THE DRUID STONE

The scientist’s off-white and slightly wrinkled suit fit loosely and seemed to move out of synchrony with the man's motions as he stood in front of the eight-man committee. He walked to the side of a large projection screen with a red laser pointer at the ready.

The Iranian President issued an affirmative nod and the room lights dimmed.

“The Iran and Iraqi conflict marked an omen of what we now are prepared for. These first slides will show how well the toxin works as used by Sadam Hussein from that war.”

After several PowerPoint slides vividly showing the deaths of men, women and children, the scientist paused the projector. “At the time Hussein used a chemical poison for which there was no known antidote. We now have two drugs, one to prevent the effects of the toxin and another to reverse its lethal paralysis. It takes 2-3 hours from time to exposure–either by mouth or absorbed through the skin–to stop all breathing.”

The Iranian President turned his head toward the video screen to comment on the previous slide. “The Iraqis use of this chemical resulted in over 10,000 civilian deaths. It was clear that Saddam Hussein would be using this agent against Iran. It was that fact, which mobilized our total resources to stop Iraq and make negotiations to end our war.” President Atash Kahlim rubbed his chin and pointed to the dead bodies on the screen. “We have successfully prevented all Western countries from gaining access to our military arsenal. It is clear that we cannot utilize our nuclear devices. To do so would result in retaliation by the United States that would totally destroy our country and by radiation contamination of our oil industry totally devastate our economy.” The President turned in his seat and pointed with his pen to an overweight bearded individual at the end of the table to his right. “It is important to verify the final assessment of America's chemical warfare capability.”

The object of the President's question shifted uneasily in his tight-fitting chair as his eyes darted around the room and settled on the President. “The Americans do have three agents of mass destruction beside nuclear weapons. One is a bacterial strain of anthrax, for which we have antibiotics, but no vaccine. Because of the prevailing winds going from Iran to other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries, America would never use the anthrax organism as a weapon of war. The other two chemicals are similar paralytic fungal derivatives for which we now have preventive and antidote substances.”