ROSENBERG: Good to see you again. How are you?
COLBY: Tell us why you think the President, not just
Secretary Rice, should make his way to the region.
ROSENBERG: You've got to understand that this battle
that we're in now is a battle for Jerusalem. Sheik Nasrallah
of the Hezbollah is saying they've liberated southern
Lebanon in the past and now they're going to liberate
Jerusalem. That's what Iran says. That's what Hamas says.
That's what bin Laden says. This is a battle for control
of Jerusalem. Happens to be what The
Copper Scroll is
about fictionally -- but in real life the President has
been very supportive of the countries that are on the
front lines in the War on Terror. He has made surprise
visits to Iraq, to Afghanistan -- a number of times --
and I think this would be a good time at this moment
to stand with Israel, to go in, make a surprise visit
with the Israelis as they're facing this terrible onslaught
from radical Islam, but to balance that visit to Israel
with a trip to Jordan to show that we are in support
of moderate Arab Sunni governments that are willing to
fight the War on Terror as King Abdullah has. So I think
that a trip to the region for him briefly -- it can be
brief -- but I think standing with that Israelis and
with Arab governments that are moderate...that are helping
us in the War on Terror, is critical at this moment.
COLBY:
Talk to me about Hassan Nasrallah. We haven't heard
from him. He had put out a tape saying that he
has "surprises." We haven't heard from him
since. The fighting continues. In fact, the Israeli artillery
on the border has intensified. What do you think he's
thinking at this point? We heard from one of the IDF
captains earlier in this hour that they've put a serious
dent into Hezbollah's forces.
ROSENBERG: I hope that's the case. But Nasrallah's objective
is clear. He wants to liquidate the Jews and liberate
Jerusalem, meaning control the Holy Land for radical
Shiite Islam. He's a puppet. He's a puppet of Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who as we know is a Shiite
Muslim who is saying that the end of the world is just
two or three years away and that the way to hasten the
coming of the Islamic Messiah is to launch a jihad to
destroy the Jews of Israel and the Christians in the
United States. Now, I'm an evangelical Christian from
an Orthodox Jewish background, and I support Israel.
I obviously care for the Arabs -- the Lebanese and Palestinians
-- who are caught in the crossfire. But Nasrallah and
Ahmadinejad and the Syrians are talking about the liquidation
of Israel and the liberation of Jerusalem. Again, I write
about this fictionally in The
Copper Scroll and The
Ezekiel Option before
it. But this is not fiction anymore. This is a real war
in which real people are dying. Nasrallah
and Ahmadinejad have to be stopped. The President is
doing a good job standing with Israel, but he should
go there as well.
COLBY: And Joel, we're watching it unfold as every hour
passes. Thank you so much.
ROSENBERG: Thank you. I appreciate it. CRO
The America Show
