“Just like that? What are you doing?” she pressed.
I stopped in the bathroom door and faced her, trying to smile. “I have to take a shower and get dressed. I’ll just be downstairs. Don’t worry. We’re fine and the kids are fine. I just have to go be Presidential for awhile.” I turned back and stripped off my robe and pants. I didn’t need my wife to worry that I was getting our country involved in a war where people were using weapons of mass destruction.
That’s what it was, of course. Mustard gas was a chemical weapon, part of the unholy trinity of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. For years our country had active programs in all three areas, but we had renounced chemical and biological weapons for quite some time. Personally, with my previous life experience as a chemist, nerve gas and the other gasses just scared the living hell out of me. A thimbleful of Sarin was enough to kill everybody in a small town or city, and we and the Russians didn’t have just thimblefuls, we had warehouses of this stuff spread around the world! The U.S. had been destroying it, as had Russia, but there was still some around.
Mustard gas was a blister agent, and dated back to World War I. It was nasty shit, and exposure can cause huge pus filled painful blisters on any exposed skin. It can also cause blindness and, if inhaled, can totally fuck up your lungs. Even better, if it doesn’t kill you, it can cause cancer. The only really good thing about mustard gas is that it isn’t incredibly lethal, unless you are breathing the shit straight. It mostly incapacitates the enemy, and overloads whatever medical support they have. It is persistent, so normally you can’t enter the area for days or weeks after an application. Civilians, especially children and the elderly, are much more susceptible to mustard gas. Casualties would be very, very high.
More to the point, when the United States forswore using chemical or biological weaponry, part of the evil bargain was that we classed them with nuclear weapons, and proclaimed them equally evil. If you used them, we would retaliate with nukes. This was the first time since the First World War that anybody had used chemical weapons on American troops, and as sure as death and taxes, there would be calls for me to nuke Baghdad.
It was closer to twenty minutes before I made it out of the bathroom, and while I had shaved, I was only wearing khakis and a sport shirt and some loafers. Marilyn was still up, and had a glass of juice ready. I was tempted to tell her I would get something downstairs, but she was too worried. I smiled and drank my juice, and then gave her a big hug. “It will be fine. You should go back to bed. I’ll talk to you later.” With that I headed back out again.
I arrived back in the Situation Room and was still the only member of the NSC which had arrived, but that was only because I happened to live on the premises. I was promptly informed that everyone had been contacted and was either en route, or not available. Eric Shinseki was currently in Tel Aviv, meeting with Ehud Olmert, the new Prime Minister. Ariel Sharon had suffered an almost mortal stroke in January, and was now pretty much a vegetable.
I sat down at the end of the table, facing the big display screen. “Are there any changes? Are we sure they are using chemical weapons?” I asked.
Lieutenant Colonel Parker was still there, and was cueing up a map of northern Iraq. “Yes, sir. There is no question about it. We managed to get through to one of the A-teams, and the exec confirmed it. They took both high explosive and chemical rounds, and he confirmed the presence of mustard gas. Casualties have mostly been from the HE, but mustard gas can take up to 24 hours to show the symptoms. Still, he confirmed that gas rounds landed and the characteristic smell is present, and that skin blistering is beginning.”
I nodded. I picked up the phone and reached the switchboard. “I need to speak to the Prime Minister of Israel as soon as possible. If he’s in a meeting, ask somebody to break in. If that doesn’t work, get the Ambassador or General Shinseki to break down the doors over there. Thank you.” I hung up the phone. It was doubtful that the Prime Minister wouldn’t take my call, but he might have been occupied or something.
Vice President McCain was the first person to arrive, followed closely by Frank Stouffer. “What’s going on, Carl? Is it Iraq?”
I nodded. “Yes, and they are using mustard gas,” I answered.
John’s eyes opened wide at that, though Frank didn’t really react. He might not realize just how nasty the stuff was, and how bad a situation this was. Before John had a chance to ask me anything further, Condi Rice came in, dressed about as informally as the rest of us were. “Mister President?” she started, just as the phone in front of me rang.
I looked at the light bird. “Colonel, drag them down there and tell them what you’ve told me so far. I have to take this.” The colonel motioned them to the other end of the room, and I picked up the phone. I stuck my left index finger in my left ear to drown out the babble around me, and held the phone up to my right ear. “Hello?”
“Mister President, this is Ehud Olmert speaking. You asked to speak to me?”
“Thank you for taking my call, Mister Prime Minister. I apologize, I truly do, but this is very important.”
“Of course. How can Israel help you, sir?”
“Mister Prime Minister,”, I started. “As I am sure General Shinseki has informed you, the United States intends to help defend the Kurds against an Iraqi attack. That attack has just begun, and it is our intention to respond. The response will begin within a matter of hours. Now, the last time the international community went to war with Iraq, in 1991, Hussein responded by firing missiles at your nation. We are very worried that he might do the same at this time, and I must inform you, sir, that he has already used poison gas against both Kurdish and American troops and civilians.”
I could hear him inhale sharply at that. Israel is a small country, roughly the size of New Jersey, but with a bit smaller population. Unfortunately for them, everybody in the Middle East hated them and wanted them exterminated, and everybody had some sort of weaponry that could reach them. Only the fact that they had an overwhelming conventional weaponry superiority, plus nuclear weapons, kept their enemies at bay. When Hussein fired his Scud missiles at them in 1991, the intention was to draw them into the fray, and thus break up the Coalition. If he fired chemical rockets at the Israelis, there was a very good chance that Baghdad would disappear in a nuclear fireball.
After a second, he responded, “That is a most serious claim, Mister President. Are you sure on this?”
“We already have battlefield reports, sir. I am sure that with your extensive intelligence sources, you will be able to verify this in very short order.”
“If this is true, Mister President, it is a most grave and serious matter,” he said slowly.
In diplo-speak, the phrasing used by diplomats, the word ‘grave’ is used only in the most dangerous and serious of circumstances. If one nation tells another that there will be grave repercussions to an action, it means there will be a war.
“That is why I am calling you. My nation realizes that yours is uncomfortably close to Iraq, and that there may be an attempt to draw yours into this affair. It is our sincerest hope that you refrain from any such response,” I told him.
“What is your current intention, sir?”
“We will be beginning a military response shortly, certainly by the end of the day. We intend to bring the full weight of our military to bear to defend an ally, just as we would do with any other ally in the area.” ‘Just like we would do with you’ was left unsaid.
“And if Hussein were to repeat his past history by launching missiles at Israel,” he pushed.
“While we certainly would understand Israel’s desire to respond, I have to be honest and say that it might not be helpful. On previous occasions you have held off on retaliation, and that worked best for everybody.”