Barracuda 945

by Patrick Robinson

  “You already hold a place in my heart,” he replied gravely.

  At which point Admiral Badr interrupted. “One of the martyrs released from Nimrod Jail was Ben’s godfather. They were very close. And you have the gratitude of our entire family.”

  Ravi was somewhat startled that his exploits were general knowledge here in the headquarters of the Iranian Navy. And Admiral Badr, sensing a flicker of surprise on the ex-SAS man’s face, said softly, “Do not be concerned. The elite high command of Hezbollah expects to know everything from our colleagues in Hamas. But the secrets of the Nimrod mission remain very secret in our country.”

  General Rashood nodded, unsmiling. And the Iranian Admiral continued, “One thing we do know, however, is that a very great welcome is in order. We understand this visit is a return to your homeland after more than thirty years in England.”

  “Yes. Yes, it is.”

  “I hope you and Miss Sabah are enjoying it. You are comfortable in the Homa Hotel?”

  “Yes, sir. Very.”

  “And your visit to the old teahouse in the Kerman bazaar? Was that nostalgic?”

  “It was, sir. Very. I remembered the room—and I really remembered the sweet pastries.”

  Mohammed Badr chuckled, observing that Ravi Rashood had not as much as flickered his annoyance at obviously having been followed. He explained, “General, you understand we all have enemies. We felt it prudent you should have protection during your visit here.”

  “I understand,” said Ravi.

  “Meanwhile, I think we should go upstairs and join the others. The mullahs were here early this morning immediately after prayers, and we should not keep them waiting.”

  They stepped out into the stone-floored lobby and made their way to the second floor. The wide wooden doors to the conference room were attended by four armed Navy guards. Admiral Badr wished them good morning and walked past, opening the door himself.

  Inside, set upon a glorious Persian carpet, was a forty-foot-long table of polished walnut, around which sat seven men, four of them dressed in combat fatigues and Arab headdress in black-and-white patterns. Each of them was introduced to the General, but their names were not offered. It was clear that everyone else in the room knew each other, and Ravi surmised that the four were representatives of the arch-terrorist squadrons of Hezbollah.

  At the head of the table was a black-robed Ayatollah, whose name Ravi could barely make out but sounded like Rafsanjani, and may have been a member of the former President’s family. He was not referred to as “His Holiness Grand Ayatollah,” but it was obvious he was a Shi’ite Muslim of the highest rank in the government of the Islamic State.

  He rose when the General was introduced and offered both of his hands, saying quietly in Arabic, “Salam aleikom, my son. We are grateful to you for what you have done and for all that you are doing.” Like the Admiral, the Ayatollah had had a close and trusted friend liberated from the Nimrod Jail.

  Flanking the Great Man were two bearded, black-robed hojjatel-Islam, the second-highest-ranking clerics, both wearing white turbans. One of them was from the ancient City of Isfahan, the other from Tehran. Each rose in greeting the visiting Hamas military Commander from Damascus, and each in turn thanked him for his achievements.

  Ravi and the two Naval officers took their seats, and the Ayatollah began by saying, “I do not, I am sure, need to remind anyone in this room of the great secrecy we must observe. We are discussing matters of great moment, and our plans must not be communicated. The ten people here are representing some of the most important Councils in the Middle East. We are, I know, of one mind. We must also be of one voice. And, when we conclude our deliberations, that voice must be silent.”

  Each of them nodded, and the Ayatollah continued: “We have among us today a most distinguished and unusual colleague. General Ravi Rashood comes to us not because he has been recruited, but because he has followed his heart back to its beginnings. And while it is difficult for us to fathom the searching of his soul that led him to abandon family, home, country, and career, we are grateful for his decision, that Allah has led him from the Infidel into the embrace of Islam.

  “General Rashood in his former life was one of the finest combat Commanders in the British Army. But I believe he knew what a cruel and misguided organization that has proved to be, fighting for government after government, against the righteous cause of Islam. Finally, asked to partake in the terrible savagery of the Israelis, backed as ever by the Americans, against the defenseless, peace-loving Palestinians, he turned his back on the conquerors. And he brought his mighty sword arm to the oppressed. Islamic folklore will celebrate his decision for many years to come.”

  The Ayatollah paused, and the men around him nodded their approval of his words. General Rashood stared ahead, betraying no emotion one way or the other.

  The Ayatollah continued, “I have learned that in his moment of greatest danger, indeed, in his moment of decision, the General was blessed by Allah with a love that I hope may last them both for their lifetime and beyond. It is not necessary for us to recount his magnificent victories on behalf of Hamas, only for him to understand our admiration.

  “But the time is now upon us, when we must discuss the bigger stage, and the tasks we must move toward. We have hesitated these past two years, because we have not produced the military leader to undertake our onerous requirements.

  “I think we have one now, however, in General Rashood, who was, I believe, delivered here to us by the hand of Allah himself. And Allah is great, and he has surely sent to us the right Commander. And we are grateful to our brothers in Hamas for recognizing this and for sending the General forward to meet at this summit.”

  The Ayatollah nodded toward Admiral Badr, who rose to his feet. “Gentlemen,” he said, “because of the time factor, I do not believe we should concern ourselves with specific objectives, but rather concentrate on a much broader strategy that would not necessarily involve the mass killing of civilians.

  “Bin Laden tried that with catastrophic results for everyone. He killed innocent people on a scale that brought sorrow to the hearts of every true Muslim. It was not military. It was not justified. And it brought the massive wrath of the Great Satan down upon us. Indeed that heartless action against ordinary Americans came very close to fracturing the great brotherhood of Islam.

  “I agree, it was unpredictable that the Great Satan would react as violently as it did. But America is powerful and greedy, and it is led by vicious vengeful men who now carry the will of the populace with them. I think everyone in this room understands that any future attack on the United States would result in another pulverizing act of revenge by the Americans, and we do not think we could withstand it.

  “We would lose popular support on a scale unimaginable. Not to mention the blood, sorrow, and tears. Because for the foreseeable future, the Great Satan believes it can, with impunity, smash back at any government or radical group that opposes them. Gentlemen, we do not want to be among the blood, sorrow, and tears. No one will thank us for that.

  “The truth is, that while the Great Satan remained a sleeping giant, hurt and frustrated by world opinion, we were applauded throughout Islam for our actions. That is no longer the case. The Americans would not hesitate to slam back at Iraq, Iran, Jordan, or Libya, even Egypt or Syria, if they believed those countries had raised a hand against them.

  “We have seen their power. There are certainly two men in this room who witnessed the savage bombing of our close but misguided brethren in Al-Qaeda. No one could have withstood the accuracy of the Americans’ fifteen thousand-pound bombs. And in that I include our close friends in Beijing.

  “No, gentlemen, our path forward must be of a more subtle nature. Which is why we are so fortunate to have a former Western battle commander in our midst, and why we should pay heed to his words.”

  The taller of the two hojjats rose and raised his hand. In deference, Admiral Badr nodded and sat down. “Gentlemen,�
� said the cleric. “Whatever we do, we run the terrible risk of bringing down upon us the full force of the United States military. Remember, just a while ago they smashed our submarine force, despite the fact we had done nothing against them.”

  Without standing up, Admiral Badr interjected, “And they just blew away the two biggest dams in Iraq for other reasons.”

  Everyone nodded at that. But the hojjat continued. “Should we not consider the present U.S. Administration may be just too tough, too powerful, for our country to grapple with? We hit at them, and they absorb it. Then they come back full of rage and venom against us, using weapons we can never match. Should we not consider a five-or ten-year cease-fire in our activities? Perhaps time for a new, soft left-wing government to gain power in Washington. They usually come up with a Clinton or a Carter in the end.”

  “Your words are wise,” said the Ayatollah. “But we must not forget or ignore our sacred duty, which is to create a large Islamic State in the Middle East, free of interference or reliance on the West, free of the Great Satan forever. And in that we have the assistance of the Chinese, who would like to buy all of our oil and indeed are very easy partners. They ask nothing of us, except trade and cooperation.

  “One of the biggest oil pipelines in the world from Kazakstan to the Strait of Hormuz was paid for by the Chinese, and it runs right across our country, and we are the beneficiaries. No, I am afraid we cannot cease in our struggle. Unborn generations of our people will thank us, and we will receive the Grace of Allah for ridding our lands of the Godless devils from across the oceans.”

  “Those also are wise words,” interjected the elderly hojjat from Tehran. “But is there anyone who can explain to me how we can avoid the monstrous anger of the Great Satan upon our people? Perhaps I have been here too long. But I have seen much suffering and much heartbreak. I do not think I could bear to see more death and destruction rained down upon us. Particularly if, in the end, we had brought it upon ourselves.”

  The senior Ayatollah placed his left hand on the right forearm of the old cleric. “You are right to make us aware of the consequences,” he said. “And I too have many concerns about future attacks on the West. I also observe that the United States is beginning a withdrawal of its own from the Gulf. Perhaps not totally, but partially.”

  Admiral Badr looked up, saw the nod of recognition from the Ayatollah, and said, “Your Holiness refers, I believe, to the determination of the White House to cease its reliance on Arab oil, and to tap into their own reserves on the Alaskan North Slope.”

  “Precisely, Admiral,” replied the Chairman of the meeting. “You will have noticed a few of the old U.S. contracts with Arab Gulf States have not been renewed, and indeed some of them have been taken up by China. The United States is already intending to become less reliant on oil from our region. His Holiness Grand Ayatollah in Tehran believes the day will come in the next one hundred years when the entire American continent, north, central, and south, will become one entity, isolationist, and completely self-sufficient in resources.”

  “When we have eliminated the State of Israel, that will leave the Middle East, North Africa, and perhaps Muslim Central Asia to us,” said Admiral Badr. “With, of course, cooperation from the Chinese. Perhaps along the lines of the old Ottoman Empire. Such a dream, a vast Islamic State, free to rule itself, free of the arrogance of the Jews…at last.”

  He paused, and Commander Ben Badr looked up and caught the eye of the Ayatollah, who nodded his assent for the frigate CO to speak.

  “I do not think the Americans will find it quite so simple as some people think to become reliant on Alaskan oil,” he said. “This is a strong and forward-looking Administration, but America is packed with left-wing conservationists. They call them the tree huggers. And that Alaskan North Slope around Prudhoe Bay runs into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has a protected status. Has been for twenty years or more. There is a lot of opposition and no guarantee the President will win.”

  “Nonetheless,” replied Ben’s father, “they have already laid a major pipeline, running south from an area just beyond Prince William Sound, underwater I think, right into the northwest coast of the United States.”

  Like all Naval officers, both Admiral Badr and his son talked of far-flung places as if everyone in the world spent as much time as they did staring at maps and charts. But the drift of the discussion remained on course: Should we continue to discourage the American Fleets from plying their trade in the Middle East, or should we sit back and allow them to drift away in their own good time?

  “The fact is, they are never going to drift away,” said the Admiral. “The United States is a strategic global giant. It sees its own interest in every corner of the world. The Americans see advantages for themselves everywhere. They like to keep an eye on Russia, India, and China. It suits them to have Carrier Battle Groups in our seas. They will never do what we want, and just leave.”

  “And we, in turn, cannot drive them out,” said the Ayatollah, “because of their Military and Naval power…and now perhaps would be a good time to hear from the Hamas Commander who has been kind enough to answer our call for help and direction.”

  Everyone was in agreement, and General Ravi rose to his feet in the manner of one who had much to impart.

  “I have listened carefully to the impressive and thoughtful opinions expressed here this morning,” he said. “And I do not disagree with any of them. The West is more powerful than we are, and they have the capacity for ruthlessness on a scale we cannot match. However, we ought not to dwell upon that.

  “If the objective is too difficult, then it is folly to pursue it. As the Americans might say, get yourself a brand-new set of objectives. Crude, perhaps, but perfect logic. In my opinion, there are only two things that unfailingly cause an enemy to back down, and the first one of those is sheer exasperation. Not anger, fury, and ‘we’ll get the bastards for this.’ But careful studied exasperation. Like Gorbachev displayed when President Reagan threatened to wipe his nation out, from outer space if he had to.

  “Gorbachev was not angry. He was not even frightened. He was just at the end of his tether, exasperated, frustrated, and running out of options. In the end he just threw up his hands, said ‘screw this,’ and gave in. I’m not sure he meant to take down the Berlin Wall and completely dismantle the old Soviet Empire. But that’s what happened, so he just advised his nation to get on with living and trading. And he was right.

  “And I believe that is what we need to do to the Great Satan. And here we have an even greater advantage than Reagan had over Gorbachev. The Satan has an Achilles’ heel—it’s called dollars. No nation in the history of the world has ever been more conscious of cost, profit, and wealth.

  “Which makes our task doubly simple. We have to cause the United States to grow totally exasperated with us, fed up with the inconvenience, tired of endless rebuilding, and, above all, fed up with the cost. I do not believe in killing masses of innocent civilians. Instead, I suggest attack after attack on high-tech systems, machinery, and institutions. Things, gentlemen, things. And everything unattributable, done with absolute secrecy.

  “That’s the only way. Stretch them, stretch them far and wide. Stretch their resources until they break. Make them think they have to protect this, guard that, send aircraft carriers here, submarines there, troops somewhere else. Make them think the only way they can retain their global empire and trade routes is to guard the whole damn world from attack.

  “That way they’ll get good and fed up. They’ll have those fourth-rate little Democrat Congressmen up and whining about the cost, complaining about the effect on the American way of life. They’ll bleat themselves to death. But only if no one gets killed. If that happens they’ll smash some nation to pieces again.

  “We can get rid of the Americans. We just need to be more clever than we’ve been before. Or we’ll end up like Afghanistan.”

  General Ravi’s words had literally slammed around
the room because he was casting aside all of their preconceived ideas. Worse, really. He was standing everything on its head, trying to change the culture of decades of terrorism, making everything that had gone before somehow outdated, old-fashioned, improperly thought out.

  Two of the Hezbollah representatives were talking quite animatedly, and it was obvious they agreed with not one sentence of his speech. Indeed one of them climbed to his feet and said, “General, we do not think you should come here and decry everything we have done, risked our lives for.”

  Ravi did not stand up. He just said quietly, “I was not asked here to sit in judgment upon the past. I was asked to come here to talk about the future. The past is of no concern to me, save for its lessons. Certainly, I had no intention of criticizing your achievements. I do not know what they are. I only know that things that were applicable a few years ago, are no longer relevant today. And if you don’t change, you will almost certainly perish.”

  He paused for a moment and then asked which of the Hezbollah members had seen firsthand the American bombing in the mountains around Kabul. Two of them raised their hands.

  “How far from the explosion were you?”

  “Possibly ten miles.”

  “Well, let me say something about that. A few years ago I commanded a patrol in Northern Ireland and I know, from very close range, what a fifteen-pound hunk of Semtex explosive can do to a street—like knock most of it down. Those American bombs contain fifteen thousand pounds’ worth of explosive. And I once asked an American Colonel how accurate they were these days. His reply was succinct: ‘Which window do you want it through’?”

  There was silence in the room. “They not only have an endless supply of such weapons,” said the General, “they can deliver them when and where they want to deliver them. And no one can withstand that. Trust me. When we strike at them in future, we must be absolutely discreet.”