The Caliphate, André Gallo [best books to read ever .TXT] 📗

     The noise attracted attention from a man coming into the courtyard. Since Steve was dressed as a Tuareg, the man shouted and rushed toward him threateningly. Until that moment, although his heart had been beating at twice its normal rhythm, Steve had felt in control, unseen, invisible, and almost invulnerable. Now that he was under scrutiny, he went into fight or flight mode.

     With a head feint to the right, Steve ran to the left, heading for the open gate. Not used to running in sandals he almost fell but regained his balance and, holding the hem of his ankle-length Tuareg robe in one hand, he headed for the car as fast as he could, knowing this could be a life or death sprint.

     By the time he reached the car there was more than one voice yelling behind him but he didn’t look back. And ahead, his car was now surrounded by several nomads who, with their goats, were examining it, including one man who was conducting his inspection from inside.

     Steve had left the car unlocked with the thought that he might need to leave quickly. Now he wondered if it had been a huge mistake.

     As they saw this mad Tuareg moving toward them at flank speed, the goatherds stepped back. Steve threw himself into the car and started it as quickly as he could get the keys in the ignition. His back seat inspector jumped out when they started moving, falling on a bleating goat that had been busy nibbling at the tires.

     An SUV came tearing out of the fort and picked up the two men running after Steve. He took off with them in full pursuit. He first headed back toward town but going to his hotel would simply delay the inevitable confrontation. He glanced down at his watch compass. As he drove, he thought his Tuareg costume would minimize the seriousness of the incident in the minds of the Salafists only if his American status was not revealed.

     He turned off on a track heading north toward the Tuareg camp he and Izem had visited on Monday. The sun was coming up over the curve of the horizon when he reached the encampment. He sounded his horn as he drove the last fifty yards, stopped the car, and ran toward the tent of the amenokal. The chief analyzed the situation in a moment with uncanny precision and called out his warriors, many of whom were already up around their campfires. Several of his men answered his summon armed not with their medieval swords and lances but with guns of various vintages.

     The armed Tuaregs surrounded the SUV. Loud words were exchanged. The SUV turned around and headed back to the Fort. In that place and at that moment, the Tuaregs ruled.

26. Gao: A Mosque

The conversation following al Khalil’s Friday sermon had been spirited and sometimes acrimonious. Salim had listened but without hearing the details of the conversation. He had heard all this before.

     The arguments triggered the memory of similar conversations years ago when he was Said’s right hand man, later his deputy and, eventually, his replacement. Then, the mission was to spread the Muslim Brotherhood’s organization and concepts throughout Europe. The movement had profited from an unlikely base—Muslim soldiers from the Soviet Red Army captured by the invading Nazi Blitzkrieg in 1941. Mostly from Central Asia, up to a million soldiers agreed to fight for Hitler. At the end of the war, many had been transferred to the Western Front and were captured by the British and American armies, thus saving them from immediate execution by the Soviets. Said, the Brotherhood chief for Europe, accompanied by a young Salim, showed up in a Cadillac and donated a thousand marks when a former SS imam announced at a public event that he planned to build a mosque in Munich.

     The enemy of my enemy is my friend; the MB was as strongly anti-communist as communism was atheistic.

     Following the impromptu meeting in the canteen, Salim and Tariq walked outside in the inner courtyard. The sun had set but it wasn’t entirely dark.

     “You understand that we need to establish a strong base,” Tariq said. “A strong Sunni base. The Shiites are growing in influence. Our Sunni faith is losing its traditional dominance. If democratization catches on, then keep in mind that including Iran, a Shiite country, there are about a billion and a half Shiites in the world. Make no mistake, they’re waking up. Sometimes I think that we should first take care of the Shiite apostates even before we focus on the Egyptians, Syrians, and others who call themselves secular. Besides, the Syrians who are run by the Alawite clan are also Shiites. The only alternative operation I would consider would be a major strike against the Zionist entity. That would create great popular support and a way to obtain a nuclear weapon; that would get us the respect we want.”

     “You have given me much to think about. Let us talk again in the morning,” Salim replied

     During the night, Salim called David from his room. The next morning, Salim took Tariq for a walk in the courtyard. Salim wanted to continue the trend of thought that Tariq had initiated the night before, which David had found fascinating.

     They walked in the courtyard until the mid-morning prayers.

***

When Steve received the transcript from the miniature mic in Salim’s room, he was at first puzzled. Salim, whom he knew to be the European Ikhwan chief and al Khalil’s adviser, had called a man named David and given him a summary of the day’s discussions at the Fort.

     Significantly, Salim had said, “Tariq is thinking of redirecting his focus toward Iran. What do you think?”

     David had encouraged that line of thought. At the end of