Chapter 5

The President's chief of staff walked into the Oval Office, "Mister President, several refineries on the Gulf Coast have been hit by terrorists. We aren't sure of how many yet but the number seems large. It looks like the work of al Qaeda. There is a significant loss of life at the refineries and the surrounding areas."

The President's face clouded with rage, "Call a meeting of my cabinet for sixteen hundred hours. Any cabinet member that is too far away can sit in on the meeting by secure video. Call the CIA and see if they have any evidence that this is al Qaeda. Find out just how bad we've been hit and how much oil is available for our defenses. I'm declaring martial law and I want the Army to guard every fuel installation in the country."

The chief of staff shuffled his feet, "Mister President, we are stretched very thin. Our forces are still gearing up to extract our Iraq contingent and we'll probably have to leave much of our military gear behind. With our troops on alert at every base around the world we don't have the forces to enforce martial law and it would take weeks to get enough people back to enforce the martial law."

The President looked down at his folded hands, "Tell the Pentagon that I want the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Cabinet meeting. We have to make a few hard decisions and I have to get on TV and talk to the American people. Call the Government Printing Office and make sure that those gas ration books are still available. We'll probably have to use them. Order every National Guard unit on full alert and tell the commanders to be ready to deploy anywhere in the country on a moments notice."

The Chief of Staff left the Oval Office to carry out his orders. He dreaded having to use the gas ration books that had been printed up years before in case something like this happened. The American public was not going to be too happy to have their automobile use restricted. He wondered if the American economy could survive this.

The phone on the President's desk rang. When the President answered it the Director of the CIA was on the line with more bad news.

"Mister President, I'm sorry to bother you at this time. I know that you're busy with the Gulf crisis. We have detected a large military buildup of Syrian forces on Syria's border and a large buildup of Iranian forces on the Iranian border. It appears to be a coordinated attack on Iraq. We don't know at this time if the goal is to seize Iraq or if the Coalition forces are the target. We feel that you should contact General Casey and let him know so that he can prepare for an attack. The Kurdish PUK has attacked several Turkish border installations and we're afraid that Turkey might use Iraq's instability to attack the Kurds in Iraq."

"Bring this up at the cabinet meeting and anything else that you think might have a bearing on our situation," the President said just before he ripped the phone jack out of the wall and hurled the phone across the room.

The Cabinet meeting began with everyone trying to prove that they had been saying months ago that this would happen if we didn't calm the situation in Iraq. The President finally got the Cabinet calmed down enough to begin conducting the meeting. He called on the Director of the CIA for the latest briefing on the intelligence from Iraq and the Mid-East.

The Director was glum, "Mister President, the Iranians have crossed the border and are headed toward our forces led by General Casey. The few Coalition forces that couldn't be gotten out of the north of Iraq and the isolated units that had been engaged with the insurgents haven't been heard from in days and we fear the worst. The Syrians seem to have Baghdad as their objective. We feel that it is a combined effort by Syria and Iran to take control of Iraq's oil and its wealth. Both Syria and Iran are being welcomed by the Iraqi people as liberators. General Casey's situation is tenuous and we don't think we can clear the mines in time to save the Coalition forces. Air evacuation is out of the question because Iran can knock our planes out of the sky at will with the new Chinese surface-to-air missiles they have."

The President nodded solemnly, "What about Turkey? Can we rely on any help from them?"

The Director continued, "Sir, I'm afraid that the Turks have taken the opportunity to solve the Kurdish problem. They have entered the Kurdish regions of Iraq and are engaging the PUK with over-powering force. There are reports that all Kurds that are captured are being killed and the Turks seem to be carrying out a scorched earth policy. We have unconfirmed reports that entire Kurdish villages have been wiped out by Turkish forces."

"Can we count on any help from the Israelis?" the President asked.

The Secretary of State answered that question, "Sir, at this time I don't think it would be wise to involve Israel in this mess. It will appear that the Israelis are looking for a piece of the pie."