Honour Among Thieves

'Perhaps I could start, Deputy Ambassador' - Al Obaydi was surprised by such a formal address, as their two families had known each other for generations, but he accepted that to show friendship of any kind in front of Saddam was tantamount to an admission of conspiracy - 'by asking you to bring us all up to date on the President's imaginative scheme.' 'Thank you, Foreign Minister,' replied Al Obaydi, as if he had never met the man before. He turned back to face Saddam, whose black eyes remained fixed on him. 'May I begin, Mr President, by saying what an honour it has been to be entrusted with this task, especially remembering the idea had emanated from Your Excellency personally.' Every member of the Council was now concentrating his attention on the Deputy Ambassador, but Al Obaydi noticed that from time to time each of them would glance in Saddam's direction to see how he was reacting. 'I am happy to be able to report that the team led by Mr Antonio Cavalli. ..' Saddam raised a hand and looked towards the State Prosecutor, who opened a thick file in front of him. Nakir Farrar, the State Prosecutor, was feared second only to Saddam in the Iraqi regime. Everyone knew of his reputation. A first-class honours degree in jurisprudence at Oxford, President of the Union, and a bencher at Lincoln's Inn. That was where Al Obaydi had first come across him. Not that Farrar had ever acknowledged his existence. He had been tipped to be the first QC Iraq had ever produced. But then came the invasion of the Nineteenth Province and the British expelled the highflyer, despite several appeals from people in high places. Farrar returned to a city he had deserted at the age of eleven, and immediately offered his remarkable talent for Saddam Hussein's personal use. Within a year Saddam had appointed him State Prosecutor. A title, it was rumoured, he had selected himself. 'Cavalli is a New York criminal, Mr President, who, because he has a law degree and heads a private legal practice, creates a legitimate front for such an operation.' Saddam nodded and turned his attention back to Al Obaydi. 'Mr Cavalli has completed the preparation stage and his team is now ready to carry out the President's orders.' 'Do we have a date yet?' asked Farrar. 'Yes, State Prosecutor. May 25th. Clinton has a full day's schedule at the White House, with his speechwrit-ers in the morning, and his wife's health-policy task unit in the afternoon, and he' - the Iraqi Ambassador to the UN had warned Al Obaydi never to refer to Clinton as 'the President' - 'will therefore not be involved in any public engagements that day, which would have made our task impossible.' 'And tell me, Deputy Ambassador,' said the State Prosecutor, 'did Mr Cavalli's lawyer succeed in getting a permit to close down the road between the White House and the National Archives during the time when Clinton will be involved in these internal meetings?' 'No, State Prosecutor, he did not,' came back Al Obaydi's reply. 'The Mayor's Office did, however, grant a permit for filming to take place on Pennsylvania Avenue from 13 th Street east. But the road can only be closed for forty-five minutes. It seems this Mayor was not as easy to convince as her predecessor.' A few members of the Council looked puzzled. 'Not as easy to convince?' asked the Foreign Minister. 'Perhaps "persuade" would be a better word.' 'And what form did this persuasion take?' asked General Hamil, who sat on the right of the President and knew only one form of persuasion. 'A $250,000 contribution to her re-election fund.' Saddam began to laugh, so the others round the table followed suit. 'And the Archivist, is he still convinced it's Clinton who will be visiting him?' asked the State Prosecutor. 'Yes, he is,' said Al Obaydi. 'Just before I flew out Cavalli had taken eight of his own men over the building posing as a Secret Service preliminary reconnaissance team, carrying out a site survey. The Archivist could not have been more co-operative, and Cavalli was given enough time to check out everything. That exercise should make the switching of the Declaration on May 25th far easier for him.' 'But if, and I only say if, they succeed in getting the original out, have they made arrangements for passing the document over to you?' asked the State Prosecutor. 'Yes,' replied Al Obaydi confidently. 'I understand that the President wants the document to be delivered to Barazan Al-Tikriti, our venerated Ambassador to the United Nations in