At first Talal dismissed the offer. “There is no way that the Caliph would agree to this,” he replied.
Unabated, Jim Wise had replied, “Well, please think about it. We will give you some time to consider, but don’t take too long; this offer may not be on the table if you wait too much before making your decision. I will send you an official dossier on the details of my proposal.”
Talal couldn’t help but think about the offer; having spent the better part of a week mulling it over, Talal wondered if it might be best to inform the Caliph of the offer and see if he couldn’t perhaps persuade him to accept. The IR as a country was falling apart; if they did not do something soon, they were going to lose the country regardless.
Huseen ibn Abdullah Al Gubayel, the Director of Intelligence, pulled Talal aside as they were getting ready for a briefing. “The American and Israeli armies are starting to amass on their border. It appears that they will invade in the coming weeks.” He seemed nervous, and he never seemed nervous. “There is little the army can do to stop it, despite whatever protests you may hear from General Rafik Hamza.”
“What do you suggest?” asked Talal.
“Islam can still conquer the world; we will just need to wait,” he argued.
Talal sat at the briefing table, waiting for the Caliph to enter the room. Everyone from the governing council was present, and judging by the looks on their faces. they all knew the IR was doomed. It was just a matter of time.
Caliph Muhammad Abbas walked into the room and took his seat at the head of the table in his diamond and jewel encrusted gold chair.
He cleared his throat before beginning, “Council members, we have much to discuss today. The state of our Republic is not going to survive unless we make some tough decisions.” Caliph Abbas turned to look at his Minister of Industry, Muhammad bin Aziz. “What is the current state of our economy and infrastructure?” he asked.
“The Americans continue to bomb our bridges, rail and road junctions, with little to stop them. Every time we turn on our radars to attack their drones and aircraft, they are quickly destroyed. We have successfully shot down over 150 drones in the last two weeks, but they far outnumber our radar stations. Our losses are just not sustainable.”
He took a deep breath before he continued, “As to our economy, we have rolling brownouts throughout the country. We have restarted all of our deactivated power plants, but each time a new one comes on line, the Americans quickly attack or destroy the infrastructure needed to transmit the power. Our only effective production taking place is in the Kuwait region and parts of Iran near the coast. The Russian and Chinese naval ships there have been extremely effective in engaging the American drones and cruise missiles that get near them. I wish I had better news to report, but I do not,” said Minister Muhammad as he lowered his head.
Turning to his Foreign Minister, the Caliph inquired, “Minister Aziz, what additional aid can the Russians provide us to help get our power restored and stop the Israeli and American air forces from continually destroying our infrastructure?” He was hoping to hear some good news.
Minister Aziz brightened a little, responding, “My Caliph, the Russian Foreign Minister said they can increase food shipments to the Republic via Iran and through Azerbaijan. They can ship us roughly 5 million tons’ worth of food products monthly. They are also going to send thirty mobile anti-missiles, and anti-aircraft laser defensive systems (along with the crews for them). Their goal is to help us establish a defensive pattern that should protect southern Iraq, Kuwait and most of Iran, allowing us a chance to rebuild our industrial capabilities. As for additional military aid, they said there is no additional military aid they can provide beyond the laser defensive systems. Their war in Europe is now their primary focus.”
The Caliph thought for a moment, “This will certainly help, but without military aid to stop the Allied air forces, they are going to continue to pound us into the stone age. ” Aloud, he sounded much more optimistic as he replied, “This is good news; we can work with what they are willing to provide. What about the Chinese?”
General Hamza was not sure if his reply would satisfy the Caliph. “Now that the Chinese have landed the majority of their ground forces in Alaska, they said they can send an aircraft carrier battle group to the Arabian Gulf. They will have multiple anti-aircraft ships with them; they will be able to provide a lot of aircraft support while we rebuild our air force in Iran. As for ground forces, they are capturing numerous countries in South and Central Africa while the U.S. appears to be distracted with their main focus now in North America. Therefore, the Chinese have no additional ground forces they can send to us.”
“What about food and other aid?” asked Talal, the Foreign Minister.
“They are not able to send us this type of aid at this moment,” he replied.
General Rafik Hamza added, “Caliph, this aid and support is appreciated, but it will not stop the Israeli and American forces who are now, as we speak, readying to invade our country. There is very little we can do to stop them from capturing Amman or driving further into Saudi Arabia. They have already captured Damascus and appear to be readying an advance into Northern Iraq.”
Knowing the military situation needed to be discussed, Caliph Abbas moved the discussion in that direction. “You bring up some major concerns. What are your suggestions?”
“Sir, I recommend that we withdraw our forces to three major points: Fallujah, Mosul and Riyadh. We can turn the cities into fortresses and fight the American and Israeli forces house-to-house if need be,” General Hamza said, showing some of his plans on the holographic map for the council members to see.
Clearing his throat and signaling to speak, Talal thought this was as good a time as any to bring up the American proposal. “My Caliph, council members. I was contacted by the American Secretary of State not long ago. He offered us terms of surrender and I would like to brief them to you.” Talal hoped he had not just signed his death warrant.
General Hamza was shocked. His face went through a gambit of emotions quickly as he looked surprised, then hurt, and then curious to know what had been offered.
Caliph Abbas on the other hand, had only one reaction. He seethed with anger and broke out into an anti-American, anti-Israeli tirade before he calmed down enough for General Hamza to intervene on Talal’s behalf. “Caliph, I believe we should at least hear the offer before we turn it down.” He looked around the room for support; several heads nodded in agreement, while a couple of members dismissed this notion altogether.
“What are the terms then?” demanded the Caliph.
“Yes, my Caliph. The Americans broke their offer down into incentives and requirements. I will go through the requirements first, and then the incentives, which I believe everyone will be interested in knowing about.” He pulled out his notes before continuing, “Their demands were as follows:
1) The surrender of all nuclear weapons and end our nuclear program, both military and civilian
2) A 30-mile buffer zone of land around the Israeli border, along with the removal of all Arabs and population living within that buffer zone. The Zionists will actually pay NAD 25,000 to each person above 18 years of age who is being evicted (snickers could be heard from this statement)
3) The demobilization of our military, turning it into a defense force meant only to protect our borders and provide internal security
4) An immediate termination of our military alliance with China and Russia. This would include the removal of all their forces from our territory and access to it