President of Iraq, Hakim Arif, sat at his very large desk and examined in detail the electronic pad displaying documents in front of him, the index finger of his right hand was working furiously at a small antique calculator that must have been over forty years old. Seated opposite him was the Armed Forces Minister, Tariq Hussein, who had delivered the pad with the latest recruitment figures. After some minutes the President looked up from the pad and stared at Hussein for a few seconds, Hussein felt himself shrinking into the velvet of the chair.
“These figures,” started Arif, “very encouraging, well done Tariq, you have done well.”
“Thank you Mister President,” replied Hussein as he felt himself re-inflate, “we do our best for Allah, praise his holy name.”
“I make it close to twenty million volunteers now, has the rate slowed at all of late?”
“No Sir, if anything they are continuing to rise steadily,” Tariq ventured.
“Where are they coming from, mainly,” asked Arif. “About thirty percent from here and another twenty-five percent from Iran, thirty-four percent from other Islamic states, the rest are made up of believers from mainly Christian countries, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, etc.”
“Are there any problem areas,” again asked Arif.
“Just one Sir, Kuwait, we have not had one recruit from there and the Kuwaiti government has advised the population not to volunteer.”
“So, they are still holding it against us are they, the dirty sand-flees,” spat out the President.
“No matter, we will see to Kuwait when the time comes,” Arif added after a seconds thought.
“Mister President, how long do we need to keep up the recruitment Sir?
“For as long as we can, or until the time comes, Tariq. We are against all of the combined forces of this world's evil empires and our army needs to be of a size that reflects the enormity of of the task. Now to another issue,” said the President as he stood and walked around his desk to the chair next to the Minister. Both Yemen and Oman have received requests from Ethiopia to accept their refugees from that stricken country, Djibouti and Eritrea are in the same situation and have sent their refugees across the gulf, so cannot accept any more. Besides that the Ethiopians are Jews and have no place in Arabia. We need to send some military units, our Navy to be specific, to patrol the gulf coast, some Ethiopians have managed to get across already and Yemen just does not have the resources to repel them. Will you see to that please Tariq?”
“Of course Mister President, it will be an honour, and it will be good to get our Navy some practical training,” replied Tariq. “Has there been any volcanic activity on our side of the Gulf Sir?”
“No, thankfully, Allah be praised, no sign of anything, Allah is protecting his people and punishing his enemies Minister, I do not expect that we will have any such problems.”
“Praise Allah,” added Tariq.
“Yes indeed, well don't let me delay you Tariq, I'm sure you now have much to arrange.”
“Yes Sir,” said Tariq as he rose to leave, “peace be with you.”
“Peace be with you also Tariq.”