“Yes, Mr. President. During the blackout, we hit a number of their laser defense sites. Egypt and most of North Africa are completely open. We could hammer North Africa and their forces there. We can move forces in to secure the area once the situation in the Middle East is stabilized. If we use the neutron bombs, we’ll minimize the damage and environmental fallout. When our forces move in, they should encounter little (if any) radiation,” Eric said, offering the President some options.
“Then I want their strategic, logistical, military and high density civilian centers in North Africa destroyed immediately by conventional nuclear weapons,” Stein ordered. “One more thing, make sure our attacks do not appear to threaten Russia or China. I do not want this to escalate any further than it already has.”
Secretary of State Jim Wise interjected, “Mr. President, we can inform the Russians and Chinese that our nuclear attacks are being directed at the IR. If they interfere or threaten the US with nuclear weapons, then we will not hesitate to use our nuclear weapons in retaliation.”
Taking a minute to think about things, the President said, “I am concerned about things escalating out of control. At the same time, I do not want to limit ourselves in bringing this war to a swift and decisive conclusion. That said, the Chinese already used nuclear torpedoes on our naval facility at Pearl Harbor. We retaliated by hitting their naval headquarters—”
“Mr. President, with everyone having laser defense systems, the likelihood of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) or Submarine Launch Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) being used against each other is rather slim. Our biggest problem is material shortages. The war in Israel has depleted not just our prepositioned equipment stocks in Israel, but most of our cruise missiles in the US. We burned through our entire year’s production capability of war stocks in three days. We need to slow the pace of the war down,” the SecDef said, almost pleading, and craftily changing the subject away from the use of nuclear weapons.
“How long until these cruise missiles could be ready with the neutron warheads to strike at the heart of the IR?” asked the President, rubbing his temples.
“Probably 24 hours, and another 10 hours to get them in range of being used,” General Rice responded.
Stein knew this was one of the most critical decision points in World War III, one that could potentially escalate the conflict into a nuclear hot war. That was something he desperately wanted to avoid. “General Rice, continue to use the Air Force to hurt the IR and see if there is anything we can do to go after the IR laser defense system with our stealth bombers. Also, begin destroying every piece of infrastructure we can in Lebanon and Syria. If the 2nd Shock Army is going to invade, they will have to go through Syria and Lebanon. There is no reason to make their passage any easier than it needs to be.”
“Also, see if our stealth bombers can get through their laser defenses and start to attack their power grid again. If their grid goes offline, or those laser defenses go offline, then I want our submarines and bombers to launch a wave of nuclear cruise missiles at the IR and hit every city they can,” said the President, anger burning in his eyes.
The United States had been dealt a massive blow with the effective destruction of New York City and Baltimore. Tens of millions of Americans were frightened and livid, not sure of what to do next or what to expect. The President addressed the nation that evening, letting the American people know that it was in fact the Islamic Republic who detonated the nuclear bombs. The President assured the American people the IR would be dealt with in due time. Then he asked the American people to continue to do their jobs and go to work. The war effort counted on people carrying on with their work and doing their jobs, not fleeing to the countryside and making matters worse.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs assured the American people that the laser ballistic missile defense system was fully operational. The IR could not use their ballistic missiles against the US and neither could China. Despite the shock and horror of nuclear bombs being used on American cities, the majority of Americans resolved themselves to carrying on. America would not be subdued by a foreign power.
Jeff Rogers, the WH Senior Economic Advisor, and Joyce Gibbs, the Treasury Secretary, continued to do what they could to improve the American economy and ensure the financial sector did not implode. With the destruction of NYC, a large number of the investment banks were destroyed, along with the vast majority of their staffs. This was a terrible loss, requiring Secretary Gibbs to close the stock market for the following two weeks until these organizations could reorganize themselves and establish where things in the financial market stood.
Jeff had worked with the various American manufacturers, and they were now converting almost all manufacturing capabilities over to producing military vehicles, aircraft, cruise missiles, rifles, body armor and everything else that the American military needed. It was going to take close to a year to retool the economy to a war footing; once it was running at full speed, America would be producing tens of thousands of tanks, aircraft and other materials for the war.
The Navy’s National Defense Reserve Fleet had been activated at the start of the war, essentially reviving the Ghost Fleets. This gave the Navy an additional 120 ships (frigates, destroyers, cruisers, submarines and carriers) once the refurbishments and new weapon systems were upgraded. Among the ships being upgraded were five retired supercarriers from the 1990s and early 2000s. Some of these carriers were sixty and seventy years old, but once all of the renovations were completed, they would still be operational and ready to fight. Within six months, the Navy would nearly double in size, buying time until the shipbuilders could finalize construction of the new Navy.
The biggest addition to the fleet was actually the roll-on-roll-off ships and troop transport vessels. Moving vast amounts of equipment, munitions and people required a tremendous sealift capability, something the Chinese and Russians were still struggling to match the US on. There were also twelve additional attack submarines being reactivated. Fortunately, most of the Ghost Fleet was stationed in Beaumont, Texas and Norfolk, Virginia, so they had been relatively protected and unaffected by the war. The older fleet bases in New Jersey and California had been deactivated in the 2030s.
The various American shipbuilders had eight supercarriers under construction, along with forty-two new destroyers, thirty-eight cruisers, twelve of the newly redesigned battleships and forty-five attack submarines. The battleship of old had been massive armored floating artillery weapons; the redesigned battleships of the 21st century were incorporating the latest railgun technology and pulse beam lasers. These laser batteries could be upgraded later to plasma lasers once the newer energy systems could be miniaturized to fit on a ship. In addition to the lasers and railguns, the battery of 1,600 cruise missiles added significant long-range punch. The newly designed ships could effectively keep enemy aircraft from attacking the battlegroup from 400 miles away and could deliver a massive cruise missile strike as deep as 2,200 miles.
The new basic combat training facilities were starting to come on line, and would eventually churn out some of the most fearsome warriors the world had ever seen. Each basic training course could train and graduate 72,000 new recruits a week. All of the new soldiers had to undergo a sixteen week long grueling training process that pushed them physically and mentally to their breaking points. Recruits were being physically conditioned harder than any other military grunts in history. In addition to the standard boot camp, they also spent three weeks in simulated villages practicing house-to-house combat. Then they would progress to fighting and survival scenarios in the desert, forests, mountains, and flat plains. These new recruits were conditioned to be effective in combat in all global environments, and were going to be the most fearsome warriors America had ever trained.