Chapter Nineteen

 

 

 

Eastern Europe

 

 

The Special Forces teams moved quickly once they were airlifted into position. For the most part they were operating in friendly countries, countries that Russia supplied with gas shipments, shipments via pipeline that is. Most of them were in the former Soviet Union. Getting inserted into the correct position was not as difficult as if they were in Russian territory. Primarily they were flown in but some were covertly inserted over ground.

The target areas were mostly in Eastern Europe, along the border with Russia. Europe was weakened substantially by the collapse of the Eurozone and the common currency. Economic growth was dramatically reduced as budgets crumbled. This left little room for expenditures on military readiness. In fact, this spending had disintegrated. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was no longer formidable. It still existed in name only, backed up by American and, to some extent, British military power. Europe had simply relied on American military power for too long and let its own capability atrophy.

The world sensed the weakness. NATO had maintained the balance of power on the continent for decades, no more. The old European nationalistic fervor began to rear its ugly head again. The economic pain was becoming too great for the populations to bear. The peace that had been kept for decades was unraveling.

The president figured that he had to take the lead here and deal with the international threats to his allies on the continent. They would possibly experience some short-term pain, which would damage their economies even further by his actions. However, the alternative was far worse, as he hoped many remembered from their elders at the beginning of the twentieth century. He hoped they remembered the sacrifices and the suffering endured. They may have to experience them again. The hard lessons may have to be relearned.

Europe had grown soft. They had grown soft on the cradle-to-grave welfare state. Free everything, education, health care, retirement, thirty-five-hour work week, holidays, et cetera. It was unsustainable. They could not come to grips with that fact.

Someone had to lead.

The main export of the Russian Federation was petroleum products, oil and natural gas. This export capability was delivered primarily via pipelines that transported the product into Eastern and Western Europe. The pipelines were numerous and when overlaid onto a map resembled a circuit diagram. When crossing the border from Russia, they created choke points that were highly vulnerable.

America made great strides in reducing its energy dependence on foreign supplies over the last few years with the development of shale gas deposits throughout the continental United States. She was now the Saudi Arabia of natural gas supplies. America also was now a net exporter of refined petroleum products. The industry was one bright spot in the U.S. economy.

Europe, however, had grown more and more dependent on Russian exports. It was dangerous.

There were multiple direct action teams inserted into various locations. They each carried the same type of backpack explosive devices. They were also highly trained in how to deploy and use them. The charges were set up in a matter of hours in a manner not to be detected by the naked eye. Primarily they were buried under the pipelines in unpopulated areas. A pipeline was a notoriously hard piece of infrastructure to guard and keep safe. If someone wanted to damage it, they most likely would be successful.

Once the charges were in place, the teams evaded detection and escaped from the area on foot to a designated landing zone. The teams were then exfiltrated twelve hours later by the same CV-22 aircraft that brought them in.

 

 

Eleuthera, Bahamas

 

 

Connor awoke not knowing where he was. The only thing for certain was the horrible feeling in his head. He felt as though his temples were in a vice. His tongue felt like a dry sponge. And he was sweating, way too much.

The Bahamian sun slowly peeked its way through the window into the bedroom where he lay sleeping on the floor. He was still fully dressed. The geckos began to chirp.

They make such an annoying sound, he decided as consciousness began to return.

He picked himself off the floor clumsily and stumbled into the bathroom to the toilet to relieve himself. He recoiled at the puke strewn all over the floor where he had missed the toilet the night before. Ignoring the smell, Connor drank forever from the sink trying to rehydrate himself. It was no use. Then he made his way to the front door.

He had arrived on the island late the day before. The President had called on the carrier and asked him where he wanted to go. The world was spinning by him. He did not feel part of his surroundings. He let go.

Connor told the president he wanted to go to his beach house on Eleuthera and be alone, so the president made it happen. He flew by helicopter from the USS Bataan direct to the island, landing on the road in front of his house. He didn’t even remember the flight, just bits and pieces. If the circumstances were not so depressing, he might have been amused.

He had immediately jumped in his truck and drove to the bar where he had met Kate. The memories were vivid. I miss her. He felt alone, completely alone. He had called his office and left instructions not to be disturbed for a while. It wouldn’t have mattered; the phone had been left at the house on purpose.

The emotional pain was intense. He had allowed himself to get close.

Never again, he vowed.

Maybe it was time to do something different, he thought. He had enough money. Did he need the stress of the markets anymore? The volatility was crazy the last few years. This was a young man’s game.

The question remained unanswered as he stared at the sea. The breaking of the waves along the beach provided a comforting rhythm.

He drank by himself at the bar. The locals knew well enough to leave him alone. They could tell he needed his privacy. Even the bartender gave him his distance.

Somehow he made it back to his villa. All he knew was he didn’t drive. The keys were left in his mailbox. His SUV was outside in the driveway.

Somebody took pity on me, he mused.

His head pounded as he made his way out of the house the next morning, but that pain paled in comparison to the sorrow in his heart.

“Tragedy strikes Connor again!” he cynically laughed as he made his way to the beach, tearing off his clothes as he walked. He lowered himself in the water and just floated face down, occasionally coming up for air. He was oblivious to the world.

 

 

 

Oval Office

 

 

President Walker picked up the phone once the red light started to flash, and he knew he was connected. He knew the Russian president spoke fluent English. He had advantages and disadvantages in this conflict with the Russian Federation. He hoped to play his cards right.

The Russian economy was stagnating. They had not learned the lessons of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Although, the Russian president was brilliant in allowing the public to have their own lives up to a point, which lessened the tensions and for the most part prevented outbursts of public anger, his government was still controlling the economy from the top down. A few well-placed incarcerations for life as well as the targeted murder of journalists or competitors for power made his point nicely. The people knew where the boundary lay.

Most important industries were under state control. This prevented the creation of new and important technologies. Entrepreneurship was limited by these policies. Corruption was rampant.

Since the severe depression in 2008, the economy grew very slowly and was highly dependent on energy, wheat, and other commodities. The concurrent global slowdown due to the overreaching of the Western welfare state exacerbated the problem. The Russian president could not afford a slowdown of his energy exports. They were the economy’s engine. They were what kept the people happy. They were what kept the peace internally. They were what kept him in power.

The Russian president was ruthless but also a pragmatist. President Walker was depending on this trait.

He listened for a moment and then spoke.

“Mr. President,” he began. President Walker was angry. He hoped that anger came through over the phone. “I don’t want to play around here. We both know what you have been doing. Please do not try to argue or deny it.”

There was silence on the other end then two words.

“Go on.” The accent and the coldness were unmistakable. There was no doubt who was on the other end of the line.

“You have been acting in concert with other countries to inflict damage to the economy of the United States.” President Walker waited but there was no response.

He continued.

“I want you to listen to me clearly. I also can inflict damage against the economy of your country. Yours is a resource-driven system, it is not very diversified. Your main export and the lifeblood of your economy is energy. Most of it is sent through pipelines into Eastern and Western Europe. These pipelines are very vulnerable. I can shut them down for a very long time. I can shut them down permanently. In fact you need to know the assets to accomplish this task are in place. All I need to do is make a phone call. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Mr. President, I believe we are,” the Russian president answered.

 

 

The designated sites were targeted for a long time. The Iranian regime was a thorn in the American side for decades now. From the occupation of the American embassy in Tehran, the Iranians were on a slow but deliberate march to destroy Israel and of course the Great Satan, the United States of America. They had achieved much in this quest. They had asserted themselves throughout the Middle East as a sponsor of terrorism and as a regional military power. They had built an atomic energy program with help from the Russians and others, which was on the verge of giving them a nuclear-armed capability.

The targets on the American military’s watch list in country had long been verified and reverified as conditions changed over the decades.

The president and the intelligence infrastructure felt they had very good information on where in Iran the nuclear materials and facilities were located. The question was really just what weapon to use to destroy them.

Several years before, the Central Intelligence Agency was very successful in sidelining the centrifuges used to enrich uranium in Iranian possession. They brilliantly inserted a computer virus that caused the devices to spin out of control and destroy themselves. This set the Iranian nuclear program back several years. In fact the Iranians were still dealing with the lingering effects from the problem.

In addition, the Israeli Mossad was effective in killing many of the scientists working on the Iranian program. But the program still existed and was very dangerous and close to being successful.

President Walker made it very clear to the secretary of defense and his general staff. In addition to their military capability, he wanted the Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed completely. He wanted options on how to do this and the probability of success with each.

There were twenty-five nuclear targets in all. All of them were hardened for years deep underground; the bunker walls were said to be sixty feet thick. Conventional weapons had a limited probability of success. The sites were very fortified. However, the president was determined not to leave a nuclear-capable Iran, so he left open the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons.

He was prepared to use them. They were fairly low tonnage and would be shaped to send the charge deep underground. The sites would be destroyed and the collateral damage would be minimal. Most of these sites were located away from major population centers anyway. To the president it was an easy choice. Kill or be killed. He had no doubt that as long as Iran was governed by an Islamist regime, bent on destroying the United States and Israel, they would continue to try to harm his country. Threats were no longer appropriate. They had drawn first blood.

There was the issue that the United States had signed a no-first-use treaty against countries that did not possess nuclear weapons. However, he did not care. If he had to use them, he would.

Indeed, he did not want to set a precedent regarding first use, so conventional warheads would be attempted. The United States was perfecting the art of bunker buster bombs for decades now. The technology was very far advanced. The military specifically developed conventional weapons for these targets. Each site would be struck multiple times under this method.

He had already moved multiple carrier battle groups into position. In addition, Air Force assets were on alert and being prepositioned as well.

He received the report from the Department of Defense on his options. He chose using conventional weapons against Iran to destroy their nuclear facilities. If they were not effective, then he would have to make another decision for follow-on attack. Then he knelt down by his desk and said a prayer.

 

 

 

Washington, D.C.

White House

 

 

President Walker was calm as he sat at his desk in the Oval Office. He was dressed in a dark gray suit with a red power tie. The flags were furled behind him. The lights showed bright. He looked very presidential. The Oval Office setting always gave its owner a sense of power no other competitor could match. It created instant respect. The president was counting on the seriousness of his intentions coming through.

The red light was flashing in front of him to his side, counting down the seconds. The teleprompter was ready. He knew what he was going to say, but his staff insisted on the teleprompter. He wasn’t going to use it. His press aid was counting the seconds down and mouthing them. “Three, two, one, go!”

He calmly looked into the camera and waited a few seconds, the suspense building. The networks were notified thirty minutes earlier he would be making a speech. No one knew what was happening. Reporters were still excitedly streaming into the briefing room.

“My fellow Americans,” he said calmly and somberly. “it is my duty to inform you that we have been attacked by a group of international powers. This attack did not come primarily in the form of military aggression, although you know of the Iranian conflict. This attack came in an economic form. There has been a coordinated effort to destroy the United States economy by raising interest rates to an unsustainable level and drive this country further into debt. We believe the Iranian aggression was part of this effort.”

The president paused again for effect.

After a few moments he spoke again.

“I consider this economic aggression an act of war.”

He let those words sink in.

“This effort was put forth by an alliance of nations, including China, Russia, and the Iranian Islamic regime. There are possibly others involved, but our intelligence has not confirmed those as yet.”

The gravity of the situation was starting to hit home. People across the world were mesmerized at the spectacle unfolding.

He continued.

“I have asked Congress to prepare a declaration of war on China, Russia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. If this aggression continues, the act will be passed into law.”

There was a gasp in the room.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to blockade the ports of Iran. I have placed our nuclear forces on DEFCON 3, and I have ordered the United States Air Force to obliterate the military capability of Iran. This is underway as we speak.”

They could hear a pin drop the room was so quiet. Even the reporters were speechless, not even writing in their notebooks.

“Since the action taken against us by China and Russia was not military but economic, I have ordered an economic response.”

Again he paused. The silence was deafening.

“I have ordered the United States Treasury to default on the debt owed to all three of these countries. We will not pay the interest or principal on these bonds.”

The reporters began texting furiously now on their iPads and smartphones.

“This amount is north of ten trillion U.S. Dollars. I have also put our missile defense system on high alert and have given an ultimatum to Russia and China. They will accept these terms peacefully, or I will shut down commerce between our nations and the Western world. Their export-driven economies will starve.

“The path here will be tough, it will be hard. However, maybe Americans will learn to make things again.”

“Good night and God bless the United States of America.”

 

 

 

Hong Kong

 

 

The top floor of the hotel was empty except for the staff and a few certain guests. It was a luxurious, expansive space mostly comprised of an open conference area. Glass walls all around gave an impressive view of the surrounding territory far below. Chinese artifacts adorned the walls.

They sat at a large, dark, wooden table overlooking Victoria Harbour and Kowloon Peninsula. The cargo ships and ferries made their way back and forth across the water to either side of the harbor, as they had for centuries. Skyscrapers dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see along the coastline. The city was a mass of steel and humanity. The hotel was one of the tallest on the shoreline, providing a vista to the entire metropolis.

As the men sat at the conference table, they did not notice the view outside; they were focused on the task at hand. Pleasantries were exchanged and then an awkward silence ensued.

“We moved too soon,” the Chinese representative finally said.

“President Walker has been stronger than we expected,” said the Russian.

The Chinese man spoke again, “We have been successful in raising the interest rates on America debt. Since the default, they have skyrocketed. We have increased their borrowing due to the conflict in Iran, but we have lost much wealth ourselves. We will now have to slow down our military strategy and rebuild our reserves. What we did not anticipate was the reaction of the American government. Again, I believe we moved too soon. The tiger still has teeth.”

“My country requests your help in dealing with the attacks from the Americans,” the Iranian minister noted. “We are fighting this battle alone.”

“And you will continue to fight it alone,” said the Russian. “We will not let ourselves be drawn further into this conflict. We will deny participation in this scheme to the entire world. They will believe us. We will wail and moan about the unfairness of the Americans. How they are using this conflict to default on their debt owed to the world. There will be a sympathetic reaction for all of us,” he said.

“We must now fall back and wait for another opportunity,” said the Chinese minister. “The Iranians must fend for themselves. Time is on our side. We will be patient and strike again when the time is right, whether it is next week or one hundred years from now. The Americans cannot keep vigilant and strong forever. It is not in their character.

“They cannot now access international markets. They still are spending too much. They have a huge deficit every year, forty percent of their budget. We can still destroy them economically.”

He leaned forward and spoke in a low threatening tone, “We will put pressure on them where they are weak. The weakness is in Europe.”

The Chinese minister, when finished speaking, folded his notebook and left the room.

 

 

Major Dan Carter was aware of the existence of the Russian S-300s in Iran. He was not worried. The electronic countermeasures on the B-2 bomber were robust. Only a select few were aware of how effective they were. Plus the plane was basically invisible to radar.

The B-2 program was started in the 1970s. In fact, President Carter found the program so highly promising that he canceled the B-1 program. President Reagan reinstated it a few years later.

Initially designed as a 129-member fleet, the program was so expensive, only twenty-one were produced. At almost a billion dollars a copy, to say the planes are very valuable was an understatement to the extreme. The aircraft were a national treasure.

The crews were rehearsing this mission for some time in the simulators. They knew the sequences inside and out. They knew the possible threats they could face during each phase of the mission and how to defeat them. The real thing was almost anticlimactic.

Almost.

His adrenaline was pumping, but he forced himself to be calm and follow his training. Mistakes were made when people were excited.

“This is gonna be a long one,” he said to himself as he strapped himself in to the cockpit. He adjusted his seat as he liked it so everything he would need was within reach. Then he accessed the checklist and began to turn on the aircraft.

Preflight checks were completed over the next hour, and all systems checked out fine. The time came for the mission to proceed. Final instructions were received from the chain of command. Engines were started. The wheels began to roll.

The Spirit of Georgia lifted off from the tarmac the airfield at her base in Missouri and glided into the air. She was one of fourteen aircraft taking off in flights of two on their way to Iran. It would be a thirty-hour plus mission, and although normally the B-2 carried a crew of two pilots, there were three on board currently. Therefore they could take turns at the controls while the other slept.

The mission would end up being over forty hours. It was a testament to the stamina of the aircrews that were highly trained for this task. It was also a testament to the magnificence of the aircraft and all of the other crews that supported her, in the air and on the ground. There were to be multiple refuelings in flight as well as air defense suppression and electronic warfare elements engaged before they arrived in-country.

Each B-2 was carrying two bunker buster, guided munitions. The thirty-thousand-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, was designed specifically to destroy deeply buried, hardened targets. That meant that each target would receive at least two rounds. If the first drop didn’t destroy the facility, the second or third one would. The most critical targets would receive special attention.

Five more aircraft waited on alert in Missouri and were loaded with nuclear weapons. They were the president’s back-up plan. He prayed he didn’t have to use them, but he couldn’t allow a nuclear-armed Iran.

 

The first hostile actions taken were a myriad of cruise missile launches from naval and air assets. Over five hundred rounds were fired the first evening. These were aimed at the air defense network and command and control systems of Iran. Ten percent of these were targeted at the leadership structure. The country’s air defenses had to be degraded in order to ensure air superiority over the target areas. That way, the bomber and ground attack aircraft could act with impunity.

The next phase consisted of concurrent targeting of Iran’s nuclear sites as well as energy assets, refineries to be exact. Although the country was awash with oil reserves, their refining capacity was minimal. This was their Achilles’ heel. All of the domestic refineries were to be disintegrated. Iran would now be totally dependent on imported refined products.

Therefore, all pipelines leading into Iran were also severed. In addition, the coastline was blockaded by the U.S. Navy. The goal was to bring the economy to its knees by starving the country of energy. This hopefully would lead to a populist revolt to remove the leadership, or what was left of it after the offensive. There had long been a simmering opposition to the clerics and their brutal dictatorial tactics. Now was the time to aid those parties and hopefully bring about a more reasonable and friendly government to the West.

 

Major Carter was back at the controls after a rest period and was tense as they crossed into Iran at high altitude. However, the crew was highly trained and professional. They were also combat hardened after being involved in multiple conflicts in the Middle East over the last decade. The entry was uneventful. They were feet dry.

It did not take long to reach their initial target and then their follow-on target. Their weapons were released as planned. Now it was up to the intelligence assets to conduct battlefield damage assessments and see if another round of attacks was needed.

“Now it’s Miller time,” Major Carter said over the intercom to the rest of the crew.

Upon leaving the country and over the water again, or feet wet, the crew relaxed somewhat. However, there was still much work to be done. Midair refuelings were a challenging exercise. He forced himself to stay alert and ahead of the airplane. He had to think of what was coming next and be mentally prepared.

The aircraft were not redeployed back to the United States. Instead they flew direct to an unknown forward operating base that was equipped to handle and maintain the B-2. This was a challenge in itself. Specially required facilities were needed to repair the radar-evading skin of the aircraft after each flight. There they rested as the aircraft were rearmed and readied for their next mission.

Javid Jafari was elated. He had done his job. He believed he was instrumental in leading his country to a different path, a path of democracy and freedom. If he needed to die in this effort, so be it. He was at peace.

He was educated in the West. He saw the prosperity that their lifestyle and economic system produced. He also was all too aware of the effects of totalitarianism and terror on his people and the pain and suffering it caused. The Iranian Revolution had been perverted. Islam had been perverted. It was a tool to maintain power. The regime’s barbarity was horrific; he could no longer look the other way.

The Persian people yearned to be free. They yearned to be able to return to the success of the distant past when they were a great kingdom and civilization.

That is why he had cooperated with the American CIA when they approached him several years ago to become a spy. Yes he gave them information and betrayed his government. But in his mind he was happy. He would die with a happy heart.

As an assistant to the supreme leader of Iran, he always knew his location. He always had access to highly sensitive information on the whereabouts of all of Iran’s leadership.

He was passing this information on to his handlers for years now. That is why he was overjoyed when the order was given to proceed to the hardened bunkers. He went with pleasure. He surmised his time on this Earth was almost over.

He didn’t hear the bomb coming. He didn’t expect it this early, but he never had time to worry about it. The bunker buster munitions from Major Carter’s B-2 obliterated the complex. Javid died with a smile on his face and peace in his heart.