a world war. These facts keep me from saying that he is wrong.

My opinion is that it depends on what happens in the days & months ahead. Stopping the fighting in Lebanon won't be enough. Hezbollah & Hamas have to be put out of business. Their avowed goal is to wipe out Israel. & as long as they exist they will continue to try to do so. The following is only a little taken from Hamas' charter to back up what I say: " Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors." (opening) "Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" (Article 7) "The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it." (Article 11) "[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion." (Article 13)

Everything I read in that charter convinces me that Hamas will not be satisfied with anything less than the entire anihilation of Israel.I would recommend reading the entire charter, which will back up what I said, at: http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html

& remember, Hezbollah feels the same way.

Then there is Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said: "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map" (The Imam he is refering to is Ayat Allah Khomeini.) Lest you doubt I am quoting him correctly, the quote is taken directly from an article on Al-jazeera's English website. (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/15E6BF77-6F91-46EE-A4B5-A3CE0E9957EA.htm) On a broadcast made Wed 14 Dec 2005 he said: "They have fabricated a legend under the name Massacre of the Jews, and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves. . . .If somebody in their country questions God, nobody says anything, but if somebody denies the myth of the massacre of Jews, the Zionist loudspeakers and the governments in the pay of Zionism will start to scream." Again from Al-jazerra (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/60AE1720-F333-4869-974D-3B69283105BF.htm)

There is no easy way to deal with hatred such as this. & this is only a small sample of the hatred that that portion of Islam holds towards the Jewish people, Christainity, America, Great Britain & the West. This group is not representative of the entirety of the Muslim world. There are many other Muslims who do not feel this way. They are disgusted by the way this group has hijacked their faith. So the entire Muslim world should not be lumped together.

Kim Jong-Il is ranting & raving in N Korea. They are testing missiles & working on nuclear weapons. Mumbai (Bombay) India has its problems with Muslim extremist terrorists, etc, etc, etc.

How do you deal with these groups? Difficult, but not impossible. Again, to go back to what Pope Benedict said Sun, we need to pray: "to implore from God the fundamental gift of concord, bringing political leaders back to the path of reason, and opening new possibilities of dialogue and agreement. In this perspective I invite the local Churches to raise special prayers for peace in the Holy Land and in the whole of the Middle East." God is the only 1 that can change hearts. & without this change no dialogue is possible.

Israel is right to defend itself from the attacks of Hamas. This doesn't mean indiscriminant bombing of Southern Lebanon. They need to use "restraint". Some people may have problem with that word, or the concept. I don't. Restraint doesn't mean setting back & letting Hamas run all over them. retraint means being careful, careful to do all you can to protect civilians & esp children from harm. Sadly, this is difficult to do as Hamas has no qualms about using civilians & children as a sheild to hide behind. Then they rely on public opinion to make Israel as the villian. What puzzles me is that many of the same who criticize Israel, no matter how careful they are, when a civilain gets hurt/killed, are strangely silent about the fact that Hamas had no qualms with putting thoose innocents there in the 1st place. These same critics are even more silent when Hamas intentionally attacks Israeli civilians & children. They use a very hypocritical standard. Hamas can do no wrong, Israel, no right. As I said before, Israel doesn't always do things right. & should be called to account. But, even more so, shouldn't terrorist groups like Hamas be held to as strick a standard?