“No you have not, my friend,” said Qasim. Keep talking, he thought. He was providing the type of insight that he was hoping to hear. “What is your opinion of American Jews?”
Tarif hesitated as he never expected a question like this and didn’t know how to answer it. He hoped that Qasim was a friend who could be trusted and not someone trying to set him up.
“Why do you ask?” said Tarif. “Are you plotting against the Jews?”
Qasim laughed. “No Tarif, did I not tell you my purpose? I have not lied. I only ask because I’ve been contacted by a retired US Army general who is Jewish. He and a rabbi in New York want to talk to me about some of the things that they are doing. The general said that his group has the same goals as we.” Still not entirely trusting Tarif, he withheld names.
“Well, I have some friends who are Jewish. We’re not close, but I get along with them. But I know that you don’t trust them, Qasim.”
“You’re right. Personally, I’m not a fan of Jews, but I outright hate Abbas. I can live with the Jews in this country if we are each allowed to mind our own business. But Abbas is screwing up the country. After my conversation with the general, and hearing what he had to say about the passive Christian plan to oust him, I’m convinced that the Jews and those of us who consider themselves American Muslims now are the only ones who have enough of what the Jews would call Chutzpah to dethrone him.”
“Chutzpah?” said Tarif. They both laughed at the sound of a Muslim using a Jewish word.
“In any event, we don’t have to like one another. We have a common enemy and a common goal. If we respect one another maybe we can work independently on the same mission even from different places. On top of that, it was mentioned that a former member of his synagogue, who happened upon a Christian resistance group, had contacted the Rabbi. So you see, Tarif, despite the diverse backgrounds and many differences that exist in the populace, the president has, in fact, unified the country. People of all faiths and nationalities seem to be of one mind with a common enemy.“
“And you want me to join your group in Boston,” said Tarif.
“Sort of but I need much more from you, my friend. I want you to be our man on the inside of the president’s circle of influence. At the very least, we’d like you to be able to report on the president’s state of mind. Ideally we’d like to know his plans and actions so that we can be prepared. Can you do that, Tarif?”
“We are of like mind, Qasim, but I’m not in Abbas’ inner circle. I’m in the White House but only as the deputy chief of staff. I’d have to be in another position to be asked to attend all of the meetings and to be included in the behind the scenes planning. And, the people in place now are the president’s closest friends and advisors. He would never appoint me to a post unless something happened to one of them that prevented them from carrying out their duties.”
“I see,” said Qasim. “Let me ask you this. If you could have your choice of any job that would put you in a better position to help us, which would you like?”
Tarif’s hands were sweaty. This conversation went in an entirely different direction than he first expected and even when he realized where things were headed, he never imagined what he was now hearing.
“Well,” replied Tarif. “I guess the easiest would be as chief of staff. As the deputy chief, that would be my next promotion and would be easier to justify than making me say, umm, Secretary of Defense. But the president wants Omar as his chief of staff, and I don’t think he would replace him with me unless he learned that Omar was unfaithful to him. Omar is too trustworthy and would never do harm to the president.”
“What do you think of Omar?” said Qasim.
He knew that he had already said that he didn’t like him, but Qasim wanted no ambiguity. His mission was too important to leave things open ended or to chance.
Tarif hesitated to choose his words carefully.
“I’ve said that I don’t like him. He’s too much of a hard-liner having come from Syria and all” said Tarif. “He’s my boss, so I’m obedient. I do what he wants, and I stay out of trouble.”
“If the opportunity presented itself, would you take his job and then help us in our mission asked Qasim?
“Without hesitation,” was his reply.
The quickness of his answer surprised Qasim, who still wondered about an ulterior motive.
“Good. Leave everything to me. Just lay low and under the radar. Keep doing your job. I will be in touch when the moment is right. Oh, and to refresh your memory, Tarif, my brother and I are also from Syria. But don’t worry. We hate Omar almost as much as we hate Abbas.”
Tarif sighed in relief.
“We will be in touch.”
Tarif pulled out a billfold, but Qasim said “Thank you for joining me for lunch. Lunch was my treat. Give my best to Heela, will you?”
“Of course, Qasim, ma'a as-salaama.”
“ma'a as-salaama,” replied Qasim.
Qasim, still sipping his drink, watched Tarif leave. His head was spinning, and he wasn’t sure if it was the arak or all that they had just discussed. And while he hoped he had a new ally, he would have to remain guarded in his handling of Tarif.
Chapter 32
It was early January before the joint meeting in New York could finally be held.
Angela found scheduling to be a real challenge given the time of year and previous commitments. In fact, almost a month had passed since the idea had been proposed and she was beginning to think that it would not be possible.
Rather than sit idly by, Angela had gone down to DC for Christmas to join in one of the ever increasing number of anti-Abbas protests being staged around the country. She needed to keep the adrenaline going. She had wanted Tony to join her, but he seemed more interested in family time during the holiday. In fact, he had wanted her to meet his family but Angela wanted to keep engaged in the cause. They had actually argued over this. She was in love with him and hated him at the same time. She wanted him to be as committed to their cause as she was and yet, at times, this didn’t seem to be a priority for him.
“Relax, we’re playing the long game” he had said.
“Screw you and your long game,” she had yelled back.
“I don’t understand why we’re fighting. What’s the problem here Ange?”
She loved him, but he was a wimp and a pain in the ass sometimes. She didn’t have the patience for this long game.
“Nothing, I’m sorry. You enjoy the holidays. I just need to take care of some things.”
But the truth was that she was frightened about the prospect of meeting his family. She wanted things to stay the way they were. So she went alone and managed to sneak into the White House with the press corps to hear the president’s nationally televised Christmas address. During the Q&A, she had asked the president why he was trying to dismantle the First Amendment. Proving her right, the president ignored her question, asking for another. As the guards escorted her from the room, she yelled: “Why are you screwing over women?” This question, first echoed by Carol Carson, caused a stir and by his body language, she knew that the president remembered.
While Angela had been anxious to get this meeting scheduled, Josh Redmond, like Tony, had been happy to see the delay. He didn’t sit around doing nothing. There was a lot of work to be done and the delay gave him a chance to travel up to Boston to meet face to face with the Khalid brothers. That had been important to Josh ever since he had spoken on the phone with Qasim. While he felt comfortable after their phone conversation, it wasn’t until he was able to look him in the eye that he was sure that what Qasim had told him was the absolute truth. Now he was convinced that the brothers could be trusted.
Before the formal meeting began, the leaders from Philly and New York met privately in the back room of Rabbi Rudzinsky’s Jewish center.
In attendance from Philly were Angela, Tony, Nicky Killer, and Joanne Shapiro. Joanne had been a real asset in growing the group. Since joining, she had b
rought in several Jewish members of her Chestnut Hill synagogue. These were all respected civic and business leaders in the area. The Philly group that just a few months earlier had been 10, now numbered in the hundreds. They came from all parts of the city. Each met separately, and each had its own leaders, but they were all in touch and coordinating with Angela, who, whether she wanted the job or not, was the de facto leader in Philly. That was exciting for her because just organizing things was like running a large company.
The New Yorkers at the meeting included the Rabbi, his son Aaron, Josh, and to prove that a common enemy can bring together strange bedfellows, Muhammad ibn Ali, a New York lawyer and scholar who once lived next door to the Khalid brothers. Despite what many believed, Muhammad was named after one of the earliest legal scholars and Imams, not the boxer. Saul did not like the idea of Muhammad attending the meeting but Josh said this was a one-time thing and insisted that having diverse opinions would be good for their planning.
“Welcome,” started Rabbi Rudzinsky, after the initial introductions. “To get started, I hope that we can be on a first name basis and do away with formal titles and surnames when we meet. I think it would make for a closer working group.” Everyone agreed, so Saul continued.
“I was dragged into the fray by my son Aaron who had been attending meetings in Queens. A small group turned into hundreds, and I realized that this thing was going somewhere. We now have over 500 members in our group in Queens, but not all attend meetings. Thank God for that or we’d need to rent Queens Field. Saul smiled; half expecting some laughter at what he thought was a humorous quip. No one so much as cracked a smile, so Saul continued.
We’ve created a hierarchy whereby we’ve broken New York into districts based on who was in the group that could lead and where they lived. Other Jewish leaders around the country have also called me. What we are doing here in Queens is being duplicated in Chicago, Cleveland, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Dallas and St Louis. Those are the ones I know about for sure but in talking with other leaders in these cities, many have reached out beyond their sphere. For example, Rabbi Berkowitz in St Louis has already connected with the people in Kansas City. So it seems that we’re moving in the right direction.”
“I have a few comments and a question or two,” said Angela. “We started small, and that was a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it was easy to control the communications of the small group, but we didn’t have any leaders. As we grow, how can we ensure that our plans are kept secret and not leaked? Won’t it be difficult to keep people from talking to friends and relatives? Also, in Philly, we found that as we grew we didn’t have enough leaders to control this, and we’re at sort of a loss as to the next step.” How did you get more leaders and how big can this become? Oh, and when does it get totally out of control?”
“Well Angela,” interjected General Redmond, “I have the same concerns about security. But I’ve found in my life that we can only control so much. If people understand the significance of maintaining silence at all costs and provide information on a need to know basis only, that’s about all we can do. We have to have faith in our people to do the right thing.
Also, we have to understand that we can’t control what the president and his people learn or how they react to the information. We have to assume that they have spies and are learning some of what is happening, so we have to leak some bogus information and use some misdirection to keep them off their game. Those involved in other cities are doing the sort of things that we want the president to know about and to focus. Their roles are important, but they are diversionary, more like obstructions.
As for leadership, there are different types of leaders. My friend Saul here is an outstanding role model and a leader of faith. Priests and ministers can also make great leaders. But these men all have one thing in common, and that is that they are pacifists by nature of their roles. I’ve been in charge of literally hundreds of thousands of men. The hardest part is remembering all of their names,” he joked. Everyone snickered. “Seriously,” he continued, “Saul and I have been discussing this, and I’ve been working on some plans that I’ll share. The one thing I can tell you is that since DC is on the east coast, the groups on the east coast are going to have to step up and do the lion’s share of the work. We need to decide on the best approach to bringing lasting change to the government in the shortest amount of time. I don’t want to put words in your mouth Angela, but I understand, from talking to Joanne, that you believe that the way to bring about change is through the ballot box. Being an officer in the military, I’ve traveled all over the world, and I’ve witnessed changes in government. I have my views of how that comes about, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on that.”
“Well, General.”
“Please call me Josh if you would,” interrupted the general.
“Ok, Josh, our initial group, was made up entirely of clergy except Tony and me. Their view was that we could take back the country by non-violent means. I agreed initially, and I’d love to see that happen, but the group has grown, the clergymen have taken a back seat, and some very colorful people like Nicky have convinced me that I’d be dead before we’d get the change we need. So in short, Josh, I’m open to discussing anything that will bring about a quick and lasting change in leadership.”
Nicky chimed in “I think we just let me and my boys go down there and tune em up for good.”
While that repeatedly seemed to be his standard answer to everything, it still brought laughter from everyone but Josh.
“That’s not bad thinking, Nicky,” said the general. “I was thinking of a little more elaborate plan, but you’ve got the basics down.” Now even he smiled.
Josh brought the Philly group up to date on several fronts. He talked about how a friend of his had put him in touch with people that he knew in Boston. Josh spoke of the Muslim brothers, Qasim and Makim Khalid, and mentioned that they were cousins of Omar Khalid, the White House Chief of Staff. “At the suggestion of my friend I decided to vett them and their group. In fact, I met with them in Boston a few days ago. I’m confident that they are on the up and up and can be invaluable to our cause.
Despite Muhammad’s presence, Saul was quite candid about his feelings toward working with the brothers. “How can you expect me to sit with Muslims and work with Muslims? That goes against every Jewish bone in my body.”
Aaron was equally surprised to hear that he might have to be involved with Muslims. “How do we know we can trust them? Maybe they’re plants. Maybe this is a sting set up by Omar Khalid to trap us.”
“I understand your hesitancy. All I can tell you is that I’m a pretty good judge of character. That’s why I suggested meeting them. I wanted to look at their faces, look in their eyes, and decide for myself if they could be trusted. I’m confident they can be, or I never would have suggested this. Qasim and Makim hate the president and want a change as badly as we do.”
Saul and Aaron didn’t look convinced, but they nodded; an indication that they’d like the meeting to continue.
Josh then mentioned how, like New York, the Muslims in Boston had reached out to others in their community and how they expressed their views that it was much harder for them to identify who could be trusted. Apparently the race card, similar to the one that got the first African American President, Barack Obama elected in 2008, had come into play. Many Muslims who voted for Abbas hate him. But because he’s a Muslim he got their vote out of a sense of duty. So identifying possible confidantes was difficult. Josh said that he was told that the Boston group numbered only 12. “But,” Josh said, “one of the 12 is a White House insider, and that could prove invaluable to us.”
“I feel that expansion is not only essential but inevitable. As we grow, other like-minded people will gravitate toward one another. We all believe in a divine creator. Sure we have our differences. Some say God or God the Father. Some may call him Yahweh; some prefer Jehovah, and others call him Allah. And we have our dif
ferences regarding scripture interpretation and whether Jesus was a prophet, the son of God, or neither. But we share a common purpose. No matter what our reference, we all believe in a supreme being who created us and whom we worship. And I hope I’m speaking for everyone when I say that we all believe in each other’s right to worship as he or she deems appropriate. That, my friends, is called “religious tolerance”, and it was one of the cornerstones of the founding of this country. Further, we share a common enemy in President Abbas and his administration. This president threatens this basic religious freedom and promises to take away many of our rights, thrusting the United States back to ancient times. Are we not agreed that this man must go?”
Everyone had nodded their heads in approval and then clapped for Josh.
“This common thread that binds us will result in a cohesive effort with a single mind and a single purpose, but I understand that each group would prefer to work independently on specific operations because of their distinct differences. I’m ok with that because I think it can work. Don’t forget that geography and religious beliefs already separate the groups. We basically have three primary groups: Mostly Christians in Philly, Jews in NY and Muslims in Boston.”
Acts of Sedition Page 13