The Sword of Islam

END GAME

Abu Malik Asadi, was called Kemal by his friends in Special Forces, Abu’s nickname came from Mustafa Kemal Bey, who had defeated the British at Gallipoli by correctly anticipating where they would land, could barely drive his Toyota Land Cruiser home. Kemal had a Turkish cigarette in his right hand and let the coal burn his finger to keep awake. He was in a zombie like state where it hurt to stay awake. The Israeli’s had detonated a pulse bomb last night over Iran using a nuclear device in outer space, creating an electromagnetic surge that knocked out all communication as well as the electrical grid, nationwide. Not even the cell phones worked. As head of Iranian Special Forces, and Director of Special Operations, he had been up all night jury rigging a communications system. This pulse bomb was a new improved version of the one the Israeli Air Force had dropped to start the war with their attack on the nuclear facilities. He was done now and wanted to get back to his flat outside of Bandar Abbas.

This new and improved electromagnetic pulse bomb had been a real hard blow. After Israel had bombed the nuclear facilities they had so carefully been building, the Mossad had sent in special teams of agents who along with airdropped sten guns, grenades, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and gold, had succeeded in sparking an uprising of the population in about one third of the country. And the rebels had been consistently gaining ground.

The Islamic Republic was hanging on by its fingernails. The true believers and those who owed their jobs to the government still had the morale to fight, but it was getting harder to rally the faithful. Only a few of the true believers still had in their eye the gleam of a beast of prey. Abu was a student of history, so he had created a plan after the first Pulse Bomb to deal with the loss of their communications system. They would revert to WWI methods. He had stockpiled and stored Vespa’s and others small motorbikes, and bicycles with lists of delivery service employees, as well as middle and long distance runners. Communication would be done by courier delivering coded messages. In fact it might be a blessing of Allah, since there would be no electronic transmission it would be virtually impossible to penetrate the system unless the courier was captured and tortured. His staff had given each courier cyanide capsules to insure silence.

Kemal had been up all night starting with the first members of the system and getting it off the ground. It was up and running, the army could talk to its units. Now as he drove in he opened the door to his basement apartment closed the deadbolts and lunged for the bed, feeling the first waves of sleep starting to flow over, then submerging his body.

He did not know how long he had slept, he was dreaming of a thin bronze skinned lady walking toward him on the beach when a sharp rapping on the door brought his body to full consciousness. He always slept with one eye open. He turned and flicked his Bic lighter to light his kerosene lantern, and briefly glanced at his loaded Ak47 on the floor by his bed. He decided he did not need it as he approached the steel door of his apartment. He looked through the wide vision peephole in the door and saw a young man, one of his runners with Adidas’ on, waiting for the door to open.

Kemal opened the door and the runner handed him an envelope. You will wait to see if I need to send a response Kemal said, motioning the young runner towards his kitchen and pointing him to a chair where he pointed to direct him to sit. Kemal sat directly across from the runner at the kitchen table. Under the table were two items in a Velcro pouch glued to the underside, a codebook and a loaded Webley 455 revolver. Even though these men had been selected by his staff, it could be an Israeli assassin, but since the runner was in shorts, tank top and adidas, it was unlikely, but he wanted the pistol in reach. Kemal pulled out the cipher and decoded the message, it was short, You are to come to Army headquarters as soon as possible for briefing on a special assignment, advise when you will able to attend It was signed, Amin al-Husseini Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Kemal knew it would take 15 minutes to code the response Please make a pot of coffee while you wait he asked the runner before opening his code book. Kemal reminded himself that he would have to send a directive to order that the codes were changed weekly without fail. The Germans had lost WWII because they failed to change their enigma code, arrogantly thinking it was unbreakable.  Kemal finished his reply and could smell the coffee emerging from the stove top espresso maker that made four cups at a time. The gas stove still worked and the runner had found the ground coffee. After that’s gone, Kemal thought he would have to hammer the next round of beans with a mallet unless power was restored soon. Kemal handed the runner the note which said he would be there within the hour and poured them both a cup of coffee. Coffee was scarce and the runner savored the first sip and then downed the rest. Thank you sir the runners said Take it right back to headquarters, do not let anyone commandeer you or delay you, that is an order. Kemal said. The runner saluted and left. Kemal poured himself some more coffee. As director of Special Operations for the Islamic Republic he normally wore civilian clothes. Doing that also made him a little less of a target, since he was sure the Mossad had agents or 5th columnists in Teheran and they had been quite effective at killing off as many persons in authority as possible, starting with their nuclear scientists before the war started in earnest.  Kemal was in a minor quandary, he needed a shower and all of his civilian clothes were really dirty; reeking of sweat and the smell of Turkish tobacco. It was late August and it was hot so the cold shower would actually feel welcome, and he could just wear one of his battle dress uniforms (BDU’s) with all the badges of rank removed, since his old rank of Colonel would make him a desirable target.

He lit a candle and took his cup of coffee to the shower stall. Hopefully they would get power back in a few days, since he was short on candles.  His basement apartment had no windows, but it had the basic conveniences, a queen size bed, gas stove, washer and dryer [luxurious by most Iranian standards] a gas powered refrigerator, that was still functioning, the Iranians had copied the design of the old American Servel refrigerators since they used natural gas, and lasted 30 plus years, a TV and a solar powered, hand cranked radio. The walls were lined with his book cases filled with military history and technical manuals, and on the shelf space he had pictures of his family. His family was safe outside of the city.

As he turned on the shower he enjoyed the feeling of the cold water on his body. It was still firm but at 55 he knew he was not 25 anymore. As he stepped out of the shower he looked at his face as he reached for his Gillette razor, he always shaved even though a trimmed beard was allowed, his hair was very dark brown, with white at the sideburns, though the white was advancing through the rest of his hair. Kemal looked at the Indiana Jones scar on his chin, and recalled how he had gotten it. During the Iran Iraq war he and Ibn and Anwar were raiding an Iraqi telecommunications center. At 2 a.m. they had silently bicycled in behind the lines. They were on bikes with special wide tread to grip the sand [which made your thighs burn with exertion] equipped with auxiliary motors that would allow them to speed their escape after they had seized the code books. A paid informant had assured them the code books were present. He and Anwar, after they had gotten close to the telecom bunker, had put on Iraqi uniforms and just entered and calmly informed the Iraqi communications staff they were there to change the code books, when they had been handed over, he and Anwar had run from the bunker and tossed in a grenade and closed the door, holding it shut. After three seconds with no explosion they realized it was a dud and ran for their bikes which Ibn had already fired up. As Kemal was running, a rifle butt hit him in the back of the head and sent him sprawling, the code books scattered in the dirt. As he rolled over, two Iraqi soldiers were hammering their rifle butts against his arms which covered his head while he rolled to dodge the blows. Just as one hit his chin ripping the skin from it, nearly knocking him out, he thought he was a dead man. At that moment, he saw through the fog of his fading peripheral vision, Anwar leaping through the air delivering a perfect karate kick to the first Iraqi’s neck, snapping it instantly, the cracking sound punctuating his deliverance and a second perfectly delivered whirling kick breaking the second Iraqi’s knee, leaving him screaming in pain on the ground. He could still recall Anwar’s hand under his shoulder lifting him up as he staggered to the bikes, Ibn had grabbed the code books while Anwar was dispatching the Iraqi’s, they got to the bikes.  The adrenaline rush had numbed his pain as they sped back to their lines with the throttles wide open. When they arrived they were giddy with unbelievable exhilaration at escaping with their lives and the code books.

After the debriefing and word got out of Anwars’s martial arts prowess, he was always called Bruce after Bruce Lee. He owed Anwar his life and when he learned in 2007 that Anwar had been killed by an Israeli sniper in Lebanon while assisting the Hezbollah, he wept, not for Anwar who was surely in paradise, but for those like himself, who would always miss him. When Anwar had lifted him up after rescuing him, he felt truly cared for and he always knew he had had no truer friend than Anwar, who could have run, leaving him to be brutally, painfully and slowly beaten to death.  

Kemal dressed quickly, he stripped the badges of rank from his Battle Dress Uniform, and grabbing underwear and socks, put them on. As soon as he put on his boots, he looked for his pistol belt, as he fastened it he decided on taking his Browning Hi Power 9 mm. It had been captured from a Mossad agent in the 1980’s and it shot well. He would not be allowed to be armed when he met the Supreme Leader but it would need it on the trip to headquarters. He mentally knew to keep the last round for himself, capture would prove painful and disastrous, he knew no man resists torture for long.

He thought of his route to the Supreme Leaders bunker, he had to take a different one each time, Reinhardt Heidrich, Hitler’s intelligence chief, had been assassinated by British agents because he took the same route each day at the same time to his office. Stalin had survived because he took a different route every day and varied the time. He briefly debated between taking the up-armored Land Cruiser or using a Vespa which with a helmet on would leave him disguised, but running the risk of being attacked as a courier. He decided on the Land Cruiser, better to be armored, and it was ten years old and muddy and dented enough not to look too important.

As he closed the steel door to his basement apartment, he saw the guard for the parking garage who was on duty 24/7 for this small 6 unit building. The parking was under the building which was ideal for security. He gave a thumbs up signal to the guard who pushed open the iron barred gate. Kemal tossed the guard the keys, Pull it out for me Kemal said, that way, if the car had been rigged with a bomb, the guard would meet Allah.

REASONING TOGETHER

As soon as the Toyota was past the gate, the guard got out and held the door for him. Kemal had his right hand on the pistol butt until he got in and closed the door. Kemal had decided on a roundabout route to the Supreme Leader’s bunker, which would take all of the 30 minutes he had left to be there within the hour he had promised. Kemal drove deliberately, his pistol out on the seat beside him. He wondered what mission they had for him. The overall situation was grim, so he felt in his soul it would be a very serious challenge, whatever it was.

As Kemal pulled up to the entry to the parking area of what had been a college soccer stadium, he was met by two men who wore university janitorial department uniforms, but had pistols. They knew Kemal from previous visits, but they checked his ID anyway, Kemal handed over his pistol, while the other patted him down. They took his picture with a 35 mm a Nikon. Kemal liked the simple substitute for the digital video that normally would have recorded all visitors’ comings and goings.

He was ushered to the stairs he would take to 4 stories below the stadium where the Supreme Leader’s personal guards would again check his ID and pat him down before showing him into the Supreme Leader’s office.

As Kemal finished going down the last flight of stairs he saw the Supreme Leader’s personal bodyguards in the usual spot, one on each side of the door. He handed over his ID, and they both patted him down. Once they were satisfied, he was unarmed, they opened the door and he walked in.

As he walked in he saw to his left Supreme Leader Amin al-Husseini seated behind a very plain mahogany desk, the Supreme Leader looked up rose to greet him walking forward with his hand outstretched. Kemal, you're just the man I wanted to see. Supreme Leader Al-Husseini said as he shook his right hand with his right  clasping his forearm with his left. He motioned Kemal over to the right to a 12 foot long conference table covered with maps.

Kemal, the Supreme Leader said, As you know, the situation is grave, and the mission we have for you may be our only chance to reverse the situation. We've chosen you to lead this mission personally, as well as to personally plan the mission, because of your leadership qualities, your knowledge of military history, and your past successes in very difficult circumstances. You can think on your feet and improvise better than any of our current tactical commanders. You know better than anyone, plans are only good until first contact with the enemy, they always have to be revised under fire. You have the ability to improvise and overcome.

The Supreme Leader’s eyes sparkled as he continued. We have a rough outline of the plan, and we can layout the resources you have to use, and we certainly want your input on how to achieve the mission, we want you to apply your best thought to how to achieve our goals.

We are not sure if we can win this war, but since it was started by Israel, who bombed our nuclear facilities, just to prevent us from pursuing our sovereign right to develop nuclear weapons, we must go on the attack, we want to do as much damage to our enemies as possible, and either totally destroy them or inflict so many casualties we can negotiate a favorable peace.

The Americans are as usual, supplying Israel with everything they need, although they have remained officially neutral. We think Israel would only last 90 days without the logistical support of the Americans. Like a chess game, although Israel has been playing the role of the Knight or Bishop, you cannot win the game unless you kill the King.

So we will strike the United States with our two most powerful weapons, a thermo nuclear bomb, and smallpox. Even though the Israelis crippled our nuclear program, when our brothers in Pakistan saw the horrific Israeli attack, and those in Pakistan who share our faith, agreed to sell us a nuclear weapon. It has cost us much of our gold reserve.

It is being brought in by our brothers in Al Qaeda via caravan from Pakistan and should arrive within the week. The Smallpox virus was smuggled out of a Soviet lab during the collapse of the USSR and has been secretly maintained by us since 1989. We have enough vaccine for our faithful and our soldiers and starting today we are immunizing all of them. You will be immunized on your way out.

We decided on smallpox because the Americans stupidly did not immunize anyone once it had been eliminated worldwide and all that will be left if our attack is successful, will be those over 50 years old, who we believe will be so demoralized they cannot and would not be able to mount an efficient counterattack. Our scientists calculate that the Americans will suffer the fate of the Aztecs when Cortez inserted three smallpox infected slaves into their population. Within 90 days 90% of the Aztec population was dead, making the rest of the conquest feasible.

We also wish to strike Israel with smallpox since they too are vulnerable and we only have one nuclear weapon available.We have in our underground bunkers, 16 fully operational F-16 fighter aircraft, left over from the 100 the Shah bought from General Dynamics in the late 1970s. We were able to hire a retired F-16 crew chief and armorer, Ephraim Navarro, a Mexican-American who embodies the spirit of Mexican engineering, that both built the pyramids of Teotihuacan, and can, with duct tape, copper wire, and chewing gum, keep almost anything running. Navarro has cannibalized the other aircraft and has scoured every source and has these in virtually new condition.

We want to hit New York City, because it is the financial capital and we want to kill the most Jews, especially Jews who are in power positions. Even Jesse Jackson called New York Heimietown. Hitler had it right when he called Jews terrorists of the exchange." Once we have incinerated the Jews of New York, I'm sure that the citizens of