"The Three Stooges Of Evil" - Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

Lt. Colonel James Zumwalt, USMC (ret)

In the aftermath of 9/11, the question asked was why we failed to see what was coming.

An interviewer asked news reporter Tom Brokaw when he was retiring in 2004 if there was ever a story he regretted not reporting. His response was his failure to do a pre-9/11 story that connected the dots on terrorism. The dots were all there but blind ignorance prevented us from seeing the connection. Unfortunately, blind ignorance is at it again.

Reflect for a moment on a film with the following plot. Three men in positions of power and authority are bonded together by a shared belief. The trio sees a world in complete disorder. Desperately needed to re-organize it is a leader possessing superhuman traits. They believe just such a leader has been pre-ordained for this role, with the ability to create a single global society. Once this leader appears, he will effectively mold all six plus billion inhabitants of Planet Earth into a society answerable to but one god and one set of laws. Those opposed to such a world order will suffer death.

The trio believes this pre-ordained superhuman leader has walked among Earth’s inhabitants before. He was a descendant of a great religious warrior-leader more than a millennium ago, but disappeared as a child, ascending into a state of occultation. He still exists in this suspended state today, unable to return to Earth to lead his global unification fight until the right condition exists by which to release him, triggering his return.

The plot thickens as it is the trio alone who collectively hold the key to the occulted leader’s release. Only by their joining forces and working together to achieve the necessary condition to free the leader from his occultation can his destiny be achieved.

The condition the trio needs to usher in to achieve this result is world chaos. To do so, one of the trio’s members seeks nuclear weapons—a goal from which he will not be deterred, regardless of the obstacles placed in his way.

The above makes for intriguing fiction—were it not for the fact it is not. According to an article by Ryan Mauro in FrontPageMag.com, a documentary with just such a plot has recently been released in Iran. It is a film explaining the intentions of a trio of leaders to use war as a trigger to expedite the arrival of the “Hidden Imam” or “Mahdi.” Not only does the documentary brazenly forewarn what lies ahead for the world, it also predicts the prophecy of the Mahdi’s return is “very close” to becoming reality. As the prophecy ordains the Mahdi’s return will not occur in an odd numbered year, “very close” may suggest that war will happen in 2012.

Starring in the film’s role is the trio of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Shown to top clerics a few weeks ago, the film is now being viewed by Iranian security forces—the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and the Basiji. It will then be distributed to mosques and Islamic centers throughout the region.

The documentary appears to be an educational tool for preparing followers for the role a nation in the east (i.e., Iran) is destined to play in fulfilling this prophecy by leading the war against Islam’s enemies in order to trigger the Mahdi’s return. The film cites current events, such as the various Arab uprisings, to explain that “the final chapter has begun.” It also explains the “end-of-the-world” prophecy involves three characters who will be critical to its fulfillment—the aforementioned Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah.

Khamenei is “the preparer” for the Mahdi’s return. The film shares that Khamenei has already had a private meeting with the Mahdi who came down from his “occulted” state to reveal himself to the head mullah. During this meeting, Khamenei was allegedly told the Mahdi’s official arrival will occur sometime before Khamenei’s term as Supreme Leader ends (i.e., his death). Khamenei’s poor health is an indicator 2012 is, again, probably being perceived by Iran as the year for things to fall into place for the Mahdi’s return.

As “the preparer,” Khamenei appoints a commander-in-chief 72 months before the Mahdi’s return. Ahmadinejad became president in August 2005 (stealing the 2009 election for a second term). Thus, this is Ahmadinejad’s role, for in 2012 he will still be serving as commander-in-chief.

The film depicts a role for which Ahmadinejad has always believed he was destined and from which he has never shied away. As mayor of Tehran before becoming president, he had ordered the widening of some of Tehran’s streets to prepare for the Mahdi’s return. Only three months after taking office as president, he announced his mission was to “pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi.” And, after addressing the UN in 2005, Ahmadinejad returned home to brag to clerics that, as he spoke, he felt surrounded by the glowing aura of the Mahdi—an aura which so mesmerized world leaders present they could not even blink. His speeches include a prayer for Allah to “hasten his (the Mahdi’s) reappearance.”

The last member of the prophecy’s trio is a military commander who will form the Mahdi’s army with which to march into Mecca in Saudi Arabia. (This indicates the Mahdi’s trio targets not only non-Muslims but Sunni Muslims as well. In fact, in a direct threat to the Saudis, the film begins with the challenge, “Whoever guarantees the death of King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, I will guarantee the imminent reappearance of the Mahdi.” Accordingly, 2012 may prove to be the year of the assassin for the Saudi leader.) The military commander’s role in the Mahdi’s trio is played by Hezbollah’s Sheikh Nasrallah.

Implementing its plan for war against the US, Iran last year took a strategic step to position itself for the 2012 conflict. With elements of Hezbollah pre-positioned in Venezuela since 2006 with the permission of President Hugo Chavez, an agreement was struck between the two countries to establish missile bases there—jointly operated by the two and manned by Hezbollah fighters. In a far cry from President Kennedy’s aggressive, and successful, actions almost a half century earlier in forcing the Soviets to remove missiles they had placed in Cuba, President Obama has done nothing to challenge Iran on this. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has been linking up with Mexican drug gangs to access our borders in order to be prepared for the 2012 war.

Another event signaling the Mahdi’s imminent return is re-capturing Jerusalem. This goal brings into context a recently published map identifying the location of a thousand military sites and facilities Hezbollah has been building over the past few years in Lebanon—many co-located at civilian sites. It is a build-up that will continue until Hezbollah gets the signal from Iran to strike out at Israel in fulfillment of meeting the condition precedent to the Mahdi’s return.

Ironically, the war with Iran that President Obama has so desperately sought to avoid is one Iran, based on its own documentary, is seeking to have by 2012. The production of a film making this intention so clear is a brazen indication its leadership is confident its release will not cause a complacent West to act. They are confident, once again, we will fail to connect the dots.

If only the trio above were characters in a comedy spoof. We could rest assured the “three stooges of evil” would be stopped in time by a superhero. Unfortunately, however, the danger in the real life plot of “The return of the Mahdi” is that the superhero role remains unscripted.



Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (ret) is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam War, the US invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war. He is the author of "Bare Feet, Iron Will--Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam's Battlefields" and frequently writes on foreign policy and defense issues.