Prologue - Page 2

“Add Amman and Damascus to this list. They were cowards who buckled to Bush.” It came out BUUUUSH. Every time he considered the former American President, his eyes bulged a little wider and his blood pressure rose a bit higher. “They are not Arab brothers; they are American lackeys,” he spat.

Colonel Duri nodded and mentally added the names to the target list. He had no paper or anything to write with. He was painfully aware that at least two rifles were pointed at the center of his back—one of the prices for serving the Great Leader.

The other person standing next to Duri was nicknamed Doctor Germ by Western weapons experts. Doctor Rihab Rashida al-Awazi was a rather plain woman at age forty-two. It was hard to reconcile this new mother of a baby girl with being Saddam’s chief chemical and biological weapons architect. Her black hair pulled back in a loose bun, she stood with hands folded before her. The printed dress hung loosely over her shoulders. She simply did not look like someone who had designed a weapon system capable of killing cities.

“The warheads, Doctor. They will work with this wonder weapon from our Chinese friends?”

She nodded quietly. It was her wonder weapon; the Chinese simply provided the manufacturing facilities. She kept her peace. It was best not to anger the Great Leader.

“We are expecting to receive five casks. They each hold maybe twenty liters of VX-Beta.”

“And how much per warhead?” Saddam asked, looking back to the target list.

“One liter per warhead. That should have a dispersal radius of five kilometers.”

Saddam pulled at his mustache. “The effects?”

She lifted her head proudly, for VX-Beta was primarily her invention. Western analysts called VX-Beta the City Killer. Iraq had to mass-produce the chemical in China. Iraq simply did not have the capacity to produce the required amounts without the Americans discovering something. “There is no antidote. There is no degradation in effects. Wherever you aim the missile, they will die. VX-Beta will continue to kill indefinitely. The tests in China indicate they continue to have lethal effects in areas exposed to weather for the past several years. It is no longer simply a persistent chemical agent, it is a permanent chemical agent,” Rashida al-Awazi concluded triumphantly.

“You are certain?” Saddam asked, his eyes dead cold.

Without blinking, Rashida al-Awazi replied boldly, “Yes.”