Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [170]
“Yes, they have, and for added security, we’ve established a two-hundred-meter buffer zone between any holy site and point of military action. Our commanders will be briefed thoroughly on the importance of avoiding any incident that would provoke or offend the Saudi people. Likewise, we will not be targeting infrastructure like bridges, roads, or power stations needed to support the economy after the war. Our goal is to wipe out Mustafa’s fighting power without destroying the nation’s infrastructure and then to go after him and his henchmen. We have no quarrel with the Saudi people and will come as their friends.”
The next two hours of the meeting were devoted to the logistics of Operation Steel Drum, with a good amount of time spent discussing postwar efforts to follow. After adjourning the meeting and walking back to the Oval Office, Clayton and Jack conferred about the coming operation.
“How do you feel about it, Clayton?” Jack asked with obvious concern, “I noticed that little twitch in your cheek this afternoon, and I wasn’t sure how to read your reaction to the Situation Room briefing.”
Clayton thought a moment before answering as they turned the corner to enter the Oval Office. “We’ve waited a long time for this, Jack, and now that the time has come I’m a little nervous. I guess all commanders must feel this way before a major battle. You think more about the things that can go wrong—stuff like that. I’ve often wondered how Ike felt after making his D-Day decision to go, despite iffy weather in Normandy.”
“That’s understandable,” Jack persisted, “but is there anything specifically that’s troubling to you?”
“There are a lot of things, Jack. It all looks so glitzy and sanitized when Thurmond Thompson shows it on the screen, but I remember how formidable it all looked to me as a ground-pounder in the Gulf War. My perspective as commander in chief is obviously different, but I still have that infantryman’s skepticism.”
“Talk to me, Clayton. This is important. What concerns you most?”
Clayton hesitated, uneasy, but he felt he owed Jack an answer. “Lots of things, Jack. For instance, what if things aren’t as Al Mishari says they are? What happens if some of the oil fields actually go up in a radioactive blizzard? Or, what happens if our electronic warfare people can’t jam the communications like they say, or our Seal teams can’t prevent the detonation of the conventional explosives?”
Jack nodded, then said something that eased the way for the decision that Clayton had all but made.
“Let’s suppose some of these things materialize, Clayton, as they so often do in war. As things stand now, the global economy is strangling for lack of oil, and there’ll be precious little left of any economy to save if this thing continues for another six months. Just look at the mess we’ll be in a couple of weeks from now as our SPR dries up. The question I’d put to you is this: will our actions, if they totally fail, put us in a worse position than the one we’re in today?”
Clayton fell silent as he pondered Jack’s question. If we do nothing, the oil crisis will worsen. If we do something and it fails, we won’t be any worse off, because we’re not getting the oil anyway. Furthermore, as Jack says, in another six months there’ll be little left to save, so why wait?
“You’re right, Jack. We’re screwed as it is, and it won’t get better. If we don’t do something soon—especially when there’s an opportunity like we have now—there’ll be little left of our economy to save. I’ll talk to Lin Cheng and, assuming there are no objections on his part, I’ll order the attack to commence on April 6. I’ll leave the exact time for our Joint Chiefs of Staff to decide. Thanks Jack,” he said gratefully, feeling better about what he was about to do.
After Jack left, Clayton adjourned to Shangri-la. Political historians loved to talk about how the president had the loneliest job in the world, but until you’ve been there, Clayton thought, you could never realize just how true it was. He felt with every fiber in his body that an attack was the right choice,