The United States bombed Afghanistan but neither Sharafan nor bin Laden were near when the attacks occurred. Exactly as Sharafan expected, the United States bombed the locations given when rumors leaked to the FBI and CIA told of bin Laden’s location. Only innocent people were found in the targeted areas. Sharafan could not understand how the American people believed the president and Congress when they said their “intelligence” knew exactly what and where to bomb in a country they knew nothing about. Yet that same intelligence had no idea about the Twin Towers of New York or the Pentagon in their own country.
Bin Laden and Sharafan had accomplished something most of the world would never have thought possible. Both men watched again and again as their friends crashed into the Twin Towers and the towers crumbled to earth. The Twin Towers’ collapse symbolized the financial crumbling of the United States that would take place over the next twelve years. Less than two weeks following the terrorists’ attack, Muslims from around the world swarmed the Al Qaeda to join the jihad against America.
Bin Laden, Sharafan, and the other leaders of Al Qaeda leaked information to American Intelligence through the Afghanistan Northern Alliance stating that they were still hidden in the mountains of Afghanistan. Just as Sharafan had predicted, the United States assembled their military forces in the Middle East. This brought conflicts in every Middle East nation. More Muslims joined Al Qaeda. When America bombed Afghanistan they had done just as Sharafan had predicted.
Bin Laden and Sharafan had watched the bombings on cable and CNN from the security of a farm nestled in a remote valley of northern Pakistan. Over the next few weeks more volunteers came to the Al Qaeda. Money continued to flow in, and the Americans were only able to halt the flow of about fifteen percent of their funds. Red Eagle was a smashing success. One by one the Muslim nations turned against the United States.
With heightened passion at the success of their plot, Sharafan and bin Laden had discussed the future. Sharafan described in great detail his ideas to destroy the United States. Bin Laden liked many of Sharafan’s plans.
Over the next ten years the terrorist acts continued and leaders on both sides died. Sharafan survived and the Coalition grew in leaps and bounds. The secret cells in the United States doubled every year.
Many of the cells placed in the United States after the terrorist attacks simply flew to Mexico, found transportation to a town called Agua Pierta on the Arizona border, and then walked across and into the United States. From that point other cell members would pick them up and casually drive them to their new destinations: secure homes in the United States. Heavy contributions made to the ACLU in the middle nineties paid dividends when the ACLU argued the issue of discrimination and that the United States could not suppress the rights of illegal immigrants walking across the border from Mexico. This had enabled many of his men to walk into America unmolested.
More Al-Qaeda contributions to environmentalist groups helped prevent the United States from oil exploration and becoming energy self-sufficient. A year after the New York Twin Towers triumph, bin Laden and Sharafan saw what they had believed all along. Enron, Dynegy, Aldelphia, WorldCom, Xerox, Arthur Anderson, and the CEOs of many large American companies now had no honor or integrity. Politicians became blatant in giving lucrative contracts to those who donated money to their re-election campaign as shown by the wealthy Collier family. They made huge donations, and in return had received more than 120 million dollars not to drill in the Everglades of Florida, when the actual value of the leases had been estimated to be from five to twenty million.
All were motivated by greed, and that American greed helped bin Laden and the Coalition destroy America without firing a single shot. It was only a matter of time. Bin Laden and Sharafan found it easy to contribute funds to CEOs in return for reports of huge contracts. Major accountants were no different, even in the light of all the current scandals. Actually the accountants were the easiest to manipulate with small offers of monetary rewards. For as little as a few hundred thousand dollars, accountants could be trusted to show huge profits for any company they desired.
The real windfall came when members of the Coalition were able to buy members of the board for companies in America’s Fortune 500. After all, who couldn’t be convinced to give hundreds of millions in interest-free money if a million could be passed on to that same board member. Greed had destroyed America’s honor and integrity.
The final piece of the puzzle came into place in 2003 when the United States attacked Iraq against world approval. Operation Iraqi Freedom and Shock and Awe worked against the United States when the American president proved he would do what he wanted, even if it meant avoiding the truth or making the world angry.
Rasht Sharafan, bin Laden, and others dedicated to the Muslim cause had watched with great satisfaction while the United States charged into Iraq and the unity of the world against terrorism crumbled, while the Muslim nations united and became stronger. In a way Saddam Hussein was victorious in defeat. Suspicion and distrust of the United States spread throughout the United Nations. Even when the United States attacked with what it called its Coalition Forces, all knew that it was only Great Britain, the United States, and in a small capacity Australia who were involved. And these countries were promised large contracts in the reconstruction of Iraq.
President Bush told the world they would side with him after he defeated Iraq and rid the world of the Weapons of Mass Destruction, while secretly giving broad lucrative contracts to American construction and oil companies like Halliburton. They all wanted black gold. Strangely, no one remembered that Saddam Hussein had murdered his son-in-laws because they had told the world Iraq had no such weapons. They had told the truth and paid for it with their lives.
Two weeks after the invasion something happened that should have alerted the world, but sadly it went unnoticed in the frenzy for a blood war and revenge. The American people believed it to be a war to avenge the attack of 9/11. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld addressed the media at this time. He told how well the invasion was going and that American troops had secured more than 200 oil wells. While he spoke in his arrogant controlling manner, the news media showed video of Iraqi people looting and stealing from a nuclear power plant.
No one asked why the American troops had failed to secure a location with obvious Weapons of Mass Destruction. What the world failed to notice was there were two reasons the plant was never secure. The nuclear power plant did not hold the financial rewards oil wells held, and the worst and more obvious reason was because American leadership secretly knew there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction to be found.
The rest of the world saw the truth. Even so, France and many other nation members of the United Nations jumped in on Iraq like it was a piñata that had been cracked open by the United States, and like little kids they all scrambled for pieces of the candy.
The unity was gone; allies were now hard to find. Even in the United States, Operation Iraqi Freedom became a catalyst as Americans bitterly turned violent against each other for their stand on the war.
In Pakistan, bin Laden relaxed and watched CNN, MSNBC, and Headline News with great interest. The Americans complained about Iraq not adhering to the Rules of War while marching ahead triumphantly and literally slaughtering the Iraqi army with their technologically advanced weapons.
Both bin Laden and Sharafan found it to be a little amusing that Bush called the handful of countries that attacked Iraqi the Coalition—the same term they used for their organization to defeat America: a group they had originated years earlier.