Ed. Note: This is the second part of a two-part excerpt. You can purchase the novel here.

The olive- skinned man with the Afro at the back of the room glanced around nervously. Whoever it was, he had found what he was looking for, and it was Dewey. Dewey recognized that. He saw it in the hatred, in the way the man’s eyes darted about constantly, settling back on him every few moments. Dewey knew when someone had come to kill him.

The killer was young, early twenties. He wore an orange polo shirt with the collar stuck up. He’d marked Dewey, a minute ago, five minutes ago, half an hour ago. He stared, unaware that Dewey could see him in the mirror behind the bar.

Dewey reached behind him and felt the .45 caliber handgun tucked into the small of his back, beneath the windbreaker. He stood up.

Dewey looked quickly at Talbot, who was deep in conversation with the Frenchwoman. He turned and pushed quickly through swarms of people to the door. There, in the glass of the door, he caught a glimpse of the bright orange shirt. The killer was following. Dewey had surprised the killer with his abrupt move.

He stepped outside onto the crowded sidewalk. It was still hot and he felt sweat pouring from his chest, wetting his shirt. He needed to move fast now. He jogged one block, then went left. He moved away from the strip, down empty sidewalks, past small houses. He jogged past car after parked car, beneath the glow of streetlights.

Looking at windshields as he moved, Dewey searched for a reflection, a sign the young killer was following behind. In the driver’s side window of a pickup truck, he caught a glimpse of the orange shirt. The killer, trying to keep up, was running too fast.

(more…)

USA Today:

The team behind 24 has a new take on terrorism in Homeland, premiering Sunday on Showtime (10 ET/PT).

The show revolves around two damaged protagonists: Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), a Marine sniper missing in Iraq since 2003 and presumed dead, then discovered as a prisoner of war; and CIA counterterrorism analyst Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), who had been warned by an informant a POW was “turned” into a traitor and now suspects Brody is tied to an imminent attack. 

He’s welcomed home to suburban Washington as a hero and treated as a “poster boy” for the war, but he’s having problems readjusting to society and his family. She’s bipolar — she calls it a “mood disorder” — and is obsessively tracking Brody after a misstep that derailed her career as a case officer.

(more…)

The Bloomberg terms for this year’s 9/11 Memorial are not only wrong, they are spiritually, metaphysically and, even in Karl Marx’s terms, dialectically “unbalanced”. Bloomberg is courting an even worse disaster than 9/11.

To bear false witness against God, of all defendants, to blame Him for 9/11, branding Him and his representatives as persona non grata without a full trial is literally demanding God’s complete abandonment of New York City.

Is preventing clergy from participating in the 9/11 Memorial excluding God Himself?

Yes.

Why?

Try excluding a single State’s representative, Senator and/or House member, from a Congressional Ceremony Honoring Abraham Lincoln.

Try it, and may God have mercy on you.

The Almighty, if you haven’t noticed, runs a Democracy as well or better than Washington does.

God has also been known to take sides in American Wars.

Particularly the domestic wars of her Revolution and the nightmares of 1860-65.

(more…)

Associated Press:

The real life adventures of former al-Qaida-linked militant Nasir Abas have become a new comic book in Indonesia, chronicling his transformation from foe to invaluable ally in the fight against terrorism.

The story of the soft-spoken, seemingly mild-mannered 42-year-old — recognized by strangers on the streets and even asked for the occasional autograph — is well-known in the world’s most populous Muslim country.

He went from helping train Muslim extremists who carried out some of Southeast Asia’s deadliest attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings, to informing police about the inner-workings of the Jemaah Islamiyah network.

He’s also joined a government program to convince convicted terrorists that killing unarmed civilians in the name of their faith is wrong.

“I want children to learn from my experience,” Abas said of the colorful 137-page comic “I Found the Meaning of Jihad,” which appears in bookstores Friday and will be handed out at some schools and libraries.

(more…)

Ed. Note: This is the third of three excerpts. Chapters one and two can be found here. ”The Final Hour” is available at Amazon.

Chapter Five

The White Room

I looked around.  There wasn’t much to see.  It was a small, cramped, white room.  There were no windows, no two-way mirrors, just the rough painted surface of the blank white cinderblock walls.  There was a white table bolted to the floor, and two plastic white chairs, one on either side.

For a minute or two, I just stood there, staring stupidly at all that whiteness.  I was still a little messed up in my head.  The memories from my attack still clung to me.  The scene had been so real, it was so much as if I were there, right there.  It hurt to be back here again, back in this prison.  Anyplace would have been better.

I heard the lock on the white door snap again.  The door opened.

I turned and saw Detective Rose step into the room.

Man, I can’t tell you what that was like.  At the sight of him, I felt my sore, battered body go weak with relief.  I couldn’t remember the last time I was so happy to see anyone.

“Rose!” I blurted out.  “Dude!  Oh, man, it’s about time you showed up!”

Rose didn’t answer.  His face was blank, expressionless. But then he never was much in the expressing-himself department.  He was a black guy with a round face and flat features, a thin moustache and smart, steady eyes.  He rarely smiled.  He rarely even grimaced.  Even his suits seemed to have no particular color.  He was always all business.

I saw his eyes go over me, pausing on the cuts and bruises.  But all he said was, “Sit down, Charlie.”

(more…)

 So, if there’s one thing you learn when you interview students over the death of Osama bin Laden… it’s not to interview students over the death of Osama bin Laden.

Still, a NY1 reporter went to a Brooklyn school, and found out that students were “not worked up” over binny’s death – but more interested in “weekend gossip.” Apparently, bin Laden doesn’t mean too much to teens, for they were too young to absorb “the impact of his terror.”

Meanwhile, Yahoo says that 66 percent of those searching for “who is Osama bin Laden” were ages 13 to 17.

I guess that beats “what was 9/11?”

Which brings me to some recent tweets, from various teens.

Groydis writes: “Who is Osama bin Laden, and why should i care?”

Asteriot adds, “Who is Osama bin laden? is he famous? am i the only one who don’t know who he is?”

Apparently not you idiot – since Corey-ealtman ponders, “who is osama and why is it important we killed him?”

God help us all.

(more…)

So it’s almost Springtime 2011, and Gitmo’s still open.

I’m beginning to think our President likes the damn place.

Either that, or he realizes it’s necessary- especially when a fair portion of the men released end up back at war with us.

And the rest are just fat.

True, these jerks eat well at Gitmo. Along with 21 TV stations and great medical care – they live better than me.

And, right on the water.

My apartment window looks over a fat man urinating.

Almost, the same thing.

Now I used to think Obama saw these suspects as criminals. Which meant they get all the rights that go with it.

But maybe now he sees them as enemy combatants on a strange new battlefield – where the victims can be found in Manhattan, London and Ft. Hood. I dunno.

So with Gitmo open, and our Prez okay with indefinite detention and military tribunals, you’d think someone might say, “I was wrong.”

I can.

(more…)

So here’s something a little weird.

According to a new book by famed reporter Bob Woodward, called “Obama’s Wars,” when warned by advisers of another terror attack threat on U.S. soil, our President said that our country could “absorb” it.

This is what he allegedly said, two months ago, in an interview with the author…

“We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger.”

Look – I don’t want to make a big deal out of this.

Instead, I will make a medium-sized deal out of this.

Frankly, I have concerns about a President who sees our country as a sheet of Bounty that could sop up mass casualties like a spilled Sloppy Joe on the Formica counter. That attack one talks about absorbing could result in thousands of dead folks. (more…)

—–

Tonight: (more…)

In mid-April of this year, Variety reported on HBO Documentary Film’s purchase of a new documentary about Al-Qaeda entitled “My Trip to Al-Qaeda.” The article also noted that the movie ”is a collaboration between [Alex] Gibney, who picked up an Oscar in 2007 for ‘Taxi to the Dark Side,” and Lawrence Wright, the journalist and author on whose solo stage show the doc is based.: That stage show, the article stated, “was in turn developed from Wright’s 2006 book “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.”

After reading ”The Looming Tower,” I look forward to the HBO premiere of the film (reportedly set for sometime this Fall) and hope that the liberal politics of Mr. Gibney do not diminish the film’s value as an educational and informative motion picture that will create more awareness of the history of Al-Qaeda.

When Wright’s non-fiction book about Al-Qaeda was released four years ago, many critics praised it. A New York Times review noted that “’The Looming Tower’ is not just a detailed, heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11, written with style and verve, and carried along by villains and heroes that only a crime novelist could dream up. It’s an education, too…” Hugh Hewitt (conservative radio show host, who, in full disclosure, works with me at Salem Communications) was quoted in the transcript of a 2006 interview with Wright as saying that the book is: (more…)

So Thursday morning, President Obama desperately tried to get in front of the immigration debate – and got run over by a float he made of platitudes.

So let’s get this straight: According to the President, America is the land of opportunity, and people come here because it’s a great country. Yeah, thanks for that. We’ve heard it before- it’s the vanilla filling in every single immigration speech Twinkie.

Of course, he brings up the “two poles” of the “contentious” debate (in that disapproving voice of his), saying this issue often divides, inflames and demonizes people. He calls it an emotional issue, while not-so-subtly accusing those he disagrees with of dividing, inflaming and demonizing!

So I think I finally got his definition of demagoguery: It’s only demagogic if it points a way forward, and makes him look dumb.

So what’s his solution? Well, in a swipe at Arizona, he said we can’t enforce the law that aren’t enforceable. Which means, “I got nothing.” (more…)

—–

(more…)

So I spent shorty robe Sunday watching TV (in my shorty robe), witnessing many experts ride the “root causes of terrorism” merry-go-round.

They expressed surprise that so many well-educated and well bred men end up trying to kill us – as if a diploma from University of Bridgeport makes you immune to poisonous ideology. But as long as they focus on the bomber and not what made him a bomber – it’s like mistaking a recipe for a meal.

The fact is, these guys – despite their education – are seduced by a belief system devised to offer something they can’t find anywhere else. Recognition. The shortest line to fame, is infamy.

Think about how it works in America. If you’re a young man out to impress a girl, you join a band. Another becomes a comic. Another might obsess over his quads at the gym.

(I can donkey squat thrust 450 lbs, by the by; I have pictures.) (more…)

—–

(more…)

So Mayor Bloomberg proves once again that he may be the dumbest rich man in the world. First, on Monday he speculated on who might be behind the Time Square car bomb. His speculation, which is purely speculative, of course! – was assisted by our nation’s elf, Katie Couric:

Bloomberg: If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Somebody….

Couric: A homegrown….

Bloomberg: A homegrown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.

Yep, those folks are so angry at health care reform, that they’re setting off car bombs, left and right. You know, when they’re not running hardware stores, cheating at Scrabble with their neighbors, or playing with their grandkids. (more…)

—–

Tagline: Right and wrong no longer exist.

(more…)

Chris Morris is a phenomenally brilliant British comedian responsible for some of the most viciously funny programs I’ve ever seen (Check out “Brass Eye” or “The Day Today,” if you don’t believe me).

But now he’s coming out with a new film, called Four Lions, a comedy about suicide bombers.

Check out the trailer, here.

Now, I haven’t seen the flick, but I did read a rare interview with Morris in the London Times about the comedy, and a few things bugged me.

As far as I can tell, his movie is based on the premise that nearly all terrorists are buffoons – and from there he makes an attempt to “humanize” these “Keystone Kops.” He’s probably right that most terrorists are useless tools – but he overlooks the fact that buffoons need only succeed once to kill dozens, hundreds, or thousands. (more…)

Imagine if somebody were to really sit down with Osama Bin Ladin and say, ‘listen man,what is it that you’re so angry at me about that you’re willing to have people strap bombs to themselves, or get inside of airplanes and fly them into buildings.’ That would be the miracle if we can get, sit down and talk to our enemies and find a way for them to hear us. – Matthew Modine

No, we’re not making this up. It’s all captured on video here.

Ahh, to have the luxury to be so airy and ignorant and superior about such things. He should thank the United States Military for that luxury. (more…)

So apparently a Michigan defense contractor has pissed off Muslim groups, by inscribing coded Biblical references on rifles it sells to the American military. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations claims these religious references send a “negative message” to the Muslim world.

To quote Dolly Parton, here we go again. Groups like CAIR rarely have their priorities in place -they’re always “reacting angrily” to perceived slights or hypothetical backlashes – when they really should be reacting angrily to those who commit atrocities in the name of Islam.

But you know who really gets my gopher? Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. He says the gun sights not only give our enemies a propaganda tool, but adds, “I don’t have to wonder … how the American public would react if citations from the Koran were being inscribed onto these U.S. armed forces gun sights instead.” (more…)