Chapter 293: An Agreement from the President

Basra is Iraq's largest and only port city, but in fact the main urban area of Basra is not by the sea. The real port is the Al-Faw Port, but because there are too many swamps between Basra and Al-Faw Port there are too many swamps, making land transport very inconvenient. Therefore, most ships choose to enter the river port of Basra through an artificial waterway to load and unload cargo.

For this reason, it is an interesting phenomenon that despite not being a true coastal city, Basra is still one of the busiest ports in the Gulf region.

At 1 pm, a huge cargo ship flying the flag of the International Red Cross sailed along the artificial channel. The letters on the bow of the ship revealed its identity: it was the first ship to participate in the oil-for-food programme, the MV Sunconway.

Because Basra has a tropical desert climate, it has even recorded an extreme high temperature of 59°C. Although it is not that hot now, no workers have started unloading the cargo when the freighter docks at the quay. This can only be done after 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun is slowly setting.

Zhou Ming, Paul, Ambassador Lin Hong and the rest of the group stood on the shore, watching the Sincanville slowly come to a halt.

Zhou Ming glanced down at the ship's waterline, which was very shallow. Even an amateur like Zhou Ming could tell that the ship actually didn't carry much cargo. This is because the oil-for-food programme this time was calculated by volume, that is to say, the same volume of food was exchanged for the same volume of oil.

This method of exchange is obviously nonsense. After all, oil is heavy, and these grains are only heavy. In general, grains are two to three times lighter than oil. In particular, grains such as barley and corn, which are light and have a lot of empty space in the middle, are four to five times lighter than oil. Not to mention that the price of oil is much higher than that of grain. This kind of calculation is simply cheating Iraq.

This is actually the case, because none of the companies participating in the oil-for-food programme wanted to actually provide humanitarian assistance. They were not philanthropists trying to save the world, but capitalists who wanted to make a fortune during the war.

Of course, the Western countries' ostensible justification is very grandiose. They say that weight is related to gravity, and that weight is not constant everywhere on the planet, so it should be converted according to the volume they trade in.

In normal times, no matter how stupid Iraq is, it cannot agree to this. But now that the whole country is facing difficulties, it cannot refuse.

In fact, according to Zhou Ming himself, he would rather not do this, which is almost like robbing Iraq, but there is no other way. He has to feed the hungry wolves of other consortia and families first, so that they will be willing to help him. Moreover, his own company also had to participate in this oil-for-food programme. If there were no high profits, he would not bother to do it. As for the losses, they would be the Al-Husseini family's problem. After all, losing some oil was always better than going hungry.

It may seem that the Al-Hussein family lost out in the oil-for-food programme, that they blew up their own oil fields and bought food from Zhou Ming almost as a gift. But you have to know that through this programme, the Al-Hussein family monopolised the entire food supply of Iraq.

In the business world, whenever there is a monopoly, no matter what is done, high profits will be generated. This business principle naturally also applies in Iraq. Since the Al-Hussein family controls the stomach of everyone, then the whole of Iraq has to pay a higher price to buy food from him, and as a result, the Al-Hussein family's position of power will become more and more solid.

From this perspective, Zhou Ming's plan is not necessarily a trap for Iraq, but it is a trap for the Al-Hussein family. This is the most important reason why Al-Majid agreed to Zhou Ming's plan.

Now Ming Zhou had no time to think about Iraq, because there was someone very important waiting to see him on the Sincanville.

Zhou Ming and the others boarded the ship under the guidance of the port manager. Finally, they met the person on the deck. He was a tall, thin white man, and he was standing there with two bodyguards. When he saw Ming Zhou come up, he greeted him in his own unstandardised Chinese: 'Mr Ming Zhou, I am President Walsh's Assistant for National Security Affairs, Brent. I am very pleased to meet you here.'

This greeting took Ming Zhou by surprise, but it also gave him an answer. It was indeed not the US president himself who had come.

In fact, Zhou Ming didn't believe this from the beginning. After all, as the president of the world's most powerful country, Walsh's every move must be carefully deployed. No matter where he goes, it's always news. There are secret trips, but they're never this dangerous. Basra is just a face-saving trip with some unknown Chinese person.

It was only Ambassador Lin Hong who said that it was Mr Yang himself who said that it was President Walsh who wanted to see him. There was no way that Mr Yang would lie to himself about such a matter. So there was only one possibility: he wanted to speak to him on the phone, but it was inconvenient for others to know, so it had to be done in secret.

Zhou Ming had originally thought that President Walsh would send an agent to conduct this meeting, but he never imagined that it would be his assistant for security affairs.

Perhaps the title doesn't sound so impressive, but if you compare it vertically, you'll see that the person who visited China and opened up normal diplomatic relations between China and the United States was also an assistant for security affairs. It was that assistant for security affairs who visited China and arranged everything, which led to the subsequent presidential visit to China.

Zhou Ming, of course, did not think that President Walsh had treated him like a major power, but the importance he attached to this contact meeting was evident.

'I'm also very happy to meet you, Assistant Brent, and of course your Chinese surprised me even more,' Zhou Ming replied politely in fluent English:

'I didn't realise that Mr Zhou Ming's English was so fluent. It made me feel at home. In contrast, my Chinese was just embarrassing. I hope Mr Zhou Ming doesn't laugh at my accent, but I personally still have a lot of respect for the mysterious Eastern culture.' Brent switched back to English and said to Ming, 'As for why I'm here today, I've brought Mr. Ming an invitation from the President.'

Zhou Ming then followed Brent into the cabin. The crew's meeting room had been turned into a small secret radio station, full of all kinds of communications equipment, and there was a specially-made laptop computer facing Zhou Ming.

'I believe you have already received the message, Mr. Zhou Ming, that our President wants to meet with you. However, the President is unable to attend in person due to other commitments, but this video communication can do the trick. All you need to do is speak into the camera.'

Brent patiently explained to Ming Zhou, who was unable to laugh or cry and just waved his hands, saying, 'I know, Assistant Brent, you can start at any time.'

Zhou Ming was really at his wit's end. As a born-again person, video calls were a common thing in the afterlife. How could he not know how to use them, and still need someone to explain it to him? Even though this was the most advanced technology available.

Brent was amazed by Zhou Ming's knowledge, but said nothing. He was just helping Zhou Ming make the final adjustments to the equipment. When everything was ready, they connected to Walsh's video.

As Brent moved, a tall, white American with a high nose appeared on the computer screen. Zhou Ming recognised him at first glance as the current US President, Walsh. Not only because his picture appeared in major newspapers, but also because he looked exactly like his son, the future George W. Bush, who launched the second Iraq War and overthrew the Saddam regime.

'Hello, Mr. President Bush, it's a pleasure to meet you here,' Ming greeted Walsh, who responded in kind.

'I had no idea that you were so fluent in English, Mr. Zhou Ming. Then I guess my concerns about communication barriers were unfounded.'

Walsh said politely, then added, 'Actually, if possible, I would be happy to visit the Gulf region in person, so that we can sit down and talk face to face. After all, communicating with a computer always feels a bit strange.'

Zhou Ming shrugged, 'Actually, it doesn't matter. And compared to this kind of remote communication technology, I'm more curious about the purpose of your visit, Mr. President.'

Facing Zhou Ming, Walsh hesitated for a moment before answering, 'Before I get to that, I think it's important to mention another matter. When you went to Iraq before, our air force intercepted you on a large scale.'

Zhou Ming nodded and said, 'I of course know about this, but in the end I arrived safely in Badina.'

'That's true, but what do you think about this yourself? Do you think this result is just your own good luck, or is there some other reason?' Walsh asked.

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said, 'I think President Walsh won't mind answering this question for me, will you?'

Walsh laughed, 'What a clever young man. The reason I sent my assistant for security affairs to the Gulf to meet you this time is about this matter.'

'Not not long ago, the general of Normandy told me a very puzzling situation about the crash of the two fighter jets that were responsible for intercepting your plane that night,' said Wal said, 'We all thought it was caused by the sandstorm that night, but the results of the investigation now completely refute that theory. Their crashes were not only caused by human error, but also by one fighter shooting down the other, which then crashed itself.'

'I I don't understand why these two planes did this. Maybe they discovered something they shouldn't have. I wonder what Mr. Zhou Ming thinks about this,' Walsh asked.

Walsh was surprised by the news, because he had wondered why Walsh had been so insistent on contacting him, but never imagined it could be for this reason. However recalling that night, he did seem to have seen a ball of brilliant orange fireworks through the plane window, but at the time he had thought it was the Iraqi Air Force fighting the US Air Force. Now he thought that he had been a bit too simplistic.

Thinking Zhou Ming told Walsh everything he had seen. Walsh sighed and said, 'That's what happened. The two fighter jets crashed because they had spotted your trail.'

'But but as far as I know, my homeland was not involved in this operation,' Zhou Ming reminded him.

'This I fully believe that, because the two pilots were both very good federal pilots, and they could not have rebelled against the Federation. So my guess is that there is another force behind you, and it is still a force within our Federation,' Vol said to Zhou Ming.

'Mr. President, I completely agree with you, because as far as I am personally concerned, I know absolutely nothing about it, and in addition, the abnormal behaviour of the pilot can only be explained in this way.'

Zhou Ming said, paused for a moment, and finally asked, 'So Mr. President, is there any progress in your investigation or are you calling to give me any orders?'

Wohl smiled: 'You are indeed a clever young man. The reason I have this video call with Mr. Zhou Ming today is to reach an agreement with him to end the Gulf War as soon as possible.'