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With all eyes on her, Kennedy announced, "I think Colonel Grays plan is ingenious. I think it has a better chance of succeeding than even he knows."

The President was a little surprised by Kennedy's overwhelming endorsement. "What makes you say that?"

"The psychology of the Iraqi people. They fear Saddam so thoroughly that they wouldn't consider challenging him."

"But it's not him," countered Michael Haik. "It's a bunch of white cars." It was obvious by his tone that he wasn't as enamored of Colonel Gray's plan as Kennedy was.

Kennedy stuck to her guns. "To them, those white cars are Saddam, and no one ever challenges Saddam. He's killed members of his own family; he's killed dozens of his top generals. No one challenges him for fear of losing their life." Kennedy looked at Colonel Gray "I really have to commend you. I'm embarrassed that the CIA didn't come up with this idea first."

"Isn't there a real risk of this blowing up in our faces?" asked the President.

"Yes, there is, but I don't think it could be any worse than the fallout from bombing a hospital."

"But Saddam put those damn nukes under that hospital. He's the one putting those people at risk."

"I agree with you, sir," said Kennedy, "but I doubt the international press will."

The President lowered his head in frustration and rubbed his temples. Without looking up he asked, "General Flood, what's your take on all of this?"

"Sir, I think the important thing right now is to keep our options open. We should have Colonel Gray move his assets into the theater of operations. That way if you decide to play this card, we can do so on short notice."

"And if we go ahead, what is your opinion on providing air cover?"

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs hesitated for a moment and then said, "I am not a believer in half measures, sir. As we've discussed before, I do not think we should have ended the Gulf War when we did. We were enamored with our own technology and forgot that the way you win a war is to put troops on the ground. We should have gone all the way to Baghdad and made sure Saddam was ousted." Flood paused long enough to let out a sigh of frustration and then said, "We chose not to do that and for the last decade the man has continued to be a big pain in our ass. If he has in fact got his hands on some nukes, and is about to make them operational, I think we need to hit him hard, and I mean really hard. I would recommend, whether we implement Colonel Grays plan or not, that we launch a comprehensive bombing campaign against him that focuses on his air defenses and his command and control structures, and I think this time we need to really hit him where it hurts. We need to take out his oil and refinery facilities."

"General," started the President, "you know I can't do that. The environmentalists will go nuts my own party will attack me."

"That may be, sir, but you ask those environmentalists what they think will cause more damage to this planet. A couple of thousand barrels of spilled oil or a nuclear detonation over Tel Aviv, or God forbid, Washington." Flood leaned forward, setting his large forearms on the table. "Sir, the only way he can afford to buy these weapons is through his oil revenues. We need to hit him in his wallet, and if you're worried about Turkey and Jordan we can throw a couple hundred million more dollars in aid their way after we're done."

The President looked to Kennedy for her opinion. "General Flood makes a very forceful case, and in principle I agree with everything he's just said. Unfortunately, however, we have to take politics into consideration. Right now your administration hangs onto a razor-thin mandate. If you lose that mandate by alienating the base of your own party you could become ineffective both domestically and abroad."

Michael Haik eagerly jumped in. "I agree with Irene one hundred percent. As much as I'd like to, we can't go after his refineries. The outcry would be horrendous."

"So go ahead and bomb a hospital full of innocent people," replied the President in disgust, "but don't do anything to hurt Mother Earth. It's the stupidest damn thing I've ever heard." "Sir, I'm not saying I agree with it," said Haik. "I'm just stating the political reality."

"Well it's a shitty reality, and one that I'm very tempted to try and change."

"Sir, if I may," interjected Kennedy. Looking to Colonel Gray she asked, "How difficult would it be for your men to bring one of the nukes back?"

"That depends how big it is."

"I'll have my people give you an accurate answer by this evening, but for the sake of our discussion, let's assume at the very least you could remove the part of the weapon that we re most interested in."

"You mean the warhead, of course."

"Essentially."

Gray thought about it for a moment. "If the weapon hasn't been assembled my guess is one man could carry the warhead, but if it has been assembled then things could get tricky. We'd have to spend time trying to dismantle the weapon to get at the warhead, and on a mission like this we'd prefer to get in, plant the charges and be out in a minute or less."

"I understand, but it's conceivable that you could pull it off?"

The army officer thought about it again and said, "Yes. I think we probably could."

Kennedy turned back to the President. "Sir, if we were able to get our hands on one of the weapons, I know our scientists could trace the plutonium back to the reactor where it was created. There is also a good chance we could trace most of the other parts back to their origination."

Haik saw an even better use for the captured weapon. "And we could hold one hell of a press conference. There would be nowhere for Saddam to run. We have caught him red-handed, and the UN. would have no choice but to be outraged." Haik looked at General Flood with a grin. "You could bomb all the refineries you wanted as long as you had proof that you stopped Saddam from having an operational nuclear weapon." Haik looked back to the President. "There isn't a politician in this town who wouldn't be behind you, sir."

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

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