Al-Maghred, the Barbary Lion: A Look at Islam

By Nat Carnes

Jordon Frost and Colt McCoy were asked by U.S. President Hugh North to help his intelligence investigators find the person, persons, group or groups, responsible for what was believed to be a terrorist attack that sank a world-class cruise ship near Puerto Rico, a U.S. Caribbean island Commonwealth. Nine hundred passengers and crew were killed in the ear-shattering blast.

Frost, McCoy and the other investigators started their search with zero information. All they had to work with came from news reports originating in the Middle East. One repeated the phrase Praise Be to Allah. Another came from a news reporter. He said: We have just learned a man identified only as the Barbary Lion has claimed responsibility for the sinking ship and the loss of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475903430

Nat Carnes

Nat Carnes, a writer, has a bachelor's degree in History from Baylor University, Waco, Texas. He has previously published five other historical-political novels and they are listed on his Webwite: natcarnes.com. He and his wife, Connie, live in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Book preview

Chapter One

The pure force and ear-shattering sound of the explosion was beyond simple description. It was heard from as far away as San Juan, Puerto Rico, the capital city of this U.S. Caribbean Commonwealth.

One man—drinking an early morning coffee with friends—

immediately came out with the first thought that came to mind. And he knew instinctively it would be a wild guess at best.

It must have been an atomic blast of some kind.

Besides the almost ear-shattering sound, the ground trembled slightly, suggesting a possible earth quake. The island is part of a Caribbean earthquake zone.

Thinking immediately of many ways all life could be brought to an end, the man did, however, try to apply some restraint on his own reaction to the sound and the small earth movement.

He refused to say aloud another part of his thinking: This could be a part of a very large terrorist plot. Using those words could have provoked unnecessary panic.

Looking around quickly at the others seated near him, he guessed most likely they were going over similar mental options.

It was also probable they would have agreed to remain quiet until they had more concrete information. If they could have been asked, he guessed they would have all said that would be the only sure way to control wild and out-of-control thinking.

* * *

Immediately, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was ordered to the scene. Those aboard had been asked to visually confirm the explosion site and to determine as much as possible what may have happened.

At best, the fly over would only be the first step of a long and complicated investigation to find out what had set off the blast on that bright and sunny Caribbean day.

A search and rescue vessel was also involved. If the explosion had been set off by an accident of some kind, there could be survivors in need of immediate attention.

Or worse yet: floating dead bodies would have to be recovered.

* * *

Within what seemed like seconds, news reports about the so far mysterious explosion came quickly. Those men and women reporting were careful not to speculate on what may or may not have caused the blast.

They reported on only what they knew for sure.

There had been a single loud explosion somewhere north of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coast Guard was investigating and their findings would be reported as quickly as possible.

Coast Guard Captain Bryson Whitlock faced a crowd of reporters who had gathered at the guard’s pink-colored station in the part of the city known as old San Juan.

At this moment, we know nothing for sure, Captain Whitlock said. As soon as we have something more substantial, we’ll pass along any and all definite and reportable information.

He warned: This looks like a situation where it will take time—perhaps a lot of it—to determine what set off this terrible blast and why.

* * *

Within the hour, a helicopter pilot reported debris covering a large area at sea. Instead of it being north of Puerto Rico, it was found northwest of the island towns of Aguadilla and Isabella near a body of water known as the Mona Passage. It covered what is believed to be the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean.

What do you see? demanded the pilot’s commander.

As best as I can tell, sir, there are at least a dozen suitcases there and a fairly large piece of metal with something printed on it. I can’t see the letters clearly.

Later when a Coast Guard Search and Rescue vessel arrived, the slab was pulled out of the water. It read: ‘The C.’ There was nothing more, only the four letters and a jagged edge just to the right.

It was assumed the slab was part of a sign or the ship itself. For the moment, it was believed more complete wording had been painted, printed or placed there.

Immediately, the Coast Guard checked with Puerto Rico’s government Ports Authority about the kind of shipping entering and leaving the Port of San Juan in the last 24 hours.

They came up with the name of a tourist cruise ship.

`The Caribbean’ had set out hours earlier on a two-week voyage. The ship’s first two scheduled stops were to have been made in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic were separated by the Mona Passage, where the explosion apparently occurred.

Following quick checks by the Coast Guard and by the Associated Press, it was determined the ship had yet to dock in either one of those ports.

Within moments after that determination, skimpy details of what may have happened began to surface.

Captain Whitlock told news reporters:

Again, I want to say. At this moment, we know nothing for sure. As soon as we have more, we’ll pass along any and all definite information as quickly as possible.

He outlined what had been done to date.

One our helicopters and a single Search and Rescue vessel were sent to the scene or very near to where we believe at least a single explosion or maybe more likely occurred.

Selecting his words carefully, the official knew it was not the time for needless mistakes or speculation.

Instead of attempting to take questions, he said firmly:

Our first priority at this time… obviously… is to look for possible survivors.

It was a frantic, very tense moment.

* * *

Shortly afterwards, the Associated Press and other international news media were reporting a world class cruise ship may have encountered some kind of difficulty north of Puerto Rico.

Moments later, the full impact of what had happened was made public.

According to Captain Whitlock, there is a report that an explosive charge was placed just below the ship’s waterline. And we believe that single blast sent the 630-foot long vessel to the bottom.

He added: We have more helicopters at the scene and a second rescue vessel is en route. We have advised any vessels in the area to help look for survivors.

At last report, some 900 people including passengers and crew were aboard. So far none have been sighted, Captain Bryson Whitlock said. It is feared all may be lost.

And at the same time, several news reports originating in the Middle East reporting on what happened repeated the phrase Praise Be To Allah.

A news reporter added later: We have just learned that a man identified only as the Barbary Lion claims responsibility for the sinking ship and the loss of lives.

* * *

Within 20 minutes, Jordon Frost and Colt McCoy received a telephone call. After Frost identified the office as Frost and McCoy Associates, the caller asked: If possible I would like to speak to Mr. Frost or Mr. McCoy.

May I ask who is calling?

Yes, of course. My name is Carl Frank. I’m President Hugh North’s chief of staff. And I’m calling you from the White House.

The what… !

He was taken back. He’d never talked before to anyone so close to the president of the United States. Regaining a little self control, he asked bluntly: Are you sure you have the right number?

I have the number right, the caller said patiently.

Immediately Jordon Frost identified himself as the speaker. I’m here to serve the president anyway I can. Convinced everything was correct, his attitude changed dramatically.

Thank you.

You are more than welcome.

After a short delay, President Hugh North was on the line.

This is President North.

Good morning sir. Please tell me what I can do for you. He recognized the president’s voice.

I hope quite a bit.

If possible, I will of course.

President North then asked a question.

Have you heard about those still unexplained explosion or explosions going off on a cruise ship near Puerto Rico?

I just learned about them sir.

Good. Your answer tells me I’m talking to the right man.

He had been advised by a security staff member that Jordon Frost and Colt McCoy were the best in the business. If anyone could find out the truth about what happened, they could.

Both were long time agents for the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] and the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]. And both took early retirement for the same reason. They reportedly wanted to operate independently as a team.

President North took immediate action after receiving a normally reliable tip that a vessel involved in terrorist activity between South America, the Caribbean, North Africa and Europe was steaming close or near Puerto Rico.

The first news of the explosion arrived only moments after he received the tip. He instinctively knew he had to prove or disprove the information without delay. He believed the security of the United States could be at stake.

Besides a security staff member’s negative recommendation, he decided to go forward with Frost and McCoy for another reason.

Both—like their fathers before them—were long time agents working for the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] and the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]. And both took early retirement for a second reason.

They left over policy disagreements.

Once the President and Frost were talking on a secure telephone line, President North gave him more detail about the tip.

The CIA reported a terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for an explosion of some kind in the Caribbean, the president explained.

Frost asked his first question.

Who gave you the first report, sir?

We got it from our embassy in Rabat, Morocco, in northwest Africa.

And where did they get that report?

First word apparently came from news reports in the Middle East.

Does this terrorist organization have a name?

Yes and no.

So what is it?

We don’t have a name for the terrorist organization yet.

So what do you know?

For the moment, we understand this person or terrorist may be called the Barbary Lion.

And where is this alleged Barbary Lion located?

Somewhere in North Africa or ‘Al-Maġhreb’ as it’s called there.

Is Islam involved?

That’s what we need to find out.

I see.

Can you help us?

And what is it exactly you want us to do?

Specifically, I want you to investigate what happened and why. And then report to me directly.

What about the CIA and our other intelligence agencies?

They have also been assigned to the case.

Not to be a wise guy, but why would you do that Sir? By that I mean… getting us involved.

I’ve been looking over your father’s file during his time with the CIA. And I learned you and Colt McCoy have been friends for a long time dating back to childhood.

That’s correct sir.

I have a question.

Not a problem sir.

I see your father was not in agreement with the Church Committee findings released in 1975. And according to him the results ended up downgrading our intelligence gathering capability.

That’s true sir.

Do you still agree with your father’s decision to resign?

I do sir.

Is that the reason you and Mr. McCoy formed your own private intelligence gathering company?

It is Mr. President. And I want to be very clear on this very important point. I want to have you hear me say that.

I can respect that.

My father and also Mr. McCoy’s father are in fact the reason we did what we did. They were our advisors and remained so until their recent deaths.

This may be a little late in coming for you… I just want to let you know I’ve always been in agreement with your father… not only yours but also Mr. McCoy’s.

Thank you sir. We both appreciate that obviously more than you can ever know.

As a result, the president admitted, I believe we lost our ability to know what was happening on the ground in critical areas of the world. I feel we still may be coming up short too many times because of cut-back decisions made at that time.

And you now want us to help cover any possible gaps in the information collection process in this particular case.

"Yes. That’s correct. Will you do it?

Again there was a moment’s pause.

The pain and frustration of that past moment suddenly flooded his memory. And he never in his wildest dreams ever expected to hear such a statement from the President or from any President for that matter.

He then responded:

I will help. And I’m positive Colt McCoy will join in this effort.

I thank you and the nation thanks you. My chief of staff, Carl Frank, will provide anything you need at whatever cost. I know your rates. We will meet them and more, if necessary.

Thank you.

There is one other thing.

Yes.

If you need to talk to me, regardless of the hour, please do not hesitate. Carl will connect us.

I understand.

Time is short. We need as much information as quickly and as fast as possible.

I understand, Mr. President. Again, thank you for letting us be a part of this operation.

* * *

Frank was back on the line.

I have a request.

Shoot… !

There was no hesitation.

We will need to see and review all official reports, memos, contacts official and unofficial prepared by the CIA, the FBI or any agency that makes you think this explosion or these series of explosions were set off by terrorists.

We will setup a secure FAX line directly to your office. You should start getting what you need within 12 hours or less. Is that satisfactory?

Totally…

I have one other question.

What is it?

Once we’ve had an opportunity to read and to review the reports, we’ll need to come to Washington to meet with agency heads and all those directly involved or responsible for preparing this information. We’ll undoubtedly have questions or will have need for some clarification.

That can be arranged.

Thanks.

We’ll send a plane to bring you here. The meeting will be held at the White House in two days.

* * *

He couldn’t believe what had just happened or heard and he replayed the conversation again and again in his mind and from a recording.

It was a long ago formed habit. Push the telephone record button before every important conversation. It was his way of knowing and remembering exactly what was said without error or misunderstanding.

And each time that particular conversation was repeated, he and Colt would have a single regret. Their fathers could not hear what they could now listen to over and over again.

It was perhaps the beginning of putting an end to a memory of how past U.S. intelligence had been gathered.

Their fathers’ recount of what happened in 1975 would never be forgotten. They had resigned in protest over the way the Democratic Party had handled the matter following President Richard Nixon’s resignation on Aug. 9, 1974.

In his and his partner’s view it was an unfortunate attempt to punish Republicans for Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

Burglars were hired by Nixon’s reelection campaign officials to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel in Washington.

According to Democrats, if Nixon and Republicans could be responsible for Watergate they were probably using the CIA and the FBI to do similar deeds not only domestically but internationally. If so… such wrongdoings had to be cut out at the roots for the good of the country.

After all, Sen. Edward Kennedy [D-Ma] had traveled to Santiago, Chile, after the Sept. 11, 1973 overthrow and death of Chile’s President Salvador Allende. He reported back to Washington mistakenly that the CIA was responsible. They had tried but failed.

So what followed was even more scandalous and was the primary reason for their fathers’ resignations.

In 1975, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, headed by Sen. Frank Church of Idaho, began hearings on the CIA and its activities. The result was a detailed report entitled Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders.

Such an effort he said made it look like the Presidency and the CIA had formed an undercover company named MURDER INC.

He remembered pointing out there was no proof of U.S. involvement in connection with plots to assassinate five world leaders between 1960 through 1975:

1. Patrice Lumumba of the Congo.

2. Fidel Castro of Cuba.

3. Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic

4. Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam

5. Rene Schneider of Chile.

No mention was made of Salvador Allende of Chile.

They had resigned in protest believing America’s ability to gather reliable on the ground intelligence information internationally had been compromised.

And when Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, was elected president in 1977 they were further outraged when Carter ordered a major shift in American gathering policy. Instead of talking to bad guys on the ground they would rely only on satellites.

A network of on the ground intelligence contacts that had taken years to build was destroyed in the blink of an eye.

* * *

While they worked for the CIA and the FBI until early retirement, Jordon Frost and Colt McCoy had made a clear and conscious decision to support their fathers publically before and after they left government.

Not only did they maintain a close relationship with their fathers, they considered them to be their teachers and a primary source of information about all things related to intelligence gathering for a reason. Between them, they had accumulated 60 years of experience.

After leaving the two agencies, the sons maintained contact with both and accepted special assignment cases from time to time but nothing like what had just been presented them at that moment.

While critical of what had happened in the past, they blamed the Democratic Party for the injury to intelligence gathering and not the agencies themselves.

After early retirement, Frost and McCoy developed their own way of investigation including a painstaking effort to establish an on the ground intelligence network. In short, they would apply what they believed were tried and tested methods to resolve the current problem: an intelligence challenge of a lifetime.

* * *

Something else was at stake.

If they were successful, they knew the CIA and the FBI would be open for the first time to take their methods seriously and to implement them over a period of time.

Otherwise they knew their intelligence collection philosophy would be set back for years. In other words the agencies might forever be locked into a Jimmy Carter type intelligence mentality.

* * *

Here is what President North knew about the two men, sons of former CIA and FBI agents and themselves agents for 20 years each.

Their company was headquartered in Puerto Rico, a U.S. Commonwealth, for a reason.

From San Juan, they believed it was the only place in the Western Hemisphere where one could view or look into the soul of Latin America and the United States at the same time.

Why?

The reason was a simple one: the island’s political relationship with the United States.

In other words, they believed they were in the best place possible to start hearing and evaluating any political situation and going over intelligence coming in from any world location.

Here is what they did for a living:

For a fee they investigated and sold information to companies and governments dealing with or working in world trouble spots.

They placed what many thought were unusually strict standards on themselves. Those guidelines were thought the only way to penetrate large bases of knowledge outside the United States.

While they believed the English language was the best and most universal language and that the United States presented the best example to the world on how to build a structure providing the most opportunity for its citizens, they knew that alone was not enough.

So for them what were the basic tools needed to penetrate any challenge mixed in politics and more often than not with religious thought and belief?

President North had learned these men started with the basics. If those elements could be achieved, there was a chance of success. If not, their ability to penetrate was diminished.

What was their definition of basics, areas overlooked by many or simply rejected by others as impractical and inefficient and a huge waste of time?

Anytime anyone bothered to ask and they had a few minutes to listen, they would hear essentially the same story over and over again.

Some got bored hearing it and others were simply turned off by what was said.

Jordon Frost and Colt McCoy did not because of their belief without such basics their chance of success would be decreased by ten maybe a hundred times.

Basics, they believed, meant being aware of a second culture or cultures other than our own, knowing or learning a second language and acquiring knowledge of local and international politics.

There was one other important basic and maybe the most important: For us, it’s our belief in God.

Both were members of a Southern Baptist Church in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

They concluded this way:

Once penetration is achieved, using those important tools to get inside the subject matter for an intimate look at people or an event, a true investigation could begin.

Confident their approach was perhaps the only way until proved differently, they warned: Sometimes this turns out to be a very slow and maybe even a very painful process.

Chapter Two

Two days after receiving and looking at all the documents related to the case, Jordon Frost and Colt McCoy