Strike Force

“I agree with the DCI, Mr. President,” Secretary of State Carson said. “And even if Buzhazi does succeed in destroying or disrupting the Pasdaran with help from the regular army, using some sort of magical leadership ability as General McLanahan describes, he’ll have to contend with other forces as well. Every covert ops and insurgent force the Pasdaran has created over the years will return to Iran to try to topple the junta or at least cause it a lot of trouble: al-Quds in the Gulf region; Hizb’ Allah in Lebanon; Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front to Liberate Palestine-General Command in the Gaza Strip and West Bank; Ansar-al-Islam in Iraq; and Hizb’Islami in Afghanistan, just to name a few. All of those groups are controlled and funded by Iran through the Pasdaran, and they’d undoubtedly be brought back to assist in a wide-ranging insurgency against Buzhazi. We could even see pro-Iranian military or terror groups from Chechnya, Pakistan, or North Korea fighting against Buzhazi. Then of course there is the one-third of Iran’s citizens, about twenty million adults, who actively support the theocracy and who might support an Islamist insurgency against a secular military regime.”

“Doesn’t sound like a winner to me,” the President said. “Anyone disagree with this analysis?”

The room was quiet…until: “I don’t disagree with Dr. Carson’s or Director Vista’s analysis, sir,” Patrick McLanahan said through the videoconference link, “but if Buzhazi survives and is actively trying to stage a coup in Iran with the help of the regular army, we should do everything possible to support him.”

“Support him?” Carson asked incredulously. “If I remember correctly, he tried to kill you and your men several times. Now you want to risk your life to help him?”

“We may never get another chance for years,” Patrick said. “Iran doesn’t hide the fact that it actively supports insurgent groups all around the world who try to topple secular or unfriendly governments in favor of a fundamentalist theocracy — we shouldn’t be afraid to support any movement, even a military coup, that tries to establish a democracy.”

The President shook his head with a sardonic smile. “As usual, a solid consensus about a course of action,” he deadpanned. He slumped in his chair, rubbed his temples wearily, retrieved a bottle of water from a desk drawer, and took a deep sip. “I’d be just as happy to see the two factions tear each other apart,” he said. He finally turned to General Sparks: “Jonas, I asked you to come up with a plan of action for dealing with Iran. Anything yet?”

“No, sir,” Sparks replied. “No real consensus from the intelligence and operations staffs. Buzhazi’s insurgency is just complicating the issue worse and worse every day. We should just continue surveillance, monitor the situation carefully, and be sure to warn the Iranians that we won’t tolerate any foreign offensive operations in the wake of this Buzhazi insurgency.”

The President nodded. “Holding pattern — not exactly what I had in mind,” he said. “Anyone else?”

“Mr. President, in my staff’s opinion, Buzhazi is not the issue — the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their control of Iran’s weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems are,” Patrick McLanahan said via the videoconference link. “If the regular Iranian army keeps sitting on the sidelines, the Pasdaran will only turn up the heat even more. Eventually the army will be completely marginalized, maybe even dismantled. Once the Pasdaran takes over, they’ll tear the country apart. Then they’ll start on any other neighboring countries they feel is a threat to the Islamist regime.”

“So what do you propose, Patrick?”

“I’d like permission to launch a dedicated constellation of reconnaissance satellites over Iran to look for their missile sites,” Patrick replied. “I’d like to forward-deploy Air Battle Force air and ground teams to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, ready to go into Iran covertly and destroy the most dangerous missile batteries. And I’d like permission to place two of our fleet of three Black Stallion spaceplanes in orbit, armed with precision-guided weapons to react in case Iran launches any attacks that we can’t reach. I’ve sent this proposal to Mr. Minden and General Sparks for their review.”

“You’re recommending putting a major strike force over Iran in the middle of their internal crisis?” Secetary of State Carson asked incredulously. “How do you think the Iranians will interpret such an action?”

“I don’t intend for the Iranians to find out, Madame Secretary,” Patrick said, “but if they do, they’ll know we mean business.”

“More gunboat diplomacy,” Carson said irritably. “Makes my job all the more difficult.”