Death Drones

by Christopher Fox

  The men, in unison, looked up when Mohammad entered, and he could feel the inquisitive gazes burrow into him like knives. One man, dressed in the traditional full-length white thawb and white keffiyeh headdress, got up and walked toward Mohammad. He sported a long black beard and had a smile on his face, which served to ease Mohammad’s churning stomach.

  “Tahiat Tayiba ”, (greetings) he said as he offered his hand. “Osama bin Laden.”

  The very sound of his name inspired awe in Mohammad.

  “Greetings,” Mohammad responded in Arabic. “Mohammad al-Barakah.”

  “Come sit,” Osama said as he gestured toward the other men.

  One by one, Osama introduced the assembled men, and Mohammad shook each of their hands. He sat down beside bin Laden, and someone brought a shisha for him, which he puffed away at while Osama addressed the group.

  “Mohammad here is one of our new and upcoming warriors in our jihad to rid this country of the Soviet insurgency. Our friend here not only speaks Russian, but has contacts with Russian soldiers and will be our go-between for local Intel about Soviet placements, strength and capacity of their units, as well as when and where they plan to attack. In return, he will give names to the Soviets of people who they will think as being important Mujahideen assets, when in fact they will be traitors to our cause. We will drive the imperialist Russian armies from our lands, inshallah .”

  Mohammad received approving nods from the group as each murmured the inshallah traditional chant for “God willing”.

  After a few more announcements, Osama got up and beckoned Mohammad to stand. He walked him to the front of the tent and peeled back the flap.

  “Thank you my friend and liukann Allah maeak, ” said Osama.

  “May God be with you too,” said Mohammad. His escort led him back to the SUV for the gruelling trip back to Kandahar, then on to Kabul.

  The combination of the allied efforts and that of the Mujahideen signified the beginning of the end of the soviet occupation that essentially crippled Russia's initiatives to bring the insurgents under control. The arming of Jihads with Stinger missiles and modern weapons reduced the effectiveness of their helicopter gunships considerably. Mohammad saw an opportunity to further his provision of information by seeking out CIA operatives and offering them services. As much as he despised the US culture and their support of Zionist regimes, he realized that he had to support their efforts to drive out the Soviet intruders. It wasn’t until 1989 that Russia decided that the war was a lost cause, having devastating effects on their declining economy, and they pulled out. In 1990, Afghanistan became an Islamic state, removing all references to communism. Muhammad still acted as a double-gent for the KGB and the CIA because with the Soviets gone, a civil war broke out with various groups vying for control and tribal feuding reverting to pre-Soviet times. Without a common enemy, they ended up fighting themselves. After dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the KGB was similarly dissolved, and Mohammad lost most of his contacts there. It was clear that sweeping changes could be expected in Afghanistan, especially with the newly appointed Islamic State of Afghanistan, so Mohammad turned to his religious roots to set a path for a more fundamental Islamic society based on strict Sharia law.

  At the time, Pakistan took advantage of the upheaval in Afghanistan and, through its ISI, established a regime there to gain strategic depth. Through their madrassas (Islamic schools), students were encouraged to join a new organization, the Taliban, to spread strict Sunni Islamic law in Afghanistan. Al-Barakah sought out Taliban’s leader, Mohammad Omar, and asked to join his organization, to which he was welcomed with open arms. Not the least of his attributes being knowledge of the locations of thousands of American Stinger missiles left over from the Soviet invasion. The Taliban gradually took over many of the Mujahideen warlords in its bid to create influence in the country. By 1996, the Taliban formed the official government of Afghanistan appointing Al-Barakah Minister for Islamic Studies.

  At this time, Osama bin Laden, forced by US pressure to leave his refuge in Sudan, moved to Afghanistan, where he established a new base. As leader of the Islamic Jihadist group, al-Qaeda, which he formed in 1988, bin Laden was no stranger to Afghan politics and fighting, since his earlier association with the Mujahideen forces to fight the Soviets. Mohammad, eager to meet with him again, in 1988 set up a clandestine rendezvous in a cave just outside of Kandahar. It had been 8 years since the last meeting with the influential and charismatic al-Qaeda leader .

  The entourage drove in the all-wheel SUV into the mountains with the blindfolded Mohammad in the rear. The vehicle bounced over the makeshift road, throwing him around the rear seat with each lurch. He was grateful for the two security guards between whom he was sandwiched. This time, the heater pumped out warmth as the temperature outside reduced several degrees for each 300' they climbed. After several hours, the vehicle stopped, and they removed his blindfold. They got out of the car, and Mohammad wrapped his keffiyeh around his head to ward off the biting wind. He followed the group as they made their way higher into the hills in single file along the narrow and snow-covered track. Before long, they could see a small cave opening with two guards stamping their feet to maintain circulation in the biting cold. The temperature warmed up as they descended into the cave which for the first 300’ was barely high enough to walk through without stooping. Then it opened into a cavern that must have been over 1,000’ long and 600’ wide, rising to 150’ at its highest point. A multitude of crates were strewn around the perimeter, obviously containing supplies and weapons. Makeshift mattresses for the soldiers covered much of the floor, and many bundled up in them resting for the next nightly excursion. The sound of a generator rumbled in the background, and strings of incandescent lights, strung around the walls and along poles, illuminated the space. Mohammad was guided to a small enclosed area immediately to his left as he entered the cavern, constructed of sheets of corrugated steel panels with no roof nor windows. A familiar face greeted him as he was shown into the enclosed space.

  “Greetings again,” said a smiling Osama, who this time enveloped his arms around him.

  “Greetings,” said Mohammad as he returned the warm salutation.

  “Come sit my friend,” said Osama. “We have much to discuss.”

  As they made their way to the cluttered table, Mohammad noticed another man standing there. He recognized him from the last meeting as Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of a similar Jihadist group, al-Jihad, he formed in his native Egypt.

  “You remember Ayman from our last meeting?”

  “Of course,” said Mohammad as he stepped forward and embraced him .

  “Ayman is my personal physician and one of my most trusted advisers. We are working on combining our organizations and we want you to become a member of al-Qaeda. We need people like you to further the fight against imperialist infidels.”

  “It would be both an honour and a privilege to join your group,” said Mohammad and followed it up with another embrace.

  “We still need you to be part of the Taliban, as our goals are more or less aligned. Al-Qaeda works more to respond to Muslim persecution on a world basis and focuses on bringing the fight to the infidels as opposed to trying to bring strict Sharia law to Afghanistan. We have many plans for attacks against our enemies, but must secure our stronghold here in Afghanistan and continue training our loyal and faithful followers.”

  “I will do all I can to help al-Qaeda in its ventures to further the cause of Islam. But how do we fight the Americans with their superior weapons and technology?”

  “They may have superior weapons and technology, but they don’t have the heart or passion of our fighters. They are afraid to die and will do anything they can to protect their fighters. The infidels believe that life is now and not in the hereafter. This is because they are unbelievers and will go to hell when they die, whereas we know we will ascend to paradise, and we consider it an honour to die for our cause.”

  “Will
we ever see a world free of Muslim persecution?” said Mohammad.

  “No, it will not happen in our lifetime, but will happen because it is written so. The Qur'an in Al-Nour: 24:55 says ‘God has promised those of you who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds that, of a certainty, He will cause them to accede to power on earth.’”

  Mohammad finished the verse, “… ‘even as He caused some of those who lived before them to accede to it; and that, of a certainty, He will firmly establish for them the religion which He has been pleased to bestow on them; and that, of a certainty, He will cause their erstwhile state of fear to be replaced by a sense of security seeing that they worship Me alone, not ascribing divine powers to aught beside Me. But all who, after having understood this, choose to deny the truth—it is they, they who are truly iniquitous!’”

  “You know your Qur’an,” said an impressed Osama .

  “I have studied it for many years and recite it on Ramadan,” he said proudly.

  “Go, my friend, and welcome to al-Qaeda. Soon, you will see our efforts as we enact a fatwa that Ayman and I have been working on for all Muslims.”

  Mohammad left the cave and made the perilous trip down the mountain and back to the car. It had snowed during his time at the meeting, which created difficulty in places seeing the narrow pathway. He and several of the men accompanying him slipped and fell on the snow-covered rocks, but all arrived without serious injury and welcomed the warmth emanating from the car’s heater.

  True to his promise, al-Qaeda issued their fatwa, a religious edict, a few months later in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. It read: ‘the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Makka) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together, and fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah’.

  In 2001, after 9/11, things changed drastically for Afghanistan’s Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters when US forces invaded the country and set about eliminating high-value targets. Mohammad Al-Barakah was on the list along with Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and many more. It was time for Mohammad to get out, so he contacted one of his old KGB associates, now retired and living in Nicaragua. Boris Antopov said he could arrange Mohammad’s escape from Afghanistan and set him up in Nicaragua. By this time, Mohammad had amassed a small fortune, and had transformed its value into gold and precious jewels that could be easily smuggled out of the country. Antopov arranged for a Russian private jet to land in Mashdad, Iran, the closest airport to Afghanistan within a Russian-friendly country. Mohammad, through his Taliban and al-Qaeda associates, collected nine of his cohorts and made the journey to Iran, where they flew to Dubai and boarded a ship to Nicaragua. They would bring their families once settled there .

  Boris had already scoured the country for a residence for Mohammad and his entourage. He had many large estates from which to choose owned by wealthy land owners and farmers, not to mention drug dealers—it remained to select the right one, even if it was not for sale. Fortunately, he happened upon a large estate that although not for sale yet, was part of an estate of a deceased multi-millionaire. Boris met with the estate’s executors and made them an offer that was readily accepted.

  Fifteen

  Fortunately, the compound was near to the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, on the west side of Lake Nicaragua. The team; Miguel, Jimmy, Alex, Alberto, Maria, and Roberto, masqueraded as a group of fishermen and transported themselves in two SUVs, but they were carrying more than just fishing gear. In the fold-down seat wells, where they removed the seats, they had stowed the weapons they would need for the assault on the compound. They broke down the rifles and stored them in fishing-rod tubes—they even reserved at the lodge, La Esquina Del Lago, on the South shore of the Lake. Many Costa Ricans use this border crossing for fishing, and they had no issues with the border guards. The compound was near a small town called El Coral off of Highway 71, which was about a two-hour drive from San Carlos where the lodge was situated. They had been travelling for almost four hours after leaving San José and stopped for lunch in Los Chilos, the last town in Costa Rica before they hit the border.

  The location they had chosen to interrogate Mohammad was a building close to the compound. They didn’t want to chance trying to get him across the border to Costa Rica, so they rented this building for the purpose. It was a two-storey house sitting on about 10 acres of land that was previously farmed. It had been somewhat run down but still habitable. There were four bedrooms upstairs that would accommodate Miguel/Jimmy, Alex/Alberto, and Maria; with one spare for the interrogators from the CIA. Roberto would occupy a spare room on the ground floor. They used folding cots with thin mattresses and outfitted each with a sleeping bag—not that anyone needed a sleeping bag in the humid night-time climate. There was a large kitchen with an eating area downstairs and a large living/dining room, plus another room that had been used as an office for the original farm. A small barn outside to the rear had been turned into a multi-vehicle garage and workshop. This is where they intended to keep Mohammad. They had constructed a small cell in the corner of the garage/workshop using two new concrete-block walls, with the original walls forming the other two. They set a steel door into a bolstered frame and used a hasp and padlock to secure it. One of the new walls had a window added for observation and a loft apartment was constructed over the cell.

  * * * *

  Nicaragua is the largest of the Central American countries; it also boasts the largest lake, Lago Cocibolca, or Lake Nicaragua, which ranks as the 19th largest lake in the World by surface area and 9th largest in the Americas. Despite being a fresh-water lake, it has sawfish, tarpon and sharks. The sharks were once thought to be an endemic species, but they were discovered to have travelled from the Caribbean Sea through the San Juan River and jumped the rapids much like salmon.

  Nicaragua itself is, second to Haiti, the hemisphere’s poorest country, yet has the lowest homicide rate of the Central American countries. Politically stable now, the country has had its share of unrest with several violent changes in leadership and revolutions. The US became involved in many of the conflicts by supporting rebel groups to influence the outcome of fighting. Daniel Ortega, who led the Sandinista and won the election in 1984, was constantly at loggerheads with the US because they supported the counter revolutionaries, or contrarrevolucionarios , shortened to ‘contras’, a rebel group that fought the social reforms of the Sandinista. The concern with the US was that they did not want another Cuba in Central America that incorporated communist policies. After the US Congress prohibited the federal funding of the contras in 1983, the Reagan administration continued to back them by covertly selling arms to Iran and channelling the proceeds to the contras (the Iran-Contra Affair). This brought charges against the US by the International Court of Justice whereby the US was to make reparation to the Republic of Nicaragua for all injury caused by certain breaches of obligations under customary international law. In 1990, the Sandinista lost the election to a coalition of anti-Sandinista parties. Ortega was unsuccessful again in the 1996 and 2001 elections, but finally won in 2006 and 2011. In 2014, the National Assembly approved changes to the constitution to allow Ortega to run for a third successive term, which he did, and won in 2016 .

  The social reforms of Ortega aligned more with soviet/communist thinking, and there was a close relationship with Russia, Cuba and Venezuela. Needless to say, with the historical rejection of Ortega’s policies and failure to agree on anything, relationships with the US were less than stellar.

  * * * *

  January in Nicaragua, as in m
ost of Central America, is hot and dry and today was no exception. Temperatures in the early afternoon were hovering close to 85°F when they approached El Coral. Miguel checked the GPS coordinates and determined that they were almost a mile from the compound. After turning off the main road onto a little-used road—if you could call it a road—about two miles before the small town, they travelled another mile or so. They parked the vehicles just off the road; not visible from the road should someone drive past. Based on the build-up of vegetation, no one had been along there in a while. The potential of contracting malaria, or the Zika virus, predicated all to don mosquito repellent to any exposed skin. The first order of business was to launch the drone ’copter and update their Intel.

  Alex unpacked the ‘copter and unfolded the arms. He turned the unit on and checked the camera’s transmission on the screen built into the control module, while Miguel held it off the ground. Alex got a close-up view of Miguel’s face beaming back at him. The camera whirled and swivelled as Alex played with the controls, and, satisfied that everything was OK, gestured for Miguel to set it on the ground. Alex placed the controller’s strap over the back of his neck and held the device much like a showgirl would hold a serving tray. He jostled the controls and the four blades spun, lifting the drone skyward. It climbed to about 300' and then with a slight touch on the joystick, it moved horizontally towards the compound. Miguel and Jimmy looked on over Alex’s shoulder at the crystal clear image the monitor displayed from the high-resolution camera.