Chapter 4

The news about the raids on the American Mosques spread around the world like wildfire. American businesses and embassies were attacked in several of the countries that had a significant Muslim population and American tourists and business men and women became targets for execution.

Saudi Arabia and the other Arab countries cut off the oil supplies to America and Nigeria soon followed. Nigeria cut off sales to America more to raise the price of oil than for religious or political reasons though. Venezuela shut off sales of oil to America and Mexico caved in after threats from the Arab countries. China and India soon began to sign long term contracts for the oil of the oil producing countries at premium prices; this blunted the effects that the shutoff of oil was having on the oil producers. Hugo Chaves became bolder as he saw America's influence waning and confiscated all American businesses and American owned property in his country. Many people in South America demonstrated in support of Chaves and hailed him as the new South American savior for bringing America to its knees.

Watching his TV in Iran, bin Laden saw the suffering of America from the cutoff of oil and knew that his time had come. The Americans were scouring Pakistan for him and he had been living in luxury in Iran for several years. He called the young boy that was sitting on the chair at the door, over to him and gave him the words to say to the man that was in charge of the terrorist operation that had been planned for several years. The boy nodded and left the house to begin his journey to the next town. The boy took several buses to the house of the man that he was supposed to pass bin Laden's message to. The boy was well-trained in avoiding detection and longed for the day that he would join the martyrs in heaven.

The boy reached the house and walked around the block several times to make sure that he wasn't followed. He ducked into the yard of the house and knocked on the door that couldn't be seen from the street. The door opened a crack and then the door was opened enough for the boy to enter the house. The man that opened the door stayed behind the door out of sight. The young boy softly said the words bin Laden had told him to say to the man.

The man walked to another room and came back with a tape that bin Laden had made a couple of years before. He wrote an address and name on a piece of paper and instructed the boy to deliver the tape to the man whose name was on the paper. The man shoved some money into the hands of the boy and gently pushed him to the door.

The boy quickly made his way to the address of the house that was on the paper. The house was on a residential street in one of the better parts of town. When the boy knocked on the door it was opened almost immediately. The boy handed the man the tape without a word and turned and ran to return to bin Laden.

The man that had been given the tape left the house in his car for the short drive to the Al Jazeera TV station. He glanced at the tape on the seat next to him several times; smiling each time. It was time to bring America to its knees and start to make the American people followers of Islam. The receptionist at the TV station watched as he approached her desk. When the man asked for the man that was his contact at the station the receptionist called and told the person that a man was at her desk to see him.

In a few minutes an overweight man came into the lobby and the tape was handed to him and the two parted without saying a word to each other. The tape was played on Al Jazeera TV within the hour and the American news stations began to replay the tape that the waiting terrorists in America were waiting to hear. The American TV stations never realized that bin Laden was using their thirst for news to get his message out to his people.

Jose Ortega watched as the TV replayed the bin Laden tape. They had even translated it for the American public. Jose closed his eyes and listened to the Arabic words coming from bin Laden's lips. The time had come! His training and preparation was about to be used for the glory of God. He had put up with the American infidels long enough; now it was God's time.

Jose Ortega was not his real name. He had been recruited because it was felt that he could pass for an American of Hispanic lineage. His forged papers were so good that they had never been questioned and no one suspected that he was not Hispanic. He was taught Spanish in Iran in preparation for his mission. He often refused to speak Spanish to others; saying that he had been told to speak English at home as he was growing up and that he spoke Spanish with an American high school accent. He was often teased by immigrants from Mexico that came to work on the refinery, saying that he was an Americanized Mexican. All would have been shocked to find out that he was an Iranian.