“Agreed,” Jackson added. “In the off chance we get followed I don’t want to jeopardize either of them and blow their cover. Say, I haven’t had a chance to ask Tamir this yet, but have you heard on how things are going in southern Lebanon? The IDF’s been in there for more than a month now,” Jackson continued.
“From what I understand, things are going pretty good. Beirut’s always a nasty business but southern Lebanon is pretty much cleared out. I can actually see us annexing the area south of Sidon to Mt Hermon, much the same way we have treated the Golan Heights,” she replied. “This area used to be Asher and Naphtali in the ancient kingdom, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if we hang on to this territory.”
“Really? Is there much sense in Israel today to try and restore everything from the Old Testament kingdom?”
“There is a significant minority of us that would like to see the ancient kingdom restored.”
“Of us?” Jackson asked.
“Definitely. You know of my interest in our history and that I’d love to see the Temple rebuilt. Historically, the tribes of Asher and Naphtali settled up there so I’d like to see us keep it. Actually, there’s three tribes that still claim their lineage back to the ancient Kingdom: Benjamin, Judah, and Levi. With your government’s action in both Iraq and now Iran, we finally have the opportunity to solidify our borders. Syria no longer presents the same issue they have in the past: they’re in the middle of a nasty civil war, the Russians are gone, plus, ISIS continues to be a huge issue for them. With all this going on, there’s no one to keep us from hanging on to it, so yeah, I’d like to see us keep it, much as we have the Golan.”
“Just how much of the ancient kingdom are you talking about? If I remember correctly, didn’t Solomon’s kingdom extend clear up to the Euphrates? That would include large swaths of both Syria and Jordan.”
“That’s correct, both David and Solomon extended the kingdom up to the Euphrates and it included all of the Sinai as well.”
“You realize, that would redraw the entire map of the Middle East?” Jackson asked. “I mean Jordan would have something to say about that, as would the Saudis.”
“Like that hasn’t been done before?” Dani replied, clearly on a roll. “Ever hear of Sykes & Picot? You know, the British and French foreign ministers who literally carved up the Middle East after World War I? You see, if Israel is ever going to have secure borders, we need to expand. You realize that if you do not consider the West Bank as part of Israel, the narrowest point of the country is only nine miles wide. Think about that — nine miles wide! How secure can any country be when there is a section of the country that is that narrow? What other country has an issue like that? Even Belgium, for all the trouble they had with Germany in the two world wars, is larger than this.”
“I hear ya. I just never realized you were this passionate about reviving the ancient kingdom.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an ardent imperialist, or Zionist — I despise that term, by the way — I just want what every other citizen wants for their own country — security.”
“And reviving David’s kingdom would do that?”
“Most definitely.”
“What about Hezbollah?” Jackson asked.
“What about ‘em?” Dani replied. “You’ve taken out Iran, Russia’s been unceremoniously kicked out of the region, and Syria’s a mess. At this point, they’re pretty much irrelevant.”
“You don’t see Hezbollah joining up with ISIS?”
“No way,” Dani replied. “Hezbollah literally got all of its weapons from Iran, via Syria. Now that Iran is out of the picture, Syria is their only remaining ally, and you can bet at the very least, Russia will be stepping in to replace Iran as their primary weapons supplier. Also, remember, up until now anyway, the Palestinians have maintained a geographic focus — meaning they want to push all of us Israelis into the sea. ISIS is a very fundamentalist Islamic organization focused almost entirely on their very radical interpretation of the Koran and the expansion of their caliphate, and Palestine plays a very small, almost insignificant, part of this.”
“Well, I hope you’re right. Hezbollah and ISIS getting together would be a disaster.”
“Again, I don’t see that happening. Russia stepping in to replace Iran is the bigger issue. However, on the subject of disasters, do you really still have nukes up at Incirlik?” Dani asked.
“Yeah, I think we do. The Air Force doesn’t base a single plane at the base but it remains the largest weapons storage area for all of the US Air Force in Europe. We’ve had nukes there for years and it makes no sense. Personally, I think it’s gotten to be more of a political deal than anything. I mean, we have several bases throughout Europe where we have active squadrons and the base facilities to store these things: Lakenheath in England, Spangdahlem in Germany and Aviano in Italy, just to name three bases where we could house them — and the planes are right there. At Incirlik, should something really hit the fan, planes from one of these bases in Europe would have to land there, refuel, load up and then proceed to their target. From a logistical standpoint, it’s pretty absurd. The only thing that makes sense is the politics of it all, if playing politics with nukes can be said to make sense in the first place. I’m guessing that the US administration, after the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, chose to leave ‘em there as a token of support for the Turkish president. Pretty stupid if you ask me.”
“I’d have to agree with you on that point,” agreed Dani. “I know all of these have a PAL,” that is a Permissive Action Link which is designed to prevent unauthorized arming and detonation of a nuclear weapon, “but depending on the type of PAL — early versions were simply designed for safety, not security — if the wrong bomb with an earlier PAL fell into the wrong hands, the threat level increases dramatically. Weapons with an earlier version, and by that I mean one even from the 1980’s, stand an even chance of being reverse engineered. Admittedly, the PAL makes it so someone can’t make immediate use of the weapon, but, in the right hands, reverse engineering one of these things wouldn’t be that difficult at all.”
“Said the nuclear engineer,” Jackson added.
“Well it wouldn’t be. Think about it: when you were growing up, did you ever take anything apart and then have to put it back together again?”
“Oh, yeah, many times. I think I told you I grew up in San Angelo, Texas. Our family actually had a cattle ranch out there along with quite a few acres of farm land. When our equipment broke down out in the field, there was no one to call for help — you had to fix it yourself.”
“That’s what I mean. If one of these nukes falls into the wrong hands, how soon do you think it would take a North Korean nuclear engineer to get his hands on the thing? He’d be looking at it tomorrow and have it figured out the next day. Keeping these things at Incirlik is just insane.”
“Dani, you’re preaching to the choir.”
XX
“Eric,” Crown Prince ibn Saud started out, “last night you said something about an arms agreement similar to what you offered the Qataris, only cheaper.”
“That’s correct, Your Royal Highness. We offered them seventy-two F-15s for something like $12 billion. Several years ago, you purchased eighty-four of the jets that were a part of a $24 billion package. How would you feel if we offered you another seventy-two of the jets, for two-thirds the cost? It would essentially be the same deal that we offered the Qataris for only $8 billion instead. Plus, you’d have the most up to date version of the Eagles — we don’t even have this advanced version in our inventory.”