Today being Presidents Day it's only appropriate to compare our first president with our latest. The obvious differences demand it. We featured Abraham Lincoln in our editorial last Thursday. Today we focus on George Washington our first president who said "I cannot tell a lie!"; our latest president can tell nothing but. Our first possessed wooden teeth, but teeth of virtue for the moral law of God; our latest possesses wooden principals, who gums at plaudits about family virtues in the face of hypocrisy. Our first was a military commander who led his troops to victory in a battle that had purpose; our latest dodged the military, but now as "commander in chief," he threatens to send his pawns into a battle with no purpose. The consequences of that first war - known in historic circles as the Revolutionary War, resulted in a free nation under God founded on the principals of God's Law; the consequences of bombing Iraq could be catastrophic! Not only has the Blessed Mother conveyed to her visionaries and messengers that the first Gulf War was unjust and that a "false peace" evolved which prompted America to fall into a trance of psuedo-security. She also said that the second time we attacked Iraq it would not be the same and the United States would suffer much. Many might guffaw at such a prophesy if they are not rooted in the lessons of Sacred Scripture, for often when one side was terribly undermanned while the other overpowering and overconfident, the results would put the bookies out of business. Take the example of Joshua at Jericho, David against Goliath, and countless other examples of war in Old Testament times when God played a pivotal role in defeating the enemies of His Laws. In Church history who can forget Pope Leo the Great who, against all predictions, turned the dreaded and horrendous Attila the Hun away from the gates of Rome saving civilization and Christianity? Do we remember when the infidels threatened Italy how Saint Clare held the monstrance of the Blessed Sacrament high above the city overlooking the harbor and the Saracens turned away inexplicably? Actually, none of this is inexplicable since we know it was the Mercy of God Who intervened to turn the inevitable defeat into victory for His people. There are countless other lesser known accounts throughout history. Likewise, there are innumerable accounts in Old Testament times and throughout history when His people - yes His people turned from His Will and sought their own agenda. They didn't fare so well, did they? An excellent example of this was the Jewish bondage in Egypt and the Babylonian captivity.

     Let's fast-forward to today. Near what once was Babylon now stands the city of Baghdad on the ancient Euphrates and Tigris Rivers near where the Garden of Eden was said to exist. We all know Saddam Hussein is a puppet of the antichrist - a puppet of the one who tempted our first parents in the earliest times. On the other side of the coin, by his actions and "culture of death" policies, couldn't the same term "puppet of the antichrist" be true of Bill Clinton? It looks like a stalemate. Let's look at the people and soldiers. In Iraq most are God-fearing citizens with families who have been greatly impoverished both by Hussein and the United States embargo. They know nothing of politics, but have been stirred to a frenzy by rhetoric against America. Though there are many Catholics of the Eastern Latin Rite loyal to Rome, it is true the majority are Moslems whose outlook on life can be different than the Christian perspective; nevertheless they are God's children. Now, let's look at the people and soldiers of America. Most are God-fearing citizens with families who have been greatly impoverished morally by the corrupt values foisted on them by the media and the current administration, diminishing God and His Laws. Few are lacking in want. We can't forget Christ's Beatitudes as well as the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. So often, though, we do. We think that excess poverty and famine cannot effect us, that what happened in Bosnia, Iraq, China, Russia, Northern Ireland, Africa and many countries in South America can never touch the mighty U.S. of A! What a proud and arrogant nation we have become. Haven't we gone to school on the lessons of history? Remember the fall of Rome? We are not invincible or infallible. We, as a nation and a people, have made many mistakes. George Washington himself admitted this and strove to do all in his power to better it. But our biggest mistakes have been happening in this decade as we head for the "Final Crusade."

     We use the term "Crusade" for this is what it will become if we go to war. Islamism is thicker than blood. They proved this during the crusades where most crusaders met with total disaster. Only a few of the crusades were victorious and the loss of lives was staggering in the middle ages. The difference is the Christians marching to war then were going for a cause. We have no cause in a war that is built on assumptions, ill will, and greed for oil. If we attack an arab country as expected, do you think Syria, Arabia and the rest of the Islamic cartel will sit idly by? Not on your life because Our Lady has said so. Read Daniel, read Samuel, read John's words in Apocalypse/Revelation to see the results. Israel is the target and everyone knows it. This is a perfect excuse for the modern Saracen empire to unite and launch an all-out attack on their most hated enemy dating back millenniums - Israel, not the United States. What we fail to realize is that the United States is a prophetic player in all of this. The script, thus far, is going according to form. Read the purported vision the "Father of our country" received in Washington the Visionary in today's issue. Pray that America will be preserved for Russia, the beast from the north, is making overtures of retaliation if America attacks Iraq. Syria lies in wait. Don't count out Iran as an unlikely Iraqui ally either. Even China can't be discounted as the "hordes coming over the mountains." Let us hope and pray that this game of "international chess" is merely a game, and not the real thing. We are nearing the millennium, the era of the promised "purification of the earth and God's people" that will be brought about by the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart which will usher in the glorious Reign of the Sacred Heart, the Second Advent, the Era of Peace as prophesied in Sacred Scripture. But before all this there must be the chastisement, the suffering of both just and unjust. Such a war that in Iraq purports to this. By voicing our support of this strike of force by Clinton and his cronies, we are saying "Our country, right or wrong!" That is wrong, totally wrong! God and His laws must come first and if our country is wrong, we all should and must speak out. The Holy Father has called for further talks that calmer hearts and minds might rule. We echo this for peace cannot be obtained by force but only from a communication of hearts as Father Stephen Valenta emphasizes in his column today. To attack now is premature, senseless and poor military strategy. Why is it every military man we have heard interviewed cautions that we should wait? Yet, the man, who is pushing to do it now and who is making the decisions to send young men and women to their death, hasn't a clue about military strategy or the commitment to being a soldier? Maybe Clinton should take a cue from Washington and advise caution and compassion...and start telling the truth! Short of this, let's spare the innocent young men and women of both sides and let Saddam and Slick Willy mount steeds on opposite sides of the Euphrates or Tigris. Can't you just see Clinton leading a cavalry of White House staffers across this fabled river? It's not the Potomac and it's not going to claim the senseless slaughter of millions. It just might be hazardous for the multitude of media hounds who can't swim! How appropriate: Clinton swimming with sharks!

Michael Cain, editor

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