"iptabes": was it copied over or typed in by hand? (so is it a
    typo somewhere in the package or not)

I typed it in by hand.  Of course it is entirely possible that there's an 
error in it that I'm just not seeing.

    OTOH /usr/lib/iptables/libipt_tcprules.so is not present on my
    system; need to look at iptables config file.

I cannot find it on my system either.

    > Try 'iptables-restore -h' or 'iptables-restore --help' for more 
    information 
    > [FAILED]
    > ===================================================

    Umm... could you run "rpm -V iptables" and quote the output?
    (should be something like this:
    ..?..... c /etc/sysconfig/iptables
    ..?..... c /etc/sysconfig/iptables_modules
    )

Running rpm -V iptables produced this:
SM5....T c /etc/sysconfig/iptables
..?..... c /etc/sysconfig/iptables_modules

    > I double checked the previous files I created and they're okay.

    Attaching /etc/sysconfig/iptables could help too.

    > Any suggestions?  I'm almost there... I can 'feel' it!  :o)

Here's the contents of /etc/sysconfig/iptables: