I scratched my head. "But no chemical warheads?"
An Air Force major piped up at that. "No, sir.", he said. "We are seeing no chemical signatures, and all intelligence and BDA is pointing to conventional HE warheads."
I turned to face him. "Why not? Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but they have chemical weapons, and Hussein has proved any number of times that he doesn't mind using them."
"I don't think he can, sir. I did a brief tour at the Aberdeen Proving Ground and learned some about them. Chemical agents are actually pretty nasty stuff. They are toxic, corrosive, volatile – you just don't want to mess with them. The best way to use them is actually by airplane. You rig up planes like giant crop dusters, like we did with Agent Orange in Viet Nam. They called it Operation Ranch Hand. However, the planes are easy to shoot down, and it isn't exactly secret. The next easiest way is to load them into artillery shells, which is what they have been doing. The toughest is to load them into a missile. It's hard enough to shoot missiles, and figuring out how to disperse the chemicals when they get there is tough. The payloads are small. The only chemical payload worth doing, I was told, is nerve gas, and they either don't have it or aren't using it."
"Huh. Makes sense, I guess." I had never really learned too many of the details on this stuff. Yes, we had some training back at Artillery Officer's School, but you really don't get more than an intro. Nasty shit! "Is the Vice President still in Ankara? I am going to have to talk to him" I had sent John McCain to Ankara yesterday to talk to Erdogan and hold his hand. That was looking prescient right now.
"Yes, sir. It is 0340 Ankara time."
I picked up the phone and asked to speak to the Vice President, and then hung up. They would track him down half way around the world. "How are they doing this?", I asked.
"Mobile launchers. During the Gulf War they had some in silos, but they were too easy for us to target. Mobile launchers at night. They have them hidden in a barn, then just drive them out, set them up, and launch. After that they go back into the barn and reload."
I grunted an acknowledgement. The phone rang at that and I picked it up. "Hello?"
"Carl, it's John McCain. You've heard about the rocket attack?"
"That's why I'm calling. How bad is it?", I asked him.
"Terrible! One missile slammed directly into a hospital in downtown Adana. What the explosion didn't destroy is now on fire. There are going to be hundreds dead!", he reported.
"Oh, crap! John, you need to talk to Erdogan. Tell him we are sorry and promise that we will help with rebuilding the hospital. Promise your children if you have to! If he forces us out, it is game over!"
"Carl, I am meeting with the Prime Minister right now. He is furious with the Iraqis! He wants to talk to you.", replied McCain.
My eyebrows rose at that. "Put him on." As I said this, Condi Rice and Tom Ridge came in. They must have been called as well. I pointed them towards the colonel and mimed that she was to brief them. Then I turned my attention back to my phone.
"I'm handing the phone to the interpreter, Carl."
I nodded. This was not the usual method, where we had mutual interpreters and so forth. We just didn't have the time. After a moment of fumbling around, I was greeted, "President Buckman?",
"Prime Minister Erdogan, thank you for talking to me. I have just heard about the attack on your hospital, sir. You have my sympathies and those of my entire country. This is a horrible action. I promise to help you rebuild it, sir, even better than before."
"Thank you, President Buckman, but that is not why I asked to speak to you. I have been talking to your Vice President McCain, and wish to offer our help. Saddam Hussein, he is..." Suddenly there was a vitriolic attack from the background that I couldn't understand. It seemed that Turkish was a fine language to cuss in! After a moment, the translator continued, "Saddam Hussein is a mad dog and a monster who must be stopped!"
"Your assistance will be most welcome, sir. I am not qualified to tell you what needs to be done, but I will have our generals talk to your generals and we will figure this out. Is that acceptable?"
"Yes, yes, of course. We will kill this animal! What he does is an abomination against Allah! My entire country is repulsed by this attack!"
"I couldn't agree more, sir. After this is over, I hope to make a visit. I would like to meet with you, and certainly to help with the reconstruction of the hospital. I hope that will be possible."
"Yes, yes, of course!"
There was some fumbling on the other end, and then I had John McCain back. "Carl, it's me again. Erdogan is simply furious over this."
"John, I have Tom and Condi here, and I think they are trying to get Pace on the phone. Stick around over there. I don't know what is going to play out, but this is a big help. We'll get back to you, and probably sooner than later."
"Roger that!"
We hung up and I looked over at my Secretaries of State and Defense. "Okay, now you know as much as I do. I just spoke to John McCain and Prime Minster Erdogan. Erdogan is royally pissed at the Iraqis and has offered to begin assistance. As in combat assistance, not just letting us use the air base at Incirlik!"
Tom gave a low whistle and smiled, and Condi said, "Well done, Mister President!"
"Don't thank me, thank John. When I called him, he was already meeting with Erdogan. Anyway, you need to fill in the various ambassadors, and talk to Eric in Tel Aviv. Tom, you need to get together with Pace and figure this out. What can the Turks add to this?"
At that point the phone rang, and somebody announced it was Prime Minister Olmert from Israel. That was not a surprise. As the others watched and listened, I picked up the phone. "Prime Minister Olmert, this is Carl Buckman. Thank you for calling me. If you hadn't called me, I was certainly going to call you."
"Mister President, I assume you have heard that Saddam Hussein has decided to attack the peaceful state of Israel."
So much for pleasant chit chat. "Yes, Mister Prime Minister, I am quite aware of this. I was just talking to our mutual friends in Ankara. They have also been targeted, and they have taken serious casualties."
"We have heard that as well, and you may give them our sympathies, but that is not why I called. I know that your Ambassador and your General Shinseki have been asking that Israel not respond to this provocation, but I assure you, our forbearance will not last forever. You need to do something about this, or we will!"
"I understand your concerns, and I can promise that we will redouble our efforts to stop these attacks.", I said.
"I must tell you, sir, that I have talked this over with my advisers, and we are agreed that if that mad dog uses chemical weapons against the state of Israel, we will have to make a response, and it will be most grave indeed."
Well, that was blunt enough! "I understand your concern, and I will take it up with my advisers. Please, allow us to see what we can do first, to end this threat."
"Good day, Mister President." He hung up on me, and I winced.
"That didn't sound very good.", commented Tom Ridge.
I grimaced. "No, not at all. He pretty much stated that if they get hit with chemical weapons Iraq is going to turn into a radioactive hole in the ground." Nobody else looked like they enjoyed that prospect either.
Before I could discuss it further, it was announced that General Pace was on the speakerphone. "General, thank you for calling. Before we get too far along, let me ask you something. Hussein launched some missiles last night at Israel, just like in the Gulf War. Can we stop them? What can we do? The Israelis are not amused!"