Tom Clancy's op-center_ acts of war - Tom Clancy [53]
"Ah, but would they?" asked Av Lincoln. "Suppose the Kurds eventually get what they want, a homeland straddling parts of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Do you think for a moment that Syria will stay out of there? They don't play by any rules. They'll use terrorism to exert de facto control over what used to be their territory, and also absorb some of the former Turkish lands into Greater Syria. That's exactly what they've done with Lebanon."
"General Vanzandt, gentlemen," the President said, "we've got to find some way of guaranteeing the security of those other water sources and also of helping the Turks find the terrorists. What are your suggestions?"
"Larry and Paul, we can talk about internal operations against the terrorists later," said General Vanzandt. "Present the President with some suggestions."
Hood and Rachlin both nodded.
"As for the water," Vanzandt went on, "if we move the Eisenhower Carrier Battle Group from Naples to the eastern Mediterranean, we can watch the Orontes while at the same time keeping the seaways secure for Turkish exports. We want to make sure the Greeks don't jump into this."
"That leaves everyone happy," said Steve Burkow, "unless the Syrians suddenly decide in their paranoid way that this is all a United States plot to cut off their water supply. Which, if you ask me, wouldn't be the world's worst idea. That would put Damascus out of the terrorism business right quick."
"And kill how many innocent people?" Lincoln asked.
"Not many more than Syrian-backed terrorists will kill worldwide over the next few years," Burkow replied. He typed his password on the computer and brought up a file. "We were talking about Sheik al-Awdah before," Burkow said as he looked at the screen. "In yesterday's radio speech from Palmyra, Syria, he said, 'We call upon God Almighty to destroy the American economy and society, to transform its states into nations and turn them against one another. To turn its brothers against one another as penance for infidelic evil.' Now, to my ears that's a declaration of war. You know how many sickeroos out there are going to hear this and try to make that happen?"
"That doesn't justify blind, preventative strikes," the President pointed out. "We aren't terrorists."
"I know that, sir," Burkow said. "But I'm tired of playing by rules that no one else in the world seems to acknowledge. We pour tens of billions of dollars into the Chinese economy and they use that money to develop and sell military nuclear technology to terrorists. Why do we allow it? Because we don't want American businesses to suffer by being shut out of China--"
"The issue isn't China," Lincoln said.
"The issue is a chronic goddamn double standard," Burkow shot back. "We look the other way when Iran ships weapons to Muslim terrorists around the world. Why? Because some of those terrorists are bombing other countries. In a perverse way, that gives us allies in the fight against terrorism. We don't have to endure all kinds of criticism for defending ourselves if other nations are defending themselves too. All I'm saying is we've got an opportunity here to hold Syria's feet to the fire. If we cut off their water, we choke their economy. We do that and Hezbollah and the Palestinian terrorist camps in Syria and even our Kurdish terrorists get squeezed."
"Kill the body and you kill the disease," Lincoln replied. "Come on, Steve,"
"You also keep the disease from spreading to other bodies," Burkow answered. "If we were to make an object lesson of Syria, I guarantee you Iran and Iraq and Libya would pull in their claws and count their blessings."
"Or redouble their efforts to destroy us," Lincoln said.
"If they did," Burkow replied, "we would turn Tehran and Baghdad and Tripoli into craters wide enough to be photographed from space."
There was a short, uncomfortable silence. Visions of Dr. Strangelove flashed through Hood's mind.
"What if we were to turn that around?" Lincoln asked. "What if we were to hold out a helping hand instead of a fist?"
"What kind of hand?" the President asked.
"What would really