Chapter 184

Friday morning the office started off as a madhouse with things coming from every direction. General Ingram was in first with the logistics update. It had made big improvements in the last twenty four hours. Fifty percent of the guard units arrived this morning in dozens of C5s at the operating airfield inside Iran.

Army and Marine units had covered every inch of the base looking for hiding Iranian soldiers and anyone else for that matter. Every trench, every bunker, every room, nook and cranny had been looked at before the planes were given clearance to land.

The two ammo bunkers each had received several missiles and were now just massive holes in the ground. All the soldiers that had been assigned to this former military airport had scattered after the ammo bunkers were blown up. It seems the commander at the base didn’t trust his men and all weapons were in the ammo bunkers.

With nothing but kitchen knives to defend themselves and no communications, they filled army trucks and started towards Tehran. I was sure they were some of the two hundred trucks the Navy demolished the first day.

C5s and C17s would be hot landing all day - unloading with the engines running - for quick getaway.

More good news from the Navy: ‘‘ The entire coast of Iran has been swept by mine sweepers and is now clear. The ports and harbors that we need to use are also clear. The Marines have cleared the town of any arms, explosives and soldiers. Army and Marine troops seized the refineries and oil fields late today. Navy Seals seized all the Iranian oil terminals in the gulf. They have been ordered to double check all the wells and equipment for possible sabotage,’’ Admiral Browning said.

‘‘The oil field, refinery workers, and the oil terminal workers were glad to see our troops. It seems there was a shortage of food in the associated town. That problem has been solved. The workers are ready to go back to work. The oil terminal will take about a week of maintenance before it will be ready to load tankers,’’ he said.

‘‘OK, then it’s time to put the oil on the market,’’ I said.

‘‘I’ll call the State Department and tell them to put the process in the works,’’ I said.

For the (new) Iran to sell oil on the market, the oil embargoes in place for decades by the UN and the US partners trying to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions would have to be removed. The State Department would have to persuade the involved countries to do that.

China was not part of that group and if it was willing to pay market price it could buy oil. China was going to buy oil anywhere it could; it just as well be Iran now.

The money would be put into an escrow account at the Thimble Shoals National Bank. With it there neither the UN nor any of Iran’s creditors could get at it by suing in international courts, and in the process tying it up for years. Thimble Shoals simply did not play that game.

I was sure there would be plenty of people with their hand out.

Half the oil funds was going into rebuilding Iran. With the military gone and the government corruption gone, it would be more money into infrastructure than ever before.

The other half would go to the US as restitution to pay all the cost of repairing the USS Hammann and this war. It would also pay for whatever troops were left there to keep the peace and see a real democratic government formed.

The goal was to see Iran operating without the influence of the military and the religious fanatics. It was a lofty goal, but worthwhile if it would work.

With the ports cleared, more heavy equipment could unload faster in Iran. The heavy cargo ships were within a day’s sailing of the Iranian ports. They had been loaded out of Wilmington North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Baltimore and New York terminals two days after the attack.

With the airport functioning, troops from South Korea, Okinawa and California would be on the ground before the weekend was gone. All the logistics for the National Guard would be in place to seal the deal.

All hell was going to fall on Northern Iran starting on Monday. It would not be a good place to be if you were an Iranian soldier or resistance fighter. In the towns and villages the troops had entered, people were surrendering. They were turning in weapons by the hundreds and showing where there were stockpiles of weapons and ammo.

Another batch of pamphlets was going to be dropped on Saturday on territories not yet occupied during daylight hours.

The Navy and Air Force were finding plenty of new targets every day. All the carriers were involved in keeping planes over Iran. Neither the Fordson nor the Thomas had scratched a launch or recovery.

Fleet Admiral Scott was seeing to it that all carriers were getting their fair share of action. All of the Iranian military posts on the Caspian Sea had been demolished, including sinking of Iranian Navy frigates and other small ships.