“Mr. President, it’s critical. One of our agents in the Mexican Army told his handler yesterday that the cartels had just received a very large shipment of weapons from the IR, MANPADS and RPG-7V rockets,” said the National Security Director as he looked up from his tablet.
“We’ve known for some time that the IR has been shipping weapons to the cartels. We’ve intercepted some of these weapon shipments in the past; if I am not mistaken, the Mexican Army has as well. Why is this such bad news, Jim?” asked the President clearly annoyed.
“The cartels are planning a coup and the Mexican Army is in on it,” General Branson blurted out.
“Our source said his unit just received orders directing them to be ready to attack the Presidential Palace and secure the major government buildings in Mexico City,” Jim said.
“What about the rest of their military? Are they in on it as well?” asked the President.
“Not all of the units are in on the coup. Our source said he is going along with the coup plans for the moment, but when it comes time to execute his orders he’s going to move to safeguard the Palace and the government buildings, not seize them.”
“Have we alerted their President about this impending coup?”
“Not yet. We are not sure who in the government we can alert without notifying the wrong people. Our source in the military said he believes his commanding general is part of the coup, so informing the military is not going to work, and neither will the police. They have been heavily infiltrated by the cartels, so nothing stays a secret with them.”
“So what’s our plan then? Do we have one?”
“We have the military option we discussed earlier in the year, Mr. President. If the coup does happen, then we can initiate our plan,” General Branson said, not knowing if the President would want to act now or play a “wait and see” approach.
“What are your thoughts, Monty?”
“This is a hard one. On the one hand, if we do nothing, then the cartels will more or less take over the country. This will give the IR a willing partner on our Southern border, which is something we want to avoid. On the other hand, if we do intervene, it’s going to require a lot of troops and resources,” said Monty.
“Eric you’re the SecDef, what are your thoughts?” asked the President.
“Well, General Branson is right. This gives us the pretext to act on our previous discussion we had about this situation. The government is going to fall, we know that. I propose we let this play out and once the dust has settled, then we execute our plan and intervene; this way we can hopefully eliminate the leadership once they have come forward to form their new government.”
“You’re talking about the plans to annex Mexico?” Jim asked.
“That’s exactly what I am talking about,” said Eric.
“I still think the annexation of Mexico is not a wise move, Mr. President. There are just too many problems in Mexico that we will be inheriting,” said Jim Wise, the Secretary of State.
“I have to agree with Secretary Wise, Mr. President. We can annex Mexico, but managing it is going to be a difficult problem,” Attorney James Roberts said.
“What are your thoughts, Jorge?”
“America has been dealing with problems from Mexico for nearly a hundred years. The country is rife with crime and totally corrupt. If you are willing to keep Mexico under martial law for a few years and give us time to root out the cartels, I believe we can make it work. I think we should just annex it if we are going to get involved,’ the Director of Homeland Security, Jorge Perez, said.
“I understand the logic and concerns in annexing Mexico. It would solve a lot of problems, but it would also bring a lot of problems that we do not need right now. When I first came to office, I told the American people that we would not get involved in foreign wars unless American security was threatened. Because of Mexico’s proximity to us and our shared border, I believe this constitutes an immediate threat. With that said, I do not believe America should have to shoulder the burden of nation building. If America is going to intervene abroad, then we are going to keep what we take and America will be the one to benefit, not some corrupt government that always seems to come to power once we hand it over,” said the President, who had clearly made his mind up now.
“Jim, I want your staff to work up an exercise with the DOJ, DHS and the FBI on how we would begin to implement our law enforcement agencies into Mexico once annexation begins. Let’s frame this as an exercise to downplay the possibility of this happening, but I want a plan ready within the next 21 days.”
“That’s a tight timeline, Mr. President. I’ll see what we can do,” Jim said as he wrote down some notes in his tablet.
“Well, I guess we wait and see what happens next,” said the President as he stood up and left the Situation Room.
The Russians continued their preparations for their own attack against the EU, while China and the Islamic Republic continued to plot their own assaults against the Americans.
“Mr. President, it would appear the Islamic Republic has presented us with a unique opportunity. They are moving forward with their attack on the US,” said Nicolai, with a mischievous smile.
“Have we learned the full details of the attack yet?”
“Not yet. We know some of it, and we know they plan on attacking the Israelis,” said General Sergun, reading the latest intelligence feeds of his tablet.
“Do we know when they plan on attacking the Israelis? What type of assault are they going to launch?” asked the President, curious to know if the IR would use nuclear weapons or some other type of WMD.
“We believe they are going to launch their attack around the New Year, although we are not sure of the exact date. As of right now, it looks like they plan on launching a massive conventional missile attack all across Israel, specifically targeting their military bases. This raid will be quickly followed up by their military attacking through several invasion points, so no WMD as of right now,” replied General Sergun, the director of the GRU (Russia’s military intelligence division). General Sergun loved to use the multi-dimensional maps and graphs when presenting war plans. They made everything seem more aligned and perfect, or at least they did to him.
“Their first invasion point is across the Golan Heights; if they can break through, then they will be able to drive deep into Israel quickly. The Israelis know this, so they will send a large part of their forces in that direction. A second front will be initiated from the north along what used to be Lebanon. A third front will then be opened in the south near the American naval base in Eilat on the Red Sea. The fourth front will come from the Sinai, and the fifth attack, which is the main assault, will come through the Jordan Valley towards Jerusalem.”
“From what we have gathered, the attack in the Golan along with the assault in the south will happen almost simultaneously, and then 12 hours after the first violence erupts, the other three fronts will begin their invasions,” General Sergun said while changing some slides and maps on the holograph.
“It sounds like they might actually have a chance of beating the Israelis if they do not go nuclear, which I highly suspect they will,” said President Fradkov, not believing for a minute that the Israelis would not use atomic weapons if they were about to be overrun.
“If the Israelis go nuclear, the IR will as well. I do not believe the Israelis would survive even if they did go nuclear. One point of concern that I am not sure the IR has fully accounted for is the use of land-based and mobile anti-missile laser defenses. These can also be used to target aircraft, and if the Israelis are somehow able to achieve or maintain air superiority, the IR is going to have a much tougher time. Unless Israel receives massive reinforcements from the Americans, they will probably only be able to hold out between five and seven days,” General Gerasimov said, stealing Sergun’s thunder.