Assassins ( Peace Movement Chapter 7 )

Assassins

The President of Egypt was a brave man. Usually he was a cautious man as well. He made a speech, following the reoccupation of Kuwait by the Dictator’s armies. He had been one of those who had been instrumental in sending Egyptian soldiers to protect the Saudi oil wells from the Dictator and to push the Dictator’s troops out of the ‘Lost Province’ of Kuwait, a few years before. This time, like all other Arab leaders, he could see the way the wind was blowing. Only the American President was talking tough now. Most European leaders were so committed to a programme which was anti militaristic that there seemed little prospect this time of anyone sending any troops to retake Kuwait. All they seemed willing to do was to send defensive forces to deter the Dictator from going any further into Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States. In what he saw as a very measured response the President of Egypt made a speech saying that, while he was ‘pleased to see Iraq regaining some of its former prosperity and vigour’, he viewed the ‘invasion of fellow legitimate Arab states’ as an ‘inappropriate action’ for a fellow Arab state to take.

Two months later and Egyptian soldiers continued to stand side by side with infidel Americans, British, and even the French, pledged to defend the rest of the Gulf if the Dictator was foolish enough to attack further. They had been unwilling so far to suggest that they might attempt to take back Kuwait for its Royal Family or the will of its people, mindful as they were of the many new and threatening weapons the Dictator now had at his disposal.

The President of Egypt was coming out of a meeting. Two tough looking moustachioed Arabs stood in the doorway and others further down the corridor. Ten minutes before they had requested the two Egyptian guards to get out of the way. The two guards had known if they argued they would be the first to be removed. They recognised Mukhabarat killers, whose reputation went before them in the Arab world, and feared what they could do. Like most security personnel faced with the fear of what these angels of death could do they relented easily and moved away from their positions. Everyone who knew of them respected the Mukhabarat. They might fear them, dislike their methods and disapprove of their leader, but when faced with the certainty of death if their suggestions were not followed they usually chose the sensible choice.

The President left his meeting with his bodyguards around him. One of the bodyguards noticed the guards had changed. These guards in civilian dress looked tough and hardened. They did not look like the Egyptian guards they expected. He raised the alarm. The Mukhabarat were ready. They brought their small guns from beneath their coats and shot first into the President’s bodyguards. The bodyguard who had noticed was the first to receive the violence from the Dictator’s secret police. Bullets pierced his chest and he slumped immediately, quickly lifeless. Other bodyguards were hit, but they began to fire back, closing in front of the President to protect him as their training took over. The Mukhabarat concentrated their fire. There were enough of them to do this, although some of them fell.

Three more bodyguards fell. Before more bodyguards could arrive the President collapsed, clutching his stomach, and a bullet entered his head through the forehead!

The Dictator’s secret police faded away, walking into crowds who parted in fear of them, merging with men in the streets who looked similar. They left three of themselves dead or dying. The assassins calmly walked to a waiting car with diplomatic number plates and were driven to the sanctuary of the Iraqi embassy. No one followed them there. The Egyptian police and military swept the crowds, but the assassination squad had melted away and could not be traced.

No more Arab leaders dared to speak against the Dictator now!