Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [113]
“I would be pleased to have dinner with you, Lin Cheng, and if I know Clayton McCarty, he’ll already have been working for an hour or so by the time you call. My guess is he has his hands full these days.”
40
Geneva, Switzerland
6 October 2017
Prince Khalid ibn Saud’s stomach churned as the nondescript sedan pulled up to the back door of a nearly deserted office park building. His security chief assured him that the reporters from Al Jazeera, BBC, and SNS had been escorted here in the utmost secrecy. They would not be identified, and this location would be kept secret even though he would be gone long before the tapes were aired. While not thrilled with his demand to be allowed to edit the taped interview, the news services had agreed to his terms. As his guards cleared him to enter the building, he found no sign of the reporters’ arrival. But when he stepped into the dusty back room of the deserted office, he found all three reporters waiting, their backs to the skeleton camera crew already prepared to film.
Khalid moved directly to the desk arranged for him and sat down. “Gentlemen,” he said, facing the three reporters, “I would first like to read a prepared statement, and then I will answer your questions.” He raised an eyebrow, and the camera operator motioned for him to begin.
“Citizens of the world,” he began, “the government of Mustafa ibn Abdul-Aziz is a fraud. He and other members of his regime brutally murdered our beloved king and members of the royal family to gain power illegitimately. The overthrow was not perpetrated by the CIA or Zionists as claimed. Instead, it was a ruthless bid for power disguised as an attempt to save the very government that Mustafa was, in fact, overthrowing.”
“In short order, Mustafa has undone everything the royal Saudi government stood for in its relationship with Arab nations and the world. Saudi Arabia has been blessed with the largest oil reserve in the world, and has long considered itself to have a special responsibility to stabilize the oil markets and encourage peace in the Middle East. In less than a week, Mustafa has turned this oil blessing into a weapon of mass destruction against the economies of the world. He has coerced our Gulf neighbors and threatened to use nuclear weapons not only against other countries, but even against our own people, in the form of his dirty-bomb mines.
“While I find no common cause with the Zionists, I’m deeply outraged by Mustafa’s threats against our Arab neighbors. His actions serve only to heighten dissent between the Shiite, Sunni, Monotheist, and other sects—Arab against Arab. Who would gain from such a move?
“The Mustafa regime is a menace to all peace-loving Arabs as well as our global neighbors. It must be wiped out before he destroys Saudi Arabia and brings down the Middle East with it, subjecting our brothers and sisters to untold physical and economic hardship in his wake. Left unchecked, Mustafa will invite military action from desperate nations watching their economies collapse for lack of oil. And it is not he who will suffer in that case: no, it is the very people he claims to protect who will suffer and die as a result of his actions.
“That concludes my prepared remarks. I shall now take your questions, gentlemen, but ask that you not identify yourselves other than to state the news network you represent prior to each question.”
The three reporters, stunned by the vehemence of Prince Khalid’s remarks, quickly regained their journalistic composure.
“Al Jazeera, Your Highness: What makes you so sure that King Mustafa’s claims of Zionist and CIA involvement are untrue?”
“Think about it, if you will. Renegade forces took over multiple cities and ports simultaneously using brigade-sized armored units and entire fighter squadrons—even the Royal Saudi Guards—from the beginning. Hundreds of leaders were located and assassinated within hours. Do you really think a handful of