"The Page" by John S LES part 5

Part 5...."The Page"

by John S  LES
©

Usually when you're in school during the Spring semester time seems to stand still.  But it wasn't that way for me in Spring 2011.  I took the SAT's exam and knew I did well.  I actually finished the exam 10 minutes ahead of time.  Then there was my interview with Congressman Hollingsworth.  I nailed that one too.  He gave me the Page job shortly after the interview was over.  I also followed all rules, restrictions and curfews my father gave to me as punishment, no matter how ridiculous or tedious he became.  Clearly he was still fuming longer than two or three weeks from my skipping school and running down to Arlington, VA to see Jamila.  I also topped off my SAT performance with nothing but straight A's for all my classes for the rest of the semester.  It's amazing how highly motivated you can become when your behind is on the line, and you're doing everything you can to fight to keep someone you love in you life.

However, just as I was preparing to move to Washington, DC for the summer with relatives, Jamila and her family were preparing to leave for Africa.  It was frustrating.  It felt like I couldn't get to Washington faster than they were preparing to leave the US.  Since my father had me on lock down I couldn't even go see her for a weekend.  Zach, Will and Tanya kept my spirits up all the way until school ended.  They helped me research past civil wars in various African countries and got me mentally prepared for what Jamila and her family would be walking into.  I went down to Washington, DC within a week or so after school ended, but by then Jamila and her family were gone.  Her father and brother left in mid May with a group of disposed Bustanians.  Her and her mother left mid June.

That same Spring 2011, the uprisings in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Libya, so dominated the political scene and worldwide media, that Bustani's small civil warfare skirmishes were hardly noticed.  The United Nations general meetings were centered on establishing NATO support wherever needed in the Arab nations, including "No fly zones" in Libya.  Northern Africa was a simmering mess.  My boss Congressman Hollingsworth, was on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.  The Committee had been watching Bustani the past three years and had assisted the return of disposed Bustanians to their country to see if they could keep Bustani's civil warfare from triggering additional civil wars along the entire eastern seaboard of the continent.  To have both Northern and Eastern African engaged in simultaneous civil warfare would be utter chaos.  The committee was aware of Masamba, and his apparent rise to power.  They were also aware that his enemies were disappearing one, by one and suspected him of being behind it.  But proving that he was behind them, or simply the fortunate recipient of timely deaths of other emerging leaders within the country was uncertain.

Hollingsworth was the most hands on member of the committee.  He wanted to secretly visit Egypt and get his own feel for what was going on in Cairo.  His father was a wealthy real estate attorney, and he was a successful assistant district attorney in his 20's, before running for office.  Now as a three term Congressman, he had plenty of his own personal money to use for an undercover trip into Cairo with a small security detail. With the UN and NATO shifting military and political resources into Cairo and Tripoli, and Syria - Hollingsworth and the rest of the committee soon shifted their focus on making a trip into Bustani.  Just my luck.  Of course he had no need or desire to take his lowly Page along on a security risk trip like that.  As a Page, my daily duties consisted of running errands, maintaining journal binders, delivering messages, and making copies.  It was pretty exciting 17 years old and to be in chambers with some of the most powerful decision makers in the country...realistically the world.  I was ready to do anything to get out of DC and go into Bustani to see that Jamila and her family were still safe.  But I couldn't catch a break.

The media was besieging the President from both sides and so were his political opposition.  Early on he was questioned about not reacting with American military action to "save lives", and after NATO got involved, he was then questioned about getting American military "too involved" and the specter of losing American lives in yet another war.  With Bustani's possible fall triggering a domino effect, the President and the Congress wanted the Foreign Relations Committee to get more information on what needed to happen to turn this rogue nation more peaceful, Western friendly settling down.  At least until the Arab uprisings in the north settled down.  That impetus by the President and members of Congress began the formation of an American delegation to meet with Masamba and any other tribal leaders of the two major groups the Simbu Mtu and Tumbili Mtu, and smaller subgroups.

For the past four weeks...Jamila's late night conversations with me over the Internet via video or text messages had gone from three times a week to none.  All indications were that the conversations between her father's group, the native Bustanians, and Masamba's had broken down as he was positioned to wrest power from the remaining leaders.  A small detachment of  some 2,200 UN peacekeeping troops were stationed in Bustani.  They were mostly composed of 1000 US, Canadian, Dutch troops and another 1,200 Kenyan and Senegalese  troops.  They were had a "no fire unless fired upon" orders.  So they were basically lunch monitors who just made sure that the victims from the warfare in Bustani received their food from the Red Cross, who was also present.  But if warring factions shot after one another, or innocent civilians, in the streets in front of UN soldiers, not one of them could intercede.

As tense days started to pass, even the UN became apprehensive as there had been less and less contact with Jamila's father's delegation, and Masamba alliances seemed to grow by the hour. It  was finally decided that any secondary delegation was really going to be a rescue mission.  Security for such a trip needed to be as tight as possible with minimal resources.  My father was a former Marine who served in the Middle East, who then became a decorated 10 year New York City Police Department, Emergency Services police officer before he  was brought into the UN security staff and gradually worked his way to the chief position.  I figured him to be a perfect candidate to be involved in such an operation.  He had all the proper credentials.  Plus he was friends with a family that was part of the original delegation there.  I dropped my father's name to my boss and explained all of the circumstances...he laughed but couldn't agree more with my father as a candidate.

That night I gave my father the heads up on what the UN, the Committee, the President and Congress would be interested in.  He was angry at first.  Then humbled, but wouldn't commit to how he felt about going.  Even when my boss called him the next morning, with me sitting in his office, my father stayed on the fence.  He was sure to remind Hollingsworth that he believed that I was trying to find a way to get on that trip to Bustani and was using him.  I reminded both of them that I had some of the best computer hacking skills, and a working knowledge of some Swahili.  That if I got into any of Bustanian computers I could probably decode any hidden messages.

Hollingsworth expressed no interest in doing that.  I was shattered.  But my utter disappointment wouldn't last for long.  No one had heard from the UN troops commanders.  There were reports by officers there that the Canadian General who commanded the UN assignment had been arrested by Masamba militiamen, along with all members of the first delegation.

15 minutes later I was the only civilian on the planet earth to hear from the delegation.  I got a terrifying text message from Jamila, which read: "Laptop taken.  Mother hid my phone during strip search. Electricity cut off.  Father and brother and General detained.  11 Canadian officers arrested, beaten killed.  Send help!  He wants to kill us all.  I love y - "

48 hours later, Hollingsworth, several UN officials, my dad and myself were all on a plane flying to the Indian ocean.  We were to meet up with the US Fifth Fleet and head into Eastern Africa with 1,000 US Marines to escort American civilians out of Bustani...

TO BE CONTINUED