Bamboo Battleground Page 3

  While international news media directed all their attention at the al Qaeda in the Mideast and even Europe, they were building their largest training camps in the Philippines. They also were building a presence in southern Thailand, Indonesia, and now Hanoi, wanting to use their oil money for a new sanctuary and fertile ground to spread Dar el Islam. Not wanting to get attacked later by the al Qaeda, the communist officials of the Hanoi government secretly invited the jihadists to use their vast triple-canopy jungle areas to hide away their training camps and headquarters from the pesky U.S. satellites constantly overhead. They encouraged them to mingle in their cities to relax, to spend money, and in the back of their minds, of course, was the naïve belief that “sucking up” would spare their lives and country. They did not realize that they were simply making the al Qaeda’s world expansion goals easier to accomplish in the Pacific Rim area.

  The other problem in Vietnam and other communist countries was simple. Even in areas where the Hanoi government did not concern itself, bribery worked. The communist society does not work, so it is rife with corruption. Province, district, and individual city and hamlet chief political officers all over the country of Vietnam are for the most part corrupt. Their hands are out for any funds that can enhance their personal wealth and power base in any way possible.

  Hanoi desperately wanted the perks, and billions of dollars of income, from a world free-trade agreement. Many strides had been made with the United States and with Europe, but not enough. Paranoid about every resistance group meeting in Vietnamese neighborhood garages or family rooms in America, Hanoi could only visualize numerous conspiracies ready to overthrow their government and “pay them back for the U.S. embarrassment” called the Vietnam War.

  Because of wanting a new budding fiscal relationship, Hanoi learned, years before, to open their airports and ports to allow American tourists, but there was one big problem. They had been methodically defoliating the interior Central Highlands region for decades to make way for new coffee, tea, and rubber plantations. They also had deposed the Montagnard tribesmen, for decades, targets of a horrible discrimination and, in some cases, genocide program. Many Montagnards were forced into slave labor gangs, and the feared and hated Cong-An terrorized Montagnard villages throughout the mountainous regions. Additionally, the Vietnamese had been, for decades, moving large numbers of lowland Vietnamese into the mountainous region and had also forced some young Montagnard women and girls to intermarry with Vietnamese men in order to further decimate the race. Children, in fact, were only allowed to learn to speak Vietnamese and were forbidden to learn their own tribal languages.

  Because of the oppression, Hanoi had steadfastly refused to allow Americans or other tourists to enter most parts of the Central Highlands region, except the most carefully monitored and sanitized areas, so the apartheid-like conditions would not be exposed to world media. Because of this, the Hanoi-based al Qaeda appeasers figured they could easily allow the terrorists to build a few training camps in that area or just across the border, which they pretty much controlled anyway. Work had already begun. The world’s largest al Qaeda training camps had already been functioning for years in the southern Philippines.

  Now, construction was under way building several large terrorist training camps along the Laotian-Vietnamese border. Everything was covered with thick jungle canopy and where clearings were made, using some of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail tricks from the war in Vietnam, the VPA construction crews would climb high up and swing large growths of bamboo across the clearings and then tie the tops of them together, forming a large green archway. Also, using tricks learned fighting against the Americans years earlier, and the French before that, most classrooms, meeting rooms, and walkways in between were underground. Unlike the previous wars, however, they now employed earth-moving machines and not shovels to construct these, and cement mixers and rebar to provide fortification, not just root-crossed sod.

  The al Qaeda gladly footed the highly inflated bill for all the construction. Nguyen Van Tran was the powerful deputy prime minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He had also, over the past couple of decades, developed a very deep, very secret fiscal relationship with powerful, empire-building U.S. Sen. James Weatherford, who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee and cochair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Besides billing the al Qaeda for the clandestine camp construction, they also double-billed the senator’s secret entity that had a hand in much of Vietnam’s construction endeavors.

  The senator was very active in the background when Senator John Kerry chaired the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs in 1992, helping convince Kerry to ignore 42,000 pieces of evidence about live sightings of American POWs and end the investigation. Not much later, in February of 1994, President Bill Clinton removed the trade embargo against Vietnam. Then in 1998, President Clinton signed the Jackson-Vanik waiver, and on December 10, 2001, the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement entered into force. Although Vietnam still continues to suppress and harass its minorities, such as the Montagnards and the Cham, relations with the United States and others have continued to progress, and by 2004, direct flights were started between Ho Chi Minh City and San Francisco.

  All the control, however, for this Far Eastern faction of the al Qaeda came from one man located on a small resort island in southern Thailand called Koh Samui. Muhammad Yahyaa was from Saudi Arabia and was close with al-Zawahiri back in the early nineties and had won the confidence of the al Qaeda leadership.

  He oversaw the training camps in the Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, and Vietnam, as well as overseeing all tactical operations of the al Qaeda in the Pacific Rim area. He previously had communicated directly with al Qaeda’s number one and number two men located in Pakistan, not far from the Khyber Pass, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, using satellite phones, but a couple of close calls by U.S. air strikes stopped that. Muhammad now had to use the internet to communicate with designated intermediaries, couriers, if you will. They carried messages back and forth from the central al Qaeda leadership.

  Y-Ting and his men arrived at the designated meeting place not too far outside Mukdahan, on the Thai-Laos border, on a 1,000-foot-tall mountain overlooking the region near the Phu Mu Forest. They were met after crossing the Mekong River by another patrol of Thais who had a camp prepared for them under the cover of a large rock overhang, one of many in the area.

  Shortly after dark, while the men sat around several cooking fires, thousands of feet overhead a B-1B bomber passed through Thai airspace and a small black dot appeared from the bomb bay underneath. The American CIA contractor the Montagnards and Hmong liked so well was dropping at 220 miles per hour in a military freefall through the night sky. Breathing O2 and wearing night vision, he clearly saw the strobe lights from the three of the Hmong from Y-Ting’s patrol below marking his very small landing zone.

  He would soon be joining them on the mountain, and the Montagnards were all excited about seeing this man who fought alongside some of their fathers. The smiling American they called Boom.

  4

  DELTA CHARLIE

  Bobby Samuels and Bo Devore were both refreshed. They had both spent time at Bethesda Naval Hospital in private rooms getting treated for the wounds they incurred first crashing in a commercial jet liner and surviving a mountain blizzard, then fighting in a shoot-out with al Qaeda members trying to destroy the Glen Canyon Dam, then more fighting in Mexico and Texas against a Brazilian street gang called O Grupo Grande and the al Qaeda, and finally, they both stopped two al Qaeda terrorists from simultaneously detonating backpack nuclear bombs in Miami and New York City. Their biggest cheerleader happened to be four-button Gen. Jonathan Perry, chief of staff of the U.S. Army. He wanted them to get the best treatment possible, some rest, and then a thirty-day convalescent leave for each, and in the army, convalescent leaves do not go against your allotted thirty days leave time per year. They needed the rest, and got it, but now they had their biggest test yet ahead of them.

/>   Bo sat down at her desk, wearing a tight black body shirt, tan jacket, faded blue jeans, and running shoes. She went to the automatic coffeemaker and wondered if Bobby, her partner and boss, had returned.

  It was ten until seven in the morning. After five minutes, General Perry’s limousine driver, a nice-looking sergeant first class, showed up and knocked politely on her office door. He was wearing class As.

  “Sergeant Fisher, please come in,” she said politely, taking a sip of coffee the exact same color as his skin tone and as shiny on this humid morning, “Want a cup?”

  “No, thank you, ma’am,” he said, standing at attention. “I am here to drive you somewhere.”

  She said, “At ease, Sergeant, please.”

  He relaxed. “Thank you, Major. I am under orders to drive you somewhere, if you will accompany me, Major.”

  “Of course,” she said, as he snapped back to attention while she walked out the door, followed by the well-built, handsome sergeant.

  Walking down the hallway, she asked, “Where is the general taking me, Sergeant?”

  The sergeant got a door for her, replying, “The general is not coming, Major Devore. He lent out his car and me for this mission, which I am not allowed to discuss, ma’am.”

  “I’ll respect that,” she said and wondered just what in the heck was going on.

  He drove her uptown toward the White House and actually drove her to Old Ebbitt Grill just around the corner from the White House. It was Bobby and Bo’s favorite restaurant and world famous for its oysters and other meals. The sergeant pulled up in front of the restaurant and let her out, opening the brass door for her. The restaurant had just opened. She walked up to the maitre d’ station and spotted Bobby in a booth near the back. He waved, and she smiled. Oddly enough, he, by coincidence, also wore faded jeans, running shoes, a black tight turtleneck, and a tan sport coat. The only difference between the two was the snug, hard-leather shoulder holster snuggled up next to her left breast, quite capable of hiding and camouflaging such an accessory, while Bobby was wearing his holster under his jacket on his right hip over his right hip pocket.

  Both holsters firmly encased a high-polymer space-age plastic-and-steel Glock model 17 9-millimeter semiautomatic loaded with full metal jacket hollow-point Corbon bullets. Each pistol had a round in the chamber, and the very reliable safety on each gun was on the trigger itself, mounted on the front of it. When the safety was depressed, the weapon was ready to fire its deadly contents.

  Bobby smiled, waving to her. She nodded her head and walked to the table. As she approached, she could not help but notice his broad smile, and as she got even closer there was a healthy glow he had not had in a long time.

  Bobby hugged her, holding her tight, and then handed her a dozen roses as she blushed and sat down.

  Bo did not know what to say. This was really startling to her.

  Finally, she said, “Thanks, Bobby, the roses are beautiful, but what’s the occasion?”

  Bobby smiled, saying, “Bo, you are my partner, and I missed you. Simple as that.”

  They both ordered frittatas described on the menu as “open-faced omelets topped with mushrooms, onions, diced tomatoes, Cheddar cheese, served in an iron skillet with home fries and whole wheat toast.”

  “How was your leave?” he asked.

  Bo said, “It was wonderful and relaxing, but apparently not as good as yours. You look relaxed, healthy, the best I have seen you.”

  He hesitated, then said, “Bo, you are not only my partner but my closest friend. This has to remain only between you and me.”

  She said, “Of course. What’s up?”

  Bobby said, “Bo, I got drunk and grabbed your breast, and even worse, in a restaurant. It devastated me to know I disrespected you like that.”

  She got tears in her eyes and remained silent.

  Bobby drank all of his water and orange juice, then went on, “That more than anything is what made me hit my bottom. I am an alcoholic and can never ever drink any alcohol again. I just spent thirty days at the Betty Ford Center, Bo, and I learned more about myself than I ever knew I could.”

  Bo could not help it. She stuck her face into her napkin and silently wept. Bobby reached out and touched her arm.

  She stopped and raised her head, dabbing her eyes.

  Bobby, reading her mind, smiled softly and said, “Your mascara is okay. You do not look like Ricky the Raccoon.”

  She smiled. “Thanks. Bobby. I have prayed for this conversation for ages. I forgave you for the groping incident, but I knew you had a drinking problem and had to hit your bottom. I am so happy.”

  Bobby said, “I’m glad you are. Personally, I’m scared.”

  They brought the food while Bo kept herself in check, then she burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked sincerely.

  Bo laughed even harder, finally saying, “You saying you’re scared of anything. You have a DSC, Silver Star, Purple Hearts, earned a Green Beret, master blaster jump wings, Ranger tab, were in Delta Force, the HALO committee at Fort Bragg, and you are scared. If Bobby Samuels is scared, then we’re all in trouble.”

  Bobby shook his head, not understanding the humor in her statement.

  Deciding it would be smart to change the subject, Bo said, “The flowers are really beautiful. Thank you. All of this is such a nice surprise.”

  Bobby said, “Bo, I told you. You are my partner, my friend, and I have an awful lot of trust to earn back.”

  She smiled softly.

  “No, you don’t,” she said. “I believe you. I believe in you.”

  Bobby looked up at her and stared into her eyes. It took her breath. Then, he shocked her even more. He leaned across the table and lightly kissed her. She subconsciously reached up and gently touched her lips with her index and middle fingers.

  Snapping back to reality, she said, “Wow! Would you do that if your partner was a male?”

  Bobby smiled, saying, “I hope not. But you know what? If I felt about him like I do you, I might consider turning gay.”>

  Then Bobby laughed like he was making a joke, and she chuckled, but inside she hoped it was not. Bobby now knew that indeed it was not a joke.

  They had a long, leisurely breakfast and Bobby ordered another order to go. He paid, and they went to the limo, where he gave the take-out breakfast to the driver.

  Bobby and Bo returned to the Pentagon and were summoned to General Perry’s briefing room. He was not there, but his aide was as well as the J-2 general, Maj. Gen. An-drew Beck. There were also some other high-ranking officers and senior NCOs.

  For the next hour, Bobby and Bo listened to an eye-opening briefing on the al Qaeda situation in the Pacific Rim region.

  U.S. Army Special Forces operators from the First Special Forces Group-backed offensives have decimated some established camps in the Mindanao region, killing and capturing some al Qaeda-backed Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyahs with Pilipino militants setting up classes and plotting attacks, kidnappings, and executions through the island complex for a number of years.

  Previously, Abu Sayyaf Pilipino rebels had used small arms and simple hand and rocket-propelled grenades to attack civilian targets in the island nation. Al Qaeda’s Southeast Asian ally from Indonesia, however, for some years, had been sharing bomb-making expertise with radical Muslims in the Philippines. Humintel sources stated that a dozen or more designs and chemical recipes of explosives had been taught to assist local ragtag insurgents become deadlier.

  In 2005, in one terrorism attack alone, 116 people were killed with a series of high-tech explosions. There had been now for several years some very close cooperation among local and foreign militants using the southern Philippines as a training ground following the loss of al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan after the American invasion there in 2001.

  According to the briefing officer, even a 2005 Associated Press article quoted one Philippine security official who said Mindanao “is like a terrorist academy” wi
th trainees taught how to make bombs, plant them, then set them off in test missions designed to help militants perfect their techniques to complete the course.

  Jemaah Islamiyah militants appear to be continuously testing new designs and explosives mixtures, said officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of the information.

  When they investigated the Sunday bombing of a passenger ferry while it was boarding passengers on Basilan island, injuring thirty people, it seemed to be designed more to produce panic and terror instead of killing people.

  The briefer said that the evidence of al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah “training and technology transfer” in bomb devices had been going on for more than six years for members of Abu Sayyaf.

  The most shocking fact to come out of the briefing was that the largest al Qaeda training camps in the world were located not in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, or Somalia, but in the Philippines.

  The briefer read a statement from the Council on Foreign Relations about Jemaah Islamiyah: “Also known by the initials JI, it is a militant Islamist group active in several Southeast Asian countries. The primary objective of the group is the establishment of a pan-Islamic state throughout the area. In August 2003, Nurgaman Riduan Ismuddin, a.k.a Hambali, the operational chief of the organization was captured by anti-terror forces in Thailand. It was thought at the time that this would spell the end of JI. However, attacks against western targets continued. The most recent was the bombing in Bali on October 1, 2005 in which nineteen were killed and over one hundred wounded.

  The worst attack perpetrated by the group was the October 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali. In all, two hundred and two innocent people were killed in the blast. Over two hundred members of JI were arrested in connection with this attack, and three leaders were sentenced to death.”