CS, it’s not “well known” about R’ Chaim zt”l. It was one person who gave an interview, who claimed that R’ Chaim had told him that he has had conversations with Mashiach.
Arso, about the Gulf War, you made a mistake. R’ Chaim didn’t say nothing would happen in Israel. He said it specifically about Bnei Brak, not the entire Israel.
CS: R’ Chaim was probably the greatest talmud chacham in the past century. His life was on a totally different level than anyone else – he lived in a different world. His entire life was only Torah, nothing else. His father, the Steipler, said straight out that R’ Chaim was a bigger masmid than he was (I believe it’s written in the book A Tale of Two Worlds). He had the entire Torah on his fingertips. There are many stories about miracles that happened with him (such as the famous grasshopper story.) When you say, “Having heard that he was a serious Talmid Chacham, Gaon etc I take that at face value,” you are grossly underestimating who and what R’ Chaim was.