to maintain intelligence access by penetrating its neighbors’ defenses, and it was the success of these missions which had provided the information revealing the growing nuclear arms build-up amongst the Moslem nations. The director did not need to refer to his database to refresh his mind. The Iranians, he knew, now boasted their new Zelzal-3 missiles could destroy any target within fifteen hundred kilometers with a one thousand kilogram warhead and would soon test the first of their North Korean Nodong-2’s, capable of delivering their deadly payload as far as Germany and Western China.
Of even greater concern was confirmation that Iran now had at least fifteen nuclear material sites. The list went despairingly on; Saddam Hussein’s arsenal contained not only deadly nerve gases and chemicals, but also eleven confirmed nuclear facilities left undestroyed by the Gulf War.
Now, it would seem, Indonesia, the world’s largest Moslem nation, wished to enter the Arms Race. Mossad had become alarmed when the Indonesians acquired all thirty-nine warships from the former Soviet-backed, East German Fleet. Alarmed by this shift in policy, and unable to penetrate the Jakarta-based government with his intelligence teams, Director Saguy had depended on other Israeli resources to gather information regarding the Indonesian’s long-term strategies and military ambitions.
This had not been so difficult. Indonesia remained heavily in debt to both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Conditions precedent in all financial loan agreements required transparency in the debtor nation’s fiscal policies and, through Mossad-related resources, Saguy had managed to obtain the information he required. Senior officers within both the World Bank and the IMF reported directly to Mossad, and this provided Saguy with a clear overview of Indonesia’s future military intentions through the monetary monitoring processes.
He had become further alarmed with the growth of militancy amongst the powerful, and previously apolitical, Indonesian Moslem movements, the Director’s concerns growing even further with the discovery of a developing relationship between Islamic terrorist groups, headed by the Saudi, Osama bin Ladam and the powerful Indonesian Mufti Muharam movement. Saguy had flown to Washington with evidence of bin Ladam’s plans to expand his terrorist movement’s activities to include Indonesia and Malaysia, where training camps could be conveniently disguised by Moslem elements within those nations’ military hierarchy.
Saguy had been convincing in his arguments. Mossad teams had infiltrated a number of bin Ladam’s terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border where the Saudi tycoon frequently recruited guerrillas from amongst those fighting against the Indian army in Kash-mir. Saguy revealed to the Americans that his agents had observed Osama bin Ladam hosting meetings in his mountain stronghold with Chinese and Pakistani officials. The Mossad Director had extrapolated his theory that the wealthy bin Ladam was already well advanced in his strategy to develop an international terrorist organization with training camps already established in most Moslem nations.
Armed with an adequate flow of funds, Saguy had argued that bin Ladam would soon be capable of threatening both Israel and the West with Chinese manufactured copies of Soviet missiles. He firmly believed, although the CIA had scoffed at the time, that it was the terrorist’s intentions to test such weaponry in Pakistan, for any such trial detonation in Iran, Iraq, or other Middle Eastern Moslem states, would result in an immediate United States response. The Israeli had, unfortunately, been unable to convince all those present during the Washington visit, how his intelligence justified these conclusions.
When he suggested that the successful testing of a nuclear device by a Moslem nation would act as a catalyst for unification amongst the Islamic world, the American Defense Secretary, Steven Cohen, had disagreed, citing Indonesia’s Moslem community as being non-aggressive and committed to their government’s policy of non-alignment. It was when Saguy suggested that elements within the Indonesian Government actively supported the terrorist organization, that the Americans became indifferent to his theories.
Saguy had insisted that China’s willingness to provide technology to Moslem states would eventually lead to confrontation. Members of the Israeli Cabinet who were also present, urged the American Administration to act quickly before even the less powerful Moslem countries acquired nuclear technology and missile weaponry from the Chinese. It seemed that the Mossad-proposed hypothesis was to be rejected. The Americans were not convinced, unable to accept that countries such as Indonesia would ever desert their lucrative pro-Western alliances in the interests of international terrorism.
Saguy and his fellow countrymen had returned to Tel Aviv, without any commitment from the United States. The Director had gone directly to the Prime Minister to seek his support for Israel to act alone. He firmly believed that for Israel to vacillate, would ultimately place their country at extreme risk as Israel had insufficient retaliatory capability to survive an Islamic-led nuclear attack.
The director felt the despair of impotency this knowledge carried, his concern that Israel’s own facilities could not provide the defense his country required. Names such as Dimona, Eilabun, Nevatim and Be’er Yaakov came to mind as he considered the nation’s nuclear and missile facilities, wondering just how much more of the country’s budget would be consumed by these demanding capital intensive projects.
The thought of the many billions raised in the United States via their Swiss-based banking operations warmed his heart. He prayed that Israel could always depend on her powerful American lobby without which his country might not survive. It had been imperative that Israel manage its off-shore funds through Geneva for, ironically, many of the country’s investments had been conducted in Moslem nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where oil and other precious resources were found in abundance. Major General Saguy’s eyes dropped back to the folder lying almost innocently on his desk.
As he further considered the file’s contents, the director’s fingers tapped a silent beat on the plate-glass-topped desk, his mind preoccupied with the one report which had first alerted Mossad to China’s provocative intentions. He remembered reading that it had been as early as 1985 when Lekem, Israel’s Bureau of Scientific Relations had identified the increased flow of technical information from the Chinese to a number of Moslem nations . Lekem agents located in Israeli embassies throughout Asia and the Sub-Continent had stumbled across Beijing’s first transfer of nuclear technology to Pakistan. Alerted, Mossad worked together with its sister agency in the covert collation of all material which fell into their hands.
Now, with more than ten years of data to substantiate their intelligence, it was clear that China’s efforts were soon to bear fruit.
Shabtai Saguy closed the highly classified file stamped ‘ Most Secret -ha-Mossad le-Modiin ule-Tafkidim Meyuhadim’, removed his glasses and rubbed his tired, gritty eyes, while wondering how other intelligence chiefs always managed to find time to play golf. He then stared down at the document cover before him and a thought crossed his mind, causing a thin, mirthless smile to crease his lips, as he visualized Saddam’s mocking face collapsing into shock once the game unfolded, revealing his weakened flank. Buoyed by this image, Major General Sabtai Saguy left for the Prime Minister’s office where he expected to receive confirmation that Israel would send its scientists and engineers to New Delhi.
If Pakistan was to have its Islamic bomb, then India’s one billion Hindus would receive Israel’s assistance to discourage the further spread of Chinese nuclear technology. Israel’s contribution would prevent, hopefully, the world’s largest Moslem nation, Indonesia, from acquiring such weapons of mass destruction through their new companion, Osama bin Ladam, the man now recognized by the Jewish community worldwide, as their most serious threat since Adolf Hitler.
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Indonesia - Surabaya – August, 1997
The white Mercedes 300 carrying General Praboyo’s mother was last to arrive at the compound, and even
