Reprisal!- The Eagle's Sorrow

by Cliff Roberts

  The emir of Eritrea was the grandson of the great emir of Massawa and Eritrea, the original leader of the Brotherhood. He was proud to be the group’s chosen leader, just as his father had been and his father before him. His father was the son of the great emir, and his mother was the daughter of the imam of Eritrea, the man chosen to be the first spiritual leader of the Brotherhood. For sixty years, his family had been the driving force behind it, and like his father and grandfather, he hoped his son would become the next leader of the Brotherhood, keeping the family tradition alive and their personal Jihad, or Holy War, in force.

  Upon the emir’s greeting, his holiness, the imam of Massawa, Abdul Mohammad al-Fakhry, the grandson of the first imam to serve the Brotherhood and the emir’s brother–in-law, stood up from where he had been sitting quietly in the corner. He began reciting a simple prayer, one they all knew by heart, causing the men to hush immediately and bow their heads.

  “There is no God but God. Blessed be his name and Mohammed is his Prophet! May God keep the faithful safe and protected, and may he bring unspeakable wrath upon all infidels and the unfaithful! Blessed be Allah!” When he had finished, he sat back down and the men sat quietly waiting for the emir to begin.

  All seven men in the room were grandsons of the original founding members of the Brotherhood. They had all been raised on the hatred and bigotry of their fathers and grandfathers, as it is with all young Muslim men. Their indoctrination began at a madrasa, or holy school, where the Koran is taught by rote. From there, their education progressed through private studies and religious tutors until they were of an age to travel abroad. It was there that they were formally educated in the finest institutions of higher learning available in the Western world. Their educational studies, which had included the French and English languages, had taken them to England, France and the United States. Each man had spent two to three years in each of the three countries, as well as extended time in many other Western countries. They knew and understood the Western mindset well.

  They understood how the corporate world worked and had spent a great deal of time and money plotting its downfall, just as their fathers and grandfathers had done. They thought it was ironic that the West had supplied the money for its own destruction through the purchase of oil and other minerals their lands were rich in.

  “Today we have a proud announcement,” the emir began again. “We are ready to take the second step in our quest. The European Union is the target. Hamburg, Germany, in particular.”

  “Our emissaries in Hamburg have relayed that they are ready to strike.” Brief applause filled the room, quickly dying away as the men smiled warmly at each other. “They await our approval to go ahead as planned. Our main operative is currently en route to the city to oversee the final step in the operation and should arrive by this evening.” More applause filled the room and again faded away, allowing the emir to continue.

  “In other news, our emissaries in the Far East have arranged for a convoy of ships to be provided for our purposes, and they will be at the rendezvous point as planned in six weeks. The experiment in the Straits of Malacca went as expected. The safety measures proved to be insurmountable by simple explosives, and so the plan created by our scientists will have to be executed in order for the mission in Hamburg to succeed. Our emissary in Hamburg assures me he and the team will follow the instructions to the letter.

  “The shipment of our special weapons, which had been delayed in Cuba, has been expedited by the Russians, and has been delivered to Egypt as promised. The weapons are to be loaded on board our vessel for transport by tomorrow, and then in two months’ time, Inshallah, we will be ready to strike! The shipment should arrive at the appointed ports in the Persian Gulf by the end of the month. Then, when the ships arrive, we will load the weapons on board for delivery to the Iranian ports as planned.”

  The emir stopped for the statement to register with the other men. Their smiles signified that all had understood, and no one had any questions, so he continued. “If it is Allah’s will, Iran will cease to be a major oil exporter, and their infrastructure and military might will be completely destroyed by the coming war with the Western powers.

  “With Iran’s oil infrastructure in ruins,” he went on, “we believe the Iranians will lash out at Western targets using the suitcase nuclear devices that they have purchased from the Russians. This, in turn, will cause the West to retaliate with their own nuclear missiles thus ending the existence of the Persian Shiites forever!” Another round of applause filled the little conference room, and the men beamed with delight.

  “The second stage of the attacks will block all shipping from traversing the Straits of Hormuz, other than the small coastal freighters. This will provide us with a plausible excuse to utilize the new pipelines across the Kingdom to ship our oil and natural gas. It will also force Iraq to make a pact with us to ship their oil. By doing so, we will have taken complete control of all oil in the Middle East, and thus, we will be able to force up the price and steal the life blood from the Western powers.”

  “The West will simply open their own fields and circumvent our plans. I have said this from the beginning. We are wasting time and money with this plan,” Khalid bin Almory of the United Arab Emirates snidely remarked. Several of the other men looked at him but said nothing as they understood this was a closed subject. The group had spoken on this issue many months before.

  “After the attacks,” the emir continued (ignoring Almory and his remark), “our oil and gas will continue to flow from our fields to either Jeddah on the Red Sea, allowing shipment through the Suez Canal to the West, or to Muscat in Oman, for shipment to the Far East and Australia.” The emir explained the distribution system that would be set up after the destruction and war. “Of course, as we have agreed, the amount of oil and gas we will ship will be greatly reduced causing a huge spike in oil and gas prices.

  “Our emissaries in the Futures Markets will push the prices higher still by bidding the price higher each day, slowly crushing the economies of the West and the Far East. Then, once again, we will take our rightful place as the leaders of the world, in Allah’s name.” The applause this time included the men pounding their fists on the table and cheering loudly.

  “We will bring about caliphate under Sunni Islam as is proper, as taught by the Koran. The twelfth imam will rule supreme the world over. The infidel Shiites will have been trampled by the Western powers, and then we, in turn, will destroy the West by squeezing their economies to death and using their own misguided laws to gain undue influence in the everyday lives of their populations.

  “As we speak, we are introducing Sharia Law in every Western nation. We have emissaries at all levels of their governments, many of whom are simply stupid infidels who believe that they are ensuring their own future by cooperating with us for minor amounts of money through campaign contributions and outright bribes. The Eastern powers of Russia and China will be driven to their knees by the same economic forces and internal expansion of the Islamic faith.

  “The Chinese are most vulnerable because of their complete dependence on imported oil. By forcing the price of oil higher, the cost will bankrupt them. Russia is vulnerable through oil, as well. Their vulnerabilities are their cost of production and the limited ability to harvest any major quantity from their existing fields. The pipeline from Siberia to China will only provide about five percent of China’s needs, and the Russians have no way of expanding that capacity unless they allow for more foreign investment—in other words, us, since we control most of the oil company stocks worldwide. Once we have driven America to its knees, we will increase production and drive Russia to its knees by making oil extremely cheap. The Russians cannot produce the oil unless the price remains above seventy five dollars per barrel. We can afford to drop it to twenty-five dollars a barrel and still profit.”

  “The Americans will simply open their fields and begin producing their own oil, forcing us to produce more at a lesser price,”
Almory spoke again.

  “Enough!” Heyman al-Ghazi ibn Fahd snapped loudly. “We have explained this to you time and again. The Americans have passed laws that make it almost impossible to drill for oil in their own country. They continue to allow environmental laws to erode their ability to produce anything, let alone oil. Even if they were to suddenly desire to begin production, it would take years of political haggling to reach a consensus as to where and how to drill. They will be strangled by their own political process, while they quickly die of economic stagnation. We have taken every step possible to ensure that the political factions remain in deadlock. We have financially backed the environmental groups which will file lawsuit after lawsuit in order to ensure we are victorious. Now, shut up!” Al-Ghazi stated curtly.

  “To ensure our success in the East, the radically inspired Jihads in Central Asia and Southeast Asia will be fostered with the trillions of dollars we will profit after the fall of Iran. The West shall be ours in just a few short years and the East a few short years after that. Praise be to Allah!”

  The room burst into cheers of “Allahu Akbar!”

  When the cheering died down, Almory asked coolly, “Has Bin Laden been dealt with yet?” Almory was dressed in a medium blue, French silk business suit direct from Paris. His desire to be seen as European, along with his continual complaining, placed him at odds with other members of the Brotherhood, just as his father and grandfather had been. While waiting for an answer, he added, “We have allowed that filth to pollute our children’s minds for far too long. Too many times, the men we have sent to cause his demise have failed.” He then looked directly into the eyes of the emir of Eritrea, assigning the blame for those failures to him.

  Without breaking eye contact, the emir replied, “Bin Laden was sent to Paradise two months ago, along with those who were closest to him. It was a tragic truck bomb in the Kashmir region of Pakistan. Our man, Mohamad al-Azzaam has taken his place. Al-Azzaam has already redirected the faithful to new endeavors, including directing attacks on shipping in a number of locations, one of which is in the Gulf of Aden and another is in the Straits of Malacca. But the most important task he is handling for us is the expansion of Al-Qaeda in South America.” The emir took a breath which was all the opportunity Almory needed to continue his boorish attack on him.

  “Why were we not told of this? He acts in secret without keeping us informed. This is the exact problem I have spoken about with most of you. We have the right to know everything that is done in the name of the Brotherhood!” he practically shouted, venom dripping from his words as he pounded his fist on the table in front of him.

  “Khalid bin Almory,” Heyman al-Ghazi ibn Fahd, the oldest and most powerful member of the governing council, interjected, “we have covered this subject time and time again. Secrecy is necessary to ensure that our plans succeed. The less that is shared once the mission has begun, the better off we are! Now, if it is not too much trouble, SHUT UP!” he spat loudly. Almory quickly looked down, not wishing a confrontation with the most powerful member of the Brotherhood and also a member of the House of Saud. The memory of the late emir of Aden was still very fresh in his mind. The emir had died in a tragic auto accident in Italy last year. He had been judged unworthy by the council and eliminated.

  The emir from Eritrea cleared his throat and continued reporting to the council members. “Our plan is to encourage the continued flood of illegal immigrants across America’s southern border. This will enhance the draining away of their economic security and their national identity. As grave as that situation is, we have taken steps to ensure that they will do little to improve the situation. Our emissaries assure us that with several well-placed bribes we have taken control of their political will, ensuring that only favorable decisions regarding our desires on this subject will be made.

  “On the American holiday of the Fourth of July, while the American public watches parades and eats hot dogs, we will attack Chicago, their second largest city, and destroy the bridges of their interstate highways and railways. We will also set fire to the nearby oil refineries in Gary, Indiana. In addition, we have a dozen agents ready to cross the border into Southern California to set fire to the tinder dry brush that covers hundreds of thousands of acres in that state this time of year,” the emir explained.

  “They are currently experiencing a drought that reaches as far north as San Francisco and Oakland, California. You may recall the fires in the early 1990s, which burned a good deal of the city of Oakland to the ground. Those fires were our inspiration for this mission. It will help to drain their national finances and their resolve, forcing them to either print more money or seek loans from foreign sources. That process will be difficult if not impossible for them to arrange through their usual sources, for those sources will be experiencing financial difficulties as profound as America’s, if not worse.

  “We, however, are not experiencing any financial difficulties currently, nor will we in future. We are swimming in gold and silver from our oil sales with more to come. If they should seek a loan, they will have to agree to our terms—our Sharia terms—which will be extremely usurious in nature,” the emir concluded.

  “Did we not lose four men in Cuba who were to be part of the team for Chicago?” the crown prince, Sabah al-Mohammad of the Emirates, who was dressed in a blue, double-breasted Savoy Row suit with a white robe draped over his shoulders, inquired.

  “Yes, we did. But it will not delay the operation because we have already replaced them with four men from the Detroit area. Men who have been highly trained in explosives and were planned to be part of the backup team for Houston as well as Chicago,” the emir from Eritrea answered.

  Al-Ghazi spoke up again, interrupting the emir who was about to call for closure. “Ashrawl was privileged to a great deal of information about us, and I fear that he will pass on that information.” He paused, taking a puff on his cigar before continuing. “With that information, our enemies could not only delay our plans but destroy them! Destroy us! I would hope we would have our friends in America find out who took David Ashrawl, discover what they have learned from him, and then stop any further information from being shared.” He stopped for a moment, looking from man to man for a reaction, before continuing.

  “We also lost a key asset in Israel. The prison warden at the Moshe Dayan Detention Facility was killed by someone, but not Hamas as reported. They knew he was not to be touched, and they depend on us too much to test us. We need to find out who killed him and what he told them, as well!” Al-Ghazi asserted.

  “Yes, you are right, Your Eminence.” The emir addressed the Saudi interior minister formally.

  “I agree we should find out what Mr. Ashrawl told his captors, but our sources tell us that Mr. Ashrawl has so far only shared that he has information that is very valuable. Perhaps we can ensure that Mr. Ashrawl is unable to share his knowledge. That would ensure our safety and the safety of our plans. According to our sources, it is Ashrawl’s belief that he was kidnapped by the Iranians from the West Bank, and so far we cannot prove otherwise. There is no way to tell what, if anything, Ashrawl told those who captured him, but if it was the Iranians, they know our plan, and it will fail.”

  The emir took a deep breath and then continued when no one interjected. “So perhaps we should double our efforts to find out what the Iranians know before we make the final commitment.” The emir made eye contact with Al-Ghazi, who nodded his agreement. Then the emir looked from man to man around the room seeking each one’s silent nod of approval.

  “What is the status of the new world currency?” the emir from Yemen asked as the emir of Eritrea took a drink of water.

  “We have good news on that front,” the emir stated after quickly swallowing. “We’ve built a consensus among the G7 members that a new currency is needed. The only holdout to implementing the change is America. Although I am confident, they too will come around and agree to our proposal, changing to a world currency based on oil as oppos
ed to the U.S. dollar, which we all know is worthless paper,” the emir stated with a smile.

  “What is the reason that America is holding out? National pride or better trade terms?” the emir from Yemen asked.

  “No. President Starks wants a bribe. Otherwise, he will not recommend it to the country, and he will veto any bill that Congress passes,” the emir stated sheepishly, knowing that the other members would be annoyed by this development. After all, they had already paid him handsomely for his cooperation.

  “He what?” the sheik from the Emirates barked loudly.

  “He is demanding that the G7 make a contribution to his presidential library in an amount that is yet to be determined. But the contribution will have to be in gold. No paper money, no credit transfers. Gold,” the emir stated.