Separation of Power (14 page)

The president turned around again and looked out the window. Kennedy felt for him. It would probably be aviators who would drop the bombs, but they were trained from day one of flight school to deal with it. Not the president. He was ultimately the one who would be ordering those people to their deaths. Kennedy feared that he was going through the hospital wondering how many children would be killed, how many mothers, fathers and grandparents. It was an ugly business they were in.

Without looking away from the window, the president shook his head and said, “You know, right now I really hate the Israelis for putting me in this position.”

Kennedy frowned at the president’s words. Emboldened by a career of making difficult decisions she said, “You don’t mean that, Mr. President.” When Hayes turned around she said, “The Israelis didn’t put this facility under a hospital. Saddam did. He is the one who has put those people in harm’s way. He’s the one who’s put us in this position.”

G
eneral Flood was traveling light, so as not to attract too much attention. He’d brought along only four aides, one each from the air force, the navy, the marines and the army. When the president and Kennedy entered the Situation Room, the five military men were arrayed around the far side of the table. Simultaneously, the warriors snapped to their feet.

“Good morning, gentlemen. Please be seated.” The president pulled out his leather chair at the head of the table and sat.

Michael Haik, the president’s national security advisor, arrived on their heels. He and Kennedy sat next to the president. The president’s chief of staff had not been invited to the meeting, and General Flood was very appreciative. He didn’t want the president to be distracted by Valerie Jones inserting political issues into the meeting. The task at hand was to apprise Hayes of his military options and give him a realistic estimate of the time it would take to move the right assets into position.

General Flood was seated opposite the president at the far end of the table. He was an imposing man at six feet four and almost 300 pounds. Flood leaned
forward, placed his forearms on the table and started. “Mr. President, as you have requested, my staff and I have prepared several contingencies for you. The first plan is one you are familiar with. Within minutes of you giving us authorization, we could launch a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles that would level the target. This plan has only one redeeming quality in my opinion. It guarantees us that we won’t lose any air crews.” Flood paused briefly. “We are also of the opinion that a strike with Tomahawks would not guarantee the destruction of the primary target.”

The president wasn’t sure what the general meant, so he asked, “Please elaborate?”

“Dr. Kennedy has provided us with satellite imagery that suggests a command- and control-type structure was created underneath the hospital. Tomahawks don’t work against these types of hardened targets. We would merely level the hospital and incur some collateral damage.”

“General,” growled the president with a look of disapproval on his face.

“I’m sorry, sir,” apologized the general, who had momentarily forgotten the president’s severe dislike of sterile military terms. “We would merely level the hospital and kill most, if not all, of the people inside. We would, of course, also run the risk of an errant Tomahawk hitting something other than the target, but depending on how many missiles we use in the attack the chances of that happening is somewhere in the neighborhood of five to ten percent.”

“What’s the next option?”

“The next one involves using F-117A stealth fighters
from the 48th Fighter Wing out of Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. These platforms would give us maximum stealth and the ability to deliver precision-guided munitions to the target. Our odds for success in taking out the nukes are much better, but still somewhat limited.”

“How so?” asked the president.

“To go after a hardened target like this we need to use penetration bombs. The weapons bays of the F-117s are limited as to the size of the bombs they can carry. The largest penetration bomb they can deliver is the GBU-27/B. It’s a good weapon, and in most cases I think it would suffice, but with this strike, sir,” Flood adopted an uneasy tone, “I’m afraid we’re only going to get one chance to take these things out.”

The president nodded. “I share your concerns, and agree that we are only going to get one chance at this. If we send in the stealth fighters, what are our odds for success?”

General Flood looked first to his left and then to his right. “We have some disagreement on what the number might be.” The general nodded to a man in a dark blue air force uniform.

“Mr. President, I’m Colonel Anderson. It is my opinion that a flight of four F-117s, each one armed with two of the twenty-one hundred pound GBU-27/B laser-guided paveway bombs, would be more than enough to destroy this target.”

“So you’re talking eight bombs.”

“That’s correct, sir.”

“And you’re confident that the nuclear devices will be destroyed.”

“I am, sir. This is the weapon we used on many of the hard targets during the Gulf War, such as aircraft shelters and command and control centers.”

“How confident?”

The colonel thought about it for a moment and replied, “Ninety percent, sir.”

The president wasn’t sure he liked the answer. He noticed that one of the general’s other aides was frowning in such a way that it was obvious he disagreed with his fellow warrior. The man was a marine, and Hayes noted the birds adorning his epaulets. He looked the officer in the eye and said, “Colonel, you seem to be in disagreement.”

Without hesitation the marine replied, “Yes, I am, sir.”

“What’s the problem with Colonel Anderson’s plan?”

The marine looked across the table at his friend and said, “I have a lot of respect for Colonel Anderson, but we are in disagreement as to what would be the more effective plan of action here. I don’t feel that a ninety percent success rate on this mission will cut it. If the stealth fighters don’t succeed in penetrating the bunker beneath the hospital all they will do is add a layer of rubble to the top of it, making the target even harder to penetrate if we need to conduct follow-up strikes.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“Are you familiar with Deep Throat, sir?”

The president was a little miffed by the question. The first thought that entered his mind was Watergate, quickly followed by the porno movie of the same
title. He decided it was best to say nothing, and simply shook his head.

“Deep Throat, sir, is the name for our super penetrator bomb, the GBU-28/B. Colonel Anderson is correct that the GBU-27/B was very successful against hardened airplane shelters and other low-level command and control centers, but it should be noted that the weapon was absolutely ineffective against Saddam’s big command and control centers.” The marine looked briefly at General Flood and then continued. “During the war the CIA located what they thought was Saddam’s main command bunker. It was at the al-Taji Airbase about twenty miles outside of Baghdad. Early in the air war we launched three separate sorties with F-117s carrying GBU-27/B laser-guided penetration bombs. We dropped over twenty bombs on the target, sir, and we barely put a dent in it.”

The F-117 strike was sounding less appealing by the minute to the president.

“We realized that if we ever wanted to get at Saddam and his generals we would need a bomb that could penetrate these superbunkers. The air force’s Air Armament Division was asked to find a solution, and do it quickly. In record time they came up with Deep Throat, a forty-seven-hundred-pound behemoth that was twice as long and twice as heavy as any other penetration bomb in our arsenal. It was so big, in fact, that the stealth fighter couldn’t carry it. The bomb was designated the GBU-28/B. On the last night of the war, sir, two F-111s took off from the Royal Saudi Air Force Base at Taif. They each
carried one GBU-28/B. The bombs were dropped from high altitude. One missed, and the other scored a direct hit.”

“What were the results?”

“All five of the bunker’s blast doors were blown off their hinges, sir. From the inside out.” The marine paused to let the president think about the destructive force. “The target was obliterated.”

“Who was in the bunker?”

“Dr. Kennedy can answer that question better than I can, sir.”

“Irene?”

“At least a dozen of his top generals, some of Saddam’s family members and a number of high-ranking politicians.”

The president momentarily reflected on how much easier his life would be if Saddam had been in the bunker on that night. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. “What would a bomb of this magnitude do to the hospital?”

“It would completely level it, sir,” answered the marine.

“What about the surrounding buildings?”

“The collateral damage—” the marine caught himself and said, “If we hit the target, the number of people killed in the surrounding buildings would be minimal.”

“And if we miss?”

“Whatever this bomb hits, sir, it will destroy.”

Hayes thought of the finality of such a statement and then said, “Taking into account the very real potential of missing the target, what are the odds for success if we use Deep Throat?”

“One hundred percent, sir. We can stack the sorties and bring them in two planes at a time at whatever staggered intervals are deemed appropriate. The targeting pods on the F-111s can give us real time imagery. We’ll know within seconds if the first sortie was successful or not. If it fails, we green light the second one and so on until we get it right.”

The president brought his left hand up and scratched his chin while he thought about these superbombs raining down on innocent civilians. He pushed the image from his mind and asked the obvious question. “Why would I go with the stealth fighters if at best you can only give me a ninety percent success rate?”

General Flood fielded the question. “If we use the stealth fighters, sir, and the smaller penetrating bombs, it is a relatively simple, low-risk operation. The number of assets involved is very manageable. The stealth fighters can get in, drop their bombs and be on their way out before the shooting starts. If we decide to use Deep Throat it changes the scope of the operation significantly. The F-111 is the most stable platform we have that is capable of carrying Deep Throat. As you know, the F-111 is not a stealth aircraft. That means we would have to launch a major attack against Iraqi radar and SAM installations to make sure we don’t lose one of the planes. An attack of this nature would involve navy and marine F-18s operating off the USS
Independence
in the Gulf, cruise missiles launched from the battle group, air force units operating out of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and it would also likely involve some units from the Joint Special Operations Command.”

“So we’d have to let a lot of people in on our secret?”

“No, not necessarily. We are constantly working these units up to conduct just this type of operation. We could wait until almost the last minute to hand down the target for the sortie of F-111s.”

“How much time do you need?”

The general hesitated for only a second. “If we’re up against the wall, we could get an attack under way in less than twenty-four hours, but I’d prefer to give my people a week to make sure all of our intelligence is up to date, and brief the air crews on a full list of targets.”

The president looked to Kennedy. “What do you think?”

Kennedy thought about the two options and said, “I think we should use Deep Throat.”

“What if Saddam gets wind that we’re getting ready to hit him?”

Kennedy shrugged her shoulders. “He expects us to hit him. Once a year we go in and clean out his SAM sites and a few industrial targets. Knowing Saddam, if he gets wind that we’re preparing to attack, he’ll slap himself on the back over how smart he was to hide his bombs under a hospital.” Kennedy shook her head. “He won’t move those bombs. He thinks they’re safe right where they are.”

“All right.” The president looked at his watch and then stood. The general’s four aides leapt out of their chairs, but before anyone else could get up Hayes told them to sit. “I have to run to another meeting.” Hayes looked at General Flood. “I want both of these
options on the table, and anything else you can think of. I want to be able to react quickly if we need to, so do whatever it takes to get these assets into position.” Looking to Kennedy, he said, “I want your people to get together with General Flood’s. Show them all of those photos, and try to give me a more definite answer as to whether or not we need to use Deep Throat.” Hayes turned to leave and then stopped at the door. “One more thing. No one is to mention this hospital as the target until I say so. If there are any leaks, heads will roll.”

W
hat to do with Donatella? The director general of Mossad sat amid a cloud of smoke in his office and wrestled with the question. She had been a great recruit, one of his best. Ben Freidman was not a disloyal man, but he, like almost everyone else, had his price, and $500,000 was a lot of money. It would be a welcome addition to his personal pension plan. Freidman saw nothing wrong with taking money, as long as what he was asked to do didn’t go against the interests of Israel. He wasn’t so pure as to not take financial advantage of the significant power that he wielded.

On the flight back from America, he had struggled with the dilemma of killing Donatella. Senator Clark wanted her dead, and he was willing to pay a lot of money. Besides, Freidman had to admit that the specter of Mitch Rapp finding out that he was involved with the good senator from Arizona made his skin crawl. Having Rapp mad at you was not a good thing. Freidman did not relish what he must do, but there was no doubt that the right thing to do was wipe out the trail.