our guardian never sleeps nor slumbers

What can I say?

Only last week I was posting that god deals with our enemies, often in ways that do not appear as if the hand of god was at work.

I posted that Iraq, the implacable foe of the Jews.....were brought to their knees....and Saddam, the modern day version of Haman was finished.

And I also mentioned that Israel....did not have to lift a finger.

Last week, during our Chanuka....Israel warned that it might have to take care of Irans nuclear capacity should it become apparent that it would be used to threaten Israel....

Iran's response......We will destroy Israel if she attackes our nuclear facilities......The words they used.......destroy.

On the last night of Chanukah, the leaders of Iran brought on a tragedy of enormous proportions onto their own people....not unlike the Pharoe of old.....when he brought on the 10 plagues onto not only himself, but onto his citizens as well.

Think about it......Iran threatens to destroy Israel......Iran ....the financiers of terrorists whose aim is to eliminate Israel.......and under the watchful eyes of Israels god, threatens to destroy Israel.

Gods answer...........an ominous warning.....but one that will not be picked up as a warning but rather....will simply be attributed to an act of nature........

Iraqi leader caught....Libya capitulates, now this.......all in the month of Kislev, and Chanukah.

This is not a time to gloat as it is forbidden to gloat when tragedies occur to our enemies. The people of Iran are not our enemies......but, their leaders are.

This should be a time for introspection....they are after all religious.

Maybe.....just maybe.....from a religious perspective........their leaders as did the Egyptian Pharoe of thousands of years ago ........brought it upon them.

They........... as Pharoe........ do not understand the meaning of the words.......

Let my people go!

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Iran Appeals for Help After Killer Quake
16 minutes ago

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

BAM, Iran - Overwhelmed rescue crews picked through entire city blocks of rubble in search for survivors and bodies a day after an earthquake ruined this southeast Iranian city. With the death toll in the thousands, Iran appealed for international help and promised to waive visas for foreign relief workers.

The scope of the tragedy was so vast that a reliable death toll was impossible to pin down so soon after the magnitude 6.5 quake hit Bam early Friday. The Interior Ministry's early estimate on Saturday was 20,000 dead, while two leading rescue officials said the toll could eventually double.

"As more bodies are pulled out, we fear that the death toll may reach as high as 40,000. An unbelievable human disaster has occurred," said Akbar Alavi, the governor of the city of Kerman, the provincial capital.

The leader of one relief team, Ahmad Najafi, said in one street alone in Bam on Saturday, 200 bodies had been extracted from the rubble in one hour's work. Workers used their bare hands and shovels, while a few bulldozers moved piles of bricks in the search for bodies and survivors.

With hospitals in the area destroyed, military transport planes had to evacuate many wounded for treatment to Kerman, and even to Tehran.

"There is not a standing building in the city. Bam has turned into a wasteland. Even if a few buildings are standing, you cannot trust to live in them," Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari told reporters Saturday.

One man interrupted Lari as he spoke. "My father is under the rubble," the man said, his face streaked with tears. "I've been asking for help since yesterday, but nobody has come to help me. Please help me. I want my father alive."

Lari tried to calm the man down and assigned an aide to see that he got assistance.

Authorities had new trouble to deal with Saturday. About 800 convicts escaped from the Bam prison, guard Vahid Masoumpour told The Associated Press. The prison lies outside the city and its walls fractured or collapsed without killing any inmates.

Thousands of residents of the city spent Friday night outdoors, sleeping under blankets in temperatures close to freezing. A few hundred slept in tents erected by relief workers, and more tents arrived Saturday.

Men and women were seen slapping their own faces and beating their chests in an Islamic ritual of mourning.

"This is the Apocalypse. There is nothing but devastation and debris," Mohammed Karimi, in his 30s, said Friday when he brought the bodies of his wife and 4-year-old daughter to the cemetery.

The government appealed for international aid and said it would waive visa requirements for foreign relief workers.

"The disaster is far too huge for us to meet all of our needs," President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) said Friday. "However, all the institutions have been mobilized."

Many countries responded, and relief crews from across Europe began arriving. A search-and-rescue team — mostly county firefighters — from Pacoima, Calif. was getting ready to go as well.

Bam's population was 80,000 before the quake, and surrounding villages were also severely damaged.

In one of the city's cemeteries, relief workers were digging and a bulldozer was excavating a mass grave. More than 20 corpses were already lying in the mass grave. A cleric and 10 relatives were saying prayers over an individual grave.

The quake destroyed much of Bam's historic landmark — a giant medieval fortress complex of towers, domes and walls, all made of mud-brick, overlooking a walled Old City, parts of which date back 2,000 years. Television images showed the highest part of the fort — including its distinctive square tower — crumbled like a sand castle down the side of the hill, though some walls still stood.

The quake struck at 5:28 a.m., while many were asleep. The state news agency IRNA put the magnitude at 6.3; the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) measured it at 6.5. Survivors were panicked throughout the day by aftershocks, including one that registered a magnitude of 5.3, according to the geophysics institute of Tehran University.

The interior minister said 70 percent of residential Bam had been destroyed, and there was no electricity, water or telephone service. Iran's Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, said rescue and relief teams had been sent to Bam from numerous provinces.

Entire neighborhoods in Bam had collapsed. On one street, only a wall and the trees were standing. People carried away injured, while others sat sobbing next to the blanket-covered corpses of their loved ones. One man held his head in his hands and wailed.

The quake's epicenter was outside Bam, and nearby villages were also damaged in the region, which is home to about 230,000 people and lies about 630 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran.

In Iran, quakes of more than magnitude 5 usually kill people because most buildings are not built to withstand earthquakes, although the country sits on several major fault lines and temblors are frequent. Iran has a history of earthquakes that kill thousands of people, including one of magnitude 7.3 that killed about 50,000 people in northwest Iran in 1990.

The United Nations (news - web sites) cultural agency, UNESCO (news - web sites), asked Iran for permission to send an UNESCO team of experts to the city's historic fortress, which has been under consideration for the agency's list of protected World Heritage Sites.

Parts of the Old City — once an important stop on the Silk Road through Asia — date back 2,000 years, though most of the structures were built in the 15th to 18th centuries.

Khatami declared three days of mourning. "God willing, we will try even harder to meet your needs," he said in a phone call to Kerman's governor that was aired on television.

Shocked Iranians mobilized to help. In Tehran, volunteers jammed a blood donation center. In Fars province, neighboring Kerman, the governor asked for donations of blankets and food and for volunteers to head to Bam to help in relief work.

Don't threaten the Children of Israel.....my children...........They have suffered more than enough.........now you have me to contend with.........................warning number 1