George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 24

Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai.

It’s not a spell. It’s a person’s name.

Usually, everyone just calls him ‘Ibrahim.’ He is thirty years old this year and was living in Baghdad because of university. As a devout Muslim, he lived near a mosque.

Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean he was a particularly likable guy. He wasn’t particularly outstanding. He liked bicycles, and he loved basketball. Looking at it this way, you might think he was quite secular, but Iraq’s environment was somewhat like that due to Saddam Hussein’s influence. He seemed secular, but from the perspective of the average person in Iraq, Ibrahim was quite devout. What’s so special about being devout? If you live strictly according to the doctrine, that’s what makes you devout.

When the military and protesters clashed in Baghdad, all he did was huddle in the basement of the mosque, enduring the shelling and bombing as much as possible. In fact, everyone who wasn’t involved in the protests did the same, not just Ibrahim.

You don’t attack a mosque in the Middle East, no matter how crazy you are.

But that actually happened! How dumbfounded he was when a bomb fell on the mosque, and he realized it in the basement! He was even more dumbfounded when the way to the ground was blocked, and all he had in his hands was a handful of sand.

Ibrahim was buried alive under the mosque.

The basement where he was trapped lost power, and the light bulbs were broken, creating perfect darkness. Before long, Ibrahim lost his sense of time and direction and felt like he was floating.

Amidst the stuffy, stale, moldy smell, mixed with the bitter dust of gunpowder, he saw light. Little by little. He moved towards the light. Not with his body, but with his soul, with his consciousness. He felt a sense of liberation and elation heading towards the light through his stomach and mouth.

Through the door of light, into the light. From light back into darkness. Darkness and light are one. Darkness was also created by Allah, so isn’t this also made by Allah? Then why resist, Ibrahim? Why do we need to resist the darkness? Why do we need to arm ourselves with the armor of light by resisting the darkness?

Is Allah’s law, the truth, spoken by the ancestor Muhammad, such a small thing?

Then you might say this: I have awakened. I stand in the same position as the prophets in the Quran [the central religious text of Islam]. I have even surpassed them and seen a new world!

So?

So what does that mean? It’s insignificant. It’s a trivial thing.

Compared to the universe that Allah created in seven days, his enlightenment quickly seemed really small.

In other words, all things and humans are one. Humans are one with all things. Therefore.

“There’s a person here!”

I am the universe.

Unfortunately, the elation towards enlightenment faded after being rescued. But fortunately, the enlightenment remained, and he was able to pray to Allah with a happy heart. He wanted to go back to the place where he gained enlightenment, but he couldn’t go back because there was an explosion. It seems like ‘gas’ was leaking.

After that, he joined ‘Al-Qaeda.’

Above all, he believed that he could share his enlightenment with those who valued the laws given by Allah. In addition, he had a solid foundation of basic knowledge because he attended university. And he was highly regarded for being devout, so he was able to get a good position.

In less than a week, he quickly stood out within the organization, and soon an event occurred where he caught the eye of Zarqawi, the de facto leader of Al-Qaeda.

One day, Ibrahim was drinking alcohol. An Al-Qaeda member severely insulted Ibrahim. So Ibrahim took a knife and brutally murdered the ignorant person, who was Zarqawi’s confidant. He was faithful to Islamic fundamentalism, so unlike Zarqawi, who enjoyed alcohol, he strictly adhered to the law to the point where he made people shake their heads.

“No, Ibrahim. Why did you kill him?”

“Because he insulted Allah.”

“How did he insult him?”

Although he was Zarqawi’s confidant, he had proven to understand the law and doctrine better than Zarqawi through religious discussions, so he was the one who constantly interfered when Zarqawi tried to drink alcohol. As a result, even Zarqawi found it difficult to treat him carelessly within the organization, and he was quick to hide even when he saw him drinking.

“He did not accept and rejected the darkness of humanity.”

“Why is that wrong?”

“Darkness was also created by Allah. Therefore, not embracing darkness is the same as insulting Allah.”

“That’s right!”

Zarqawi felt a sense of widening his perspective through his chest upon hearing those words. Yes, why couldn’t I have thought of this! Isn’t alcohol also created by Allah?

“Your name is not Ibrahim! From today, your name is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi!”

“Zarqawi! My teacher!”

“Baghdadi. My disciple.”

As if drawn by fate, Zarqawi and Baghdadi became master and disciple in an extremely short period of time.

“Europe will eventually send troops to Iraq like the United States.”

It was something that anyone could know, even if they weren’t a sage, and everyone knew. Al-Qaeda dissolved the Iraqi government and executed Saddam Hussein, the demon of secularism. In addition, he initiated a project to turn the entire Baghdad into a fortress. Many civilians were sacrificed in this project, but he thought it was worth it.

It was reminiscent of the construction site of the Maginot Line [a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles, and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany], which was called an impregnable fortress.

You know, in North Korea, they always shout about the Mallima Movement [a North Korean term referring to a mass movement to emulate the achievements of exemplary units or individuals] and speed battles! Speed battle! That’s it. That’s it.

But you know what? That Maginot Line was a flaw in itself. Of course, no matter how stupid you are, you couldn’t not know that, and the opinion came out that ‘If we sweetly and neatly strike first, won’t Europe automatically give in?’ And like terrorists whose every thought is directly connected to terrorism, this opinion was very attractive.

So, if we randomly detonate guns and bullets in every capital city and instill fear at the genetic level that ‘If you try to resist us, bombs will explode in your house too!’, wouldn’t favorable negotiations be possible? Zarqawi slapped his knee and stood up upon hearing that, and Baghdadi, who came up with the idea, instantly became the second-in-command of Al-Qaeda.

Of course, it’s not like there weren’t people with their minds right, so they rationally refuted it, but hey, have you ever seen an organization run rationally? Those who spoke the right words became infidels or apostates and went to Allah’s side.

Isn’t this really a thought that you’ve seen a lot somewhere? Specifically, in the Pacific War during World War II.

Delusions are like soap bubbles, beautiful to look at, but they burst if you touch them carelessly. But the bigger the bubble, the louder the sound when it bursts, right? This bubble was so big.

Enough to swallow the entire Europe.

* * *

The EU, that is, the European Union, had something called the Schengen Agreement [an agreement between European countries that allows people to travel between them without passport controls]. Without explaining it in a difficult way, it is an agreement that EU member states do not set up borders with each other. In other words, if you are an EU member state when going to another country, you do not need to issue a visa like domestic travel!

The problem is that because there are no visas, an environment was created that was really good for smuggling in criminals and terrorists. The United States issued a report warning about this problem, but all EU member states already knew this. It was a bit much to abolish it again, and if we were to conduct inspections, we might as well issue visas. But if we issue visas, why does the Schengen Agreement exist?

‘Oh, shit. It’s so complicated.’ It had been a long time since they had given up on measures. The only thing that seemed to be effective was random inspections, but even that was done sporadically, and there were no results.

So, even if this happened, no one in the EU could criticize it.

The EU, as well as the rest of the world, condemned Al-Qaeda’s occupation in Iraq. However, unlike other countries, the EU was large and added another unnecessary word. It was to calm the angry public sentiment.

“Get out of Iraq! If you don’t get out, we’ll make you like the Taliban!”

There was a real fire man. This was, in a way, throwing a glove at Al-Qaeda, and it didn’t matter if it was a very small crusade that would take place in modern times. But what was important was that it was also a statement that directly challenged the hegemony of the United States.

Well, the public opinion was a little angry because George W. Bush, the president of the United States, accepted it lukewarmly, but there was no problem.

Something strange happened in Europe.

“This is the Arc de Triomphe [a famous monument in Paris]. In the 19th century, Emperor Napoleon wanted to build a triumphal arch to commemorate his victory in the Battle of Austerlitz, and the triumphal arch was built after Napoleon’s death….”

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument located in Place Charles de Gaulle in Paris, France. It is 50 meters high, 45 meters wide. It is the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. La Marseillaise [the French national anthem] is engraved on the gate. Even in Paris, which is full of cultural assets, it was no exaggeration to say that the Arc de Triomphe held a special status along with the Eiffel Tower.

So, if these special cultural assets were to collapse, the ripple effect on European society would not be something that could be expressed in words or numbers.

A 30-ton grocery truck carrying a huge trailer pushed into the center of the Arc de Triomphe. There were stone bollards, but a 20-ton dump truck ‘accidentally’ lifted its cargo box, covering the top of the bollards with dirt and gravel. Naturally, manpower was mobilized to remove this, and this 27-ton truck was able to easily pass over it.

Even at that moment, manpower was being mobilized to handle the dirt and gravel, but there is no need to say what the end of those diligent workers would be. The guard who was guarding the center of the Arc de Triomphe was too helpless in front of the black cow made of steel, and soon the destruction that was sleeping peacefully inside the cargo box opened its eyes.

The flash of the bomb, which could not be seen even during World War II, filled Place Charles de Gaulle.

In Paris, France, at the Arc de Triomphe, in Berlin, Germany, in London, England, in Madrid, Spain, in Vienna, Austria, in Warsaw, Poland, in Athens, Greece, in Zurich, Switzerland, in Rome, Italy, especially in the streets of the Vatican.

Terrorism was carried out in various ways. Terrorism was so easy.

“This is all a Freemason conspiracy!!!”

There was no need to say more about Europe’s reaction to this. Rather, because they didn’t have a sense of reality, those who raised conspiracy theories in each country were so excited that the Freemasons and the Illuminati had designed a foothold for large-scale Middle East domination, which was really an unexpected event.

If you don’t know the full story, the conspiracy theories preached by conspiracy theorists sound more reasonable, and even some politicians fell into a state of panic.

To be honest, no! How long has it been since the Taliban next door were defeated by the United States, and you’re doing this? So, if you have at least a human brain, not udon noodles, and if common sense exists at least in the neurons contained in brain cells, can’t you see what will happen?

But, but! But let me say it again! The world is not ‘a place that runs so rationally.’ The European Union and European countries, which had eaten all kinds of colorful taffy, resolved to repay Al-Qaeda with all their heart.

What this meant was a crusade. Not a small crusade planned at first, but a huge crusade in which the entire Europe moved.

Maybe it would have really been a revival of the Christian Crusades if bombs hadn’t exploded in ‘Russia’s Red Square.’

Wow, this is a real mess.