Barbed wire, soldiers won't be enough

Dear Editor,

Autumn leaves will soon be turning and I am turning back some calendar pages to 1995. I was on a bus with a tour group in Israel. Our bus stopped at Golan Heights, a strip of land bordering Israel and Syria. (Golan Heights was captured by Israel from Syria on June 10, 1967.) An eight-foot-high barbed wire fence separated the two countries. A U.N. soldier from Austria stood guard. There were tanks nearby.

Historically, Syria is a big battle ground. In Bible times, Assyria (Syria) and Babylonia controlled the land near the Tigris River. Babylon fell and by 720 B.C., the Syrians ruled the Tigris valley to the north.

Cyrus the Great extended his empire in 538 B.C. and ruled land from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean. This included Syria. The Romans conquered Syria in 64 B.C. Ottoman Turks took possession of it in 1516. France ruled it as a mandate in 1920. In 1945, Syria was an independent country.

Syria and Egypt formed an independent republic in 1958. In 1961, Syria became an Arab republic. Seven of 8 people there are Muslim.

In September 2013, Israel is very nervous. Syria could easily strike with chemical warfare or bombs against them.

The carrier USS Nimitz is waiting on the Mediterranean coast. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Lindsay Graham of North Carolina have had an emergency meeting with President Obama.

Germany and Great Britain don't want to be included in action against Syria. France has sided with the U.S.

Is this the beginning of the battle of Armageddon? Barbed wire and soldiers are inadequate.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

Trenton, Nebraska