‘Perhaps there won’t be an invasion. Blix reported to the United Nations that we don’t have any weapons of mass destruction and the Americans and British seem to have given up the hope that they’ll get a second United Nations resolution.’
‘You had better have a look at this recording from a few days ago.’ Kamal smiled at him, picking a VHS tape off a shelf. ‘It’s just been delivered. It might change your mind.’
Ali Hamsin sat down in front of the television screen and switched the VHS recorder on. The machine was old and the picture juddered a little but the soundtrack was clear enough.
‘We are really close to the end of the diplomatic steps we’re able to take,’ said the American Vice President Cheney to his television interviewer. ‘The President is meeting with European leaders once again. We’ve been trying to organize a second resolution in the U.N. Security Council, but plainly the President is going to have to make a difficult and important decision in the next few days.’
‘Mr Cheney, is there anything that Saddam Hussein could do to stop the war?’ asked the interviewer.
‘Well for twelve years, we’ve been trying to get him to give up his weapons and he’s rejected all our efforts, every time. There have been seventeen UN resolutions now. He’s always had the option of accepting inspections, of giving up all of his weapons of mass destruction, destroying the anthrax, the VX nerve agent and the sarin, and all the other capabilities he has developed, and he has refused every time.’
‘Now sir, the British have suggested that even now, if he gave us all the information, turned over all the VX, the mustard gas, the anthrax. If he were to appear on television and denounce the weapons of mass destruction, he could stay in power. Should he have that chance?’
‘Well, I think it’s difficult to believe in that happening. If he were to stay in power, we have to assume that as soon as we’re all looking the other way and dealing with other preoccupations, he’ll be back to stealthily building up his biological and chemical weapons arsenal, and he’ll try and set up his nuclear program again. He’s been trying to acquire nuclear weapons for more than twenty years. As soon as he’s revealed his current capability, even if it was complete, we can safely assume that as soon as our backs are turned he’ll start up in a fresh location and we’ll soon be back where we started.’
‘So his only option is to leave the country and his regime will have to accept complete disarmament?’ the interviewer asked.
‘I think that would be the only solution we could accept, the only outcome possible,’ said the Vice President. ‘But we will continue to try and work through the United Nations and try to arrive at a diplomatic solution. However up until now, we’ve been unsuccessful.’
‘So what do you think is the most important justification for an invasion of Iraq?’ the interviewer asked.
‘It’s the threat to the region and even to the world beyond of his continued development and use of chemical weapons and of biological weapons, and his attempts to acquire nuclear weapons,’ said Mr Cheney.
‘Although the International Atomic Energy Agency declares that he does not have a viable nuclear program,’ the interviewer suggested.
‘Well we disagree with that conclusion. The CIA and other departments of the intelligence community disagree with that conclusion. Let’s consider his nuclear program. In the ’70s, Saddam Hussein acquired nuclear reactors from the French. In 1981, the Israelis destroyed the Osirak reactor and brought a halt to his nuclear weapons development. For the next ten years, he implemented a new program, and after the Gulf War it became apparent that he was within one or two years of having a nuclear weapon. Now he’s threatening…’
Ali’s concentration was broken by a commotion of two people shouting angrily at one another. He opened the door and peered out. The corridor was dark in the settling dusk, but in the brightly lit main hall he could see Qusay Hussein and another man who was gesticulating wildly and walking with a pronounced limp towards the front door, then wheeling round. With a little inward groan of dismay he recognised Uday Hussein, the President’s eldest son whose reputation for unpredictable violence had escaped the tightly controlled inner circle of Baghdad’s ruling class.
‘So where the hell have all these so-called weapons of mass destruction gone?’ Uday shouted, staring at his brother. ‘The bloody Americans are going to invade now!’
‘Well we don’t have any, but unless you can think of a way to turn them back at the border, they will soon launch an invasion.’ Qusay replied.
‘But that bastard Cheney’s going on TV describing a whole arsenal of weapons. Haven’t we got anything left? At least some of the stuff we used to gas the Kurds? We can use it on the damned Yanks as well when they invade. A few thousand of their soldiers coughing up their blood and guts on the border will soon have CNN and NBC calling a halt!’
Qusay’s reply was too quiet for Ali to hear as he ushered his brother out of sight. Ali closed the door, praying that Uday Hussein was not planning to take up residence in this bolt hole.
Ali Hamsin dreamed he was lying in bed at home with his wife. It was clearly late in the morning and they had nothing to do that day besides enjoy spending time in each other’s company. Suddenly he was instantly awake with Kamal Awadhi shaking his shoulder.
‘Wake up Hamsin, come on wake up!’ he demanded.
‘What’s happening?’ Ali glanced at the clock. It showed it was 7.10am and he had been asleep for only about five hours, yet here was this ruffian rousing him.
‘Come on, it’s started!’
He could mean only one thing. Yesterday there had been a missile or bombing raid on the presidential palace in Baghdad. Ahwadi had scoffed at the possibility that Saddam Hussein or any of his staff might have been in residence. They rushed to the office and switched on the radios and television.
Foreign news reports stated that the Americans and their allies were streaming across the border and were already past Basra. The city was surrounded and there appeared to be little resistance to the invading army. An armoured column was moving north towards Baghdad and everywhere there were reports of air strikes and missile attacks.
In contrast, on Baghdad radio, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the Information Minister broadcast in triumphant tone that the invasion force was being repelled at the border by the Iraqi army under the personal command of the President. The American soldiers were burning inside their tanks and twenty three attacking aircraft had been shot down around Baghdad alone. Ali looked at Kamal. ‘What do you think?’ he asked the security man.
‘You know they call him Comical Ali. He’s probably holed up somewhere and they are releasing pre-recorded announcements.’
‘Are we safe here?’
‘In this building? If the Americans knew about this place they would already have flattened it.’ He smiled and Ali thought that this was the first time he had seen him smile. ‘Why do you think I’m here eh? Anyway, I’m off now. Good luck Ali Hamsin. If I were you I would try to get to Baghdad and protect your family.’
‘What do you mean, you’re off? Where are you going then?’
‘I’m going to Damascus, God willing. I have relatives there.’
‘What about your family? Aren’t they in Baghdad?’
Kamal Ahwadi shook his head and smiled again. ‘Goodness no! I moved all my family out of Iraq two weeks ago. I regret to say I have less faith in our armed forces than Comical Ali Sahhaf.’ He paused, and stared at Ali. ‘What happened to the Gilgamesh plan? Why hasn’t it worked?’ Ali grabbed the armrests of his chair and swallowed hard.