A point of “No Return” is approaching, faster than ever. Two weeks ago Iran’s martyrdom seeking leadership announced that an additional 6,000 uranium refining centrifuges were being added to the push to take their country nuclear. Iran’s leaders’ intentions are not peaceful. Iran is building nuclear weapons and will use them as soon as they have them.  

There is no meaningful or effective effort to prevent Iran from achieving its goal. Any overthrow of Iran’s radical rulers is a figment of Secretary of State Rice’s imagination. Based upon a review of multiple, public “status reports” and a feeling for historical significance, I believe that mid-September, 2010 is the drop-dead date. By then I expect that Israel, back-to-the-wall, out-of-options and out-of-time, will attack Iran in an attempt to seriously setback that country’s atomic bomb building project. With equal conviction I believe that Iran shares my view. Anticipating an Israeli attack, Iran may launch a pre-emptive strike. Every time Iran’s leaders’ speeches mock Israel’s belligerence, they are building their case justifying such an attack.

It does not matter who throws the first punch. This is going to be a regional war unlike any previous Middle Eastern conflict. Iran will launch everything it has against Israel and it has massive means to do so. Syria will do the same, perhaps using munitions containing chemical and biological agents. Hezbollah, bigger, stronger, better armed and combat proven, its storehouses bulging with tens of thousands of newly re-supplied Syrian, Iranian and Russian missiles, will attack from hundreds of positions all across Lebanon. Hamas, armed to the teeth not only with small arms and short-range rockets, but also with missiles capable of reaching Israel’s heavily populated costal area, will launch a widespread, sustained attack from within the Gaza Strip’s most densely populated civilian areas.

More than 15,000 rockets and missiles will strike Israel within the first 36 hours of the war. The death and destruction will be massive. Israel will counter with everything in its arsenal. Other Middle Eastern countries may join in the attack on Israel directly or indirectly by allowing “volunteer fighters” from across the world to use their countries as staging areas for military operations against Israel. Israel will respond against these countries with whatever resources it has left. Many Arab countries will cease to exist as functioning societies.

As the initial massive missile attack subsides, sooner in areas not targeted, the terrorists on Israel’s southern and northern borders will begin to infiltrate. Terrorists in the areas belonging to the Palestinian Authority and elsewhere across the West Bank will join in. And the tens of thousands of Fatah (terrorist) Palestinian security services personnel, (paramilitary) many trained (advanced “counter-terrorist” tactics), armed and equipped by the EU, the British and the United States also will attack. Much of Israel is literally within walking distance of the Fatah. There will be a blood bath, up close and personal, as the terrorists sweep into undefended Israeli neighborhoods. Fighting will continue for months. Israel will survive, but the number of dead could easily number in the hundred of thousands.

For the United States there will be two direct and immediate consequences resulting from this Middle Eastern regional war. First, foreign oil deliveries will be interrupted for an extended period of time. The price of oil will skyrocket to levels that make driving your car prohibitively expensive. Heating oil will become similarly expensive. Transportation of goods to market will be uneven, perhaps sporadic. Shortages of basics will result. For a while you may need to be self-reliant. Now is the time to begin putting away a few food staples each week, purchase a bicycle, a book on gardening, some packs of vegetables seeds and some comfortable, warm clothing.

Second, if ever there was a time when both the terrorist cells and the “lone wolf” terrorists thought to be present in our country crawl out from under the rocks where they are hiding, the war will be the catalyst. Within 36 hours of the start of the war in the Middle East, isolated acts of terrorism will begin across the United States. The initial “incidents” will act like several ping-pong balls thrown into a large room jam-packed with mousetraps set with ping-pong balls. Suddenly traps are going-off everywhere and ping-pong balls fill the air. A virtual wave of terror will ensue. It could take months to quell the attacks by homicide/suicide bombers and shooters and by thousands of other, not so enthusiastically seeking immediate martyrdom, terrorists making up the hundreds of terror cells across the United States.

America’s homeland is basically undefended. It is what the terrorists smugly call a “target rich environment” - and You, the members of your family, your neighbors and your friends are the targets.

My vision of the future disturbs me. Does it disturb you? I hope so. I hope it disturbs you so much that you actually do prepare your family. You have a year to do so, to learn new skills, practice and perfect them. Make use of it. Do not allow the legacy of jimmy carter’s presidency to bite you on the butt.