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THE CALIPHATE
an online short story..
When a terrorist group establishes an Islamic republic in Canada, two friends are forced to confront their own loyalties---and each other
Part 2
Poor Phil. He now reconsidered his friend’s behavior in a different light. You really couldn’t fault people like Phil and the woman in the kiosk. So much had changed in Ontario over the past three years. Not so long ago, no one had even heard of the group known as Harb, and now the organization was in control of the largest metropolitan area in Canada.
Most of the world now knew that Harb meant “war” in Arabic. Marty reflected how three summers ago in Toronto, the group had lived up to its name. These were dark days for Canada—a period when the bloody events unfolding in Toronto were the subject of world headlines on a daily basis.
The first bus hijacking had occurred in late May of that year. Three hijackers—two men and one woman—took control of a public transit bus that had been making the afternoon run through downtown Toronto. A shocked nation became immediately glued to the television, the radio, and the Internet. Such an attack was unusual in Canada, the country being a minor player in the sorry spectacle of Mideast politics. Canadians were typically more concerned about radical Native American and Quebecois factions—not Muslim terrorists whose primary beef was with Israel and the United States.
The hijackers were soon identified as members of a Middle Eastern Islamist sect. The networks all said that didn’t belong to al-Qaeda or Hamas, but something similar. They were heavily armed; and they presently held fifty-two Canadian hostages at gunpoint. The news reports also revealed that the group had wired the bus with explosives. The hijackers forced the driver to take the bus to a city park on the shore of Lake Ontario, where they had a clear view in all directions. Communicating with authorities by cell phone, the group indicated that any attempt to storm the vehicle would result in the immediate deaths of all aboard.
They had a laundry list of demands. Canada would cease commercial ties with the United States and Israel. Islam would be given official priority in the national constitution. And the Canadian parliament would pass a series of laws banning things that were an abomination to their religion: the sale of liquor, the sex shops and strip joints in Windsor and Toronto, etc., etc.
Marty remembered sitting in the student union of the University of Toronto as events unfolded on CNN. He had poked one his buddies on the arm. “They basically want to turn Canada into an Islamic state,” he had said, not realizing how far ahead of the game he actually was. “Like that’s really going to happen.”
About twenty minutes later, Marty was still watching the live broadcast as the bus exploded. Mixed somewhere within his raw state of shock was a chilling realization: the hijackers had known that their demands would not be met. It was a murder-suicide operation from the outset.
By July the province of Ontario had been under siege by Harb—the world’s newest, and most ambitious terror organization. There were regular bus bombings in Toronto; and city authorities finally shut down the public transportation system. Then Harb went after schools, shopping malls, and office complexes. More than four thousand Canadians were dead by August.
The full extent of the group’s objectives did not become clear until it was too late. Canada—or at least part of Canada—was to become an Islamic state. Harb captured one of the major television networks in Toronto, and a variety of spokespersons issued daily proclamations regarding the group’s master plan. Canada was to be the launching point for a new regime modeled on an empire that had existed in the eighth century—when the lands from Spain to Palestine and Turkey had been united under the Islamic star and crescent. Harb declared a new caliphate—a classical Muslim state like those in the history books. And this one would be global in nature, stretching across continents. It would dominate the world, Harb spokesmen promised.
As the violence reached a fever pitch, an official from Canada’s Privy Council Office (PCO) revealed in a news conference that Harb had been assembling an army of “sleepers” in the province of Ontario for years. No one knew exactly how many sleepers were planted near and around Toronto; but they now had control of much of the city. At least half of the Toronto police stations were abandoned. Those police who remained were cut down by persistent sniper, mortar, and rocket attacks.
“There might be a few thousand,” the PCO official had told reporters. “Maybe more. The truth is that we just don’t know.”
But most of all, Harb had the missiles. These were what kept Canada’s southern neighbor from bringing its considerable might to bear on the situation.
No one knew for certain where Harb had acquired four missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, and the organization wasn’t saying. Iran was a prime suspect, as was North Korea. Wherever they came from, the missiles had apparently been smuggled into Canada in pieces and reassembled.
They were of the short-range, truck-launched variety. From one of their trucks in Toronto, Harb could strike any location in Eastern Canada, and deliver a missile as far west as Winnipeg. They could also strike most of the Northeastern United States. The Americans were warned to stay out of the Canadian conflict—or they would lose at least one city, and maybe two.
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Excerpts from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.com:
The Islamic Republic of Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Introduction“The Islamic Republic of Ontario was declared on December 1st of 2012, about six months after the first bus bombing occurred in the Canadian city.
The name of the republic is actually a misnomer: To date, Harb has only captured the western corner of the province, an area stretching from the northern edges of the metropolitan Toronto area, south to the town of Hamilton and the border with the United States. This territory is home to about five million people….”
National Flag
“The national flag of the Islamic Republic of Ontario is a red and green standard that features the Canadian maple leaf, a sword, and the Islamic star and crescent. The flag also bears a slogan in Arabic….”
Administration
“A Harb cleric serves as president of the ad hoc republic; he now conducts business in the office once occupied by the mayor of Toronto. Administrative functions are also carried out by the Islamic Guard of Ontario—a paramilitary organization that consists of Harb fighters and Canadians who have been inducted into the Islamic Organization….”
Foreign relations
“The U.N. Security Council has repeatedly demanded that Harb disband and abandon their positions. Iran and North Korea immediately recognized the Islamic Republic of Ontario on December 5, 2012….”
Popular support abroad
“Demonstrations in favor of Harb’s activities regularly take place in the streets of Gaza City and Cairo. Radical imams in Indonesia and Pakistan have declared that Harb is ushering in a new golden age of Islamic rule….”
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