“I agree that it was probably Iran, but let’s get that from an official source just to be sure. General, Mr. Secretary, has this scenario ever been gamed out as to what our response scenarios are even meaningful? Is there any possible set of responses that do not involve us going nuclear? Is a nuclear response the best and right response? Could we launch such an attack without killing innocent civilians? Can we justify that response to the rest of the world?”
After a quick glance between the two men, the Chairman fielded the questions, “Mr. President, we have files on an enormous number of responses to various situations. In my experience we never have exactly the right one pre-done. Building these files is a great way to train our people on how to plan a response scenario to some threat.
“When the time comes we will get the right people in a room and come up with a response option that will follow your guidance on what size, or type response is what you consider appropriate. If you don’t like the scenario we come up with, we will revise it based on your input and repeat that process until you are satisfied. You are the one that makes the final call.
“Mr. President, I want to re-iterate that this is probably not over. There will be additional military actions taken by someone. If not immediately, then certainly in the next few weeks. Months would give us time to get ready, so it probably won’t be that long. A response to something this big is not going to be just us hitting some small, selected group of targets with a few planes on bombing runs. Whatever they are planning is going to require a massive response if we are to deal with it appropriately.
“It is possible that this may be over from a nuclear perspective, but I want to strongly urge you, as I am sure that the Secret Service will, to address the American people from right here. Remember Mister President, there is no Vice President or even Speaker of the House. Whoever did this not only thought it through as to when to hit us, but they also thought through right where to do it for maximum impact.
“They hit us in places that would limit our ability to respond to a ground assault, pretty much anywhere in the world. You will may turn into a walking, talking, target on the ground. Whatever city you appear in could quickly become a target. Today, they could be watching and waiting for you to appear. I would not want to risk additional civilian lives until we know the nuclear threat really is over.
“Consider one of the things that attack has done. We will have to spend a long time re-building our defense and aerospace infrastructure. Almost certainly this conflict will take longer than our current stock of spare parts will last if the damage to the various facilities is as extensive as we fear. Whoever did this knows that, or they would not have chosen these particular targets. They did this to hit strategically important locations. They are smart. They are calculating. They would not hesitate in the least to take a shot at you if they can. The more confusion they can cause on our side the better for them. I am not sure if this country can stand to lose another President in such quick succession without resulting in massive confusion.
“Whoever they are, I am certain that they intend to exploit the results of these attacks. I will make sure we have people watching more carefully than usual around the world for any kind of troop movement. This will turn out to be Iran, and not some random terrorist group. These attacks hit high value military infrastructure, not some high profile, newsworthy, or historic sites that are generally the desire of terrorist groups.”
“Thank you, General. Your council is very nicely put for a new guy like me to understand. I hadn’t considered it until you gentlemen brought it up that this was a prelude to some wider action.
“I am just thinking out loud here, but if this is Iran as we think it is, the entire Middle East is likely going to fall to pieces very shortly. The results of this could very well be pure chaos. The oil exports from that region going to the rest of the world mean that, if we are not careful, everyone on the planet will claim strategic interest in the area and troops will flow in from everywhere. This could easily and quickly denigrate into World War III,” he said.
“I was in the Army but I was an enlisted soldier, not an officer. I assume I will have to learn a lot from someone such as yourself for the strategic side of this sort of thing, much more so than some of my predecessors. I could probably still operate a field artillery piece, or fire a rifle, but this is a new world to me. I need my advisors to speak freely, so please never hold anything back.
“Ok, back to the subject at hand, you gentlemen have convinced me that someone is out there with a short and long term strategy in mind. We need to get out in front of this thing, not just try to react to whatever comes at us next. Let’s not just be reactive. I don’t like being on defense, sooner or later we have to get back on offense,” the President responded, trying figure out how to think one step ahead of the crisis facing the nation.
“Les, tell the pilot to change course again. I want to see Fort Worth, then Detroit from the air. I need to see the damage for myself.
“General, I hear you,” The President said holding up one hand. “I will address the nation from right here. At several points in the next few days I will need to make you available to the news media to answer some questions. For this, I do truly apologize.
“Immediately following the national address, I want to have a video conference with leadership from the House and the Senate. I initially thought this had to be a terrorist attack, but I now agree with the two of you that this was a nation state. If it wasn’t Iran then it was certainly another country with some kind of strategic thinking behind these actions.
“General, I agree with you in that we are at war with someone. We just need to verify whom, and see if they have allies working with them. We need that information immediately, I want it in my upcoming address to the world. Please change our DEFCON level to reflect this new reality.”
AP NEWS FLASH: So far no group has claimed credit for the nuclear attacks. It is believed that these are terrorist attacks, as they came without warning. The groups that will likely take credit soon are extremist groups. Some of them have sought these weapons for years. There has been no word, or even release of images from either of the attacked areas, but that is expected shortly. <STORY DEVELOPING>
AP ECONOMIC NEWS FLASH: Economists are now stating that there is concern that oil exports from the Middle East will slow to an all-time low due to a potential war brewing between the United States and some as yet unknown organization. Those same economists are concerned that the world may be thrown rapidly into a global depression as a result of the increase in oil prices. Given the already fragile state of the world economy that has just come out of a global recession, economists are claiming this to be a virtual certainty. The attacks were in zones known for a great deal of manufacturing infrastructure. Damage reports from the areas are not yet available, which has caused chaos on international markets. Worldwide investors have lost billions in the past minutes. In other words, wealth that has taken decades to create has been destroyed in mere minutes.
Chapter Thirteen
Captain Banner turned on his laptop so they could stream a newscast into the motor pool. Special Forces usually had excellent sources of information, but in a situation like this what sources they had were not what was needed. Today was different. Today what was needed was a visual from inside the blast zone. People needed to see what happened for themselves. Those images needed to be seen, and seen quickly, before everyone’s imagination starting running wild. That could result in widespread public.