The Last Patriot

“That’s a pretty serious charge,” said Ozbek.

“Sure it is. But it’s right on the money,” the man responded. “For the majority of its adherents, Islam is a beautiful religion. We not only don’t want to commit acts of violence, we don’t want anyone else to either, especially not in the name of our religion. If it were up to us, we’d gladly see the violent passages the extremists use to justify their actions removed from the Koran.

“The majority of Muslims in America and around the world are moderate and peaceful. Islam brings comfort and provides a noble path for over a billion people on this planet. It is the source of incredible goodness. We want to live in harmony with our neighbors, regardless of what their beliefs are.

“Everyone wants us, the moderate Muslims, to reform Islam, but no one does anything to help. They don’t seem to understand that the moderates who are brave enough to stand up are constantly drowned out by the Islamists who are more media savvy, better organized, and considerably better financed.”

Ozbek referred to his notes. “So that’s where this Operation Glass Canyon that you told the FBI about came in?”

“Yes,” said Salam. “ Operation Glass Canyon was supposed to take the fight directly to the fundamentalists.”

“This was headquartered out of your firm, McAllister amp; Associates?”

“My part of it was. I thought the rest was being handled by the FBI.”

“What is McAllister amp; Associates?” asked Ozbek.

“It’s a P.R. and lobbying firm that specializes in Muslim clients. It was my cover, which allowed me to infiltrate the Islamist movement in America.”

“And were you successful?”

“Very,” replied Salam. “I placed or turned people in almost every hardcore Islamist organization in the country.”

“Didn’t you ever get suspicious that you weren’t really working for the FBI?” asked Ozbek. “According to what I was told, you didn’t even train at the FBI Academy in Quantico.”

“Riley trained me at an Islamic compound in upstate New York called Islamaburg. He said it was for my protection because the FBI wanted to keep my identity a secret, even from other FBI agents.”

“But here you are,” pressed Ozbek, “feeding all of these reports to Riley and nothing is happening. Doesn’t that set off any alarm bells for you?”

“Are you asking if I got frustrated?” asked Salam. “Of course I did. But what did I know? Government is famous for being slow. In fact Riley always liked to calm me down by joking that the FBI put the ‘bureau’ in bureaucratic. No matter how hot a piece of intel was that I gave him, he always assured me that it was being passed up the chain of command and being acted upon.”

When Steve Rasmussen returned with the food, Ozbek gave the prisoner a few moments to begin eating before turning the conversation to the heart of why they were there.

CHAPTER 18

“Let’s talk about the Foundation on American Islamic Relations,” said Ozbek.

Salam shook his head with disgust. “They are the worst thing to have ever happened to American Muslims. You know FAIR’s director, Abdul Waleed, actually boasted at a conference once, not knowing that there was a reporter present, that Islam wasn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. He said he believed that the Koran, not the Constitution, should be the highest authority in America, with Islam as the only accepted religion on earth. And he said he would not rest until he made that happen. That’s not the kind of Islam I practice. In fact, that’s not the kind of Islam the majority of Muslims practice.”

“Tell me about Nura Khalifa and the assassin FAIR supposedly hired.”

Andrew Salam suddenly grew much less talkative. It was obvious to Ozbek that he had touched a nerve and he felt he knew what it was. He had seen a picture of Nura Khalifa. She was stu

Finally, Salam said, “She was a good woman. She didn’t deserve to die.”

Ozbek had never lost anyone close to him-not in the Army, not at the CIA, not even in his regular personal life. He could only imagine how the man felt and trod as delicately as the situation would allow. “Were you two intimately involved?”

“No. It was strictly business between us.”

“Did you have feelings for her?”

Salam looked at his interrogator. “Even if I had, I would never have compromised such a valuable asset. If nothing else, at least I can say I was professional.”

“She fed you a lot of information on FAIR?”

“Tons.”

“Which you fed to Riley?” asked Ozbek.

“Yes.”

“And he was the only person claiming to be with the FBI that you ever had contact with?”

“Correct,” said Salam, “but no matter how much information about FAIR and its activities I gave him, nothing ever seemed to be done about it. I got the same line about investigations being in the works and it taking a lot of time to build strong cases and then one day Riley told me to sever all ties with Nura and back off the Foundation on American Islamic Relations.”

“Did he say why?”

“Riley claimed that the Bureau was finally begi

“What was she seeing and overhearing?” asked Ozbek.

“Abdul Waleed began having more and more meetings with a radical Saudi imam who ran several mega-mosques across the U.S. named Sheik Mahmood Omar. According to Nura, the two men seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

“She had overheard them complain on two separate occasions that if the threat wasn’t halted, Islam, as well as everything they had been working for, could be seriously compromised.”

Ozbek interrupted him. “What threat? What are we talking about?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to know,” replied Salam. “Nura said they had begun asking a lot of questions about her uncle, who is a Koranic scholar from Georgetown.”

“What’s the uncle’s name?”

“Dr. Marwan Khalifa.”

“Where at Georgetown did he work?”

“The Center for Arabic Studies.”

Ozbek looked at him. “The same place you studied.”

“True, but I’ve never met him. He’s one of those Indiana Jones types who’s always off on some archeological dig or research project.”

“Do you know where he is now?”

“He has been bouncing around a lot working on some project for the Yemeni Antiquities Authority,” replied Salam.

“Did Nura say why she thought they might see her uncle as a threat?” asked Ozbek.

“Some of the more orthodox and hardcore fundamentalists felt that his research raised too many questions about the authenticity of the Koran. To them what he did was blasphemy and he was considered apostate, which meant that a case could be made for killing him. If you believe that sort of thing.”

“And do you?”

Salam was taken aback. “No way. Not at all.”

Ozbek made a few more notes and then said, “You told the FBI that Nura said Waleed and Omar hired an assassin. That’s not exactly an easy thing to do. How’d they find him?”

“Sheik Omar arranged it,” replied Salam. “The man’s name was Majd al-Din. It means Glory of the faith in Islam.”

“What was his name before that?”

“I don’t know.”

“You told the FBI that Nura believed he was from the CIA. Why?” asked Ozbek.

“She had overheard Omar bragging about him. He said al-Din was a revert to Islam.”

“Revert is a Muslim term for a convert, right?”

“Yes. According to Nura, Omar was crazy about this guy because he was a typical, average-looking white guy who would never raise suspicions anywhere. He was like a chameleon that could change his appearance at the drop of a hat. He said when you sat down with him he looked more like an accountant than someone who used to kill for the CIA.”