Damascus Countdown by Joel C. Rosenberg Read Free Book Online

getting shot down would decrease dramatically under this scenario, and the chances of annihilating the Israeli Jewish population would increase.
    Jazini concluded his memo by noting the critical element of the Twelfth Imam’s securing full and unhindered control of the Pakistani nuclear missiles before launching the final two Iranian warheads. If this could be successfully negotiated and announced publicly, it should forestall the Americans from even considering a retaliation against Iran or any part of the Caliphate after the Mahdi wiped the Zionists off the map. Indeed, full control of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal would make the Caliphate a fast-rising superpower and the Mahdi one of the most powerful leaders on the planet, if not the most powerful.
    “Just as Allah would have it,” Jazini concluded.
    The Mahdi was surprised. The memo was good—better than he had expected—and he found himself impressed with Jazini’s foresight and initiative. Actually, Jazini was proving himself a far more effective tactician than Faridzadeh. It was Jazini who, several years before, had successfully overseen the program to enrich Iran’s uranium to weapons-grade purity. It was Jazini who had overseen the program to make sure the warheads were successfully built and tested and attached to the Shahab-3 missiles. What’s more, it was Jazini who had overseen the training and deployment of the IRGC cell that had successfully assassinated Egyptian president Abdel Ramzy in New York City. He couldn’t be personally blamed for the failure to kill the American and Israeli leaders as well. At least both had been wounded. Besides, killing Ramzy had been the top priority in order to prepare the way for Egypt’s joining the Caliphate, and that’s exactly what had happened. Plus, the Americans had suffered another black eye, another major terrorist attack inside their homeland—and in Manhattan of all places. Oil prices had soared. Gas prices were skyrocketing. The Dow was plummeting. The American people were rattled. President Jackson looked feckless and indecisive, and Jazini deserved a great deal of credit.
    Put simply, Jazini’s job had been to build Iran’s nuclear weapons program and make it viable while also giving Iran a terrorist network capable of striking deep inside enemy territory, and he had succeeded beyond anyone’s most fervent prayers. Faridzadeh’s job, on the other hand, had been to protect Iran’s nuclear weapons program from sabotage and external attack, and Faridzadeh had failed disastrously.
    It was Faridzadeh who had failed to stop the Israelis—or perhaps the Americans, or possibly a coordinated effort by both—from assassinating Dr. Mohammed Saddaji, ostensibly the deputy director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization but clandestinely Iran’s chief nuclear physicist running the weapons-development program. It was Faridzadeh who had failed to stop the defection to the United States of Dr. Najjar Malik, Saddaji’s son-in-law and chief deputy on the weapons program. Not only was Malik now apparently cooperating with the CIA, but he was claiming on satellite television and through his wildly popular Twitter account that he had renounced Islam and convertedto Christianity. And now Faridzadeh was systematically losing this war against the Zionists. Any one of these crimes would have been abominable enough, but combined they were unforgivable sins.
    The Twelfth Imam had no intention of litigating any of this in front of Hosseini and Darazi. This was not a democracy. Allah forbid! Faridzadeh was not presumed innocent until proven guilty. This was no time to reprimand or demote or arrest the man. He was not, after all, merely incompetent. He was not simply a bumbler or a fool or a failure. He was a traitor to the Islamic people, a betrayer of the Caliphate. He was apostate. He was guilty of treason against Allah, and thus he was worthy only of the eternal fires of damnation.
    Realizing this gave the Mahdi a great