Memo to Osama 2

(This is the second and final part of the fictional Memo to Osama which attempts to form a scenario in which a mass casualty attack on the United States might still lead to an Islamic victory. It is a second choice strategem; a rather desperate one, coming from a position that Osama had never expected to find himself in. As Belmont Club reader DM put it:

"For many months I've been pondering a single, striking fact about Usama bin Laden: in the months before September 11, 2001, he spent a huge sum of money building a lavish mansion close to the airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan--a mansion in which he appears to have expected to live, along with his wives and children. This is one of those small, seemingly isolated facts that succeeds in bringing into focus a larger picture. From this fact, only one conclusion can be drawn: bin Laden is an utter and irremediable fool, lacking even a shred of understanding of those whom he has decided to make his enemies."

He had not counted on George Bush. No one had. But Presidents do not remain in power forever and the foundations of Osama's lavish mansion are still there.)

The Memo

I have instructed Achmed to begin scuttling this safehouse and have signalled the electronic post to mark it unsafe. I will reauthenticate contact within the next 48 hours, beyond which, Allah willing, I hope to proceed for visual identification at the predetermined sites to reconnect. It will take about 90 minutes to run through the checklist for sanitizing this facility, which Achmed can do as well as myself. There is just enough time to complete this message and may Allah grant me protection from the accursed Shaitan.

As I was saying, we need one more push to topple the rock; to initiate the mass death, but in such a way that the Left can blame those who resist us. The project which awaits your authorization has two phases. The first is designed to confirm in the public mind the idea, already planted by the media, that the mysterious anthrax attacks of September 2001 were work of a rogue researcher at the US government laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland. It is the most crucial phase. Once this idea is irrefutably planted, the real mass attack will proceed and it will be ascribed entirely to a foul-up by the Bush Administration.

When our brothers in England, may Allah be pleased with them, stole a small quantity of anthrax from British research establishment of Porton Down, there was as you know considerable pressure to use the entire amount in an operation. I alone was opposed to the idea. The quantities obtained from England were sufficient to kill ten or twenty thousand people at the most. A heavy blow to be sure, but entirely inadequate to our ultimate purpose of "tipping the rock". The real significance of the Porton Down spores were that they were genetically related to the parent strain obtained from Fort Detrick in Maryland, although additionally engineered and refined. It meant that our limited quantity of anthrax, which was strategically insignificant in itself, could front for a follow-on attack of massive proportions from a pathogen we could obtain in bulk. You have heard of a false-flag intelligence operation; the world will soon see a false flag biological attack. The anthrax itself could not push the stone over the edge, but a huge follow-on attack which could be blamed on American government arrogance and carelessness could.

Thus, the operational objective of the anthrax envelopes mailed after the blessed attack of September 11 was to establish in the public mind the fact, true in itself, that the spores were genetically related, but not identical to the Fort Detrick mother strain. To the careless media mind, this could only mean yet another "friendly fire" incident and confirm their belief that the fountain of all evil is none other than America itself. That objective, Allah willing, has already been achieved.

The first phase then, involves a coordinated anthrax attack on the amusement parks most frequented by children in the United States, Japan and in Europe. The personnel recruited for this crucial phase are all Caucasians of somewhat unstable personality, the type that the media likes to call "loners", each of whom has been careful selected for some remote past connection with the American military or a Baptist church, and who have been carefully trained to disperse the material without knowing what it is. A special cell of carefully selected brothers, all native speakers of American English, will call our contacts in the press at a prearranged time so that they can capture the most graphic possible pictures of children being rushed to the hospital; hospitals which will be overwhelmed and who cannot in any case help the victims. Anthrax kills by painfully asphyxiating the victims and we expect the Press to film many such deaths in their entirety. We fully expect the Pentagon to blame the Jihad for this attack, but the accusation will completely recoil upon them once the spores are analyzed and found to be genetically related to the original Fort Detrick strain.

The second phase then, must come hard on the heels of the first. The smallpox pathogen obtained by our brothers in Russia must be spread as fast as possible. Because this is the killing stroke, the plan has found it necessary to use all available Jihadis irrespective of their ethnic origin to spread the contaminant. Some may be caught and traced to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan or the Sudan. But by then it will not matter. We estimate that the pathogen will kill a minimum of twenty million Americans doctors, scientists, engineers, skilled workers -- all Americans are more or less skilled -- each one of them with more average scientific knowledge than a hundred Muslims -- what a blow! And following on the anthrax attack, who will believe that the smallpox is not another of the warmongerers weapons gone wild? Although the military and intelligence professionals will know the truth, their protests will be unheard. In America the networks do not even cover a Republican President's speech. Some Democrats may realize the truth, but they will be blinded by the opportunity to seize power in virtual perpetuity and they will not let the chance go. The stone will tip, Inshallah, and we will triumph.

I am sending this message now and will begin the final inspection of the safehouse. We cannot cleanse it of everything, but we will have cleansed it enough. If you do not hear from me, remember my words and unleash the plan which I have recommended to you. It only awaits your signal. MashAllah.