Dialogue throughout the novel mentions a terrorist group known as the World Christian Alliance ( this timeline 's equivalent of Al Qaeda ) using the Rocky Mountains as its headquarters . They were also responsible for the terrorist attacks on November 9th , 2001 , when members crashed two hijacked planes into the Tigris and Euphrates World Trade Center Towers in Baghdad , another hitting Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh and another crashing after a struggle with the passengers in the Empty Quarter . It is not known who their leaders are or if they are aware of the mirage legend . The United Kingdom is the mirage timeline 's equivalent of Iran , having undergone a revolution in 1979 ( possibly where the Archbishop of Canterbury replaced the British monarch as Britain 's head of state ) . It is implied that Britain never colonized India or that India became independent sooner , since India appears to have fought World War II on its own . The United Arab States is clearly stated to be the world 's second largest country by land area , implying that Canada , like the United States , is also broken up into minor states . The state of Latin America is not touched upon in the novel other than that Venezuela is an OPEC member who intervened in the Mexican Gulf War , and that the Mexican state of Coahuila is a dependency of Texas . A Cold War analog , known as the '' Cold Crusade '' between the UAS and an '' Orthodox Union '' is mentioned . The major political parties in the United Arab States are the Arab Unity Party ( the analog of the Democratic Party ) and the Party of God , or POG for short ( the analog of the Republican Party , with POG possibly being a play on the Republican nickname GOP ) . Al Jazeera exists in this timeline as a FOX analog with a morning talk show called Jazeera and Friends . FOX also exists in the mirage timeline , but it appears to be reduced to being a propaganda center of Christian fundamentalists
another crashing after a struggle with the passengers
United Airlines Flight 93
The Mirage (Ruff novel)