Computer security -- Fiction; Didactic fiction; Privacy, Right of -- Fiction; Records -- Access control -- Fiction
These were the men, all of them men, who pledged allegiance to
Ahmed Shah and the unknown, undefined assignments they would in
the future be asked to complete. To the death if necessary, and
without fear. These men were reminiscent of the infamous moles
that Stalin's Soviet Empire had placed throughout the United
Kingdom and the United States in the 1930's to be awakened at
some future date to carry out strikes against the enemy from
within. The only difference with Ahmed's men was that they were
trained to die, not to survive. And unlike their Mole counter-
parts, they were awake the entire time, focused on their mission.
Clearly it was only a matter of time before they would be asked
to follow orders with blind obedience. Their only reward was a
place in the Muslim heaven.
Meanwhile, while awaiting sainthood, their task was to find
others with similar inclinations, or those who could be corralled
into their system of beliefs. It was unrealistic, they knew, to
expect to find an entire army of sympathizers who would fight to
the death or perform suicide missions in the name of Allah. But
they found it was very easy to find many men, never women, who
would follow orders and perform the tasks of an underground
infantryman.
The mass influx of Arabs into the United States was another great
mistake of the Reagan '80's as it opened its doors to a future
enemy. The immigration policy of the U.S. was the most open in
the entire world. So, the Government allowed the entry of some
of the world's most dangerous people into the country, and then
gave them total freedom, with its associated anonymity. Such
things could never happen at home, Ahmed thought. We love our
land too much to permit our enemies on our soil. It is so much
easier to dispose of them before they can cause damage.
So the thinking went, and Ahmed and his cadre platooned them-
selves often, in any of the thousands of American resort complex-
es, unnoticed, to gauge the progress of their assignments.
By early 1988, Ahmed's army consisted of nearly 1000 fanatic
Muslims who would swallow a live grenade if the deed guaranteed
their place in martyrdom. And another several thousand who could
be led into battle under the right conditions. And more came and
joined as the ridiculous immigration policies continued un-
checked.
They were students, businessmen, flight attendants who were now
in the United States for prolonged periods of time. All walks of
life were included in his Army. Some were technicians or book-
keepers, delivery men, engineers, doctors; most disciplines were
represented. Since Ahmed had no idea when, if ever, he and his
army would be needed, nor for what purpose, recruiting a wide
range of talents would provide Allah with the best odds if they
were ever needed. They were all men. Not one woman in this man's
army, Ahmed thought.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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