Mayfield was the first to respond.
“Risky — with a low probability of being able to pull it off,” he said.
“Okay, I’ll buy the fact that it’s risky,” Colchin countered.
“But assume for the moment I’m willing to take a few risks, Harlan. How would we go about it?”
Mayfield shook his head.
“Well, we start by recognizing that it’s risky and a long shot,” Colchin added.
“Nevertheless, Harlan, I want you and your people to put your heads together with Captain Langley, pick his brains, see what you can learn.
“NI has been following this situation for some time now, and Captain Langley knows as much about Ammash as anyone in this room. See what you and your people can come up with.” Colchin paused and looked at his watch.
“How soon can we get back together?” Before Mayfield could respond, Colchin suggested they meet again at 2100 hours. Then he added, “Think you can come up with something?”
“With Captain Langley’s assistance we’ll have something for you to look at, Mr. President,” Mayfield said.
By the time Mayfield and Langley reconvened the meeting it was a few minutes after nine o’clock, and two things were apparent from the outset. A great deal of work had been accomplished, and the number of people involved had increased.
Mayfield was now accompanied on one side by Colonel Norcross and on the other by Colonel Bravort Rogers, a steel-jawed man with a Special Forces patch on his shoulder. In addition to Hurley, Blanchard, and Spitz, Packer also recognized Bert Hampton, Colchin’s National Security Advisor, along with two of his aides. The President was ready. He had shed his earlier attire and was wearing his University of Texas sweatshirt.
Packer, like several others in the meeting, had spent the last two hours working the telephones.
Packer had again been briefed by Miller, and both Hurley and Spitz had been on the phone to the embassy in Amman to confirm the contents of the last two Ammash transmissions — going through them word by word. At the same time the President acknowledged he had been in contact with both the Saudis and the Israelis.
When Colchin settled into his chair at the head of the table and tented his fingers. Packer knew they could be in for an all-night session.
“Let’s cut to the chase, Harlan. What have you got for us?”
Mayfield stood up, briefly introduced his aides, and informed the President they had come up with several options. Then he turned the presentation over to Colonel Bravort Rogers. Rogers had a thick Southern drawl, and he was prepared with a series of maps and charts that he spread out on the table.
“Both General Mayfield and Captain Langley thought it would be a good idea if I made certain you all were familiar with the terrain in the subject area before I got started.” He began by pointing to Iraq and then the location of Ammash in relation to Baghdad.
“Ammash is headquarters for the Northern Iraqi Military Force. Based on satellite photos and information supplied by N1, we know the Ammash facility covers approximately three thousand square miles and appears to be dedicated to weapons development, both biological and chemical. Best estimates of personnel count is estimated to be somewhere between eight hundred and one thousand, many of which are scientists, engineers, and the like, many of which we believe to be involved with the primary Nasrat mission of weapons development.
“Most of the balance of the NIMF force of an estimated seventy thousand men is fairly well distributed in three bases located in cities to the south of Ammash. There are seven NIMF installations in all, and Ammash is reputed to be their nerve center.
“As I indicated earlier, Ammash is also known to be the location of Nasrat Pharmaceutical, which we now have every reason to believe is nothing more than a cover for NIMF’s efforts to develop and test both chemical and biological weapons.
“From a tactical standpoint, Ammash’s location presents us with somewhat of a problem. It is some forty kilometers inside the Turkish Iraqi border, and north and east of Baghdad. There is a range of mountains to the north and another range somewhat further west. So our first hurdle is to find a place from which to launch our recovery team. If we take that approach, we have two options, both of which require flight over what we would have to classify as hostile or noncooperative territory.
“If we launch this mission from Saudi territory, we will have to get clearance from both Jordanian and Syrian authorities. There’s a major plus and a major negative to this option. On the positive side, the equipment and men we need for this mission are already based at Adridah north of Sakakah.
Colonel Norcross assures me that if we launch our effort from Adridah, we could have a strike force airborne within sixteen hours. The negative aspect to the Saudi option is the mission time. If we launch from Adridah, it’s going to take us longer, by tour, possibly five hours to fly from the launch point to Ammash.”
Rogers then drew a line from the base’s location in Saudi Arabia to Ammash to point out the mission path.
“The hitch in this option evolves out of the equipment we will be using. It gives a lot of people a lot of time to not only discover what we are up to, but to initiate countermeasures.”
“You mentioned equipment limitations. Colonel,” Hampton said.
“Perhaps you can enlighten us.”
“Both Adridah and the Israeli facility can accommodate us with Sikorsky S-6 IN Mk Us. These aircraft have a range of approximately eight hundred forty kilometers and a cruising speed of approximately one hundred forty miles per hour. We can, of course, enhance the range, but not the airspeed.”
“You indicated there were both positive and negative considerations for both locations. Major, but you failed to indicate what was negative about the Israeli launch point.”
“The biggest one is a longer flying time over Syria, Mr. Secretary. A direct flight path would take us right over Damascus — and Damascus is fortified with some of the best radar in the area. The S-61 Us aren’t exactly stealth technology. We would have to request airspace and when we do that, we’re opening ourselves up to losing the element of surprise. If, and we have to consider this a possibility, there are unknown sympathizers of either the governments in Baghdad or Ammash, we could be sitting ducks at Ammash.”
Colchin, himself a former chopper pilot in Vietnam, had been listening carefully; he had a feel for how risky the mission would be.
“Have you calculated how many men you would need for such a mission, Colonel?”
Rogers was nodding yes before Colchin finished his question.
“Colonel Norcross and I have discussed this, Mr. President. We both agree that for a kiss-and-tell operation of this nature, optimum strength would be ten men, all Special Forces, of course. They’ll be traveling light: flak vest, night-vision capability, 9mm H&k Mp5 H3 submachine guns with a maxi clip, mask and respirator, and some Dartcord. Our only question now is, how soon do you want us to go in, Mr. President?”
Colchin held up his hand and looked at Langley.
“I notice you haven’t said anything, Peter. What’s your take on all of this?”
Langley hesitated.
“You’ll recall that General Mayfield said we had developed several options.
So far you’ve only heard two. With all due respect to General Mayfield and Colonel Rogers, Mr. President, I think we have a third and even more viable option. First off, there is a whole lot about Ammash we don’t know. We don’t really know what we’re getting ourselves into and we could be jeopardizing the lives of a dozen men or more. As you are aware, Mr. President, as recently as seventy-two hours ago I was able to get, undetected, within thirty kilometers of the Ammash facility by helicopter. Based on that, I think a small team of three or four men, outfitted as Colonel Rogers proposes, would have an even better chance of getting into Ammash, locating Captain Bogner, and getting out of there.”