AllThingsThatMatterPress

This story stuck with me.  In fact, after reading it, I thought about it every time I approached a chicken dinner. Of course, it's just a story, but it could happen.

Two Iraqi youths (one Christian and one Muslim) lose their homes and their entire families during the invasion of Iraq and vow revenge. They, along with a group of other young Palestinian men and women with similar pasts, are recruited for a terrorist plot to infect American poultry, water foul and fish with a deadly virus that mutates to humans.

The author is a recognized expert on the Middle-East, and through his characters he presents interesting insights into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the global politics that keeps this international powder keg so near the flames of discontent.

"They Plotted Revenge" is a suspenseful blend of intrigue and romance, complete with a double agent working with the Israeli Secret  Service.  He masterminds the plot, but as the day of infestation nears, Homeland Security begins to close in on him.  At the same time some of the people recruited to plant the virus become acquainted with a few Americans and realize their actions could kill millions of innocent citizens ignorant of actual events in the Middle-East.  Most of them back out and head for home.

One, however, decides to carry out the plot, even after it is officially cancelled.  To find out what happens next, you'll have to read the book.

This is a story for our times, and it makes some pertinent points about the Middle-East conflict that threatens us all.

By Ron Kruger, newspaper columinst for over 30 years and author of A Higher Good.