Prologue

Washington, D.C., AP, June 1, 2000 –
The U.S. State Department has traditionally labeled the following countries as state sponsors of international terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
      As of June 1, 2000, the State Department officially stopped referring to these nations by the term rogue nations, and instead identified them as states of concern.
      According to the State Department, some of these countries have embarked on a more democratic internal life. State Department spokesmen cited Iran’s election of reformist parliamentary candidates and North Korea’s decision to halt missile testing over the Japanese home islands.

Shatt el Arab
January 2000

The three-car caravan shimmered under the hot sun and the desert heat. Even during the colder months, the land between Iraq and Iran sat like a hot griddle sizzling everything that crossed it. The sand was saturated with the blood of martyrs and infidels. During the eighties, the Iranian Mullahs sent human wave attacks over the broken and stony ground to meet the Russian-made, Iraqi-purchased artillery and machine gun emplacements. The world roared with jackhammer clarity and the thirsty sand sucked up the bloody carnage.
      Ayatollah Kambiz Abbasi had a new mandate in a land where blood and death were as common as sand and wind. Tehran had suffered a nuclear event. A low yield weapon had detonated a few short weeks ago. The explosive blast had killed thousands and shocked the world to the tragedy of the terrorist mentality. He feared the weapon was one of Russia’s suitcase-size nuclear weapons. A weapon similar to the ten purchased by Iran’s ruling Mullahs for use against the United States—the Great Satan.
      Innuendo and rumor became part of the general discourse as the Mullahs refused all Western aid and snubbed the cash-strapped Russians. Persia—Iran’s true name—did not need Western charity with its hangers-on of Christian missionaries and CIA spies. Persia was a great power, striving for the day when she would once again have the might to make the earth quake in her shadow—a missile-borne, nuclear-tipped shadow.
      Abbasi argued that they could not know which great power was responsible for the atrocity; therefore, both the Russian Bear and the American Eagle should be punished. The Mullahs, who drove the populace back to a thirteenth century mind set and sought to employ twenty-first century weapons, found the logic compelling. Their discussions were secret and stark. They did not play to an expectant media or seek to charm any special interest beyond themselves. They were both lawgivers and deathbringers. In the end, they agreed to Abbasi’s suggestions, and gave him charter to carry out the deed. After all, they sat atop a petroleum ocean, and the entire world would have to deal with them eventually. They feared no man, and believed they served God.

*

Two white vans plunged over the dusty gravel. They crossed the border between Iraq and Iran at Abadan and snaked over the poorly maintained roads to the meeting place. Saddam Hussein—the Great leader—and his eldest son, Uday, rode together. Saddam’s grievance with the United States was legendary and his country continued to reel from the vengeful American presence.
      Kuwait and Saudi Arabia mouthed words regarding Arab Unity while American carrier task forces trolled the Persian Gulf, and launched strike aircraft to strafe and bomb his country. Monetary sanctions remained in place, and the meddlesome Americans continued to stir dissent with the Kurds to the north. His enmity for former President George Bush was palpable, and he had been tied to an unsuccessful assassination attempt when Bush visited Kuwait. It prompted President Clinton to launch over one hundred cruise missiles into Iraq.
     Conservatively, Iraq and Iran lost over a one million combatants on the ground where they met today. In the peculiar alchemy unique to the Middle East where the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the hated Americans proved to be the prime target for inheritors of the Babylonian and Persian Empires. Neither party broached the topic that once the Western interlopers were dispatched, the two great powers would meet again on the field of battle, and this time there would be no stalemate.
      Uday Hussein was considered by most analysts to be even more unstable and unpredictable than his father. He was also the heir apparent. If ruthlessness is a genetic trait, then Saddam Hussein was the procreator of the pure strain. Murder and terror were twin demons ravaging Iraq, and, less than nine precious years since the Gulf War, Saddam had managed to rebuild his army to one thousand battle tanks.
      The violent purveyors disembarked from their vehicles and walked to an open tent, a simple table, and hard benches. Saddam Hussein, Uday Hussein, and Kambiz Abbasi gathered over the hard ground to plot vengeance—a meal best served cold.
      Abbasi considered the rumors that Saddam suffered from cancer. Rumors also placed Iran as the perpetrator behind the 1997 assassination attempt on Uday. Neither man broached a subject that might jeopardize their tenuous alliance.
      The street-thug–turned–dictator coughed grievously and explained, "I’m not dead yet—if that’s what you are wondering."
      Uday did nothing to comfort his father. It was curious enough that Uday still breathed, considering the rash of fratricide amongst his siblings. Saddam might actually be considering the needs of the future—although a future absent of Uday would certainly be more peaceful.
      They bantered and bargained like pair of Bedouin chieftains over water rights at a well. Both men knew they would reach a pact over this parlay. The prize was too delicious to resist. Once the broad outlines of the plan were secured, Saddam slammed his hand flat on the wooden table.
      "There is one more thing," he rasped. His strength was fleeing his weakened body, and a nervous gaggle of doctors looked on from the second van. Their lives were forfeit should the Great Leader succumb on their watch.
      "Yes," asked Abbasi cautiously.
      "Buuuusssshhh is running for the American Presidency—the son of my great enemy," he wheezed.
      Running for Presidency and achieving the prize were two vastly different spectacles, but Abbasi continued to listen quietly.
      "If the son becomes President, then he too is part of this deal," declared Saddam.
      Abbasi pursed his lips and nodded.