“ At the time of Operation Jungle Hammer, the Russians captured a mass of evidence that pointed to the birth of the Caliphate and shared it with everybody who would be affected. As a result, the Caliphate plans were knocked a little askew; the birth and growth of the new state was in public, it did not spring on the world as a fully-developed entity. That was fortunate for us and for the rest of the world. The three countries that formed the original core of the Caliphate in 1961 were Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
“ It's not a coincidence that all three were occupied by us during the Second World War and we treated them with a certain degree of disdain. We needed to build supply lines through them and we needed their oil, so we built the lines and took the oil. Across the borders, the Germans were treating the Moslem populations of areas they occupied with much more than disdain. They ruled it the way they ruled everything else, with maximum brutality. That radicalized the populations in question and, combined with resentment at our conduct, we have this. In one sense, it’s our baby, we created it and now we have to live with the consequences.
“ Anyway, that's the past, and its long gone. Our problem today is that inner core was joined in 1962 by Saudi Arabia and, in 1963 by Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Last year, the Lebanon and Kuwait fell to what were allegedly coups but were in fact thinly disguised invasions by Caliphate forces. Those gains are much less impressive than they sound, the countries taken over were chronically weak, chronically unstable and the convoluted events that took place there during the war pretty much destroyed any legitimacy the existing rulers had. The British used to keep that area in order, now they've left, it was a power vacuum that got filled.
“ In every case, a country joining the Caliphate has been 'cleansed,’ that is, non-Moslem inhabitants have been exterminated. In Caliphate eyes, any who do not support that concept are either apostates or non-Moslem. It is important to note that, for non-Moslems, leaving is not an option. The choices they face are convert or die. It appears that an attempt to incorporate Turkey into the Caliphate was made but it has, so far, failed. However, the Turks are facing endemic terrorism as a result. There are also signs that Caliphate terrorism and subversion are spreading north, into the southern Russian provinces. You may recollect that there was recently serious fighting in Chechnya as a result. The Russians had a hard time putting down what amounted to a rebellion there.”
“ It was a barbaric display. How can we call such people our allies?” Secretary of Defense McNorman looked defiantly at the other occupants of the room. He'd taken on the post of Defense Secretary with much talk of how he was going to reorganize the department and bring in modern managerial practices. Then, he'd found out his post was largely ceremonial and consisted primarily of opening airbases and launching ships. He was a powerless figurehead and everybody in the room knew it. Most of them were staring back at him with barely disguised contempt.
“ Robert, I don't think we could ask for better allies than the Russians at this time. And they are the ones who had to deal with that problem, not us.” President Johnson's voice was kindly but the real message was an unmistakable 'shut up.’
“ That is indeed the case, Mister President. The Chechnya situation was a hard one for anybody to crack. The Caliphate rebels were mixed in with the civilian population and used them as cover. The Russian troops had no way of knowing who was hostile and who were civilians caught in the crossfire. The Russian troops, of course, did what they had to in order to protect themselves. Fortunately, the casualties on their side were light, but Russia cannot afford even small losses in manpower.
“ The good news is that staunch resistance in both Turkey and Russia seems to have stalled Caliphate advances there. Instead, the Caliphate has turned its attention westwards towards Egypt and the Sudan. It appears those two countries have been earmarked as the next stage in the expansion of Caliphate control. From there, our guess is that they intend to advance their control along the entire North African littoral of the Mediterranean.
“ There is one final aspect to this situation that is perturbing. There is a growing incidence of terrorist attacks around the world. Mostly they have been in Europe and the Triple Alliance but we have had a few here as well. There was that sniper incident in Maryland and a school hostage situation in South Carolina last night. I understand, the latter was resolved by the Russian wife of an American citizen who now lives in Russia. There have been a couple of other attacks on civilians here, a bus attacked, few other things. None serious, if necessary towns can call out their militia but we're a long way from that at the moment.”
“ Your precious bombers can't help us now, can they?” McNorman sneered “ My financial models show that if we'd gone for missiles instead and scrapped the bombers, then abandoned the bloated fighter and missile defense systems, we could save enough money to afford a proper army.”
“ This would be the same mathematical model that produced the Edsel?” For the first time in the meeting President Johnson's voice was amused.
“ There was nothing wrong with the Edsel, Mister President, Ford just did not promote it properly. Look what they're producing in its place, the Mustang. Who would want to buy a car like that?”
The Seer looked as if he was going to say something then shook his head. There was no need to dignify the man by arguing with him. The missiles versus bombers argument had been fought and won years ago. “ Mister President, at the moment the primary military threat to the United States still comes from Chipan. Over the last four years, they have made great strides towards creating a leaner and more efficient military force structure, one that is a substantially greater threat to us. They have equipped their long-range bombers with air-launched missiles that are much faster and longer ranged than before. They even have submarine-based ballistic missiles stationed off our west coast.
“ Fortunately, that's nothing we can't handle and our defenses are able to protect the west coast against attack. However, for all its military power - which we should not and must not underestimate - the Chipanese are rational players on the world scene. We can negotiate and make deals and generally come to accommodations with them.
“ The problem with the Caliphate is that they are not rational and we cannot deal with them. As a simple example. It is their state policy that women should not receive any sort of education. It is their desired aim that women should become an illiterate class. Effectively they are eliminating half their total workforce in the name of the strictest possible interpretation of some very ambiguous claims. It may well be significant that the man who attacked the South Carolina school seemed primarily concerned with the fact that girls and boys received the same education in the same room.
“ Their educational system is theocratic and largely dependent on repeating long passages of religious teachings. Any scientific data that contradicts their religious dogma is discarded.
In doing so, they have eliminated whole stretches of physics, biology, geology, oh, more ologies than I can name. But they're gone. In a couple of generations time, they won't have the scientific base to run a modern country. Which suits them just fine I might add. Their idea of a functioning state comes straight out of the seventh century.”