The Path to Paradise

Meantime, most of the fighters had been assembled, all eager to show off their skills to the visitors. Reluctantly, the entourage trouped out from their air-conditioned room and sat down on chairs placed on a dais outside. The area, though roofed with a canvas canopy, was very hot. From there however, they could overlook the whole assault course. The show was almost exactly the same as had been reenacted in hundreds of different camps. It ran to form. The youngsters laden with packs, demonstrated a mock attack, climbed up ropes, jumped off a wall then through burning hoops, crawled under a latticework of barbed-wire while their training staff shot round the crawling men. The camp commandant was fidgety and on edge – this was a bad time for anyone to get killed, or even injured. His worst nightmare was a training accident in front of visitors. Their luck held, none of the bullets hit their charges. He heaved a sigh of relief as the fighters moved on to show off their skills on an AK47. The finale was each man grabbing a live chicken from a coop, breaking its neck and eating it raw. Squeamishness just wasn't tolerated in Allah's fighters.

The men were now assembled before the platform to hear an address by their commandant. This proved to be very short, Capt. Affel was a singularly bad speaker. Not only couldn't he remember what he was going to say and had to rely on notes, but worse still, his voice seemed to rise a couple of octaves whenever he made any efforts at oratory. This would be a really bad time for any of the men to snicker. For that reason he gave the briefest introduction for the Imam, knowing that the cleric would make up for his own brevity.

Imam Hardal walked to the front and glared at the assembled men for what seemed ages. Then, in an unusually firm voice for a man of God, he spoke to the assembled men.

'I bless you all, in the name Allah, the compassionate and all-powerful. You have been chosen to become His fighters and the instruments of His revenge, in this His great Jihad. You will be at the spearhead of his mission, and the ultimate aim to make Islam the greatest power in this universe. We have waited long, but now the time is ripe. I know that we will succeed, for so it has been so ordained. We are strong, and getting stronger every day while the infidels are weak and getting weaker. They have no spirit to move them. All they want is to fill their bellies, to fornicate and to make money. They act like frenzied ants in a hurry to collect any chattel, they know that they must steal and seize what they can in this world because there is no future for them next, no life hereafter. But you, my fighters for Allah, you know that everlasting Paradise awaits you as your reward for your part in this Holy War.'

As the oratory washed over him, Colonel Bakri closed his eyes and silently intoned the words from memory. He'd already heard this particular speech on so many similar occasions. He felt he could deliver it himself if he wanted to. But could he put the same charisma into his harangue? What never ceased to amaze him though was that any youngsters in their right minds could actually believe this theobabble! Had this religion thing really gotten to them to such an extent? Could it become a substitute for other normal interests of kids their age? What about their sexual urges? Didn't they get those; or can such fundamentalist brainwashing really nip normal impulses in the bud? He wondered if any of them ever had girl friends or made love to a young woman? Wouldn't they find in that a better kind of paradise? Here and now, not wait for the hereafter, if there really was such a thing. Lucky for him, he grew up in Damascus, went to a good school, a normal secular school. They were taught worldly subjects on which to pass exams, things they'd need for life, to get a job--ah yes, and girls, lots of them! Safe sex and how to avoid AIDS, but none of this religious clap-trap that seemed to him more like a throw-back to the middle ages-- The cleric's by now thundering voice interrupted his musings.

'Their youth has been further weakened by addiction to drugs that have dulled their brains. They have no will, no spirit, no willingness to make sacrifices. They will fall before the righteous hand that wields the sword of Islam. For centuries the Christian and Jewish infidels have killed our people until Saladin the Great avenged them and dispatched them from the land. So too we will dispatch the Jews who have come to our holy soil and have stolen our land. It says in the Holy Koran: "Kill the aggressor wherever you find him. Drive out the usurper from wherever he drove you". That is why you men are fighting for Allah's cause, and why you must drive out the infidel from our land until it has been purified. Then Islam will be supreme. Allah will recognize the true believers and honour them. He has ordained your mission to destroy the impure, to avenge the indignities the infidel has heaped on us. You will return in glory, to enjoy the fruits of your victories, or become martyrs to our holy cause so Allah will send you to Paradise. Praise be to Allah, the all-powerful.'

'Allahu Akbar' the men intoned as one.