Portions of the 82nd were already airborne, heading first to Incirlik and then on to Erbil. The experts all figured that was far enough outside of the combat zone to act as a forward base and, as my own history with the 82nd showed, you really prefer to land and go into combat as a unit, rather than jump in. They wouldn’t be on the ground until tomorrow. Meanwhile, the pre-loaded trains in Germany would be moving, and heading towards Istanbul, and then east into Turkey and to the Kurdish border. The Army had some pre-positioning ships with an equipment load for an armored division at Diego Garcia, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and they were being sortied and convoyed up through the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal, and then north across the Med to Turkey. That, however, like any reinforcement from the States, would take weeks, at best.
So, for the moment, we were looking at an infantry heavy response. In addition to the 82nd, most of the Rangers and Special Forces types at Bragg would be heading over, as soon as transport was lined up. Further, we could send in the 173rd, an airmobile brigade in Italy. Fortunately, we had beefed up the purchases of transport aircraft, specifically C-130s and C-17s. They might not be as sexy as invisible fighters and bombers, but boy are they necessary — and a hell of a lot cheaper! Regardless, we were going to be infantry-heavy at first, with armor assets and the 101st coming in piecemeal later.
To a certain extent, that’s what I told the Congressional leadership that afternoon. I met with them in a conference room in the White House, and it was a long afternoon. From the Senate I was faced with Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Dick Durbin, and out of the House I had Denny Hastert, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, and Steny Hoyer. Roy Blunt was the House Majority Whip, but he was out of town. “Gentlemen — and you too, Nancy — I have some disturbing news to tell you all. First, let me ask, are all of you, or any of you for that matter, familiar with what has been happening in Kurdistan for the last few years?”
I received a number of blank looks, and an equal number of ‘Yes, of course!’ comments from people who couldn’t find Kurdistan with a GPS and a guide dog. That didn’t surprise me one bit. We are a people with almost no knowledge of anything outside the borders. “Well, let me just explain that Kurdistan is centered on the northern no-fly zone in Iraq. As you can imagine, the place is filled with Kurds, who are not Arabs. Anyway, Saddam Hussein and the Iraqis hate the Kurds, and vice versa. The only thing keeping the Iraqis from killing the Kurds has been our no-fly zone.”
“We have troops there, too, don’t we?” asked Denny.
“Yes, and that’s why I called you here. For the last few years, we have had small groups of Special Forces teams working with the Kurds, training them and familiarizing them with us and so forth. We tightened up the no-fly zone, too, so Hussein can’t go after them with his gunships. For all intents and purposes, the Kurds are independent of Baghdad, and have been working on commercial deals with Turkey. For one thing, they have a lot of oil, and the Turks are building a pipeline into northern Iraq to buy it from them. We also have a number of American oil companies making deals over there.”
“So, we have an interest in Kurdistan, but what’s gone wrong?” asked my old buddy John Boehner.
“For several weeks now we have been monitoring an increase in Iraqi military activity, activity that could be construed as preparations for an attack into Kurdistan. We have been talking to all our allies over there, and trying to get the word to Hussein to back down. It didn’t work. This morning the Iraqis began a heavy armored assault into Kurdistan. They are also using chemical weapons. There have already been American casualties among the embedded troops we have there.”
As soon as I said the words ‘chemical weapons’ everybody began talking! The questions ranged from ‘What type?’ to ‘How many are dead?’ and always included ‘How come you let this happen?!’ and ‘Why weren’t we told!?’ I let them go for a couple of minutes and then held up my hands. They began to settle down.
“Thank you. You can all start pointing fingers later. We have been trying to defuse this without escalating it into combat, but Saddam Hussein doesn’t care. We did not know about the chemical weapons. It doesn’t matter right now. Early this morning we had a meeting of the National Security Council. We have been preparing for this possibility for weeks now. Earlier today I gave the Execute order to make a military response. I have ordered our armed services to begin attacking a wide range of Iraqi targets, and we will have troops in Kurdistan by sometime tomorrow. Tonight I will go on television and tell this to the American people.”
There were some stunned faces in the room, but some angry ones, too. Harry Reid was the Majority Leader in the Senate, and he demanded, “Why haven’t we been told this before?”
“Tell you what, Harry? The attack occurred in the middle of the night last night. What do you think I’m doing now? I’m telling you!” I responded.
“You have been preparing for war!? You didn’t think the American public had a right to know this!?” he pushed.
“No, not particularly. The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines spend their entire time preparing for war. It’s what they do. How they do it, that we keep secret.”
“Mister President, you have an obligation to tell Congress and the American people when you put American troops in harm’s way!”
“Maybe so, Senator, but I also have an obligation to those troops, and to their wives and husbands and mothers and fathers and sons and daughters, and that obligation is a whole lot more important to me than whatever obligation you have to the fine folk in Las Vegas. I can keep my mouth shut a whole hell of a lot easier than some of your counterparts, so I sleep easy at night if I don’t tell Congress everything we are doing!” I answered.
There were some angry looks at that! How dare I tell them that Congressmen and Senators couldn’t keep a secret!? How insulting! Of course, if I had said anything to them, it would have made the evening news that day, but only from the highest of motives, I am sure.
Denny Hastert decided to play the peacemaker. “Okay, Carl, that’s beside the point. What have you authorized and what is the plan?”
I nodded in thanks, and gave them a more detailed rundown on what would be happening, and a semi-accurate timetable. I also cautioned them all to keep their mouths shut for the next 24 hours. Nancy Pelosi responded, “Is that really possible, Mister President? Right now you have issued alert orders to half the military, and there are troops flying out of Fort Bragg as we speak!”
I opened my mouth to counter her, and then shut it. She was right! “Nancy, that is a very good point. It’s probably already made it onto CNN, hasn’t it?” I smiled and shook my head. “Well, I will speak tonight to the nation and make it official.”
“How long will this last, sir, and what is the outcome you want?” asked Bill Frist. He was a heart surgeon who ended up a Senator, sort of like a mathematician who ended up a Congressman.