Executive orders - Tom Clancy [101]
Iran would move, because Iran had been moving for years. The religion systematized by Mohammed had spread from the Arabian Peninsula to Morocco in the west and the Philippines in the east, and with the evolution of the modern world was represented in every nation on earth. Iran had used its wealth and its large population to become the world's leading Islamic nation, by bringing in Muslim clergy to its own holy city of Qom to study, by financing political movements throughout the Islamic world, and by funneling weapons to Islamic peoples who needed help-the Bosnian Muslims were a case in point, and not the only one.
Anschluss, Scott Adler thought aloud. Prince Ali just looked over and nodded.
Do we have any sort of plan to help prevent it? Jack asked. He knew the answer. No, nobody did. That was the reason the Persian Gulf War had been fought for limited military objectives, and not to overthrow the aggressor. The Saudis, who had from the beginning charted the war's strategic objectives, had never allowed America or her allies even to consider a drive to Baghdad, and this despite the fact that with Iraq's army deployed in and around Kuwait, the Iraqi capital had been as exposed as a nudist on a beach. Ryan had remarked at the time, watching the talking heads on various TV news shows, that not a single one of the commentators remarked that a textbook campaign would have totally ignored Kuwait, seized Baghdad, and then waited for the Iraqi army to stack arms and surrender. Well, not everyone could read a map.
Your Highness, what influence can you exercise there? Ryan inquired next.
In practical terms? Very little. We will extend the hand of friendship, offer loans-by the end of the week we will ask America and the U.N. to lift sanctions with an eye to improving economic conditions, but
Yeah, but, Ryan agreed. Your Highness, please let us know what information you can develop. America's commitment to the Kingdom's security is unchanged.
Ali nodded. I will convey that to my government.
NICE, PROFESSIONAL JOB, Ding observed, catching the enhanced instant replay. 'Cept for one little thing.
Yeah, it is nice to collect the paycheck before your will is probated. Clark had once been young enough and angry enough to think in such terms as the shooter whose death he'd just seen repeated, but with age had come circumspection. Now, he'd heard, Mary Pat wanted him to try again for a White House appearance, and he was reading over a few documents. Trying to anyway.
John, ever read up on the Assassins? Chavez asked, killing the TV with the remote.
I saw the movie, Clark replied without looking up.
They were pretty serious boys. They had to be. Using swords and knives, well, you have to get pretty close to do the job. Decisively engaged, like we used to say in the 7th Light. Chavez was still short of his master's degree in international relations, but he blessed all the books that Professor Alpher had forced him to read. He waved at the TV. This guy was like one of them, a two-legged smart bomb-you self-destruct, but you take out the target first. The Assassins were the first terrorist state. I guess the world wasn't ready for the concept back then, but that one little city-state manipulated a whole region just 'cuz they could get one of their troops in close enough to do the job on anybody.
Thanks for the history lesson, Domingo, but-
Think, John. If they could get close to him, they can get close to anybody. Ain't no pension plan in the dictator business, y'know? The security around him is, like, real, real tight-but somebody got a shooter in close and blew him into the next dimension. That's scary, Mr. C.
John Clark continually had to remind himself that Domingo Chavez was no dummy. He might still speak with an accent-not because he had to, but because it was natural for him to; Chavez, like Clark, had a gift for language-and he might still interlace his speech with terms and grammar remembered from his days as an Army sergeant, but God damn if he wasn't the quickest learner John had ever met. He was even learning to control