Читать книгу The Blade of Gilgamesh - Jeff Edwards - Страница 8

20 April, 1986

Today was the first time Muammar Gaddafi had dared to call together his most senior councillors for discussions about the future of his regime. Up until this morning he had been forced to remain hidden, along with his family, in a secret bunker on the outskirts of Tripoli and had been forced to communicate with his staff by phone.

After the attack, he had vented his anger on the United States by ordering Scud missiles to be fired at a US Coast Guard station on the Italian island of Lampedusa, but unfortunately these had missed their target and crashed harmlessly into the sea.

When no second attempt had been made on his life, and with the world press now debating whether the US attack was an act of undeclared war or a justified act of revenge, he had finally decided to emerge from hiding.

The meeting was carried out in his palace in central Tripoli, in a room designed to look exactly like the interior of a Bedouin tent, and his ministers were seated in a group facing their leader while lounging on thick pillows.

‘The response to your televised speech has been subdued,’ advised one of his oldest and closest friends, ‘and the renaming of country to the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah has been met with scepticism.’

‘I don’t care. We must show the world that we were the victims in this matter, and that we won’t take their aggression lying down. What about the bodies?’

‘We assembled them as you ordered and then we invited the world press to examine and photograph them at their leisure.’

‘Good! And the reaction from my Arab cousins?’

‘Some favourable, but most regarded the gesture as mere posturing.’

‘Bastards! I expected them to arise and join with me in condemning the raid. This is the excuse I needed to gather the Arab states around me. If we can do that we can demonstrate to the world that we are united in the fight against the imperialism of the Americans.’

‘That won’t happen I’m afraid. The other leaders will make flowery speeches to condemn the raid and they may reduce their oil exports, while OPEC may vote to increase the price of crude oil, but eventually their greed will win out and in a year or two all will be forgotten.’

‘I won’t let it be forgotten! They’ll support me or pay the price!’

‘If you try to threaten them in any way you’ll drive them further into the American’s arms. Then they’ll never join you.’

‘I’ll continue my support of rebels around the world. Blood will be spilt, and the Americans will live to regret their actions.’

‘Perhaps, but they have demonstrated that they can attack you with their warplanes any time they wish. With no one of any authority stepping forward to condemn their actions they will be happy to do so again and again until they do kill you. You were lucky that our Italian friend warned you of their plans, but the Americans won’t allow that to happen next time. They’ll launch their attack from their carriers in the middle of the Mediterranean and we won’t know anything about it until they cross our coast. How many attacks will it take before they succeed? As for our Arab cousins, how many will want to support you if they know that the same fate may await them? Carrier based aircraft are mere hours away from all their capitals.’

Gaddafi leaned back in his cushions and considered his friend’s words. ‘I can’t let them get away with this.’

‘There’s no reason that they should,’ he nodded, ‘Allow others to continue the fight. Let them destroy the western world’s pathetic need for peace and security.’

‘But the need for the Arab world to come together as one is paramount.’

‘Then find other means. Force has not worked. It is time to look for another way.’

‘How?’

‘Give the Arab world a banner to unite beneath. Find something that has universal meaning for them and that they can all accept as theirs and theirs alone.’

‘A religious symbol that is meaningful enough to unite the Islamic world!’

‘No! Religion hasn’t worked in the past, because of the warring sects, and it won’t work now. Leave religion to the imams where it belongs. We need to find a secular symbol, a symbol of power and might, something that you can hold aloft while the Arab world bows down before you. It has to be a piece of an ancient culture that is truly of Arab lineage, the spear or shield of an ancient warrior.’

‘Does something like that exist?’

‘There must be something. We have to search for it.’

‘If it must be something as ancient as you claim, it could be anywhere.’

‘Wherever it is we must find it and bring it here. Only then will we have a chance to unite the Arab states.’

‘But we don’t even know what we’re looking for and who has it. Such objects may no longer exist.’

‘This will not be a search of days or months. It will take years. That is not necessarily a bad thing as it will allow us time to prepare. We must first change our attitude toward the West, and that will take time, because they will be cautious of any olive branch we offer to them. Our policy must remain to be as belligerent as ever, but over time we will allow small concessions that will gradually lead to a more Pro-Western attitude. Then, when we have found our symbol we can unite the Arab world before the West becomes aware of what we are about to achieve.

Swift action against an unsuspecting world will see us victorious, just as the US did with their air strike. We will learn from their lesson in deceit.’