Executive orders - Tom Clancy [354]
THE DELEGATION CAME just in time for evening prayers. The greetings were cordial and modest on both sides, and then all three of them entered the mosque and performed their daily ritual. Ordinarily, all would have felt purified by their devotions as they walked back out to the garden. But not this time. Only long practice in the concealment of emotions prevented overt displays of tension, but even that told much to all three, and especially to the one.
Thank you for receiving us, Prince Ali bin Sheik said first of all. He didn't add that it had taken long enough.
I am pleased to welcome you in peace, Daryaei replied. It is well that we should pray together. He led them to a table prepared by his security people, where coffee was served, the strong, bitter brew favored in the Middle East. The blessings of God on this meeting, my friends. How may I be of service?
We are here to discuss recent developments, the Royal Prince observed after a sip. His eyes locked in on Daryaei. His Kuwaiti colleague, Mohammed Adman Sabah, his country's foreign minister, remained quiet for the moment.
What do you wish to know? Daryaei asked.
Your intentions, Ali replied bluntly.
The spiritual head of the United Islamic Republic sighed. There is much work to be done. All the years of war and suffering, all the lives lost to so many causes, the destruction to so much. Even this mosque-he gestured to the obvious need for repairs-is a symbol of it all, don't you think?
There has been much cause for sorrow, Ali agreed.
My intentions? To restore. These unhappy people have been through so much. Such sacrifices-and for what? The secular ambitions of a godless man. The injustice of it all cried out to Allah, and Allah answered the cries. And now, perhaps, we can be one prosperous and godly people. The again hung unspoken on the end of the statement.
That is the task of years, the Kuwaiti observed.
Certainly it is, Daryaei agreed. But now with the embargo lifted, we have sufficient resources to see to the task, and the will to see it done. There will be a new beginning here.
In peace, Ali added.
Certainly in peace, Daryaei agreed seriously.
May we be of assistance? One of the Pillars of our Faith is charity, after all, Foreign Minister Sabah observed.
A gracious nod. Your kindness is noted with gratitude, Mohammed Adman. It is well that we should be guided by our Faith rather than worldly influences that have so sadly swept over this region in recent years, but for the moment, as you can see, the task is so vast that we can scarcely begin to determine what things need to be done, and in what order. Perhaps at a later time we might discuss that again.
It wasn't quite a flat rejection of aid, but close. The UIR wasn't interested in doing business, just as Prince Ali had feared.
At the next meeting of OPEC, Ali offered, we can discuss the rearrangement of production quotas so that you can share more fairly in the revenue we collect from our clients.
That would indeed be useful, Daryaei agreed. We do not ask for all that much. A minor adjustment, he allowed.
Then on that we are agreed? Sabah asked.
Certainly. That is a technical issue which we can delegate to our respective functionaries.
Both visitors nodded, noting to themselves that the allocation of oil production quotas was the most rancorous of issues. If every country produced too much, then the world price would fall, and all would suffer. On the other hand, if production were overly restricted, the price would rise, damaging the economies of their client states, which would then reduce demand and revenues with it. The proper balance-hard to strike, like all economic issues-was the yearly subject of high-level diplomatic missions, each with its own economic model, no two ever the same, and considerable discord within the mainly Muslim association. This was going far too easily.
Is there a message you wish to convey to our governments? Sabah asked next.
We desire only peace, peace so that we can accomplish our tasks of restoring our societies into one, as Allah intends