O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [118]
“An opinion by a junior officer playing soothsayer?”
Ben held his breath for several beats. “Yes, sir,” he said firmly.
“Christ sake, Ben,” Fitz Donovan said, “this isn’t the Roman forum or a Shakespeare festival.”
“But it is the Naval War College and that’s what we do there,” Ben retorted.
“I take it this paper is loaded?” Porter asked.
“Very.”
Langenfeld leaned back in his leather chair, curious but wary. He leaned forward in a manner that showed why he commanded the navy, and pointed to the commandant.
“You in on this, Tom?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ve read it?”
“Today.”
The fucking Marines were putting on a squeeze play. If the report accurately foretold a future dilemma and he refused to listen, the onus would be on him. On the other hand, he was going to hear something he didn’t want to hear.
“You know about this, Dick?” he asked Maple.
“No.”
“Very well. Tom, Ben, come around to my office and we’ll discuss it.”
“No, sir,” Ben said.
“No, sir,” the commandant said.
“Tom, you are about to be retired with the rank of full colonel. Are you sure you want this read to us?”
“I’d prefer to retire as a sergeant knowing this paper will be heard than be retired as a colonel and have it silenced.”
Porter Langenfeld’s eyes went right and he received dry nods. His eyes went left. Nods there as well, save Chester Harkleroad, who had a sour set to his mouth.
“As far as I’m concerned this meeting was adjourned ten minutes ago. We are off-the-record. Ben, you may proceed.”
Ben could all but feel heat come off Zach’s papers as he unfolded them and studied the arrangement of gold-banded sleeves before him. Funny, he wasn’t even nervous. He cleared his throat.
“Is there any staff officer in this meeting who does not believe that Japan is programmed for and launched on the creation of an empire?”
The room went silent. A taboo word had been spoken in the highest council in plain English. Porter Langenfeld’s decision time was at hand, to pass and slap the lid on a Pandora’s box quickly, or let these Marines say their piece. They wouldn’t pull this rabbit out of the hat without a strong basis in fact.
“I’m going to hear this,” the admiral said. “Go on, Ben.”
Lieutenant Zachary O’Hara had burst open a vault where they had hidden their darkest thoughts and built an organized, penetrating, and chillingly accurate line of reasoning.
Japan has a unique history among all major nations. She has never been conquered or ruled by an outside power. Over the centuries she has built a secretive, feudal warlord-oriented society devoted to a god figure . . .
As the only Asian nation to remain free of European control, she moved into the modern world with a mind-set, a patient and subservient culture, hidden anger, and deviousness, to plan and execute what the Japanese feel is their destiny, if it takes decades or even generations . . .
When the isolation ended in the mid-1800s, Japan elbowed her way into the old-boys’ club of European powers, making herself a partner and setting down troops in the Chinese treaty ports. With that foothold, Japan has demanded that China cede them Formosa and the Pescadores Islands . . .
Russian-owned Siberia has ambitions to move into and take over Manchuria and this is apt to incite the first conflict. The Japanese homeland is limited in natural resources and must have Manchurian coal, oil, iron, and whatever is needed to create a modern fleet. It is predictable that before the end of this century, Japan will move to conquer Manchuria and have a war with Russia . . .
The population of Korea will be Japan’s forced-labor pool to work the Manchurian mines, build railroads, and otherwise set up a structure to conquer China . . .
Two gigantic new world powers are emerging in the twentieth century, Japan and the United States . . .
America has already made its major