Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [175]
63
The Situation Room
6 April 2018
Clayton McCarty took his usual seat in the Situation Room at precisely 4:00 p.m. As commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, he planned to spend the better part of the next forty-eight hours in this room overseeing Operation Steel Drum—the Saudi War that was about to commence.
He recalled how, as a young Marine Corps lieutenant in command of an infantry platoon ready to cross the Iraqi border in the 1991 Gulf War, his stomach had been turning and his palms clammy. He wasn’t afraid of dying so much as he was of letting his men down in battle or getting one of them killed needlessly. By contrast, it felt strange now to sit in the safety and comfort of this quiet room, knowing that a number of brave young men and women would soon lose their lives. In the surreal peace of this sanitized environment, he vowed not to forget that the computer graphics mapping the front lines represented the blood and guts of real live human beings on both sides of the field.
General Warner Blake, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the designated “anchorman” for the first four hours of the war. His task was to provide a running account of the battle and funnel important directives to and from the Situation Room. Every six hours thereafter, the commanding officers of each military branch would rotate the watch. At 5:15 p.m. (1:15 a.m., Saturday, 7 April, Saudi time), General Blake gave his first report.
“Mr. President, the Electronic Warfare Command has reported that all targeted Saudi frequencies and networks have been successfully jammed. This report has been tested and confirmed.”
A loud cheer broke out in the Situation Room, and the president breathed a huge sigh of relief. Failure of that first, crucial operation would have doomed Operation Steel Drum. Jack McCarty looked over at his brother and winked, giving him a thumbs-up. So far so good, thought Clayton.
Even the taciturn General Blake had a small grin on his face as he continued his report. “The next phase of the operation is now underway. The Seals, Delta Force, and Special Forces teams have been airdropped on their designated targets. They include the five Saudi oil fields and the Saudi nuclear command in the southern desert.”
The comment about the atomic bombs was a grim reminder that this war was being fought over far more than oil. Mustafa’s nuclear weaponry was an immediate threat to Israel and others, and everyone would remain on pins and needles until they had been secured.
“Mr. President,” General Blake bellowed out at 7:05 p.m. “Reports have now come in from all but the team operating in the Abqaiq oil field that the dirty bombs have been disarmed. Ah, just a second sir,” he added, listening intently to an incoming call. “Excuse me, sir; that was our Fifth Fleet Command advising me the dirty bomb in the Abqaiq Field has also been neutralized, but they were unable to prevent destruction of parts of the oil field infrastructure by conventional explosives. The good news is that all dirty bombs have been dismantled.”
Again, a loud cheer went up in the Situation Room. The deadly dirty-bomb shield that the Saudis had so effectively used to stave off retaliatory attacks over the past six months was now gone. As the celebratory chatter died down, Clayton asked, “What about the nuclear command post and the atomic bombs?”
“It is in the process of being secured, Mr. President, and the defensive perimeter surrounding the facility is now being reinforced with infantry companies from the 101st Airborne Division. The aerial assault on Saudi Arabia is now commencing. The first attack will last about an hour. They will quickly reload for a second sortie and more thereafter, as required.”
Clayton turned to working the phones with Lin Cheng and other allied leaders, keeping them apprised of the situation in real time. There was one notable interruption at 10:06 p.m. when General Blake reported another important milestone.
“Mr. President, the 82nd Airborne Division confirms that they have secured a defensive perimeter along the