Free Secret of the Oil: Prequel to the Donavan Chronicles by Tom Haase Page A

called ‘dirty oil’ is probably Tewfik al-Hanbali,” Glenwood said as he pointed a laser penlight on the words dirty oil . “Much of the contact that Major Lawson had on the Internet was with a terrorist member in al-Hanbali’s cell, and it makes sense that if someone knows about the dirty oil, Tewfik al-Hanbali must be central to the operation. I’ll be followed by the briefer from current intel division, Dr. Westcamp,” Glenwood concluded.
    Dr. John Westcamp walked to the podium. All officers with an academic PhD were addressed as doctor. Westcamp was a tall thin man, about sixty-five, with a sandy brown receding hairline above thick lenses in standard Army-issue black frames. After thirty years in DIA he had seen some real intelligence debacles as well as some shining successes. The fact that they had the date and place of a major terrorist meeting motivated him to spend the entire night in his research preparing for this briefing. He appeared exhausted, but his voice was strong as he started his presentation.
    “I concur with Lieutenant Commander McDonald that the leader of this terrorist cell is most likely Tewfik al-Hanbali, a Saudi, known to us through previous intelligence sources and suspected of conducting the devastating attack on American soldiers at the Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia in 1999. We believe he is currently operating in Baghdad, and he recently organized an attack on a Saudi military convoy by some of his associates. His education is in economics from Moscow State, and he has had extensive training in the radical version of Islam. We also have strong reason to believe that one of the hijackers, Ahmed al-Haznawi, was a member of his cell and was on the plane that hit the Pentagon.” No one around the table noticed the reaction in Matt Higgins’s face on this news. Dr. Westcamp changed the slide on the screen to show two different pictures.
    “The next picture on the left side of the screen is Faisal Mallah, a Palestinian. He is most likely Hezbollah. The Israelis have been watching him for many years, and he is probably one of the other terrorist leaders planning to meet in Beirut. He was an active commander in the last confrontation with Israel and claims to have personally killed twelve Israeli soldiers.
    “The third possible member who might take part in the operation referred to in the message, and the picture you see on the screen, is Kemal Hassan, an Iranian, a former commander in the Revolutionary Guards on the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini following the overthrow of the Shah. He was in charge of hunting down and eliminating any opposition to the imposition of the Islamic state there and was ring leader in the takeover of the American embassy and the 444 days of embarrassment we endured.” Dr. Westcamp turned off the projector and waited until the lights came back up in the room.
    “The various friendly intelligence organizations routinely reported on these people in the past. Some information comes from the NSA intercepts, some from the CIA reports, and the majority from the DIA’s own assets. No one has been able to nail down exactly what these terrorists are currently doing, or why they are engaged in this upcoming meeting. As yet the concept of ‘dirty oil’ does not necessarily mean anything in quantifiable terms.” He stopped and surveyed the room for questions and for input from anyone there. No one stirred. “Just what ‘dirty oil’ means ranks as the number one question. What is the secret of the dirty oil? As of right now, we don’t have a good answer to that question.” Dr. Westcamp returned to his seat.
    While the briefing was proceeding, Glenwood looked at the men and women around the table who had come to the briefing with their own experiences and expertise in terrorist and counterterrorist operations. Using the reporting of many various and diverse sources, the civilian and military analysts at the DIA were well educated in specific areas of the world on