clearly in English. “Believers anywhere in the world can communicate with each other,” thought Pastor Wilson as he quickly prepared a message to post which advised the readership around the world.
Through the wisdom of Darrell, a computer link was set in Washington so that believers in the CIA and Homeland Security would be able to read messages instantly with those in Williams as they came into the website. An urgent message was posted, calling for believers around the world to ask God to open their eyes to anything suspicious around them that pointed toward terrorist activity or military movement within the next thirty days. Believers were asked to share anything God revealed, regardless of the perceived importance. The request ended with these instructions, “Whatever God may show you as an answer to your prayers, please share by return email. Trust God that you will be protected. Together let us seek God to end the violence and protect the innocent, and to change hearts and open eyes to Him.”
The little group in Williams stopped to pray even as the request was posted, asking that it might be seen by those who could be used to reveal the plan and the participants. They prayed not knowing what they were standing against, but they were sure in their hearts that only God could provide the way to overcome.
Elsewhere in Williams, Sally Johnson sat stunned, having completed her initial reading of Susan Stafford’s journal. “I can’t believe this,” she said. “The first three-fourths reads like it was written by a demon from hell, and then everything changes. It is as if a different person entirely is writing another story, looking back on the nightmare. She chronicles every shooting. There is no doubt she was the shooter, and it appears she acted alone.”
“What now?” Samson asked. “We need to make her letter public as soon as we can. We don’t want people at the memorial service making comments about her without knowing the truth, but the journal is a whole different issue.”
“I agree,” Sally added. “I would like to respect her wishes and keep the journal away from the press if Chief Thompson agrees. It needs to be published, and if that can be done in a way to help the injured and the families of the victims, that would be a good thing.”
“Let’s make some copies and take them to the chief and see how he wants to handle disclosure,” Samson suggested. They left quickly for police headquarters, calling forensics to comb Susan Stafford’s apartment for further evidence to be absolutely certain no one else was involved.
Besserman’s Explosion
Back in Washington, the recess had ended, and Professor Daniel Thompson had commenced his testimony on the dangers of a religion-based foreign policy before the Senate committee looking to amend the Hate Crimes Act. His focus was on separating biblical Israel from the political state of Israel, which he contended are not the same.
For generations we have dealt with the political entity Israel as fiction, causing us to skew our policy to every other nation in the Middle East at a terrible cost. America’s hands are covered with the blood of innocent Arabs killed in the on-going conflict which we fund and support unconditionally. Generations of Arab men, women, and children have endured poverty and desperation, lives without hope so that America could maintain the fiction that Israel exists on the Promised Land given to them by their God. You need to go no further than this to see the dangers of unbridled religious fervor.
The hate and violence we face in these terrorist attacks, even the attempted killing of the children in Williams this morning, although terrible, is nothing other than payback for the deaths America has caused by allowing religious fervor to control our foreign policy. That same danger flows over into individual relationships, which is why I am here today to urge this committee to support the proposed amendment to the Hate Crimes Act to stop religiously motivated hate speech and conduct.
America must first police itself on the home front and then practice what it preaches by devising a new foreign policy which has as its goal as fairness and the ultimate good of the United States. Religion is a private matter and must not be allowed to motive individual conduct at the expense of another or the nation’s foreign policy at the expense of the country. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Besserman rose before his microphone, finger pointed at the witness, shaking with anger and said, “So what you’re telling us, Professor Thompson, is that we should sacrifice the only true democracy in the Middle East, a trusted friend and ally of America, to appease those who kill us in the name of their religion, people who refuse to care for their own and who have condemned generations of their own to refugee camps? You need to change your name to Daniel Brutus; you already have the knife in the back.”
Chairman Crow pounded his gavel shouting, “You are out of order! Sit down, Senator.”
“No, you are out of order, Mr. Chairman,” Besserman responded loudly. “The whole committee is out of order, and I for one will have nothing further to do with this circus! Mr. Secretary, you be sure to let my office know when the vote comes up on this amendment so I can come back and vote NO. I am out of here.” And with that, he stomped out of the hearing room, the whole event carefully captured and broadcasted live to living rooms across America.
Act III–Not Exactly According to Script
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the day was not so bright for Dr. Harold Bristol as the Justice Department lawyers zeroed in on their subpoena as part of his deposition in the “civil rights” lawsuit he had filed. Things just weren’t going according to the script.
“Dr. Bristol, where are the documents which you were subpoenaed to bring today?” asked Larry Jordan, an assistant United States attorney. “You must understand that both individually and as the representative of Harkins College, you have not simply been asked to produce documents, you have been commanded to produce them.”
“Hold on a minute, we object to the overbroad nature of the requests,” responded Professor Trice, who was acting as his counsel. “These records are covered by privacy rights of students.”
“I am going to have fun if you make that objection to the grand jury subpoena,” Jordan responded. “That objection is trash, and you of all people know that. I am prepared to call the judge this very minute, and you can make that argument. We want those records now. It is a matter of national security, life, and death. I suppose the next thing you will tell me is that this morning’s attempted killings of the children in Williams were really only the accidental discharge of a firearm.”
“Wait a minute,” Dr. Bristol insisted. “The terrorist attacks in Williams have nothing to do with Harkins students or faculty.”
“Dr. Bristol, I am not going to argue with you, but what do you think the president was trying to tell you confidentially? One of your students or faculty members was coordinating a major terrorist attack against the United States from your campus and was using your Graduate School of Education computer lab to communicate with conspirators. The whole plan appears to have been launched on your campus and is being carried out under the leadership of your graduates. You are the ones who chose to try and make this a political issue. It’s not. It’s a criminal issue — a national security emergency. We will not allow you to delay disclosure and make this a political circus.”
“You are way out of line,” Trice responded angrily. “You fools think you see a terrorist under every bed. This is nothing more than an attack on our Constitution and this institution, and you will not succeed. The American people won’t allow it.”
“Enough,” Jordan replied, equally angry. Turning to a staff lawyer, he said, “Jim, see if you can get the judge on the line. Tell him we have a significant documents issue in the middle of a deposition relating to national security.
“While
