George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 49

The Great America of George W. Bush – Episode 48

Jarkawi dreamed of peace.

A Middle East liberated from secularism, chanting three cheers. Faithful Chinese Muslims holding the Quran and praying at the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower rebuilt as a structure pointing towards the holy land, Americans repenting and converting their churches into mosques, and the Vatican burning the Bible and instead following the teachings of the Quran.

That was the kind of peace Jarkawi envisioned for Muslims. It had to be that way.

“This isn’t the future I wanted.”

Jarkawi steadied himself against a rock.

“No one would know we’re here.”

That was true. No one would ever imagine that Jarkawi would be in the mountains between the ‘Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’ and the ‘Tibetan border.’ They were only stirring up the Middle East. In this remote mountainous area with nothing but rocks, trees, and soil, the only food was wild animal meat and roots teeming with parasites, but at least there was no chance of being shot, making it the perfect place to hide for the time being.

China, which recognizes Xinjiang Uyghur as its own territory, was the only one paying attention, but their surveillance system was lax since they had nothing to do with this terror attack. The only drawback was that Afghanistan was right next door, but they were planning to go down to Tibet soon. From there, they would cross Nepal, pass through Bangladesh and Myanmar, and finally take a boat from Malaysia to the Philippines.

Originally, they were planning to go down to Saudi Arabia and take a boat from Yemen, but all the ports in the Middle East were under heavy surveillance, so they gave up and came here. He received photos of the fleet gathered in the Red Sea, and it was like an international naval review.

The Middle East smuggling business was eradicated. They couldn’t even speak loudly in Saudi Arabia because they were protecting the oil tankers that Saudi Arabia was sending out for free. Saudi Arabia, which relies on oil for more than 90% of its national finances, could not refuse.

However, there were occasional minor disputes due to the presence of warships of various nationalities in the narrow Persian Gulf, but they did not escalate into warning shots. There were hardly any Russian ships, and most were European and American. Thanks to this, Egypt was booming.

Of course, Egypt didn’t want to give it up, but the Suez Canal could only be opened after an agreement was made that Europe would cover all losses and reconstruction costs if there were problems with the canal. It was natural for Egypt to refuse to open it. A large ship like a warship could cause an accident while passing through, and the canal itself could be closed temporarily or permanently. However, the reason they opened the canal was due to European pressure, but also because the Egyptian economy heavily relied on customs duties and oil exports from the Suez Canal.

Although it was low quality, oil was still oil. There was demand for oil everywhere in the world. Proper businesses like manufacturing or service industries required nearly 80 government permits, so businesses were declining and unable to grow.

“Damn it. This isn’t what I intended. This future…”

Jarkawi’s face was scarred and burned, a grotesque sight. It wasn’t Jarkawi’s intention to end up like this. Whether it was a shell or missile that exploded nearby during the battle, or a gas pipe that burst, he didn’t know. Something exploded and turned him into this.

Since then, he had been living with his face wrapped in bandages. Thanks to that, he had been able to enter this far with a forged passport. He wouldn’t have been able to make it this far just by hiding in remote mountainous areas.

So, the burn was both a blessing and a curse. Thanks to it, most of his luggage became medical supplies to suppress and treat the burns and pus. Jarkawi understood it as a medal earned in battle, not an accident, and was proud of it.

“What’s the date today?”

Jarkawi’s subordinate narrowed his eyes and estimated the date in his mind before opening his mouth.

“It’s exactly November 1st.”

“Already November? The smuggling date is December 25th. We need to hurry.”

“Once we get to Kathmandu, Nepal, we won’t have to move through the mountains like this.”

The reason for going to Kathmandu, Nepal, was that there was no road worth mentioning between these borders except for that place. Because the famous Himalayas were right here, moving through the mountains was as good as suicide.

‘It’s not over yet.’

Jarkawi’s adventure to globalize Islam was just beginning.

* * *

November in Washington D.C. was chilly. Of course, it wasn’t as cold as Washington State, which is attached to the Canadian border, but it was still cold. However, the scenery was truly worth seeing, but that was only until mid-autumn, and it wasn’t always the case when winter was just around the corner. It was even more so because it was the end of autumn.

So, he went on vacation to Australia.

‘Ugh. I hate the cold.’

If you hate the cold, you can just go to a place that isn’t cold. The temperature in Australia is always above freezing, so there is no concept of below zero. As soon as Bush got off the plane, he felt the warmth of Western Australia all over his body.

At first, he thought about going to Sydney or Melbourne, but since he was living in a big city and there wasn’t a day when he didn’t see people’s faces, he just wanted to feel the silence this time, so he came to the west.

Bush had been extremely exhausted lately. Frankly, it felt like the cruciate ligament of his condition had been torn. In fact, he wanted to travel alone, but that was impossible, so he was moving with only the minimum number of people.

That minimum number of people included Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

“Chief of Staff.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“Haven’t I gone too far?”

‘What? Has he finally gone crazy?’

The Chief of Staff barely swallowed the words that came to the tip of his tongue and carefully chose the most polite answer.

“Have you finally gone crazy?”

The problem was that the words he carefully chose were almost perfectly in line with what he thought at first.

“No, even if I’m going too far, isn’t it a bit much to travel abroad in this situation?”

‘Instead of police reorganization or fighter jet visits?’

“But it’s only a 4-day vacation.”

Considering that it usually takes at least a week, and up to 17 days at most, Bush’s vacation was very short. However, in the eyes of Kim Gap-hwan, who thinks that even a 4-day vacation is like a holiday, even his own 4-day vacation seemed long.

‘It’s good to have a sense of responsibility.’

However, it was only seen as a high sense of responsibility by those around him. However, not coming with his family was a demerit.

“Oh, is that the famous Hutt Lagoon?”

Bush exclaimed while ‘looking down.’ Hutt Lagoon is famous for its pink lake, and although it varies depending on the season, it generally maintains a pink color that looks like it came from fabric softener. And now it was a light strawberry milk color.

That’s right. As this human does, this time he was moving by helicopter. The reason was that it would take too long to move by car. Bush was disappointed that it wasn’t a combat helicopter, but the Chief of Staff opposed it almost like he was losing his temper, so he stopped.

In fact, Bush was planning to move with a Comanche [a type of attack helicopter] at home. It was like covering your eyes and saying “Ah!” when you went out for inspection and checked the performance yourself. If the Chief of Staff, who quickly noticed this, had not urged Bush to take a vacation abroad, he might have had to witness that scene with his own eyes.

Thanks to this, the Chief of Staff was proud of himself for doing another great job following India, but Bush was full of thoughts of driving self-propelled guns and tanks himself soon.

But unfortunately, the Chief of Staff still didn’t know that fact.

‘I’m going camping in a place where there are no people. Hunting is good, and a barbecue party is good too. Anything is fine. Yes! That’s right.’

This part was Bush’s part. Kim Gap-hwan was a human who liked searching for news in his room rather than outdoor activities like camping. The American frontier spirit engraved on Bush’s body was demanding a shotgun hunt. Bush was as familiar with the smell of gunpowder as he was with ink.

“How’s the hunting license going?”

“The Australian government will provide convenience.”

It was the moment when Bush was thinking, ‘I heard there are so many rabbits in Australia, should I try eating rabbit meat to my heart’s content?’ An all-too-familiar cell phone rang from the Chief of Staff’s pocket.

Bush prayed and prayed that it wouldn’t be his wife.

“What is it?”

Whether Bush’s wish reached the sky, fortunately, it wasn’t Bush’s wife. However, the caller was the White House, and a call from the White House meant that something was seriously wrong. It seemed that the gods in the sky really liked to balance things out.

“I’ll take care of telling the President myself.”

“What’s going on?”

“Something happened.”

“I mean, what happened?”

“Pakistan has joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Iran has applied for membership.”

To put it bluntly, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was an international organization based on the Shanghai Five, a group of anti-American countries. Initially, it was an international organization for military purposes to resolve disputes in border areas and increase mutual trust, but when Uzbekistan joined on June 15, 2001, it changed its name to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and began to exert a wider and more diverse influence, such as politics, economy, and culture.

The raison d’être [reason for existence] of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was the Western world. In other words, it was playing a role in checking NATO, so it was closer to pro-China and pro-Russia countries opposing NATO than simply being anti-American. Of course, this is true if you ignore the fact that most of the NATO forces are made up of American troops.

In any case, ‘anti-NATO = anti-American’ is not true, but at least ‘anti-American = Shanghai Cooperation Organization’ can be sufficiently established.

When the Shanghai Cooperation Organization raised its banner, it advocated the eradication of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, and separatism was perfect for China, which was advocating for One China.

“But Pakistan?”

Pakistan probably did it because of its antagonism towards India.

‘But didn’t Pakistan originally join with India around 2017?’

If Korea has Japan, India has Pakistan. In short, it’s a deep-rooted enemy relationship created by history. Therefore, it may not make sense to be in one fence, but in the case of Pakistan, it was originally a pro-China country that considered China as a brother country, and it was a country that bordered China. In the case of India, it was more accurate to say that it was dragged along by China because its nose was pierced. Because India was a ‘Belt and Road Initiative participating country.’

Is there any need for more words? This was the reason why India and Pakistan were in the same boat in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Well, from Pakistan’s point of view, it would have been horrifying. The world’s strongest country is showing great interest in the neighborhood to the right, so what else could it be if it wasn’t horrifying? Afghanistan, the neighborhood to the north, is also pursuing a pro-American policy, so they had to do something.

“But Iran?”

Iran was very unexpected. Iran? What on earth is going on? Even Bush couldn’t figure out Iran, so he thought about it carefully.

10 minutes, 20 minutes. He was lost in thought, but the answer didn’t come out, and Bush finally opened his mouth.

“What are you doing!”

A very short vacation was over.

“Turn the helicopter around!”