and then the dark

"The Arabs will never be defeated," I said suddenly.
In the half light of the cafe, Serafina looked startled.
She had never heard me talk like this before.
"What do you mean?" she said.
Outside, night time traffic swept up Dame Street.
"The Arab nations will be upheld until the end of time," I murmured almost to myself.
Serafina did not keep the bemusement from her face.
"Would you care to explain what you're getting at?" she grinned.
I sat back.
"There's a tradition within Christianity," I said. "Not everyone knows about it or believes it. But some do. The tradition is that the Arabs are sons of Abraham just as the Israelis are. And the Arabs are his first born sons. When God told Abraham he would be the father of Israel and that the nation of Israel would speak God's truth to the world, Abraham pleaded with God: I am an old man, I already have a son, bless him and that will be enough for me. And God who is a father himself was pleased that Abraham would ask this. He told Abraham that his first born son would be the father of great nations, and that these would be blessed until the end of time. None will overthrow them. Ever."
Serafina was still doing her Cheshire cat impression.
"You're full of surprises today," she offered.
I stared out the window, my face as desolate as any of you have ever seen it.
"But the Iranians," I said softly. "Whose sons are they?"
Serafina took a sip of caffe latte.
"I presume you're going to tell me," she said.
There came a sound of revelry from the street.
Young men and women drunk and disorderly.
They passed by.
I spoke again.
"The first we hear about the Iranians is a few thousand years ago when 300 Greeks were kicking the arses of a mighty Iranian army through the passes of Thermopylae," I mused. "Nowadays they Iranians are more likely to do their fighting through proxy terror armies. Hamas in Gaza. Or Hezbollah in South Lebanon. Or through Syrian assassination squads in Beirut. There's some evidence though that Arab nations are getting tired of being used by the Iranian government to fight Iran's battles. The Arabs are nobody's farm animals. The Arabs are warriors. Remember when President Bush liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein? It was the Iranians who sabotaged the liberation. It was the Iranians and their friends in Al Qaeda who decided Iraq didn't deserve to be free. It was the Iranians who murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in a desperate attempt to stampede the Iraqi people away from freedom. It was the Iranians who blew up the Blue Mosque in an attempt to provoke an Iraqi civil war. The Iranians were so terrified of a free nation emerging on their borders. More precisely the Iranian government was terrified that a free Iraq on it borders would mean the Iranian people might also demand freedom. So the Iraqis had to be slaughtered. Not for the glory of Islam. For the glory of Iran. But here's the thing. All across the Middle East, more and more of the Arab nations are figuring it out. And Iran is getting scared. Hence all this talk from Iranian President Grinny Ahmadinejad about wiping Israel off the map. These are tough days for the Iranians. The Israelis have just totaled one Iranian proxy terror army in Gaza. The clock is running out on Hezbollah in Lebanon. And poor old mass murdering psychotic Iran is beginning to wonder if it has any friends left to fight its battles. Don't get me wrong. Iran will attack Israel. Eventually. Not because the Iranian government is brave. But because it's insane. And the Israelis will not honour Iran with valiant conflict as they honour the Arabs. The Israelis will destroy Iran with a nuclear Thermopylae."
I stood up.
It seemed the whole cafe had fallen quiet.
"I've got to go," I said. "The hour is getting late."
I walked alone into the cool night air.
A stooped oddly heroic figure forever burdened with a capacity to see clearly what the rest of the world wants to deny.



Dedicated to all my friends at the Iranian television channel Al Alam who visited The Heelers Diaries yesterday to explore their limits. I assure you guys I'm going to do my level best to keep you entertained.