“American reconnaissance aircraft? How can a reconnaissance aircraft shoot down one of ours?”
“Unknown, sir. The reconnaissance systems officer reported that they were under attack by what he described as heavy levels of radiation.”
“Radiation?”
“That’s what he said, moments before he lost communications with the pilot. The pilot and the aircraft were lost.”
“What in hell are the Americans firing radiation weapons at us for?” Hirsiz thundered.
“We have been careful to minimize casualties, military and civilian, on both sides, sir,” Guzlev said. “The division commanders are under strict orders to tell their men that they may fire only when fired upon, except for known or suspected PKK terrorists they discover.”
“What sort of forces are you encountering, General? What units are you engaging?”
“We are encountering light resistance throughout the entire region, sir,” Guzlev reported. “The Americans have not engaged us. They have set up strong defensive positions inside their bases and continue unmanned aerial reconnaissance, but they are not attacking, and we do not expect them to do so.”
“That is correct, General—be sure your divisions remember that,” Hirsiz warned. “We have no indications whatsoever that the Americans will attack us as long as we don’t attack them. Don’t give them a reason to come out and fight.”
“I brief my generals every hour, sir. They know,” Guzlev acknowledged. “The Iraqi army seems to have disappeared, probably fled toward Baghdad or simply took off their uniforms, hid their weapons, and will wait it out, like they did when the Americans invaded in 2003.”
“I don’t expect them to fight either, General; they don’t like the PKK any more than we do. Let them hide.”
“The PKK terrorists are on the run, trying to make it to larger towns and cities,” Guzlev went on. “It will take hard work to dig them out, but we’ll do it. We’re hoping to keep them in the countryside so they don’t escape to Irbil or Kirkuk and blend in with the population. The peshmerga remain a significant threat, but they are not engaging us as of yet—they are fierce defenders of their towns, but they are not attacking us. That may change.”
“A diplomatic solution will be necessary with the Kurdish Regional Government to find some way to allow us to look for the PKK terrorists without battling peshmerga,” Hirsiz said. “Washington has been calling all night demanding an explanation. I think now is time to talk to them. Press on, General. Pass on to your men: Job well done. Good luck, and good hunting.”
“Excellent news indeed, sir,” General Orhan Zahin, secretary-general of the Turkish National Security Council, said. “Better than anticipated. No one is opposing us except for a few peshmerga fighters and PKK terrorists.” Hirsiz nodded but said nothing—he appeared to be lost in thought. “Don’t you agree, sir?”
“Of course,” Hirsiz said. “We expected to get bogged down in the hills, but without organized opposition, northern Iraq is wide open…especially Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government, who refuse to crack down on the PKK.”
“What are you saying, sir?”
“I’m saying that if we squeeze Irbil, we can force the KRG to help us hunt down the PKK terrorists,” Hirsiz said. “Everyone knows companies owned by the KRG cabinet and senior leadership funnel money to the PKK. Maybe it’s time to make them pay a price. Destroy those businesses, close down the KTC pipeline, close the border crossings and airspace to anything or anyone associated with the KRG, and they’ll be begging to help us.” He turned to Minister of Defense Cizek. “Get a list of targets in Irbil that will specifically target KRG resources, and work with General Guzlev to add them to his target list.”
“We should be careful about mission creep, sir,” Cizek said. “Our goal is to set up a buffer zone in northern Iraq and wipe it clean of PKK. Attacking Irbil is far outside that objective.”
“It is another way to destroy the PKK—by having the Iraqis help us,” Hirsiz said. “If they want to see an end to our attacks and our occupation, they’ll help us eradicate the PKK, as they should have been doing years ago.” Cizek still looked concerned, but he nodded and made notes to himself. “Very good. Now I’ll go talk with Joseph Gardner and see if he has any desire to help us.”
A phone right beside Chief of Staff Walter Kordus’s elbow beeped, and he picked it up immediately. “Call from Ankara, sir,” he said. “Signals says it’s from the president himself.”
“Finally,” President Joseph Gardner said. He was behind his desk, watching the cable news reports about the invasion of Iraq with his national security adviser, Conrad Carlyle, Secretary of Defense Miller Turner, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Marine Corps general Taylor J. Bain. On a video teleconference feed were Vice President Kenneth Phoenix at Allied Air Base Nahla in Iraq, and Secretary of State Stacy Barbeau from Aviano Air Base in Italy, where she had diverted instead of continuing on to Iraq from Washington. “Put him on.” He thought for a moment, then shook his hand. “No, wait, I’ll make him wait and see how he likes it. Tell him to hold for me and I’ll speak with him in a minute.”
Gardner turned to the others in the Oval Office. “Okay, we’ve been watching the shit flying all day now. What do we know? What do we tell whoever’s at the other end of that call?”
“It’s plain that the Turks are going after the PKK hideouts and training camps and are being very careful not to cause any Iraqi or American casualties,” National Security Adviser Conrad Carlyle said. “If that’s truly the case, we tell our guys to hunker down and stay out of it. Then we tell the Turks to back off in case there are unintended consequences.”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” Gardner said. “They’re driving pretty deep into Iraq, aren’t they, a lot farther than their usual cross-border raids?” Nods all around the Oval Office and on the video teleconference monitors. “Then the question is: Are they going to stay?”
“They’ll stay long enough to slaughter any PKK rebels they find, and then I’m sure they’ll leave,” Secretary of State Stacy Anne Barbeau said via her secure video teleconference link from Italy. “We should call for United Nations monitoring as soon as possible in case Kurzat Hirsiz is no longer in charge and the Turkish army wants to go on a rampage.”
“Not on my watch they won’t, Stacy,” Gardner said. “I won’t tolerate a bloodbath while American soldiers are stationed there and the Iraqis aren’t powerful enough to defend their own people. They can crack down on their own Kurdish rebels in their own country if they want, but they’re not going to commit genocide with American GIs as spectators.”
“I think they’ll agree to international monitors, Mr. President,” Secretary of State Stacy Anne Barbeau said, “but they’ll want a buffer zone created in northern Iraq, with round-the-clock international surveillance, looking for PKK activity.”
“I can live with that, too,” Gardner said. “Okay, Walter, put Hirsiz on the line.”
A few moments later: “Mr. President, good afternoon to you, this is President Hirsiz. Thank you for speaking with me, sir.”
“I’m very glad to see that you’re all right,” Gardner said. “We haven’t heard from you since the announcement of a national emergency. You didn’t return any of our calls.”