Paul McKellips - Jericho 3

“What happened when he died?”

“As with any movement there are always other leaders who try to rise up when a power vacuum emerges. Ayatollah Yazdi was the most notable. Camp, this Yazdi is the center of the crazy power in Iran. He is a hardliner who heads the ultraconservative faction. Yazdi is a member of the Assembly of Experts, the body who chooses the Supreme Leader.”

“Crazy?”

“Yazdi is the spiritual leader in the city of Qom. He is opposed to democratic reforms. He opposed the people’s uprising and the reform movement after the presidential elections in 2009. And he believes that Iran has become too liberal, and too open, since the Revolution in 1979.”

“Too liberal? Doesn’t sound any crazier than the rest of the bastards in power over there.”

“And he’s a Twelver.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Twelvers are the largest branch of Shia, the second denomination of Islam and the followers of Ali. Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Lebanon have very large Shia populations. The rest of the Muslim countries are mostly Sunni. Sunnis make up nearly eighty percent of the world of Islam. But there are more than 200 million of us.”

“Two hundred million Muslims?”

“No, two hundred million Shia, maybe more. There are 1.6 billion Muslims. Twelver Shiites believe that the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, but only from his daughter Fatima and his son-in-law Ali, offer the best ways of knowledge about the Holy Koran, the most accurate protectors of Muhammad’s traditions, and are the most worthy of emulation.”

“At the risk of being called a ‘drive thru’ American intellectual, I’m still not tracking the whole twelve thing, Omid. The 9/11 hijackers were Sunni. Bin Laden was Sunni. Al Qaeda and the Wahhabis are Sunni. Now I’m supposed to be afraid of Shiites and the Twelvers?”

“Do you want fries with this education?”

Camp and Omid laughed a bit too loud as one of the scouts turned back and glared. Camp could hardly speak as the two squads of Alpha Team passed through the 12,000 foot peaks between Dabgay, Kazen Kalay and Zakarkhel passing over an invisible Afghanistan border and into the lawless region of Pakistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of North Waziristan. Omid spoke without constraint, as though walking casually in Tehran.

“An Imam is a worship leader, a spiritual leader at a mosque. In Islam, there are twelve Imams who are considered the political and religious successors to Muhammad.”

“Like Jesus and the twelve apostles.”

“Similar. Allah guides the Imams, and the Imams guide the people. According to Twelvers, there is always an Imam of the Age. Ali was the first Imam in the line from Muhammad, and in the Twelvers’ view, the rightful successor to the Prophet of Islam. Each Imam thereafter was a male descendant of Fatima and Ali. The twelfth and final Imam was Muhammad al-Mahdi. He was born in 869, and anointed as the Twelfth Imam when he was only five years old. Then came the occultation.”

“The what?”

“Occultation… it means a hiding. For more than 1,200 years Allah has hidden the Mahdi from our sight. He never died. The Mahdi — the Twelfth Imam — is the ultimate savior of humanity, and he will return with Isa, the Islamic name for Jesus Christ, and together they will rule the world.”

“Christians and Muslims side by side? Including Jesus?” Camp asked.

“Not exactly. Jesus will convert to Islam when he returns.”

“That’s convenient if not improbable. So the Mahdi has been hiding in a cave?”

“Or perhaps living in the open as one of us, waiting for the right moment when Allah reveals him.”

“Okay… that’s a bit out there… a bit hard for my Western mind to grasp… how does all of this add up to nuclear weapons in Iran… and a double-agent wanting to save his people?” Camp said as he struggled for oxygen.

“It is now the Age of the Coming, my friend. It is now our calling to prepare the way for the Twelfth Imam. Certain things must now happen before he can reappear.”

Omid dropped his head and stared at the starlit snow covered path in front of him as they started a steep climb. The footpath grew very narrow.

“What things, Omid?”

“Things your diplomats, White House and the United Nations Security Council don’t seem to understand. You study our policy. You assume we won’t attack other countries, Europe or even the United States. You assume we would never launch bio-weapons or nuclear weapons because the world’s retaliation would destroy Iran. Perhaps you should study the regime’s theology instead of their politics.”

“Theology?”

“Our theology is our policy. Our theology requires destruction. It’s the only way for the Mahdi to return. So Mister Smart American Navy man… would you like to sit down and negotiate with us on theological terms? Or perhaps you think you can change our theology with sanctions?”

Camp was quiet.

The cave complex was right where Omid said it would be. Alpha Team had made good time and arrived four minutes ahead of schedule. Three members of each team cleared the caves as the rest of the team hugged the rock walls of the frozen Hindu Kush. The team quickly unrolled and climbed into their sacks for four hours of rest.

Camp couldn’t shake the despair. He reflected on his schooldays when his father assured him he could talk his way out of every fight. Camp had never even considered the notion that one could be lured into fighting an inferior opponent because that opponent had a death wish.

Camp reached over to Omid’s bed roll and touched his arm.

“Omid,” he whispered. “What makes you so sure that this — right now — is the Age of the Coming? Why not in five years, in 50 years or even 500 years?”

Omid pushed himself up on his elbows.

“Signs and technology, analysis from the Hadith and the promises of the Ulema, our religious leaders, all point to The Coming.”

“Technology? You mean nukes?”

“Partly. One intercontinental ballistic missile can only kill thousands. We don’t have unlimited missiles. But biological weapons can kill millions, and we have the technology to put them into the air you breathe and the water you drink.”

“You’re crazy, Omid. Your people are crazy. There’s no way on God’s green earth that your little Safir ICBMs are going to hit the US. Your calculations are way off.”

“We don’t need to attack you , Captain Campbell. You will attack us , and it will take only 10 minutes.”

“What the hell?”

“Imam Ali said it best… Waging war against enemies with whom war is inevitable, and if they might attack Muslims, then war is a duty of Muslims. The Holy Koran says in Albaghara 2:191-193: And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution of Muslims is worse than slaughter of non-believers … and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah. ”

“Since 1979 we’ve been dealing with you when the Shah was exiled and our Embassy was attacked. Now you think we’ll just lose our patience with you in 10 minutes?”

An eerie glow from the snow and the morning light breaking into the cave covered Omid’s face. His steel brown eyes pierced Camp’s face.

“The calculations are in place. The plan has been created. It will take us eight-minutes and 53-seconds to destroy Israel.”

Camp was sick to his stomach just hearing the words spoken with calm and ease. “Why are you telling me this?”

“We’ve been telling you for years. You just don’t listen.”

Camp knew that the radicals controlling Iran had more than 1,000 missiles. They were close to achieving success in their designs for intercontinental delivery technology. If there was a secret military program, on a parallel path with the domestic energy program, then Iran could have enough enriched uranium for at least three to six nuclear bombs.