2008
Episode
11
Adnan
Al-Zuhari
Previously in "Saecula:” An elite Republican
cabal conspires to fix the
2008 presidential election, but its plans
to embezzle money from the RNC
are uncovered and lead to murder.
Democratic Senator Winnie Scott
scuttles administration strategy with a
blockbuster disclosure during
congressional hearings on the disasterous
Islamic War. The Vice President's
"A-Team" sets in motion the ultimate October
Surprise: A terrorist attack
upon the nation.
Today: Adnan Al-Zuhari gets His Chance For
Revenge
Adnan al-Zuhari looked stricken, as if he had seen
the ghost of his son. With a mixture of fear and awe,
he continued to stare at the sealed canister with
the red biohazard symbols that Amer al-Kubaisi had
shown him. He didn’t know whether to run from
this formidable danger or cry out to Allah in joy.
Adnan had sworn on the torn and mutilated body
of his son Ibrahim that he would one day make
the Americans pay for their sins. Ibrahim was
one of the thousands of innocent Iraqis slain by the
gunships and tanks of the invader. He and 41 other
guests were murdered at a wedding celebration
in Makr al-Deeb when the air strike came.
The Americans insisted the house was used by gun
smugglers and terrorists coming over the nearby
Syrian border. Only a few personal rifles and
pistols were found in the debris, along with the unmistakable detritus
of a festival -- shards of musical instruments, pieces of colorful costumes
and body parts of
numerous small children. The American ground commander
paid Adnan $1000 on the spot in cash
when he arrived the next day to bury his son,
as if any amount of money from these pigs could
compensate for his loss. They called Ibrahim collateral
damage.
Saddam had been cruel and harsh, and the al-Zuhari
family had indeed suffered grievously at his hands.
Although the scion of an old and wealthy family
and educated as a physician, Adnan, as with all Shias,
had been treated as an outcast during the Hussein
regime. The great wealth from Iraq’s oil profits fed
the ego of its leader and his minority Sunni supporters.
Following the first American occupation,
al-Zuhari was able to appropriate the funds his
departed father had hidden away in Kuwait, reclaim
the family estate and reestablish his medical
practice. He would have given it all up in a second for
his son’s life. With Saddam, at least you knew
what to expect. The Americans were like raging bulls
in the souk, striking without perceptible reason,
killing with their rockets from afar. What kind of man
does not look you in the eye when he confronts
you? Now, at last, he had the means to revenge his son
and his people. Adnan al-Zuhari would look Americans
in the eye when he unleashed his attack.
******
The man named Willie, who had devised the transaction,
knew al-Kubaisi had chosen well. The disreputable merchant, from the U.S.-occupied
city of Basra in southern Iraq, was a national who, along with several
dozen of his compatriots, had decided that loyalty
to Poseidon and Swiss accounts was a higher calling than patriotism to
the new Iraqi order. He had been pointed toward Adnan al-Zuhari by his
sources who knew
of his deep-seated hatred of the Americans and
his burning desire for revenge.
Once Adnan was targeted, he was thoroughly vetted
and a backstory created to establish the trail
bona fides of the toxin, covering the questions
that surely would arise from his gleeful but skeptical
Nasiriyah cellmates: Al-Kubaisi had learned of
Adnan’s pain through mutual acquaintances. When the
botulinum became available through the back channels
-- this one in the Sudan -- from which Amer
obtained a considerable portion of his merchandise,
he had approached al-Zuhari with the offer.
One of Adnan’s Nasiriyah colleagues was also controlled
by Willie. He served as the finance officer for
the cell to which Adnan belonged. Willie instructed
him to put al-Zuhari in contact with the “Brit, an
associate in Europe, whom he could rely on” to
handle delivery and in-transit security. Adnan, himself,
would use his cell for recruitment and training,
not yet knowing what his destination would be, but
relying on Allah’s guidance. He only knew that
he would soon join his son in the glory of Allah.
*****
So would Amer al-Kubaisi, the cell’s finance officer
and the Brit. Other than being provided cover
stories and instructed they had nine months to
move the botulinum up the trail, the Arab assets
were told by Willie that the toxin was intended
as a decoy in a joint CIA-Special Forces operation to
identify, track and close down the entire Sudan-Iraq-Istanbul
terrorist pipeline. None would live
long enough to discover the truth.
While Poseidon’s Arab agents had no particular
love for the United States, they did have one for money.
Once they realized the real purpose of the operation,
and its connection to the American firm, blackmail,
or worse, selling their information to the CIA,
would be much too tempting. Tom Bishop didn’t like
sacrificing valuable sources, but there was no
other option if he was to protect himself and the A-Team.
His deeper regret was that he must also sacrifice
Willie, his American control, in order to prevent any leakage.
Next in “Saecula:” Gar's Take on Women.
.
by Martin
Gresko
Interested in publishing
this manuscript?
Or to make comments,
CONTACT Martin Gresko at VGABONSUN@hotmail.com
See his biweekly
political column http://www.StPetePost.com
