The Illuminati (38 page)

“What can I do?” Klein asked wearily. “After all, I am a retired politician, which is worse than no politician at all.”

“Just be willing to go on television and explain to our people what we had to do. Razzak is willing to accept the blame for launching the attack.”

“I will do that,” Klein agreed. “I don't know how the people of Israel will accept it though.”

“Only history will tell if we have been patriots or traitors,” Facimadi said. “I am willing to accept their judgment but not that of a madman like Amitt.”

After his conversation with Klein, Facimadi placed a call to Amir Razzak aboard the USS
Enterprise
. “You are authorized to launch the strike on Gobi,” he said.

“It will be done immediately,” Razzak replied, a smile on his face. “Be certain your military is not on alert. We would not want an attack on our carrier group.”

“The military will not be alerted,” Facimadi assured him. “All combat aircraft have been ordered grounded for the next hour. The furor within the military is great. We will not be able to keep the planes grounded longer than that.”

“It will be long enough,” Razzak said, his eyes revealing an evil glint. He ordered the still-protesting captain of the
Enterprise
to launch the attack. Only the direct order carried by Razzak from President Alton persuaded him to do so.

At the Gobi missile site, Colonel Shuman counted the launch down: “Five-four-three-two-one-launch!”

But instead of a deafening roar from the massive solid rocket boosters, there was nothing but silence.

“What happened?” Amitt railed at him.

“I don't know, Rabbi. Apparently the igniters didn't fire.”

Suddenly he heard one of the technicians shouting in the intercom: “Colonel! The wiring to the hold-down bolts has been cut! Someone has sabotaged the launch.”

“Traitors!”Amitt screamed hysterically. “Colonel, get the wiring fixed and launch the missile immediately.”

“It will take at least an hour to repair and test the circuits. Then we will need thirty minutes to evacuate the repair crews.”

“Have them hold the wire together if necessary, but launch that missile!” Amitt shouted. He was seething with anger. “This is the work of Satan. We cannot sit here exposed like this.”

The first cruise missile launched from the
Enterprise
roared from the deck, dropping the rocket assist takeoff canister into the ocean. As the small vehicle's own engine took over, the sleek, delta-winged aircraft weaved and bobbed its way across the ancient holy land, covering the pre-mapped route to the Gobi missile site in less than ten minutes.

Once inside the missile complex's perimeter, the infra-red target- seeking system locked on to the heat emitted by the exposed silo. Inside the warhead, the Sandia arming system enabled the high energy strobes which fired the atomic core. Fully armed, the nuclear-tipped missile pitched its nose up to a nearly vertical angle.

The last sound the launch crew heard was the rocket motor of the cruise missile as it pitched the machine high into the sky before it plummeted down into the open silo. The two-kiloton device instantly cremated the Israeli crews confined in the six silos. The open blast doors to the silo funneled the explosion throughout the entire missile complex.

What was totally unexpected, even by the leader of the Mossad, was the simultaneous launch of five additional cruise missiles, each carrying a low-yield nuclear device to a selected target. In less than two minutes, Israel's military capability was eliminated. The mobile launches at Golan were vaporized, as well as the nuclear storage facilities in the Negev. The Israeli intercept fighter bases were also wiped out by the remaining three missiles. Israel had been betrayed by their oldest ally without a single shot being fired in retaliation.

When Levi Klein saw the explosions on the horizon, he immediately called Facimadi. There was no answer. At the air base, where the office of the Mossad had been, there was a gaping hole and a drifting dust cloud laden with nuclear radiation.

Even as he was trying to grasp what was happening as he saw the bright flashes, Jacob Estine heard his phone ring. In a daze, he answered it.

“This is Amir Razzak,” the voice on the other end said. “I regret to inform you that the government of the United States has initiated a preemptive attack on the nation of Israel, at the request of your secret police. Any military response will be met with further actions by our country. We do not choose to destroy Israel, so please advise your leadership that any resistance is suicidal.”

Estine slammed the receiver down and made numerous calls to many of his previous military commanders throughout Israel. Less than 10 percent had survived the surprise attack. Virtually all of Israel's air force had been eliminated since Facimadi had ordered them grounded. What no army had been able to accomplish in sixty years, Razzak had accomplished in two minutes.

Levi Klein carefully arranged the papers on his desk; then he opened the bottom drawer, took out his well-worn military revolver, and put it to his head. He prayed silently to the God of Abraham to forgive him, and then he pulled the trigger.

As word of the aborted launch and so-called “surgical attack” on Israel was made public in the United States, Amir Razzak became a household name almost immediately. The White House press releases stated that the strikes had been arranged with the support and consent of the Israeli government.“Unfortunately,” the release said, “many Israeli officials have been assassinated by religious radicals opposed to the strikes.”

It was also reported that forces from the United Nations would temporarily be stationed in Israel to oversee the restoration of civil order. The new government of Israel, headed by Mordecai Cahn, a long-time friend of Amir Razzak, immediately negotiated with the Japanese to release the oil reserves necessary for their economic stability. Razzak also secured a commitment from the Chinese not to invade Israel, provided the conditions set down by the Japanese were met.

Amir Razzak returned to Washington amid a media blitz declaring him the greatest peacemaker since Gandhi. Whenever the issue of using nuclear weapons on Israel was discussed, the typical media comment was, “Better them than us”—an attitude to which the vast majority of Americans ascribed. The latest Insta-pol reflected a public approval of nearly 90 percent.

From a position of relative obscurity, Razzak was thrust into the public eye and suggested as a viable candidate for the position of vice president when the Congress reconvened.

Amir Razzak proved to be a media favorite for interviews. He was readily available and praised the media for alerting the American people to the danger the Israelis posed with the cobalt weapons.“I regret the loss of any life,” he told the WNN interviewer. “But all the targets were military installations capable of launching counterattacks on American forces.” Razzak emphasized that only clean nuclear weapons had been employed. “Thus,” he said, “the residual effects of the detonations were localized.”

“How long will the targeted sites be contaminated?” Allen White quizzed Razzak.

“All the sites, other than the Gobi missile installation where the cobalt bombs were housed, are inhabitable even now,” Razzak lied. “However, as a precaution we are recommending that the sites be left vacant for a period of at least one year. We have very little data on the effects of low-level radiation in the ground water.”

“What about the Gobi missile site?” White asked. He had already been well-coached on what his bosses would and would not allow him to pursue. The actual degree of radiation contaminating the other sites was one of the off-limits questions.

“The cobalt bombs did not actually detonate,” Razzak said as video images of the missile site flashed on the viewer panel behind him. “If even one had, we might not be here today. Our scientists tell us that the madmen planning to launch these weapons were prepared to use them on the United States. We now know that three of the first six missiles were targeted at cities within the United States,” Razzak lied again.

White forgot his initial question when he heard this. “You mean that the Israelis were actually planning a preemptive attack on the United States using the cobalt bombs?”

Razzak stopped and paused, allowing the maximum effect ofWhite's question to sink in. Then staring directly into the camera, he replied, “As hard as it is for most of our countrymen to believe, the Jewish radicals were committed to the total destruction of this nation. They claimed it was their divine right to rule the world, and we represented a threat to that goal. It is the duty of this country to assure that such madmen never come into power again. I have personally proposed to the World Council of the United Nations that Israel be disarmed and a permanent peacekeeping force made up of neutral countries be positioned there.”

“Does that mean the Jews would lose their homeland?”White asked, somewhat in disbelief himself. “This certainly wasn't in the script,” he mumbled into the mike as the sound man shifted back to Razzak.

“It depends on what you call the Jewish homeland,” Razzak replied, much like a sixth-grade teacher instructing a class. “If you mean will the Jews be allowed to keep the land they stole from the Palestinians and Egyptians, as well as the other Arab nations, no, they won't. Israel will be reduced to the territory granted them by the 1916 treaty—basically that land which was theirs by treaty, not by theft.”

When the interview was aired on WNN worldwide, Amir Razzak was hailed as the greatest friend of the Arab nations in history. Even the normally belligerent Iraqis invited him to visit their country. The few remaining Palestinians within Israel pledged their allegiance to Razzak, the World Council, and America—in that order. Immediately, plans were formulated at the UN to divide Israel and distribute the conquered lands to their former owners.

Each day Razzak became more and more visible on international television. Except in Israel itself, he was hailed as the most farsighted peacemaker in modern history. Razzak was even promoted by many in the media as the next president. When it was pointed out that he was constitutionally barred from running for president because of his foreign birth, the media suggested a constitutional amendment be started when Congress reconvened.