Executive orders - Tom Clancy [541]
That's right, the reporter answered crossly, pulled away from his breakfast table, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt.
FBI. Would you come with me, sir? We have to talk to you about some things.
Am I under arrest? the TV personality demanded.
Only if you want to be, Mr. Donner, the agent told him. But I need you to come with me, right now. You won't need anything special, except your wallet and ID and stuff, she added, handing over a surgical mask in a plastic container.
Fine. Give me a minute. The door closed, allowing Donner to kiss his wife, get a jacket, and change shoes. He emerged, put the mask on, and followed the agent to her car. So what is this all about?
I'm just the limo service, she said, ending the morning's conversation. If he was too dumb to remember that he was a member of the press pool pre-selected for Pentagon operations, it wasn't her lookout.
THE BIGGEST MISTAKE the Iraqis made in 1990 was logistics, Admiral Jackson explained, moving his pointer on the map. Everybody thinks it's about guns and bombs. It isn't. It's about fuel and information. If you have enough fuel to keep moving, and you know what the other guy's doing, chances are you'll win. The slide changed on the screen next to the map. The pointer moved there next. Here.
The satellite photos were clear. Every tank and BMP laager was accompanied by something else. A large collection of fuel bowsers. Artillery limbers were attached to their trucks. Blowups showed fuel drums attached to the rear decks of the T-80 tanks. Each contained fifty-five gallons of diesel. These greatly increased the tank's vulnerability to damage, but could be dropped off by flipping a switch inside the turret.
No doubt about it. They're getting ready to move, probably within the week. We have the 10th Cavalry in place in Kuwait. We have the 11th and the First Brigade of the North Carolina National Guard moving now. That's all we can do for the moment. It won't be till Friday at the earliest that we can cut any more units loose from the quarantine.
And that's public information, Ed Foley added.
Essentially, we're deploying one division, a very heavy one, but only one, Jackson concluded. The Kuwait military is fully in the field. The Saudis are spinning up, too.
And the third brigade depends on getting the MPS ships past the Indian navy, Secretary Bretano pointed out.
We can't do that, Admiral DeMarco informed them. We don't have the combat power to fight our way through.
Jackson didn't reply to that. He couldn't. The acting Chief of Naval Operations was his senior, despite what he thought of him.
Look, Brucie, Mickey Moore said, turning to look right at him, my boys need those vehicles, or the Carolina Guard is gonna be facing an advancing enemy mechanized force with side arms. You blue-suits been telling us for years how ballsy those Aegis cruisers are. Put up or shut up, okay? By this time tomorrow, I'll have fifteen thousand soldiers at risk.
Admiral Jackson, the President said. You're Operations.
Mr. President, without air cover-
Can we do it or can't we? Ryan demanded.
No, DeMarco replied. I won't see ships wasted that way. Not without air cover.
Robby, I want your best judgment on this, Secretary Bretano said.
Okay. Jackson took a breath. They have a total of about forty Harriers. Nice airplanes, but not really high-performance. The escorting force has a total of maybe thirty surface-to-surface missiles. We don't have to worry about a gunfight. Anzio currently carries seventy-five SAMs, fifteen Tomahawks, and eight harpoons. Kidd has seventy SAMs, and eight Harpoons. O'Bannon isn't a SAM ship. She just has point-defense weapons, but she has Harpoons, too. The two frigates that just joined up have about twenty SAMs each. Theoretically, they can fight through.
It's too dangerous, Jackson! You don't send a surface force against a carrier group by itself, ever!
What if we shoot first? Ryan asked. That caused heads to turn.
Mr. President. It was DeMarco again. We don't do that. We're not even sure that they are hostile.
The ambassador thinks