The President changed the topic of conversation to ask, “So, what is the situation with the Russians in northern Alaska?”
General Branson brought up a new set of holographic images, displaying the Russian advances. “Like the Chinese, the Russians have advanced off of the beaches and are starting to move inland. We have pulled most of our troops back to their secondary defensive positions. As the Russians advance, they are going to encounter a series of fortified positions, blocking every major avenue into the heart of Alaska on their way towards Fairbanks. The Marines are keeping them busy in the artic portion of Alaska and will be heavily engaged in central Alaska.”
“Our ground operations are going as expected; the first several days were a bit rocky but as planned and predicted, things are turning out just as we thought they would with the exception to the air campaign. Our loss at Eielson hurt. We have fortunately kept the Chinese and Russian air assets from attacking the base while we rebuild the drone squadrons. We’ve also expanded drone operations at three different airbases in the U.S.; they will soon start to participate in a lot more air operations in Alaska.”
“We’ve flown in 350 additional fighter drones and another 130 F22s to Eielson. We have successfully regained control of the skies over central and arctic Alaska. We are building two new drone airbases at Whitehorse in the Yukon territory; these new bases will be solely drone bases, with the fighter pilots operating out of bases in the southern States. This will minimize the potential loss of our critical pilots.”
“All right, General Branson, we are starting to get a little deeper into the weeds than I would like to go at the moment. I’ll leave the rest of the details to you and your fellow generals. I just want to know that our strategic plan is still on track, and it appears that it is. How are things fairing in the Middle East with General Gardner and his forces?” asked the President.
“General Gardner’s forces have been consolidating all along the Israeli/Jordan border. They have successfully secured all of Lebanon and captured Damascus. Now they are starting to push out and secure the rest of Syria and plan on stopping near the Turkish border. The Israelis are ready to move on Amman and push the IR forces there back. Right now they are waiting for General Gardner and his staff to finalize the next offensive plan and occupation strategy. I’ve talked with General Gardner at length, and he believes Third Army and the nearly 800,000 IDF forces could capture Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq before the end of the year. The question is-do we want them to move forward with this offensive or hold in place?” asked General Branson.
“What are everyone’s thoughts on this?” asked the President, wanting to get a consensus.
Mike Williams, the President’s National Security Advisor, spoke first saying, “We need to finish the IR off. They started this war and are responsible for millions of civilians killed across the country. Not to mention the two nuclear devices in Baltimore and New York City. If we leave them alone, we only allow them time to rebuild their country with help from the Chinese, and they will once again be a problem for us. We need to crush them now while they are weak and getting weaker by the day.”
Jim Wise, the Secretary of State, added, “I agree with Mike. We need to finish our war with the IR. Before General Gardner and the Israelis attack, we could make one final offer to the IR leadership to surrender. I am not certain they would accept it, but if we can convince them to surrender, we could bring the war with them to an end much sooner without losing tens of thousands of additional soldiers.”
The Director of the CIA, Patrick Rubio, spoke next, “The IR is in complete disarray. They are trying to hold down the country as best they can right now, but with power knocked out across most of the republic and communications limited, they are starting to lose control of the country. They are maintaining most of their military force around Amman, which is keeping them from using valuable resources to restore control to the rest of the country. I believe if we were to offer them terms of surrender they can live with, we could get them to accept it.”
“What are the terms you suggest we offer them?” asked the President, his curiosity now peaked.
“They are in desperate need of food; we could offer them a few hundred tons of food a month for, say three years, while we work with them on demilitarizing their economy and country. They would be allowed to maintain a military force for defensive purposes, but we would remove their ability to wage war beyond their borders. We would also remove their nuclear weapons and other WMD capabilities as well as their ability to produce these types of weapons,” Director Rubio said.
“I believe if we approached some of the senior military commanders, we may be able to convince them to remove Mohammed Abbas, particularly if we offer them this deal and perhaps some cash on the side. It would be best if we could get the regime to implode from within via an internal coup; that would be better than continuing the war and losing more soldiers and equipment,” Rubio said as he sat back in his chair waiting for the counter-arguments to be made. It did not take long.
General Branson cleared his throat before speaking. “I have to disagree with Director Rubio. We need to so thoroughly crush the IR that they will never challenge us again or Israel. If we support a coup, all we swap out is a radical theocracy for a military junta that will re-arm and rebuild to challenge us again in another decade. No, we need to absolutely crush them and then remove their ability to wage war again,” Branson stated passionately as he surveyed the room.
The President looked at the faces of everyone at the table before speaking, “There is merit in both of your ideas and we should look at both options. General Branson, continue with the military option. Pound the tar out of them from the air and continue to do what you can to make their lives as miserable as possible. Director Rubio, put out some feelers and see if any of their senior military leadership may be open to a potential coup. I want to look at both options Gentlemen.”
“Let’s move on to Europe. Where do we stand?” asked the President, wanting to move the meeting forward.
General Branson changed the maps on the holograph display. The portions of Europe that were Allied territory were colored in light blue, and the area controlled by the Russians was a light red shade. At different points on the map there were designations for the various units that were fighting, as well as information about how they were doing in their most recent skirmishes.
“Mr. President, General Wade is looking to orchestrate one of the largest tank battles since World War II, just west of Berlin. His goal is to lure them in and deal a decisive blow, knocking them back to Poland or even the Ukraine.” Branson showed the plans for the upcoming battle as he talked.
He continued, “It’s a tricky battle as our forces do not have full air supremacy over the battlefield. Once the Russian army is fully committed, General Wade plans on using the bulk of his A10 Warthogs and Razorbacks to attack the enemy tank formations before committing all of his Pershings and M1A5 Abrams. While his forces are conducting a full frontal assault against the Russian lines, Field Marshal Schoen will lead his Panzer divisions in a massive attack against the Russian southern flank. The British and French armor units will attack the Russian northern flanks. If they are successful, they will have effectively destroyed the Russian armored forces in Europe.”
The President asked, “What happens if they are not successful? How will this affect our forces in Germany?”
Knowing this question was coming, General Branson brought up General Wade’s alternate scenario on the display. “Mr. President, as you can see here, our forces would be in a tough spot, and so would the rest of the Germans, French and British. We may end up losing most of Germany.”