“I take it you don’t agree,” Pontowski said, surprising Cox.
“Not entirely. But I usually disagree with the CIA’s interpretation of events in the Middle East.”
“Why do you disagree with them?” The President was interested.
Cox gave a little laugh. “Well, Mr. Burke will tell you that I’m too pro-Israeli and spout their party line.” Bobby Burke as the director of central intelligence was the President’s chief adviser for all matters on intelligence and Cox knew he was trespassing on his preserve, a sure way to earn enemies in Washington, D.C.
“Are you?” Pontowski asked.
“Yes, sir, I am.” He decided to be totally open with his commander in chief. “It’s because I have many personal contacts with Mossad and Israeli military intelligence and rely on them.”
“What are those contacts telling you now?”
Cox took a deep breath. “I was contacted this morning. The Israelis now have a thermonuclear weapon and one warhead is deployed. It has been targeted to hit one of two targets—”
“Either Damascus or Baghdad,” Pontowski interrupted. Cox nodded, surprised at the President’s ability to make instant connections. Cox had much to learn about the man. “No doubt,” Pontowski continued, “they will use it if the Arabs employ chemical weapons against Israel’s population.” Again, Cox could only nod in agreement. “How’s Ben David holding up?”
“Not well,” the general answered, his mind racing to keep up with the conversation. “He wants a military solution that will guarantee Israel’s security in the future. He’s pressing the war as hard as he can, before a cease-fire is imposed on him.”
“The Arabs won’t accept a military solution like that,” the President said. “They’ll fight with everything they’ve got, including the new nerve gas the Iraqis have developed. Leo, in a few minutes, I’m going to have to make some hard decisions. I’ve got to know who your sources are.” Pontowski knew the answer. It was Cox’s first test.
Cox did not hesitate. “He’s the chief of Mossad,” the general explained. Pontowski stood up, ready for the meeting with the NSC. “Mr. President, why did you select me to be your chief of staff?”
“I think you can figure it out,” Pontowski replied.
The briefing was finished and Shoshana walked out of the make-shift command post with most of the battalion’s officers. Outside, she leaned against Levy’s M60 tank and waited for Hanni to come out. Her partner seemed to be taking a very special interest in Moshe Levy lately. She watched Levy’s driver and loader clean and reassemble the tank’s air filter. Amos Avner, the loader, kept up a constant barrage of bickering and complaining as Nazzi Halaby, the driver, did most of the work. Finally, the gunner, Dave Bielski, climbed out of the turret and scampered down the tank’s hull. “For God’s sake, Avner, SHUT up!” he bellowed.
“They don’t seem to get along at all,” Shoshana observed.
“That’s because Halaby is a Druze and Avner’s Orthodox,” Bielski explained. “Orthodox Jews don’t trust the Druze.”
“I knew a Druze once,” Shoshana said, thinking of Zeev Avidar and the time she was in Iraq. Such a long time ago, she thought. Again, out of the mists of memory, Gad Habish’s voice came to her. “His loyalty spoke for itself,” she said.
“So does Halaby’s,” Bielski said. “But Avner is so thickheaded that he can’t accept it.”
Hanni joined them. “Levy thinks the attack will start soon,” she said.
“He’s usually right,” Bielski said.
“What’s it like being on his crew?” Hanni asked.
“It’s hard to describe,” the gunner answered. “One time he got so sick and fed up with Avner for the way he treated Halaby that he was going to replace him. Avner broke down and cried like a baby. He said he would do anything to stay on the crew. They cut a deal, Avner could stay as long as he shut up about Halaby being a Druze and cut out the Arab jokes. You know we never bad-mouth the Arabs in the tank.”
The three of them walked up the deep cut the tank was hidden in to the berm and looked over the long valley with its grisly reminders of death and destruction. The wreckage of tanks and APCs still littered the valley floor from the first battle. They crouched down, covered by the camouflage netting that covered the tank’s hide, and Bielski swept the valley with binoculars. “Looks like the retrieval crews have all pulled back.” They all knew that was an indication the fighting would soon start.
The tank’s radios squawked, warning of low-flying, inbound RPVs. ‘ ‘Probably the reconnaissance drones they send over for a last look-see,” Bielski said as he walked back to his tank.
Shoshana and Hanni headed for their nearby APC to wait for the orders to pull back after the drones had flown over and before the artillery barrage started. “Levy says they are very predictable about the way they begin,” Hanni said.
“I wish that was reassuring,” Shoshana replied and climbed into her NBC suit, pulling it on over Matt’s flight suit.
The secretary of state was looking at his notes as he talked while the rest of the National Security Council assembled inthe Cabinet Room fidgeted and waited for their turn. “In short, Mr. President, the Arabs are now united in their support of a United Nations resolution calling for a immediate cease-fire. However, Israel is adamant in its opposition now that they are winning. Perhaps it is time to change our position and force them into a more rational stance.”
“What are you suggesting?” National Security Adviser Cagliari asked.
“That we immediately curtail our resupply of arms and supplies to Israel,” the secretary of state answered.
“That will have an effect down the line,” Admiral Scovill, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. “But as of now, the Israelis have received enough logistical support to continue the current pace of the war for another week.”
“What can the Israelis accomplish during that week?” Pontowski asked.
Now it was the turn of Bobby Burke, the DCI. “We calculate the Israelis will have pushed across the Litani River in Lebanon, be off the Golan and within ten miles of Damascus, and have encircled all the Syrians and Iraqis that have not retreated out of Jordan. It looks like the Arab front opposite Jerusalem is collapsing.”
“And the Arab reaction?” Pontowski asked.
“They could use chemical weapons to stabilize the situation,” the admiral speculated.
“That means the Israelis will retaliate with nuclear weapons,” Cagliari said.
“We can’t be sure of that,” Burke protested.
“That’s a firebreak I don’t want to chance crossing,” Pontowski said. “How do we keep it from happening?”
“I can pull out all the stops,” the secretary of state said, “and launch a full-scale diplomatic offensive to get a ceasefire in place. It will take some doing, but if we halt all supplies to Israel …”
“Do it,” Pontowski said.
“There’s another option,” Scovill said. “We can give the Israelis the missiles necessary to eliminate the worst of the threat. I’m referring to the Iraqis’ nerve gas facility near Kirkuk. The Arabs’ previous experience with using gas in Lebanon proved to be quite ineffective. Without the new nerve gas, they know it would be a one-sided exchange.”
The secretary of state almost panicked. “Mr. President, we cannot, I repeat, we cannot use missiles of any sort at this point because of the situation in the Kremlin. We have indications that the hard-liners are prevailing under Marshal Stanilov. He’s of the old guard and, to him, the use of missiles equates with a major escalation against Soviet allies and is a prelude to nuclear weapons. We cannot afford a misstep at this time. Using missiles of any sort against Kirkuk could well give him the excuse he needs to consolidate power in the Kremlin and maybe actively intervene in the war. He would like nothing more than an external threat to force an internal peace.”