Whoever Kills The Innocent

by Lothar Birkner

  Bian entered a car with Sandy. Yvonne went to Andrea. Sandy drove the first car, Andrea the second. Sandy wanted to be absolutely sure this time not to be noticed, but without losing the two pursued cars out of sight.

  They were on the motorway heading toward Aachen. They wanted to go to Belgium. Sandy thought, Wouldn’t it be necessary to tell Mike at last where she was and whom she was following? But she promised Bian to do everything to make sure that Bruno came out unharmed. But when Mike took command, the priorities became very different.

  No, she wouldn’t inform him now. She would shut her eyes and hope for the best. Everything was at her own risk now.

  On the highway, it was not so difficult to shadow without being noticed. But shortly after the border they left the highway and finally headed to a rural area. Sandy kept the biggest possible distance to the pursued cars. But, of course, she would not lose sight. Andrea remained shortly behind Sandy`s car. And everything seemed to be okay. They watched from far behind that the two cars reached an apparently deserted farm.

  Sandy and Andrea stopped the cars some one hundred meters away, rather far from the farm. They were pretty much clueless. The opportunity for the liberation in Immerath was missed. There the balance of power was more favorable.

  They were sure that the number of terrorists was greater on the farm. That was beyond doubt. And it would be much harder to approach unnoticed to a free-standing farm.

  “We must first think thoroughly, considering all possible options,” Sandy suggested. All nodded.

  *******

  Saleh sat in the car next to Ali on the trip toward Aachen. He was thoughtful. All fights of his life passed by in his mind's eye. He hated the hypocrisy and insincerity.

  It began with the sexual uptightness and hypocrisy that prevailed during his childhood and youth. The political hypocrisy that some called democracy but what clearly was a plutocracy in his opinion, just not government by the people, but a rule of the rich. This system held the rich in power. He hated leaders of business, politics, and media, who appeared to the public like liberals and pluralists, but if it was a question of power, they toughly defended their benefices.

  Yes, he had been full of hatred.

  He joined the left-terrorist RAF to combat this system without moderation or compromise. An armed fight without ifs and buts, including even bank robberies, kidnappings, and armed attacks. They had finally lost this fight, at least that was true for Germany!

  But it was a worldwide fight. And so he went there, where he thought to find the most determined fighters against Western imperialism. The fight was against Rothschild, Rockefeller, Goldman Sachs, and similar powers. Against the US imperialism and all accomplices.

  He went to the Middle East. During his RAF days, he had had contacts with Palestinians. There he went, when he finally had to leave Germany. He met Fatima, his great love, a young Palestinian woman, who was a Hamas fighter.

  Then she was imprisoned by the Israelis.

  He converted to Islam and he was looking for the organization that most radically and successfully fought against the US imperialism among all Islamic movements. He found a new ideological and political home at Al-Qaeda.

  He had dealt with Islam, particularly with the parts of the doctrine which had to do with Jihad, the holy war.

  The more aggressive and radical interpretations of some text areas in Quran and Sunnah were, the more they inspired him.

  "The true faith is not scholarship, but the combative use!"

  The Muslim brother, Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian radical thinker said so.

  Revolution was the fight for the one indubitable God. The Jihad was for Martin a war against Western imperialism, but also against its henchmen among Muslims. The saying of Muhammad's "I am come to you as a butcher" inspired him because he saw in it the justification for the brutal fight against the decadent Western system and the pigs who served this system.

  The fact that Islam basically rejected the interest, fit right into his ideological concept, just interest and compound interest on the investment income would cause that the rich are getting richer, and that through honest work no one could attain prosperity.

  He knew, in the middle ages, Christianity also rejected the interest. Financial transactions were banned for Christians and left to the Jews. Martin was well informed about many theories and ideologies.

  Before he turned to the revolution, he studied with the Jesuits and all philosophical teachings, revolutionary theories and religions were familiar to him. From Thomas Aquinas to Karl Marx, he had read everything and was competent in every ideological debate. That and his organizational experience in a terrorist fight made him quite useful for his new organization.

  Deep in his heart he admitted that he wasn`t religious at all, at least not in the way of conservative Islam teachers. But he knew well to hide his conviction. Islam was the ideological bond that was best to unite the peoples of the Middle East against Western domination and exploitation; that was his true opinion. But he didn’t speak about this to his new fellow-believers.

  He had strolled at night through the old town of Cairo or Damascus and enjoyed pleasures that his orthodox Islam teachers would have called sinful and he had no problems drinking some liquor on those nights.

  He loved the poet of Abu Nuwas, who had lived during the time of Caliph Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad, and who praised wine and even homosexuality. Martin knew and liked that even some conservative Koranic commentaries offered very different interpretations of Koran verses, always ending with the wise remark that "God knows better."

  But of course he knew the arch-conservative Islamists who were dominant in his organization didn´t like those ideas. They thought that their interpretation of the Koran was the only way to salvation. Martin himself preferred more the liberal, less discriminatory tendencies of Islam deep in his mind.

  But he had found the Islamists of Al-Qaeda as the most determined fighters and respected them. He had turned just into a Muslim, who was inside pretty free, externally set his own compromise with the arch-conservative Islamists.

  Today he surely had learned not to be so unconditionally open and direct, as he once was as a young man, when he always spoke his mind.

  He looked in the mirror at car following them and thought about Anwar. He had never been familiar with this student from Yemen. Although he was highly intelligent and well educated, Saleh and Anwar didn’t speak the same language and they thought and felt totally different. The young man seemed to him in spite of all existing education much too narrow minded and bigoted.

  Anwar was sitting in the second car, his thoughts going forward to the great things that would happen soon.

  He cheered inwardly. An important battle had begun and he was ready to sacrifice everything. The fight for the cause of Islam had given him his dignity back. Therefore, he was willing to risk life and if necessary to die in the holy war.

  We did not begin this war, he said to himself. The Americans always believed it started with 9/11. That was not right, because the attack on the World Trade Center was just a reaction.

  Previously, the Americans had sullied Saudi Arabia, the heartland of Islam and all Islamic countries. Even eleven years before 9/11 namely in the year 1990 the President of the United States had called for the creation of a new world order in an important speech. They wanted to subjugate our people.

  Their aim was that our values should be subordinated to those of the United States and the super-rich in our countries who cooperated with them. He thought a proof for his opinion was, even the U.S., Senator Ron Paul admitted in 2007 that American foreign policy was at least partly responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. And the agents of high finance tried again and again to subdue the whole world.

  But we are proud of our values. Not money is our God and Rothschild is his Prophet, but Allah is Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet.

  The traditional values such as honesty, piety, fear of God and family are with us.

&n
bsp; Adultery is punished and gay doings are also a sin to be prosecuted. Only the Sharia guarantees a decent life for all. Allah has given us Sharia.

  The West wanted us to worship their idol, money and accept a boundless liberality and to throw overboard our venerable and traditional values.

  We will never do that!

  The Koran is the guideline of real Muslims and not what some people in America have thought that`s right.

  We have an ancient culture which goes back one thousand four hundred years and which is more than equivalent to the culture of the West.

  But of course there are traitors in our countries who call themselves Muslims. They are even more despicable.

  We must fight all these governments that pretend to be Islamic and do not fully implement the Sharia. Allah is the source of all justice, and anyone who rejects the Sharia is our enemy. To proceed against the infidels by force even the Koran calls.

  The Sure 47.2 says:

  "When you see that who disbelieve then beat them on their neck."

  We stand in the tradition of the real Islam. Images, music, movies are evil. Men and women living close together is immoral and has to be inhibited.

  Anwar saw himself as a proud fighter for the real Islam.

  As the two cars left the highway in Belgium and went through lonely landscapes coming to the farm, which was their aim, Anwar at once noticed two cars behind them, which were pretty far back, but remarkably always with the same distance. They don`t come any closer, never overtook, but they were always in sight.

  That couldn’t be a coincidence.

  He decided to behave as if he has noticed nothing. He wanted the pursuers to feel safe and think that they hadn’t been noticed.

  He decided to inform the great Suleiman immediately after arrival. This way he would know how careful Anwar was. When they stopped on the courtyard of the farmhouse, the persecuting car stopped too. At far distance, of course. But now Anwar was sure.

  *******

  Bruno now finally realized that he was a prisoner: He had been blindfolded and put rather rudely on the backseat of a car. He noted that Gerster was sitting next to him. They weren't gagged this time.

  If Martin were in the car, he would have probably loudly protested against this treatment, but as he was now together only with Anwar it seemed the better way to be silent.

  He noticed that they were going at high speed. They must be on a highway. Later the speed slowed down. He concluded they were on country roads and finally the car stopped.

  They were guided, still blindfolded, into a building. Now at last the blindfolds were taken away. They were in a dimly lit, sparsely furnished room. Both were alone now.

  Gerster sat next to him and Bruno spoke to him. “I`m really very sorry that I put you in this situation.”

  Gerster mumbled a few incomprehensible words, but they didn’t sound friendly. Nevertheless, Bruno tried again to talk with him. "I really have no idea what they want to do with your laptop. Do you have an idea?”

  "I'm afraid I can imagine. There is very important data on the nuclear power plant in Tihange on it, including those of block two, where a few years ago, cracks were detected. They have probably been there since the power plant has been started. But the entire investment was too big to close everything and that`s why they plan to have it till 2025 on the net. The Research Centre Jülich and experts from the Aachen University confirmed that the risks are calculable. But none of them took into account the risk of a big terror attack.

  “For a few hours, I have the horrible ideas and terrible pictures in my mind.

  A meltdown here and West wind...

  “It depends if the main wind direction comes from Southwest or from Northwest. In the first case the area of Cologne Düsseldorf area is affected, in the second case the region Frankfurt Mainz area is mainly endangered. Anyway, a radioactive cloud will reach millions of people.

  “These terrorists know now exactly the thickness of the walls of the reactor and they have precise information about the existing problems, including the cracks in the walls. It is very easy for them to figure out, for example, how a relatively small rocket fire can bring everything to a collapse, and how such a meltdown is triggered.”

  Bruno was pale now. “This would mean thousands of people would die, hundreds of thousands seriously ill and all food products from this region contaminated for a long time. Millions of people have to suffer from this attack. They all are completely innocent. They are going to kill so many innocent!”

  “They don`t care. On the contrary that’s their aim,” Gerster remarked. “They are so ruthless. And I blame myself that I told them my password. But I think I wouldn`t have endured torture in any circumstances.”

  At this moment, Saleh/Martin entered the room. Bruno spoke to him immediately:

  “Tell me, are you really planning to cause a meltdown at the nuclear power plant? That would be a terrible catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps even millions would take heavy damage. You cannot want that. They all are innocent. In old days, when you fought for RAF, you chose only very special representatives of the system as your targets. People like Schleyer, Ponto, Herrhausen, they were entrepreneurs, bankers and such people, no innocent people.”

  “Listen Bruno,” Saleh said now. “Ask the U.S. imperialists or the Israelis, how many innocent people as a result of their actions have been killed? They don`t report it or call it just collateral damage. People who starve to death or die of diseases, because they have no food or medicines due to a blockade policy. They kill plenty of innocent people We are at war and did not start it! Unfortunately, it is a matter of a fact that innocent people have to suffer from the criminal policy of their leaders. But we are fighting for the good cause, for the cause of Allah!

  “Incidentally, Herrhausen, the head of the Deutsche Bank, could have certainly been on our list. But we didn`t kill him. We had in 1989 no longer the possibility to kill one of the best protected people in his armored car that was escorted by a big motorcade. The letter of confession was a fake and all other references to us too. This man was a victim of his own comrades from the international high finance, who used the opportunity to blame us for this murder.”

  He laughed and continued. “If we had had been already on scene in the 1960s, some would have attributed to us probably the Kennedy murder too. Yes, I`m sure the capitalists don`t go easy with their peers, if one of them don`t follow the line.”

  Bruno listened with his mouth agape, and didn’t know whether he should believe it or not. Finally, he said, “Whatever you say, I`m not sure what`s true and what`s not. But this can be no justification for mass murder.”

  Saleh only made a dismissive gesture. “Chill out Bruno. It's no use anyway. I am only here to tell you. You should behave as calmly as possible. See nothing and hear nothing! Then you might have a chance to survive everything.”

  With these words, he left the room. The two were confused and scared.

  *******

  Saleh/Martin left the two quickly because the great Suleiman wanted now to issue an important statement in the meeting room for him and everyone else. Suleiman, Saleh, Anwar, Ali, and four other people were at this meeting. One of the other seemed to be a personal bodyguard and driver of the spiritual leader. Saleh had no idea who the other three were and what kind of function they had. Suleiman began his short speech:

  “Allahu Akbar! God is great!”

  “Listen believers, Allah is great and he protects the orthodox believers. That's why he has put us in the position to lead a decisive blow to the unbelieving devils. We will be the weapon in the hand of Allah within the next twenty-four hours He has decided to punish these infidel dogs for their evil deeds, committed in countries of Holy Islam.

  “Allah wants peace, but if the followers of the devil hang out in Muslim countries and want to spread their evil way of life there rather than to recognize the holy laws of the Koran, then they will realize that Allah`s revenge is terrible. />
  “We want nothing more than that the Americans, Israelis, and their servants leave our countries.

  “For this reason, we will bring war in their countries and punish them very long and hard until they leave the hallowed ground.”

  All nod and he continued:

  "You know, just a few kilometers from here a nuclear power plant is located. And the unbelievers think in their blasphemy and their pride they are able to control not only the technology, but they are also prepared to take risks to accept vulnerabilities of reactors in their greed for profit. We will use their arrogance with Allah's help.

  “Our friend Hassan has been working in such power plants and he knows the processes ant the vulnerabilities very well.”

  He pointed at one of the three Arabs who could not classify Saleh.

  “We have taken possession by an action of Saleh and it was with the help of Allah that a laptop’s content was analyzed very quickly by Hassan. Now we know how we can very effectively trigger an accident here. It was very helpful that Hassan learned so well in universities of the infidels, to serve the cause of Allah.”

  A smile flitted across his face and Hassan felt pride to hear himself praised in this way. That was obvious for everyone.

  “We have destroyed the symbol of the way of life of the infidels when we hit the Twin Towers in New York and caused them to collapse. They are talking about globalization and mean they want to dominate the whole world. As they try this, we declared the whole world to the scene of the war between Orthodox and non-believers.

  “The rulers of the unbelievers imagine themselves safe; they think they`re about to win the war. But they make one mistake after another. They deprived of power this dog Saddam Hussein in Iraq, so they cleared the way for us in Iraq, and now our brothers in Iraq are stronger than before.

  “Not only in Iraq are we on the upswing, but in Syria, too. The United States have weakened our enemy Assad and we will be ready to crush all traitors like Shiites and Alawites and others.”