limp, using a black cane with a silver top. Their men should wear Western suits and approach under the guise of Egyptian secret police, requesting to see his papers. I was working on the theory that a criminal such as this would carry no papers of his own. That would leave only the attaché case, and right there it was up to them. Because in that case was every one of my most valuable documents…you know, Navy record, passport, driver’s license, birth certificate…not to mention my cigarette case and my precious Israeli submariner’s badge.
“After my own transaction was complete, I slipped away and followed the forger from a distance. I watched two men approach him and examine the contents of his briefcase. Then I watched one of them kill him instantly from behind with one shot from a silenced pistol. I watched them leave, taking the briefcase with them.
“It was ample evidence for the Mossad, and there was thus no doubt in their minds about who the dead man was. Someone found the body a few hours later, and the Egyptian police took over. But, of course, they knew nothing. There were no documents left on the corpse…. Two weeks later the Israelis sent$100,000 to my account in Geneva.”
Admiral Badr burst out laughing at the sheer brass of the scheme. “Ben, I guess a lot of people in Tel Aviv think you are dead.”
“Yessir. And they will undoubtedly have informed the Americans.”
“But Commander, what had you done, precisely, to make the United States so interested in you?”
“I don’t think I can reveal that. Except to say that I know your country had nothing to do with the elimination of that U.S. aircraft carrier.”
“My God, Ben. Was that you?”
But the Iraqi just smiled, and said, “Admiral, let’s look to the future…”
Admiral Badr, however, remained thoughtful. “Is your vision of the future the same as ours, Commander?”
“I believe so, sir. If you are referring to a general belief that one day the Nation of Islam must dominate the earth, to the everlasting glory of Allah.”
“That is our dream, Ben. That is our dream. And there are many of us in the military here in Iran who believe that the only way to achieve this aim is to cause chaos in the West.”
“You mean, sir, if we frighten them often enough, they may begin to fall apart?”
“I believe they will, Ben. Because unlike us, they are a Godless society. They have no central rallying point except money. In fact they have nothing except money. Their God is material possessions. They have no ideals.
“Great wars of the past have often been won behind a religious banner. But in this millennium, Allah alone can inspire brilliance and courage. Because Allah is great…and Allah is all-powerful…Allah makes us great…and when we attack, we attack behind his power, for a common cause. In the end, nothing can withstand us. Certainly not the infidels of the United States.
“We must strike hammerblows against them, over and over, until their will dissolves…as it must. Because they have no God. They are just overfed disciples of a lesser God—the God of money…and country clubs…and huge cars…and beautiful houses. But in the end they are nothing. Because they believe in nothing…and they have no true God. The Koran does not guide them. Nothing holy lights their way.
“They are the rampant heathens of the twenty-first century, sucking the world’s resources dry. Taking, grabbing, using, claiming the rights of other countries, treating our own Gulf of Iran as if it were theirs. But one day, we will rise up and claim what is ours, what has been ours for thousands of years. And when that day comes, the power of the United States will be returned, finally, to the Nation of Islam.”
The two men sat in silence after that. But to each of them the words possessed unfathomable meaning. Not everyone in Iran agreed with such thoughts, nor with Admiral Badr’s preferred course of action. But there were senior military
“After my own transaction was complete, I slipped away and followed the forger from a distance. I watched two men approach him and examine the contents of his briefcase. Then I watched one of them kill him instantly from behind with one shot from a silenced pistol. I watched them leave, taking the briefcase with them.
“It was ample evidence for the Mossad, and there was thus no doubt in their minds about who the dead man was. Someone found the body a few hours later, and the Egyptian police took over. But, of course, they knew nothing. There were no documents left on the corpse…. Two weeks later the Israelis sent$100,000 to my account in Geneva.”
Admiral Badr burst out laughing at the sheer brass of the scheme. “Ben, I guess a lot of people in Tel Aviv think you are dead.”
“Yessir. And they will undoubtedly have informed the Americans.”
“But Commander, what had you done, precisely, to make the United States so interested in you?”
“I don’t think I can reveal that. Except to say that I know your country had nothing to do with the elimination of that U.S. aircraft carrier.”
“My God, Ben. Was that you?”
But the Iraqi just smiled, and said, “Admiral, let’s look to the future…”
Admiral Badr, however, remained thoughtful. “Is your vision of the future the same as ours, Commander?”
“I believe so, sir. If you are referring to a general belief that one day the Nation of Islam must dominate the earth, to the everlasting glory of Allah.”
“That is our dream, Ben. That is our dream. And there are many of us in the military here in Iran who believe that the only way to achieve this aim is to cause chaos in the West.”
“You mean, sir, if we frighten them often enough, they may begin to fall apart?”
“I believe they will, Ben. Because unlike us, they are a Godless society. They have no central rallying point except money. In fact they have nothing except money. Their God is material possessions. They have no ideals.
“Great wars of the past have often been won behind a religious banner. But in this millennium, Allah alone can inspire brilliance and courage. Because Allah is great…and Allah is all-powerful…Allah makes us great…and when we attack, we attack behind his power, for a common cause. In the end, nothing can withstand us. Certainly not the infidels of the United States.
“We must strike hammerblows against them, over and over, until their will dissolves…as it must. Because they have no God. They are just overfed disciples of a lesser God—the God of money…and country clubs…and huge cars…and beautiful houses. But in the end they are nothing. Because they believe in nothing…and they have no true God. The Koran does not guide them. Nothing holy lights their way.
“They are the rampant heathens of the twenty-first century, sucking the world’s resources dry. Taking, grabbing, using, claiming the rights of other countries, treating our own Gulf of Iran as if it were theirs. But one day, we will rise up and claim what is ours, what has been ours for thousands of years. And when that day comes, the power of the United States will be returned, finally, to the Nation of Islam.”
The two men sat in silence after that. But to each of them the words possessed unfathomable meaning. Not everyone in Iran agreed with such thoughts, nor with Admiral Badr’s preferred course of action. But there were senior military
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