attack the Sheraton Hotel and kill all the Americans there—the spies and the soldiers who are using the hotel as a base on the holy soil of Yemen—and also the Americans from the embassy who have arrived from Sana’a. All of them will die within the next few days.”
A few in his council of advisors nodded, but The Panther was aware that some of them were beginning to doubt him—to doubt that he was blessed by God.
He continued, “And forty jihadists have journeyed to Sana’a and will mount an attack on the American Embassy compound.”
A senior advisor, Jawad, reminded his chief, “This council must approve of the embassy attack and it must also be approved by the Supreme Council.”
The Panther did not reply.
Jawad also reminded his chief, “If the embassy attack is successful, and if our jihadists enter the embassy compound and kill all the Americans—perhaps a hundred who live and work there—this act will have consequences which go beyond these borders.” Jawad also told his chief and the others, “I fear an invasion of American soldiers in our country if these attacks on the embassy and on the hotel in Aden are successful—or even if they are not.” He also reminded his chief, “You recall what happened after the successful attack on the American warship.”
The Panther replied, “Yes, Jawad, I recall.” He told Jawad and everyone, “Men and money flowed to us in abundance.”
“And so did the Americans flow into Yemen in abundance.”
The Panther again did not respond.
Another man on the council said, “We are not ready yet to attack. We must build our forces. We need another year, perhaps.”
The Panther replied, “The more we attack, the more men and money will come to us.”
Altair, sitting at the right hand of The Panther, looked at the advisors in the dim light and he could see their doubt. His young friend, Bulus, he thought, was still glowing in the victory of his bold and successful attack on the American warship, the Cole. But that was over three years ago, and since then Bulus ibn al-Darwish had only small victories against the Sana’a government and no victories against the Americans. The council was willing to wait, but The Panther was not.
Altair knew also that the killing of the nine Belgians and the two Yemenis at the Bilqis ruins had not been celebrated by all jihadists, or by all sympathizers to the cause. True, the Supreme Council of Al Qaeda had approved the attack, but the population of Marib province, including the Bedouin tribes, were not happy that the foreigners had been killed, and many saw it as an act of cowardice, and many in the province had suffered financial loss because the tourists had ceased to come to the ruins.
Altair knew also that if the attacks on the Sheraton Hotel in Aden and on the American Embassy in Sana’a did not result in victory, then his young friend’s leadership would be in jeopardy. Also, perhaps, his life.
The Panther was still addressing his council of advisors, and Altair thought he was saying too much. What more was there to say? What had already happened—the two defeats—spoke for themselves. If his jihadists were successful with their attacks in Aden and Sana’a, that, too, would speak for itself.
In any case, Altair did not believe in The Panther’s strategy of attacking the Americans. The jihadists should be attacking the government forces. If al-Darwish wished to someday live in the presidential palace, as he said, then he needed to defeat the hated government—not the Americans, who were here in small numbers.
He knew also that if the government was not defeated, the corrupt men in Sana’a would give in to American pressure to let the Americans build a military base in Aden, as the British and then the Russians had done. And if that happened, then the Yemeni people would have the Americans with them for a very long time. But al-Darwish could not see that far into the future. He was blinded by the sight of a small number of Americans, and did not see the ones waiting for an excuse to do what they had done in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would be a disaster for Yemen.
Altair leaned toward al-Darwish and whispered, “We have much to do.”
The Panther paused in his address to his council, then said to them, “We will meet again in perhaps one week—after our victories in Aden and Sana’a.”
The Panther stood and his advisors stood also. The advisors left the hut