Whoever Kills The Innocent

by Lothar Birkner

  ********

  Suleiman had called for Saleh, because he believed he knew best how to scare US Americans or Western Europeans so much, that they will say anything, what they know.

  “They don`t believe in Allah, paradise and hell. But they have a terrible fear of their own death, I`m sure. I want to know if U.S. intelligence agencies have knowledge about what we're doing. Yes, we could torture, don't you think so? And we are, in this art, at least as perfect as these American torture specialists. Publicly they talk about human rights, but if they want to interrogate a brave Muslim fighter, then it does not matter. And what they can do, we are able do so as well. At the moment, there`s only one problem, a truly effective torture takes some time, otherwise the prisoner will fall into unconsciousness or he even may die too early. That means before he has told us everything. We have to work slowly, that fear always creeps up in them, that they are gradually ready to tell the whole truth. But unfortunately, we don't have much time. You are the one of us, who knows best about Western culture and their psyche. You should know how to break infidels within short time. Do you have an idea?”

  As Saleh denied Suleiman continued, "I thought as they have such a fear of death, it would be possible to use this fear, so that they speak after a very short time and tell us all they know. Certainly, this young American woman is the most dangerous, she surely is an agent. We could do it in the following way. We get all three and ask the agent what they and their bosses know. If she doesn`t answer satisfactorily and plausibly, we will decapitate the first of her friends with a sword in front of her. We ask again after five minutes. If she goes on lying, we will cut off the head of second person in the same way. And then we give her short time, to tell us honestly, all she knows. Otherwise she herself will share the same fate. Don`t you think this idea very effective and absolutely brilliant?”

  Saleh hesitated with the answer. He could hardly hide how disgusted he was. He always thought it`s a necessary evil, that people are killed in the struggle for political goals. But these plans of Suleiman frightened him terribly and they were loathsome. But of course he didn`t want to show his feelings and after a few seconds of hesitation he responded:

  “Certainly. Oh Suleiman! Your proposal is ingenious and brilliant. But I do not believe that American intelligence services have knowledge of our plan to attack the power plant. Our secrecy was perfect and only a very small number of reliable people know about it. So why kill them and frighten them this way? Their fear could perhaps lead to false statements, only because they want to extend their miserable lives a little bit.”

  Suleiman made a negative hand movement:

  "But we should try it anyway. We have little time and they are infidels! The life of an infidel has no value. Verse 12 of surah 8:

  "Truly in the hearts of the unbelievers I throw terror. So cut off their necks and each finger."

  “Actually, a good idea. We should chop off only a few fingers as first step. We act within the meaning of the Koran, and perhaps that is even more effective. These infidel women will tell us everything they know. You can go now.”

  Saleh hurried to leave the room. He hopefully managed to appear indifferent. He was not sure at all, if he actually could hide how he felt about Suleiman's idea.

  “Did you realize he has become very pale?” Suleiman said to Anwar, who was present at this meeting. “Something is wrong with him. I really have big doubts that he is a totally convinced and enthusiastic fighter for the cause of Allah and the Koran. What do you think about it? Speak!”

  *******

  After Saleh has left them, Bian, Sandy and Yvonne were confused and clueless. Could they take his remarks seriously? Would something change and they would be free? Or was that just a trick to keep them quiet? The three women discussed the situation in a whisper. Bian and Yvonne had more hope; Sandy was very skeptical.

  "This man is absolutely not trustworthy," she said. "I cannot expect anything good from him at all.”

  At the same time, Sandy`s thoughts went to those who were important in her life. She saw them all in her mind's eye. First, her father, a hard-working man, who so lovingly took care of his family.

  He used to say, "Expect better the worse, then you cannot be disappointed."

  He also told her, "Be careful whom you trust, but if you don`t know, pray to God and trust the voice of your heart. God will speak through your heart to you."

  Her father was raised in a small town in the Midwest. He had worked up then with much diligence and trust in God, then he came to New York, because he had climbed up the ladder, and of course he was proud of his success. This meant also his own office in the World Trade Center and there he is perished in the attacks of the 9/11.

  “My dad maybe I'm with you soon,” she spoke in her heart to him.

  Sandy was determined to never to help these terrorists, not in any way, whatever they might do to her. She would prefer to die.

  She also thought of her mother, who had gone back after the death of her father to the Midwest. Now she worked there as a teacher and lived together with her little brother Bob. Oh my God, my dad would be so proud if he knew what happened to our baby boy. He was so small, as they killed dad, and today he is not only a good student at high school, but also the quarterback of the best high school of football team for miles around. He will get a scholarship to an elite University. And Linda her sister, happily married in California to a professor. I would be happy if I could send a message to Dad, Mom, Linda, Bob, how much I love you all, but these killers don`t allow that, of course. But, you should know I love you and I'm ready to die for my country.

  Another face appeared repeatedly in the inner mind of Sandy. The face of a young woman whom she had met only a few hours ago. It was Andrea whose face is again before her inner eye.

  "Yes,” she thought, “If I should get out alive here, then I would love to know her closer.”

  Tears flowed down her cheeks. Bian saw this and whispered to her:

  "We will never give up hope. Our courage will be stronger than our fear.”

  Bian remembered her childhood. She had before her inner eyes the pics of the time when they were helplessly driven around in a small boat in the South China Sea. All inmates of the boat had already given up hope. And at the very last moment the German hospital ship Cap Anamur appeared in front of them, and they were saved. So, her road to Germany began.

  "And that's proof that you should never give up hope!”, she thought. “As hopeless as it was us then, so our situation seems hopeless today.” She shuts her eyes for a second and she saw the endless South Chinese Sea and the rescue ship at the horizon.

  Yvonne also refused to give up hope. She was certainly not among the victors of this society. Several times lost her job, through no fault of her own, through bankruptcies and similar things, broken relationships, while having bad debts. But she never gave up, she lived on social welfare for some time but she found the way up again. Yes, she was a survivor. And even now, the hope in her was very strong. But she looked around for help from her fellow prisoners. She expected to find optimism and confidence in them to absorb most intensively and resonate that feeling. She felt Sandy and Bian try to be confident, but both were shaken by fear too.

  The experience, the degree of hope, the fighting spirit and temperament were certainly very different in the three women. But all three were united by one feeling, the anxiety and fear for their lives. But above all, the fear of being tortured was the biggest threat to all three, no matter how confident they may be at times. This feeling in them grew stronger with every minute. Their courage was not wiped out at all. Bian thought of the Pakistani girl Malala. At the age of fourteen years she was badly injured by shots on the head and neck from the Taliban, but she survived. A year later she spoke at the UN and said, “Let us have access to the weapon education and protect ourselves with the signs of unity and solidarity.”

  We will have her in mind and we will survive, Bian thought.

  *******<
br />
  Andrea and Bruno went first to Andrea`s car, when they slowly and carefully approached the farm. She was annoyed when she noticed that all four tires were slashed. That made it easier, they didn’t need to leave a guard there. They could no longer use the car on the run. They had no chance to order a tire service here, she thought with a slightly bitter smile. Both snuck forward. Different buildings, different doors. They found everything looked different than at the time of their escape a few minutes earlier. They were coming from another direction now. Andrea just boldly opened a door that might be the ticket. Both were standing in a dark room, which was obviously empty. She closed the door behind them.

  “And now?” Bruno said, perplexed.

  Before Andrea could answer, they heard footsteps. The door opened. Someone turned on the lights.

  “Bruno have you become totally crazy? And who is this?”

  It was Martin/Saleh. He shook his head, unable to believe the situation.

  “Not only that you dared a perilous escape, even though I told you that it was safe to stay and soon a positive change would come, but now, you even came back and brought someone with you. You can certainly say you`re lucky that I found you, and not someone else!”

  He spoke excitedly but in a low voice to them.

  Andrea protested:

  “If I understand correctly, you are the guy who brought our Bruno into this mess. I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but why shall we trust you now? Tell me, why should we?”

  "I can tell you that exactly, my dear," Martin said with a rather smug smile.

  “Because you have no other choice. If you do not, you will be dead faster than you think, or your fate might be even worse.”

  Andrea was quiet and thoughtful.

  Maybe he was right, she thought.

  “And what do you suggest?” she asked.

  "Come on, you can't stay here any longer. Someone will come probably in any moment and then the hell will break loose. We will all go to this basement hideout, now!”

  He opened a trap door and an old rotten wooden staircase led down.

  Andrea was still reluctant. This could be a trap, too. But Bruno urged her to go down, saying:

  "If he really wanted to do something bad to us, he would not need to lead us down here. In this case he could have called for others to come, just in the minute he noticed us. Then we would have no chance. So, we should trust him, we have in fact little choice.”

  All three went down through the wooden staircase. They were now in a dark basement room. Andrea pulled out a flashlight and slowly lit up the room. Two benches. Empty shelves on the walls. Nothing else. This cellar probably once served as a storage and cooling room.

  "Now you sit quietly on a bench and wait!” Martin/Saleh said.

  “Probably no one will come here and I think in less than an hour you can walk out of here safely.”

  He seemed to leave now. But Andrea grabbed his harm and held tightly.

  “I won't let you go. Whatever happens, I want to know what's happening here and what role you are playing. You must tell me that at least roughly.”

  Bruno supported her.

  "Yes, you have to explain us everything, Martin. I don't believe that you've become a devout Muslim, and surely not one of these narrow-minded medieval fundamentalists. What is your real position, what role do you play?”

  Martin smiled.

  “Now my opinion is religion is nothing more than an aid created by people to justify the rule of the mighty. This was well known already in Machiavelli`s time. On the other hand, religion can be something too, that gives motivation and identity to resistance fighters. It is easier for the masses to accept a religion but a theoretical ideology. Take for example the Catholic faith in Poland. It has given identity to the Polish people in their fight against German or Russian suppression and occupation. Same for the Irish people in their fight against Britain. So, Islam can also currently give the peoples of the Middle East the feeling of togetherness in the fight against Western exploitation internationally.

  “But this has nothing to do with the things, I have told you. The developments are much too complicated to explain it in short time. Only so much that there something going to happen soon, that terminates the whole madness here, and that is a good thing.”

  Then he put his finger on his mouth signaling them to be silent and he disappeared. The two were clueless.

  ********

  Anwar was at first careful and reserved, as he is asked by Suleiman about Saleh. Finally, he remarked:

  "He's not one of us. He knows perfectly about the Koran and in the writings of our great teachers, he hates the Crusaders, but he's not one of us. I always have the impression that he thinks and feels quite differently than we do.”

  “You are a good observer, Anwar!” Suleiman praised him.

  “In spite of all letter knowledge, all skillfulness and all certainly real hatred of the infidels, his heart is not with us. Perhaps this is because he was trained and coined in their way in the boarding schools of the unbelievers, he is thinking deep in his mind the Western way.

  “He believes in Allah and Muhammad as his Prophet, that's good. But, nevertheless, we should be careful about him. Did you notice the idea we will torture our prisoners or kill them seems to frighten him? He probably has such Western ideas of human rights and human dignity in the head. All nothing but hypocrisy!

  “What´s about human dignity if Muslims at Abu Ghraib? They have been humiliated and tortured?

  “What's about that, if the human rights of prisoners in Guantánamo are violated?

  “All law is given by Allah, it is a gift and a duty for the people. Sharia law is divine law, and who does not acknowledge divine law and prefers instead of this human laws and rules is the enemy of Allah, an accomplice of the devil.”

  Anwar enthusiastically agreed. The great Suleiman expressed what Anwar himself felt in his heart. Suleiman granted Anwar the privilege to be with them in the major attack this morning. Now in the last few minutes before they left, he retreated, once again, to prepare himself in silent prayer and silent thoughts for the glorious deed.

  Alone in a small room, after he performed his prayers in the direction of Mecca, he went back to thoughts of his childhood.

  He saw himself as a little boy who assisted his father in looking for all the cattle and shepherding the sheep. At that time, they were poor but pious and happy. What really mattered in this life couldn’t be bought with money, but was a gift of Allah, he said to himself. Through the support of wealthy patrons, he got a good education based on international standards. But at the bottom of his heart he remained obliged to the simple life and the Muslim tradition of his childhood. And he thought of the horrible death of his mother and his siblings, caused by Western drones or warplanes. He must avenge it. He would fulfill the sacred act of revenge.

  “Allahu Akbar!”

  And he quoted the Koran sure 66.9:

  “Prophet. There is war against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be hard against them. The hell will absorb them - a bad end.”

  Anwar knew Allah was with the firm believers. He would fight in this sense.

  His thoughts were with the killed family members. Killed by infidels and their henchmen.

  “I'll take thousand-fold revenge among the people who support these criminals. Everything I do will be done for the sake of the Koran, that is the law of Allah directly given to us. If I die in the fight of vengeance, I will enter the paradise, and our enemies will go to hell!”

  While he tried to be confident about the successful ending of the forthcoming fight, another feeling came up again and again. It was the fear that something could go wrong. The attack could perhaps be without success and glorious end. Where did this fear come from?

  The great leader Suleiman had obviously everything prepared very well. But Suleiman himself was apparently concerned too about their attack. He thought about Saleh and their doubts about his reliability. Su
ddenly there was the memory that Saleh had a switched-on mobile phone in his pocket a few hours ago in Immerath. An evil feeling came up in him.

  There seemed to be a problem.

  He must immediately inform Suleiman. He rushed off to him.

  Immediately, before Anwar came him, Suleiman had given the order to bring the three female prisoners to him for interrogation.

  What Anwar told him caused Suleiman anger and concern. He ordered at once to search for Saleh and bring him for an interrogation. His face was red with rage.

  “I am pretty sure now Allah gave us the right feelings, which warned us of Saleh. I'm afraid he might be a traitor. But if he is, he will pay dearly for it!”

  *******

  The three prisoners, Bian, Sandy, and Yvonne experienced a roller coaster of emotions in these minutes. They were torn between fear and courage, hope and despair, fighting spirit and despondency. The threats made to them were frightening. Torture seemed to be waiting for them. The promise Saleh made was a small glimmer of hope. There may be a way out of this predicament, but they knew nothing. The night would be over soon and the sun would rise soon. Bian tried to give her comrades hope with this statement.

  She looked over to Sandy and she discovered naked fear in her eyes. She calmingly whispered to her:

  "Whatever happens, we will hold side by side!”

  A grateful smile was the answer.

  Yvonne, too was full of fear, but she tried her best not to show it.

  “Everything will be good,” she muttered to herself. She looked over to the other two. Rescue would come from somewhere, she tried to think again and again.

  All of a sudden, the door opened. Then an unknown man entered and briefly addressed the sentry in Arabic. Now, both urged the three women to go. One of the Arabs was going before them, the other behind, both were armed. There was absolutely no chance to escape. They left the building with trembling knees. They were guided to the opposite house in a large room. The already well-known Suleiman waited for them here with two assistants.