State of Terror

by Hillary Rodham Clinton

While fairly new to the job, Anahita Dahir was astute enough to know that in Washington, appearances were often far more powerful than reality. In fact, so strong were they that they could actually create reality.

Not the Russian government. Not officially. But the Russian President and his oligarchs had ties to the mob, and they had personally shared in the billions made from selling everything from weapons to human beings. The Russian mafia was completely without ideology, without scruples. Without brakes. What they did have were arms, contacts, money. They would sell anyone anything. From plutonium to anthrax. From child sex slaves to organs. They’d get into bed with the devil, then make him breakfast, if necessary.

But she also knew there were elements within Pakistan, within the government and even the military, probably around that table, who saw the American withdrawal from Afghanistan as an opportunity to assert even more power and influence in the region. By essentially making Afghanistan another province of Pakistan. With the Americans gone, the Taliban, after being given safe haven for years in Pakistan, would again take power in Afghanistan. And with them would come their allies, in some ways their international military arm: Al-Qaeda. It was an Al-Qaeda intent on hurting the West. Specifically intent on revenge against the United States for the killing of Osama bin Laden. They’d pledged it, and now, with the help of Bashir Shah and the Russian mafia, with the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the reemergence of the Taliban, they’d be in a position to carry the threat through, and in a more spectacular, more destructive fashion than they’d dreamed possible. A terrorist organization could do what a government could not. A government was subject to international scrutiny and sanctions. A terrorist organization was not.

While not enamored of the leadership, Secretary Adams very much liked the Russian people. At least those she’d met. They were more than resilient; they were vibrant, full of life and laughter. Always generous and hospitable. Ready to share a meal, a bottle. Ellen could never deny the fortitude of the Russian people. Though it struck her as a crying shame that they’d valiantly fought off the Nazis and fascism from the outside, only to see it creep toward them from within. Ellen was more than a little afraid that if her mission failed, the same thing would happen in the United States. Was, in fact, already happening.

Given a choice between bedlam and a dictatorship, what do you think the American people will choose? Driven by fear of another attack, in a state of terror, they’ll do the terrorists’ work for them. They’ll destroy their own freedoms. Accept, even applaud, the suspension of rights. Internment camps. Torture. Expulsions. The liberal agenda, women’s equality, gay marriage, immigrants, will be blamed for the death of the real America. But thanks to the bold action of a patriotic few, the white Anglo-Saxon Christian, God-fearing America of their grandparents will be restored. And if they have to slaughter a few thousand to achieve it, well, it is war, after all. The beacon that was America will die, by suicide. Frankly it was coughing up blood anyway.”