officers like Curtis O’Connor. Dan Esposito was furious as he had also been excluded and told to concentrate on the President’s re-election.
‘The alpha has rotated for the first time and soon it will rotate again and the prime of 137 will unleash its fury,’ Kadeer began. As usual, his manner was calm and reasonable.
‘As the great Prophet, peace be upon him, will attest, the loss of any life is unfortunate but doubly unfortunate when the solution is in your hands. We do not wish to change your society yet you seem to think you have a right to change ours. Your leaders talk about imposing democracy on us. In your democracies you allow notorious prisons like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay without any hope of a fair trial for those who are incarcerated. Some have been held there for over five years. For Muslims in China, the position is the same and torture is commonplace. We are beginning to wonder whether freedom and human rights are privileges that are available for all or only to those of you who agree with your governments and their imperialistic views of the world.’ Kadeer paused to allow his message to take effect.
‘Our demands are simple and fair. Firstly, we want to see an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people and the establishment of a viable and prosperous Palestinian State at peace with her neighbours.’
‘Secondly, we want you to withdraw your forces from our holy lands. You do not have a right to use military force to secure oil for your gas guzzling SUVs and four-wheel drives. Thirdly, we want you to withdraw your support for corrupt regimes like those in Saudi Arabia and Egypt where our people are persecuted. Fourthly, the West is to stop turning a blind eye to the Beijing government’s relentless murder of innocent Muslims and other ordinary citizens. The Han Chinese see the Beijing Olympics as their entree card into global society. If you in the West continue to support this event without demanding the freedom of speech and religion you are so keen to impose on the Middle East, you will all pay a terrible price. Finally, just as we do not wish to interfere in the affairs of Christianity, we seek an agreement that you will cease interfering in the affairs of Islam. You have a choice. You can sit down and negotiate the peace we all desire, or you will meet us again when the alpha rotates for the second and final time. This is your last warning.’
No one spoke. The cabinet members were keen to hear the new President’s views although few were prepared for the vehemence of what followed.
‘These little bastards are going to regret this,’ President Bolton began. He turned to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. ‘I want a report on how soon we can double the Armed Forces,’ he said.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs struggled to hide his alarm. ‘That would involve the draft, Mr President.’
‘I know that General, goddamn it!’ President Bolton spat back, slamming his fist on to the table. ‘Let’s get one thing straight,’ the President demanded, his cold eyes staring down each member of his cabinet in turn. ‘This is war and this cabinet’s going to be very different from the last one. No more debates. No more roadblocks and speed humps, and no more negative analysis. This year’s only got a few more weeks to run but by the time I give my State of the Union address early next year, I want to map out a war footing for the whole nation,’ the President snarled, convinced that where the previous President had failed, he would succeed.
‘This country faces two threats, and if they’re not dealt with and crushed they will overwhelm our civilisation as we know it. The first one is Islam. They’re already running for Congress and parliament in other countries like Australia. If these little bastards get their way we’ll all be in a fucking mosque attending prayers every other hour of the day and our women will be stumbling around in burqas. I’m not going to stand by and let that happen. Instead of leaving the problem to a few thousand in the military, the whole nation is going to be geared to defeat them, and that includes taking on Syria and Iran,’ the President added, turning back to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
‘I want your options for attacks on both those countries. If the President of Iran thinks he can develop nuclear weapons to wipe Israel off the map he’s got another think coming. Those plans are to include options for ground invasion. In the meantime, I want another nuclear carrier group deployed into the Gulf.’
Bolton was making sure his defiant military message could not possibly be misread.
CHAPTER 79
I n the face of the West’s intransigence and China’s silence on human rights, Kadeer had reluctantly ordered al-Falid to execute the plans for the second rotation of the alpha within seven days.
Like the London bombers of 7/7 who had met at Luton station before taking a train to Kings Cross and then separating to detonate their rucksack bombs, Kadeer’s cell in London were all ‘home grown’. All of the members of this cell were second generation Britons; graduates of some of the best universities in the country, including one from Oxford who had a blue for cricket. The only common denominator was their faith. All of them were Muslims angry at the treatment they were getting in their own country, and angry at the lies the British government had told them about the invasion of Iraq.
The first words of the plans that Thames Water had thoughtfully provided on the internet for all their consumers read: ‘The Thames Water Ring Main is one of London’s best kept secrets’. The irony had not been lost on Kadeer’s men, each of them prepared to die for their spiritual leader as part of the new Jihad sweeping Europe. The Thames Water map showed the precise detail of the 83-kilometre tunnel that had been built under London. It gave the locations of the advanced water treatment works like those at Ashford Common, Walton and Hampton, and it detailed exactly where all the pump-out shafts were in places like Holland Park, Battersea and Brixton. Thames Water had provided a free CD that the members of the Leeds cell had watched many times. They had one of their own working in the advanced water treatment plant at Hampton. They were ready to strike.
The cell leader, Mahmood al-Masri, and his cell were ecstatic. They had watched Dr Kadeer’s video and were in admiration of the man who could devastate a city like Sydney and bring down the most famous 747 in the world. The might of Islam was on the rise and the timing was perfect. In a week’s time, London would play host to a rock music festival that had been organised as a peace rally dubbed ‘Peace Rocks’. Some of the world’s most famous international bands had given their support and Trafalgar Square would be packed. Before the barriers and magnetometers went up, a thousand pellets of the glowing blue caesium chloride would be dissolved into each of the famous fountains. The flashing lights playing on the stage would be joined by an iridescence of a far more deadly variety.
Mahmood also planned to introduce 2000 pellets into two of the water treatment works and the final 4000 pellets would be exploded in three backpacks. The smallest would be detonated as close to the Chinese Embassy in Portland Place as possible. Mahmood had reconnoitred the area thoroughly and the Embassy was in the centre of London near Regents Park, not far from the BBC Headquarters in Broadcasting House and one of the infidels’ most famous churches, Nash’s All Souls. The location was perfect. Mahmood planned for a second backpack to be detonated in one of London’s other famous parks. The final decision as to which one would depend on the prevailing wind but, because of its size and central location, Mahmood was leaning towards Hyde Park. The final backpack would be exploded on the roof of a building in the financial district. The eight rusted teletherapy heads were still under the bed in the spare room of the cell leader’s nondescript tenement house in Leeds. Each member of the cell knew they would die once the heads were dismantled, but they were looking forward to their next life when they could join their great Prophet. A life free from persecution in their own country where Muslims were reviled and a life free from having to watch the news every night and witness the slaughter of their brothers and sisters at the hands of the West in places like Iraq and Lebanon. Together the cell members placed their prayer mats on the floor of the cell leader’s lounge room, and faced towards Mecca.
‘ Allahu Akbar. God is Great,’ the cell leader intoned, as he began to lead them in prayer. Halfway across the world, two more of Kadeer’s cells were completing their preparations for similar attacks, one cell in one of the largest cities of the United States, another in a city belonging to one of the United States’ staunchest allies.
CHAPTER 80
