The Assassins

by Oliver North

Sunday, 11 November 2007

  1040 Hours Local

  Rachel Newman had awakened in an ambulance—her head throbbing with dull pain from the fall on the deck of their beach house following the nuclear detonation twenty-five miles out at sea.

  The doctor at the nearby emergency medicine clinic had treated her for a deep laceration on her forehead, carefully sutured the cut with seven stitches, and bandaged her. “But I want you to stay here for another hour or so, to see if you have any other injury that shows up,” he had told Rachel.

  As she sat in the nearly empty waiting room, her eyes were fixed on the TV set on the wall. Young James and Elizabeth were sitting on chairs beside her. Lizzie was napping, her head in her mother's lap, but James was alert and his attention was riveted to what the President of the United States was saying. And when he mentioned the name of Amos Skillings, they both gasped in shock and looked at each other in disbelief as the President described what had happened.

  James recalled memories of the gentle bear of a Marine who had befriended him and told him wonderful stories about his dad. Now his friend Amos was dead. The boy, not quite twelve, understood the concept of death but was still too immature to grapple with the emotions of great sadness and grief that accompany such events. He began to cry softly.

  Rachel's reaction was more complex. She, too, was moved to tears at the announcement that their friend had been killed in action. She felt a catch in her throat as she remembered him and his selfless love for her family. But in addition to overwhelming grief for Amos, her emotions were also now immediately engaged with another, fearful thought—Peter!

  She knew that Amos was with Peter; that they were on some kind of mission together, and if he were killed by a devastating nuclear blast, and if Peter were anywhere in the proximity, then he'd also be dead. Her heart began to race in a kind of panic.

  The President concluded his brief televised Veterans' Day tribute from the Rose Garden of the White House, but Rachel could watch no longer. She was so overwhelmed with feelings of loss and helplessness that she felt weak and faint. She heard her cell phone chirping. At first she didn't know where it was. Then James reached into his pocket and retrieved it. She remembered; he must have used it to call “911” when he found her unconscious on the beach house deck.

  James handed her the phone and she answered it hesitantly, as if she knew immediately that it would be bad news. “Hello?” she said weakly.

  “Rachel, this is George Grisham. ...I've been trying to reach you. I tried calling your vacation home in Boot Key, but there was no answer,” he said.

  “I...uh...I'm here,” she said, afraid to ask the reason for the call.

  “Rachel...please stand by...I've got someone on the line for you. Hang on.”

  There were several clicks and electronic sounds as the call was transferred to the cell phone. Her heart quickened when she understood that Peter was alive.

  “Hello, Rachel...it's me. Are you guys all right?”

  “Oh Peter! We are now. ...We're going to be just fine.”

  Joint Session of Congress

  ________________________________________

  Washington, DC

  Monday, 19 November 2007

  1111 Hours Local

  Once again the U.S. House and Senate convened together—but this time not in secret. It had taken a week for members of both parties in both houses to convince their leaders that one of their own deserved censure for his actions that had contributed to a national crisis.

  After less than forty minutes of debate, there was a call for a vote. “Will the honorable senator from Tennessee please read the resolution as proposed?”

  The senator walked to the microphone, addressed the combined assembly of American representatives, and then read from the proposed resolution:

  Whereas in a Joint Session of the One Hundred Tenth Congress held this nineteenth day of November 2007, we hereby resolve that this Congress has deliberated on matters pertaining to the Bill known as the “Terrorist Threat Mitigation Act of 2007” and finds that certain provisions of the Act were enacted as the result of affirmations and intelligence that were not provided to the Congress in good faith, and rather, were the result of a criminal conspiracy. It is therefore the resolution of this Body to agree that any and all pending or future actions whether planned or under consideration shall be held in abeyance until a bipartisan commission consisting of representative members of the three branches of government can form a committee of nine members—including three each from the legislative, judicial, and executive branches—to determine whether the organization created by Joint Session and named “The Threat Mitigation Commission” shall continue to exist and function as created.

  When it came time for a vote, the resolution passed unanimously, with only two congressmen abstaining and none opposed.

  Martyr's Square

  ________________________________________

  Tehran, Iran

  Tuesday, 27 November 2007

  1900 Hours Local

  For more than two weeks, the Iranian people had been hearing on television about what had transpired in their government and how a handful of people had disrupted the affairs of the entire world for a month. It had not taken long for opposition figures in Iran to assume a secular leadership role, assessing blame to those who had gotten caught.

  The opposition publicly called for the United Nations to come and help them “root out those who had gone down this road to nuclear disaster.” But in New York, the United Nations building was still almost empty; its leaders and administrators had not yet returned to the city since it had been threatened with a nuclear attack. Iranian dissidents committed to democracy provided evidence that the former ayatollah was the one responsible for creating the mythic Islamic Brotherhood and its supposed ties to Muslims worldwide.

  The streets were filled with students and other Iranians seeking change in their government, mainly those who had demonstrated in favor of democracy. Yet now they came out by the hundreds of thousands. For days Martyr's Square in Tehran was filled with these joyous celebrants—eventually over a million of them—calling on their government to institute democratic ideals and reforms.

  Amazingly, these younger citizens saw beyond the hateful rhetoric of their elders. In Tehran and other Iranian cities they shouted slogans advocating freedom and called for their country to change its policies and direction. People even waved tiny American flags—they just appeared spontaneously midway through the demonstration—and soon everyone wanted one. The emblem once trampled in the gutter or burned in the streets was now symbolic of the future. As one voice, thousands of Iranians yelled, “Freedom now!”

  When these events were shown on international television, they sparked similar demonstrations in Baghdad, Beirut, and Amman. Fundamentalist jihadist Islamic leaders shuddered at what they saw. They now knew that they could no longer hold back the floodgates of liberty and democracy.

  Newman Residence

  ________________________________________

  Foxhall Road

  Monday, 24 December 2007

  1805 Hours Local

  Six weeks after her reunion with Peter following the Saudi nuclear crisis, Rachel Newman pushed the switch on their family room wall, and the seven-foot-tall Christmas tree that they had just finished decorating flickered on with appropriate “oohs” and “ahs” from the children. Peter stretched his arm up to affix the silver angel onto the tip of the tree and adjusted it so it looked down on them all.

  “Well...six weeks ago I was afraid that we wouldn't be together for Christmas Eve this year,” Rachel said to her husband.

  “So was I,” he replied soberly. It had been a little more than a month and a half since the nuclear explosion had killed their good friend Amos Skillings but also brought an end to the terrorism and initiated a tentative peace in the Middle East. “We've got a lot to be thankful for this year,” Peter added.

  “Are you going to read us the Christmas story?
” little Elizabeth asked her daddy.

  “What a good idea, honey,” said Rachel. “Why don't you guys get settled over there on the sofa by the fireplace while I get some cookies and milk for afterward.”

  As the children scurried over to find the best seat, the telephone rang. Newman was always wary when phone calls came at times like this. He picked up and said, “Hello?”

  “Ah...my friend Peter,” the voice said. “This is Samir Habib, and I wish for your family a blessed Christmas.”

  Relieved that this wasn't a work-related phone call, Newman replied, “And a merry Christmas to you and your family, Samir. It's so good to hear from you. But it's the middle of the night there in Iraq. Does your family celebrate Christmas Day this early?”

  Samir did not respond to the question but asked, “Peter...do you recall when I contacted you right after the nuclear disaster off the coast of America?”

  “Yes, you called to console me about the death of our friend Amos— and you told me about the strange dream that your father had about him the day before he died. You know what else is odd? I've run into a couple others who told me privately that they had the same dream. I haven't shared this with anyone. ...I simply don't know what to make of it; do you?”

  “That is why I am calling you—in addition to giving you our good wishes for a blessed Christmas, of course. I believe that my father's dream must have been supernatural. Why would several people have the same dream?” Samir asked.

  “Yes, I've been wondering the same thing,” Peter said. “And for the most part, the details were much the same. It's one thing to dream about a person, or for several people to dream about the same person, but for all those people to have the same dream—well, the odds of that must be astronomical.”

  “I have felt the same way,” Samir told his friend. “But then yesterday while I was in Baghdad on business, my father was at our family compound in Anah and he called me. He said,‘Will you be coming home soon? I have had a revelation about the meaning of the dream I had about Amos Skillings. It is important.’ And so I drove quickly to return to our home.”

  Peter knew about the deep faith and mystical, prayerful connection that the patriarch of the Habib clan seemed to have. Twice Eli Yusef had been “told by God” to interrupt his life and go to a certain place. Both times it was to save the life of Peter Newman. It didn't take any other convincing for Peter to believe that Eli Yusef Habib was not just a Christian believer, but that he had a special connection with God.

  “What did he tell you about the dream?” Newman asked his friend.

  Samir waited for a moment before replying, and then he said, “When I arrived back home, I found my father sitting in his chair...his Bible spread out before him on the table...and his head was on his chest. He often falls asleep like that. But this time, when I tried to waken him, I could not. My father had gone to heaven.”

  Peter caught his breath, and his voice had great grief in it when he said, “Oh, Samir...I'm sorry...I'm truly sorry to hear that your father passed away. Please give our sympathy and condolences to the rest of the family, all right?”

  “We are grieving, but we are at peace. Our hearts are reassured that Father has gone to heaven and is with the Lord he has served so faithfully these many years,” Samir said quietly.

  Rachel came over to stand by her husband when she heard Peter express his sadness and sympathy. He mouthed the words, “Eli Yusef passed away,” and she understood.

  As he continued talking about details of the funeral to be held the day after Christmas, Samir added, “We are saddened beyond expectations. We knew that my father had not been well the past two months or more, but we had no idea that he would die. Yet, as he has always said,‘My life and times are in God's hand.’ We cling to that same assurance.”

  “I know how you feel, my friend,” said Peter. “Rachel and I are still grieving for our friend Amos, and now we'll be grieving for another dear friend. Eli Yusef was a man I loved as much as my own father.”

  “And you were a son to him, too,” Samir said. “He prayed for you every day. I only wish I could have been there when he received his insight regarding the strange dream.”

  “So you didn't get a chance to hear about his revelation?”

  “No...and even his notes scribbled in his prayer journal told me nothing. He had simply written down ideas that came to him while reading the Bible, and they were all about the Bible passage he was reading from. Except—” Samir said hesitantly.

  “Except for what?” Peter asked.

  “He wrote something on the back of an envelope. ...It was for you.”

  “For me?”

  “Yes, Peter. The note said,‘Tell Peter that his warriors did not find them all.’ I do not know what that means—do you?” Samir asked.

  The hair on the back of Peter Newman's neck stood up. Eerily the voice of Gen. George Grisham flashed into his mind—he had used precisely the same words when he told Newman that very morning, “Pete...I'm sorry to have to tell you that your Special Ops guys didn't find them all—we have intel that says that there's still one or more nuclear weapons out there someplace. And we have no idea where to start looking for them.”

  EPILOGUE

  ___________________________________________________

  ___________________________________________________

  In the days, weeks, and months following the nuclear crisis, the world seemed to quieten some. Tentative and fledgling efforts toward peace and democracy took root in Iran, just as they had in Iraq—which grew stronger day by day. Under pressure from the United States and Great Britain, the leaders of radical Islam seemed to stop and reassess their strategies. In the West, leaders tried to pick up the pieces after coming so near to Armageddon.

  Amos Skillings was honored with a marker and eulogized at Arlington National Cemetery on 15 November 2007, and two months later his sister Luella was invited to the White House where she accepted on behalf of her brother the President's award of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Enlistments in the USMC increased by 17 percent in the six months following his death.

  Brig. Gen. Peter Newman was reassigned at his own request to the Marine Corps Combat Training Command at Quantico, Virginia, so he could have more time with his family. In 2012, he will make a decision on whether to run for the U.S. Senate. Peter Newman's son James plans to enroll at the U.S. Naval Academy in 2015.

  The President accepted the findings of a bipartisan commission concerning serious problems (including evidence of criminal conduct) on the part of Senator James Waggoner and others, and the Threat Mitigation Commission was finally dismantled and scrapped in June 2008.

  Ralph Monroe, in exchange for a promise not to prosecute him, turned over tapes, documents, and other evidence to a Grand Jury convened by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colombia during his investigation of U.S. Senator James Waggoner for illegally divulging classified information and campaign finance fraud. He also granted extensive interviews to the FBI in their conspiracy case against Waggoner. Monroe later became a highly paid consultant and a Washington lobbyist for a major pharmaceutical firm.

  James Waggoner resigned his Senate seat after being indicted on twenty-seven separate criminal and conspiracy charges. After a sixteen-month-long trial Waggoner was sentenced to twenty years in prison. He died in prison after serving three years of his sentence.

  William Goode retired from the CIA in June 2008, after locating Dimitri Komulakov's hidden fortune. Goode donated the confiscated funds to the Fellowship of Believers and the “Amos Skillings Scholarship Fund” for the children of military personnel killed in the line of duty.

  Samir Habib decided to sell the family business and then have a role in the government of the emerging democratic nation of Iraq. In 2009 he was elected to a seat in the Iraqi Parliament.

  Marine Lt. Col. Dan Hart was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroic action in Venezuela in 2007. He was also awarded the Navy-Marine Corps Medal for saving the lives of
fellow Special Operations warriors.

  Prince Arshad, the only surviving member of the Saud Royal family, completed his education at the U.S. Naval Academy and after graduating became the king of Saudi Arabia. He now works to establish his country as a new democracy in the Middle East.

  Gen. George Grisham retired from the Marine Corps in 2008 and settled in North Carolina, where he practices fly-casting in a local trout stream and is writing his memoirs.