Crescent Moon Rising. Kerry B Collison
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in the terrorist hierarchy, and was currently in residence just across the road. Ironically, Khalid’s lavish apartment was juxtaposed to a dwelling occupied by a future Philippines president. Armed with an American education courtesy of the Baptist Chowan College in North Carolina and, later, the North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University, Khalid had developed a most un-Islamic, Western disposition for go-go bars, karaoke clubs and hard alcohol. Khalid resolutely believed that everyone but him should faithfully observe the rigid tenets of Islam.
Whilst in the Philippines he traveled extensively visiting countries as distant as Brazil, his lavish lifestyle a cover for the Malaysian company he promoted, Konsojaya Sdn Bhd which covertly funded and trained militant Islamic groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and MILF in the country’s restive, deep south. On occasions, the flamboyant Mohammed would arrange scuba diving excursions with Yousef, these merely a cover for journeys to isolated areas where they would meet with separatist groups to discuss strategies. Both Khalid and Yousef respected the Abu Sayyaf whose leaders had acquired their battle experience in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan, courtesy of the CIA. Khalid and Yousef had listened to the camp-fire portrayals of how many of the eight hundred Filipino Muslim Mujahideen who had been recruited, trained and paid by the CIA to fight the U.S.-sponsored war in Afghanistan for a few dollars per day, fought against the finest of Russia’s forces. Then, after the Soviet withdrawal, how these guerrilla-trained Filipinos returned home bringing with them not only military expertise, but a deeply-ingrained appreciation of Islamic fundamentalism – Khalid surprised to learn that many now embraced the ultra-conservative Islamic ideology of “Wahabi” which was rapidly spreading across Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines.
The Malaysia companies’ registry would show that Khalid owned half of Konsojaya Sdn Bhd’s shares – the other half being owned by his partner, Riduan Isamuddin, an Indonesian who lived in exile hiding from the clutches of President Suharto’s regime.
Shah and Yousef had already tested their deadly explosives over the previous month. Shah had experimented by placing a bomb under a seat in the Greenbelt Theatre in Manila on December 1st to determine if a similar quantity of explosives would be adequate for under an airline seat. The detonation had left a number of injured. Then, on 11th December Yousef placed a device under his seat, 27F, on Philippine Airlines Flight 434 before alighting from a flight into Cebu. This flight was scheduled to continue on to Manila and then Narita in Japan. He had set the timer to detonate hours ahead and, when this did eventuate, the bomb exploded over Minami Daito Island near Okinawa killing a Japanese businessman and injuring ten others. Incredibly, the Boeing 747 landed safely, however
Yousef ’s experiment provided him with sufficient knowledge to develop the secondary phase in Operation Bojinka.
Ahmed checked the charred carpet again then rose to his feet and stretched. ‘Let’s get some fresh air. We can have a quick snack in the lobby.’
Yousef shook his head. ‘What, and leave all this?’
‘Hang the Do Not Disturb sign out. It’s late; the maid won’t be back. We won’t be long. Come on, I’ll buy you one of those Irish coffees in the bar around the corner you’re always talking about.’
Yousef was adamant. ‘Let’s not take any risks. We’re too close to screw it up now.’ But he knew that Ahmed was jittery, spooked by the almost disastrous fire. Yousef closed the Toshiba laptop and placed it careful y in the top dresser drawer removing a bottle of Chivas Regal as he did so. Ahmed’s eyes lit up and he smiled. He nodded affirmatively and fetched two tumblers.
An hour passed and, with the soporific effect of half a bottle of alcohol to assist, both men lay comatose, oblivious to the smoldering fire that burned slowly on the underside of the carpet. When fire alarms sent tenants scrambling from their rooms after the sixth floor had burst into flames, brigade tenders sped to the scene. Emergency alarms also galvanized members of the nearby Manila Police Station No. 9, located five hundred metres down the street on Quirino Avenue.
With their room filled with suffocating smoke Yousef coughed awake to confused consciousness and stumbled from the shared, single bed.
‘Ahmed! Ahmed,’ he screamed as flames licked the walls. ‘Get up, Ahmed!’
Moments later the men were seen fleeing along the corridor dragging their pants on as they fled.
* * * *
‘Just some Arabs playing with firecrackers,’ the doorman answered but the watch commander, a senior inspector from the No. 9, was not convinced.
‘They let off firecrackers in their room?’
‘That’s about the gist of it.’ The doorman had seen even more ridiculous situations.
‘Where are they now?’ Suspicions rising, the inspector scanned the faces of pedestrians gathered outside on the street.
‘Well, they scrambled down the fire stairs into reception and disappeared.’ The doorman turned, his face becoming animated as he recognized Ahmed Saeed. ‘That’s one of them!’ he pointed.
‘Okay, let’s see what he has to say. Bring him over here.’
Albeit risky, Ahmed accepted that he had no choice but to return to the apartment and recover whatever material and evidence may remain before the authorities uncovered the extent of their activities in the Philippines. He had not, however, envisaged being confronted so unexpectedly, his prepared explanation obviously not sufficiently convincing for the watch commander to let him return to apartment 603.
As Ahmed offered his version of events, explaining to the inspector that he was a commercial pilot and had been on his way to the precinct to explain what had happened, the doorman tapped the officer on the shoulder.
‘There’s the other one,’ he indicated Yousef standing outside, unaware that they were staring at Ramzi Yousef, a fugitive from the United States for his role in the World Trade Center bombing nigh on two years before.
‘Okay,’ the inspector’s gut feeling was making her nervous,
‘grab that one outside and hold him with this man until we check their room.’
Ahmed whirled, managing to escape the clutches of the law as officers were caught off guard by the foreigner’s audacious move. They gave chase, Ahmed tripped over debris left by a recent typhoon, the police overwhelming the terrorist as he lay stunned.
Yousef took the opportunity to slip away into the night.
Inside 603 the inspector’s team discovered two remote-control pipe bombs, street maps of the capital indicating the forthcoming papal motorcade’s route, the pontiff ’s photograph affixed to the bedside mirror along with a crucifix, rosary and Bible. With the recovery of a phone message from a tailor advising that the cassock Ahmed had ordered was ready for a final fitting the inspector knew without doubt, that the fire had delivered assassins into their hands, and prevented the assassination of John Paul II. Although at the commencement of the grueling interrogation conducted with ‘extreme prejudice’ Ahmed categorically denied such claims, at its conclusion he declared that there were ‘two Satans that al-Qaeda would destroy – these being the Pope and the United States of America.’
* * * *
Results of the white, Toshiba laptop’s contents had revealed an even more sinister component of Operation Bojinka which, the four recovered diskettes disclosed, was designed not only to assassinate Pope John Paul II during his Holiness’ impending visit to Manila, but also a commitment which called for a massive two-phased attack on American interests. This ambitious scheme proposed hijacking a commercial jet to be crashed into the Pentagon and for the placement of explosive devices on eleven aircraft bound for the USA – both operations the blueprint for a grim future.
Details of the militant group’s suicide missions were passed to the United States Embassy, the ambitious plan treated with derision when examined by CIA specialists in Langley.
Both Yousef (the explosives expert) and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (the mastermind