CHAPTER 16 – YET ANOTHER WAR IS LOOMING
16:52 (New York Time)
Sunday, February 25, 1996 ‘C’
White House Situation Room
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
‘’Alright, what did the FBI find, Special Agent Sellers?’’
Maxwell Sellers, having been invited to this special session of the National Security Council, stood up from his chair before answering President Perot’s question.
‘’Mister President, I can now say with confidence that the man who put bombs inside our airliners and caused the deaths of 736 innocent people, most of them American citizens, was a clandestine agent of Communist China. If not for the fact that we were able to identify him quickly, hundreds more would have died. After he committed suicide rather than let himself be arrested, we found out that he had just placed a bomb similar to the ones that destroyed Pan Am 110 and TWA 124 inside a suitcase which was about to be loaded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 717 carrying 340 people. Furthermore, we found two more bombs inside his individual locker at J.F.K. Airport. When our agents went to his apartment and thoroughly searched it, they found documents and materiel, including a code book, that showed this Li Wang Peng to be a Chinese agent. Him committing suicide by biting on a cyanide pill also shows that he was a true fanatic to his cause. Now, about the pattern of those bombings, we believe that it was totally random, with the only criteria used by Li being that he put bombs only in American airliners. He was thus not targeting any person or aircraft in particular. His only goal was to kill Americans and possibly cause a panic through our commercial air transport system.’’
‘’But why? Why do this and why would the Chinese government order such monstrous actions?’’ asked Barbara Sue Levy Boxer, the Transportation Secretary, who had clearly been made angry by all this. Sellers took a moment to think over his answer to that question.
‘’Frankly, this baffled us at the FBI. The fact that this Chinese agent used Russian-made bomb components which could be identified easily made us suspect that China was possibly trying to incite us into retaliating against Russia for those terrorist attacks. As for the true motive of the Chinese government to both disrupt our commercial airlines industry and cause us to accuse the Russians, we at the FBI can only speculate. However, General Dows, who also reacted to these bombings and went to J.F.K. Airport because her three teenage children had been aboard the Pan Am flight 110, has proposed to us a possible explanation for the Chinese government motives in ordering such an outrageous clandestine operation. I will thus let General Dows expose her theory.’’
President Perot nodded his head and looked at Ingrid, present at the table and wearing her uniform.
‘’You may tell us about your theory, General.’’
‘’Thank you, Mister President. You must all remember the China-Taiwan-USA War of December 1973, when the Chinese coup leaders who had deposed and imprisoned Secretary Deng Xiao Ping had initiated an invasion of Taiwan and launched two nuclear missiles which destroyed Taipei and the nearby airbase that was home to one of our air wings. We in turn destroyed the Chinese invasion fleet and both Beijing and Shanghai with nuclear weapons, stopping cold that war and killing the instigators of that invasion. Counter-coup officers then freed Deng Xiao Ping, who had been about to be executed at a secret prison, and allowed him to reestablish his government and sign a peace treaty with us. Unfortunately, neither us nor Deng Xiao Ping knew at that time that the coup leaders had secretly given two thermonuclear bombs to North Korea. Then, in September of 1975, Deng Xiao Ping, finding out about those two bombs, urgently warned us about them. Unfortunately, that warning came too late to save Honolulu from destruction, when one bomb arrived in Hawaii aboard a Soviet cargo ship. I say all this because Deng Xiao Ping, whom we came to trust as being a reasonable man who didn’t want war with us, was voted out and retired by his party six years ago. Since then, a succession of party leaders has ruled China, often squabbing between themselves, until a new strongman, a Chen Shangkun, became Chairman of the Communist Party some fourteen months ago. That Chen Shangkun is known as a true hardliner who hates the United States and who is pushing for expanding the power and reach of China around the World. However, up to now, he had not initiated anything that could have provoked us militarily. In view of yesterday’s bombings of our airliners I now believe that Chen Shangkun has decided to initiate some hostile action around China, with the hope that we would accuse Russia and possibly retaliate militarily against the Russians, thus distracting us from whatever China is planning to do.’’
‘’And do you have an idea about what China could be planning to do, General?’’ asked Daniel Inouye, the Secretary of State.
‘’I now do, Mister Secretary. Right after that Chines agent at J.F.K. was unmasked, I immediately ordered a number of orbital reconnaissance missions to be launched at once, with the goal of photographing the coastal areas of China and also to spy on their military communications nets. I reviewed the preliminary results from those reconnaissance missions one hour ago and they reveal that China is indeed preparing a new offensive military move.’’
‘’Don’t tell me that they again want to invade Taiwan, Ingrid!’’ said Secretary of Defense John McCain. ‘’The Chinese know too well that we would be ready to defend Taiwan, with nukes if necessary.’’
‘’It’s not Taiwan, John. The unusual Chinese military activities we spotted and the augmented military radio traffic we intercepted are centered on Hainan Island, on the southern coast of China. In view of that, the only objective I can see that would make sense to me as a target for a Chinese attack is the Paracel Archipelago, in the South China Sea, which is presently controlled by Vietnam but whose ownership is contested by both China and Taiwan.’’
‘’Wait a minute!’’ objected Brent Scowcroft. ‘’China would have ordered a campaign of bombings of our airliners and possibly push us into retaliating against the Russians, thus risking a nuclear war, just so that it could distract us while they invaded some obscure group of islands in the South China Sea? That doesn’t make sense, General!’’
‘’For us, it definitely doesn’t.’’ agreed Ingrid. ‘’However, you have to put yourself in the minds of those Chinese leaders. They don’t care if we go to war against Russia. In fact, that would delight them, as they would then be rid of their two biggest rivals for World power. On the other hand, the Paracel Islands are near from Hainan Island, which is a Chinese territory and would constitute an ideal base of operation for an invasion of the Paracel Archipelago. Also, while known by very few people, the Paracel Islands are surrounded by waters rich in fish stocks of enormous commercial value. To top it off, recent exploration drillings made on behest of Vietnam around the Paracel Archipelago have revealed the existence of potentially very large deposits of oil and gas. The Paracel Islands thus constitute an economic prize that is considered by the present Chinese leaders as well worth starting a war with Vietnam and possibly risk a reaction from us.’’
The Paracel Islands archipelago.
John McCain, who had flown combat missions during the China-Taiwan-USA War, shook his head in disbelief.
‘’What a twisted, ruthless way of thinking on the part of those Chinese leaders! However, I believe that you are right, Ingrid. With the results from your orbital reconnaissance missions, it is difficult to deny your hypothesis about a possible invasion of the Paracel Islands by China.’’
‘’I also believe that General Dows is correct in her analysis of this crisis.’’ said Secretary of State Inouye, making President Perot nod his head.
‘’I do so as well. Normally, a Chinese invasion of those Vietnamese islands would not in my mind be worth reacting militarily to it. However, those Chinese leaders had two of our airliners destroyed, killing hundreds of our citizens, and THAT is not something I will let pass! In a way, their plan was too ambitious for their own good when they thought that they could provoke a war between us and Russia on top of creating a distraction for their coming invasion. General Dows, what do we have available in that region to counter such a Chinese attack on the Paracel Archipelago?’’
‘’Unfortunately, due to the war in Armenia, we have moved many of our assets to the Mediterranean and Black Sea areas. We presently have only one carrier group present in the Pacific, the one based in Japan. The other one we had in the Pacific transited to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal two weeks ago and is now cruising off the Turkish coast. Our heavy bombers in Guam and the Philippines were also transferred temporarily to airbases in Europe in response to the Armenia crisis. Right now, the fastest way for us to reinforce our forces near the South China Sea area would be to fly combat squadrons from the United States to the Philippines. We could also seek the collaboration of Vietnam, which is after all the primary target of this Chinese plan, and ask them permission to use our old airbase in Da Nang. That would greatly cut the distance our planes would have to cover to reach the Paracel Islands and would also help us coordinate our moves with the Vietnamese. In terms of naval power, I can order the U.S.S. NEPTUNE, which has just replenished its stores of aviation ordnance and jet fuel, to transit the Suez Canal and head for the South China Sea at top speed, where it could join up with our cruisers and destroyers of the Pacific Fleet.’’
‘’Do that, General!’’ said Perot while pointing an index at her. Next, he looked at Daniel Inouye. ‘’Close our embassy and consulates in China at once and have our citizens on visit or business trips there leave China at once. Once our people will be safely out of China, you will then call in the Chinese ambassador and tell him that we are breaking all relations with China.’’
‘’Mister President,’’ said Ingrid in an urgent tone, ‘’in view of the ruthless thinking of this Chen Shangkun, I am afraid that he won’t let our citizens leave China without reacting, possibly taking them as hostages. We will have to consider plans for that eventuality.’’
‘’Damn, you are too right, General! Secretary Inouye, how many American citizens could presently be inside China?’’
‘’Uh, I couldn’t give you a precise answer right now, Mister President, but just in terms of diplomatic personnel and their dependents, we are talking about 230 people at a minimum. If the Chinese decide to detain our citizens before they could fly out of China, then I am afraid that we won’t be able to do much about that.’’
‘’Damn those Communist Chinese! I think that it is high time that they be taught a lesson they will not forget.’’
‘’Mister President, a full-scale attack by us against China, however successful, will inevitably cause a lot of collateral damage, considering the fact that the Chinese own close to a hundred nuclear-tipped missiles, on top of dozens of nuclear aircraft-launched bombs.’’ objected at once Ingrid. ‘’It would also most probably result in the mass execution of our citizens presently in China.’’
‘’Then, what do you propose, General?’’ asked Perot, getting frustrated. Ingrid, equally frustrated, thought quickly about her options.
‘’Mister President, we have been handed a very weak hand by China and I will need to review in detail our assets presently available and think about what we can do without risking the lives of our citizens in China. However, I see one thing that we can do right away: we should discretely warn Vietnam of this threat to the Paracel Islands, so that the Vietnamese could start at once to reinforce the garrisons they have there. With luck, that could discourage China from attacking the Paracel Islands, but that warning should be communicated right away to the Vietnamese government. This is definitely not the time for flowery diplomatic letters or bureaucratic red tape. Ideally, I would like to initiate direct communications between the Pentagon and the Vietnamese High Command, no disrespect meant to Secretary Inouye.’’
Daniel Inouye himself replied to that in a most sober tone.
‘’I realize the urgency of the situation, General, and won’t feel slighted if you contact directly the Vietnamese. Go right ahead!’’
‘’Thank you, Mister Secretary. If you don’t mind, Mister President, I would like to leave now and return to the Pentagon in order to start giving orders about this Chinese threat.’’
‘’You are welcome to go now, Ingrid.’’
‘’Thank you, Mister President!’’ replied Ingrid, who then got up and walked out with her secure briefcase. The others watched her go, with John McCain speaking to Perot once she was gone from the Situation Room.
‘’We can count ourselves lucky in having her in her present position right now, Mister President: nobody could possibly do better than her in dealing with this crisis. You made the right decision by creating her position as supreme military commander some three years ago.’’
‘’And we will need all of her talent to get out of this crisis without major damage. What a shit pit!’’
Ingrid was about to leave the White House and return to her parked Hiller AIR BIKE when she had a thought and went instead to the offices of the defense liaison staff of the White House, where she called her command center at the Pentagon via an encrypted line.
‘’Hello! This is General Dows! Please get the Space Corps duty officer on the line and tell the Air Force duty officer to stand by to talk with me afterward.’’
She had to wait only a few seconds before a male voice answered her.
‘’Lieutenant Colonel Matthews on the line, General!’’
‘’Colonel Matthews, a very serious situation is developing with Communist China and we may have to effect massive strikes against their nuclear arsenal. First, I want all of our spacecraft capable of orbital bombardment to be reserved and dedicated for that possible strike. Any spacecraft in need of maintenance should be repaired at once, without delay. Second, how many OGM-2 orbital bombardment missiles with non-nuclear warheads do we have and do we have enough concrete-piercing precision strike warheads to arm all of those OGM-2s? I need an answer now but I want you to give me a hard figure. I will talk with the Air Force duty officer while you get the answers and pass the alert to our armed space squadrons.’’
‘’Understood, General! I am putting Colonel Hendriks on the line right now.’’
‘’Thank you!’’
There was a short delay before a female voice replaced that of Matthews on the line.
‘’Colonel Hannah Hendriks on the line, General!’’
‘’Colonel, as I said already to Colonel Matthews, a very serious security situation is presently developing between us and China and we have to discretely prepare for the eventuality of war. Presently, the heavy bomber squadrons we had in the Philippines and in Guam are in Europe, because of the war in Armenia. I want them back at once in the Pacific, ready to strike at China if need be. For the moment we are not contemplating the use of our nuclear weapons but we may want to deny to the Chinese the use of their own nuclear arsenal. Apart from moving our bombers back to the Pacific, I want as much of our arsenal of conventional-armed precision attack air-to-ground missiles to be shipped to our airbases in the Philippines and Guam. Again, be discrete about all this: I don’t want China to suspect that we are up to their game.’’
‘’I perfectly understand, General. I will take care of all that right away. Uh, I believe that Colonel Matthews has some data for you.’’
‘’Then, put him on the line, please.’’
Matthews’ voice returned on the line a second later.
‘’General, I have an answer to your question about OGM-2s: we can have a total of 113 OGM-2s armed with terminally-guided concrete-piercing conventional warheads ready to be loaded within twelve hours aboard our space interceptors and orbital reconnaissance craft. We will only need then to designate their targets and program them into our missiles.’’
‘’Excellent! I should be back at the Pentagon in at most three hours.’’
‘’Anything else, General?’’
‘’Only one thing: tell General Richardson to alert, again discreetly, our Marine Corps units, carrier group and air wings in Japan and also our Marine Corps division on the West Coast to prepare for possible action against China. We just don’t know how China will react once it realizes that we are preparing our forces for war.’’
‘’Got it, General! Will you be returning to the Pentagon soon?’’
‘’I have another errand to do inside Washington, then I will fly back to the Pentagon. See you then!’’
Having just done in less than two minutes something that would have taken hours or even days of discussions and debates to the old Joint Chiefs of Staffs command system before taking firm decisions, Ingrid put down the encrypted telephone receiver and ran with her secure briefcase towards the parking lot where her AIR BIKE was parked. As she often said to other generals and admirals, too many cooks tend to spoil the sauce.
Jumping in her AIR BIKE and closing its cockpit door, Ingrid started her engine and took off, to immediately turn towards the Northwest and fly over Downtown Washington. She had to fly for only 1.5 kilometers before arriving at her destination and landing in front of the tall building housing among other things the embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Parking her AIR BIKE properly and folding up its four ducted propellers, Ingrid then stepped out of it and entered the building, attracting quite a lot of public attention with her Space Corps uniform and five-star rank insignias. She didn’t pay attention to that and went up to the floor housing the Vietnamese embassy, where she presented herself to the Vietnamese security officer manning the armored access airlock adjacent to the visitors’ waiting lounge. She presented herself to that officer in fluent Vietnamese, which had been the native language of one of her more recent incarnations.
‘’Good afternoon, sir! I would like to speak urgently with Lieutenant Colonel Vo Dien Bien. I am General of the Army Ingrid Dows.’’
The Vietnamese security officer didn’t miss the ribbon of the Order of Vietnam First Class among the multiple rows of decoration ribbons on her chest and unlocked at once via a button the outer door of the armored security airlock while nodding his head in respect.
‘’Please enter, General: I will warn at once Colonel Bien of your visit.’’
‘’Thank you, sir!’’
The man then cycled her through the security airlock before placing a quick phone call, then led her down a hallway inside the embassy proper. They were about to arrive at an office door when a Vietnamese Air Force officer emerged from that office, apparently with the intent of going to meet her halfway. The man was in his early forties and wore the rank insignias of a lieutenant Colonel. Ingrid smiled at once on seeing him, having recognized him as the son of an old adversary of hers turned ally decades ago, General Vo Nguyen Giap.
‘’Colonel Vo Dien Bien! It is a pleasure to meet you again. You have gone up quite a lot in the ranks since I last saw you in Vietnam.’’
‘’And receiving the visit of such a distinguished heroine and master strategist is a true honor for me, General. Would you like to talk with me in my office or in our staff lounge, in front of a nice cup of tea?’’
‘’I am afraid that both urgency and discretion is driving me right now, Colonel: we need to discuss in private a matter of grave importance for Vietnam.’’
‘’Then, please come into my humble office, General.’’
On entering Bien’s office, Ingrid saw that he had not used the words ‘humble office’ simply out of modesty: it was in fact a rather small office that, while comfortably-enough furnished, had nothing luxurious about it. She however didn’t comment and sat down with Bien on a well-used sofa next to the windows of the office.
‘’So, General, what is this matter of grave importance for Vietnam?’’
‘’A possible incoming invasion and takeover of the Paracel Islands by China, Colonel Bien.’’ replied at once Ingrid while opening her secure briefcase. Her words made the Vietnamese officer stiffen at once.
‘’The Paracel Islands? The Chinese have indeed been claiming ownership of them for decades and often harass our fishermen in the waters surrounding the archipelago, but are you sure about this, General?’’
‘’Sure? No! Strongly suspecting so? Yes! You probably are wondering how the United States are getting involved with the Paracel Islands, Colonel. The answer to that is both simple and tragic. You must have heard about yesterday’s crash of two of our commercial airliners which had just departed J.F.K. Airport?’’
‘’Of course, General! Such a tragedy! Have you found yet the cause of those accidents?’’
‘’They were not accidents, Colonel: they were caused by bombs, bombs planted inside them by a Communist Chinese agent. Bear me out and look at those pictures.’’
Bien took the first photographic print offered by Ingrid and examined it closely before looking back at her.
‘’This is effectively a bomb device and a sophisticated-looking one at that. It also bears Russian markings. Where was it found?’’
‘’In a piece of luggage that was going to be loaded inside another airliner about to fly out of J.F.K. The detonator mechanism is actually a barometric fuse of the exact same type as the one found in many models of large caliber anti-aircraft shells of Russian manufacture. The fact that it was so easy to figure out its origin made me suspicious at once and we immediately pushed our investigation. We then found more similar bombs hidden in the individual locker of a baggage handler working at J.F.K. Airport. When we tried to arrest that worker, he committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill. That man was an ethnic Chinese and the search of his apartment revealed that he had been in reality a deep-cover Communist Chinese agent.’’
That left Bien speechless for long seconds before he could ask a question.
‘’But why? Why would Communist China bomb American civilian airliners?’’
‘’Because China was hoping to both distract us and make the Russians wear the hat for those criminal acts. Why? To find out the reason, I ordered a number of orbital reconnaissance missions to be flown over China. What we found is this.’’
Ingrid then handed over to Bien a series of overhead reconnaissance pictures bearing ‘Top Secret’ security classification stamps on them.
‘’Before you ask why I am showing you such highly classified intelligence products, the answer is simple: we now have a common enemy and that enemy has to be stopped…at all cost, before he could cause the start of a devastating nuclear war. In fact, if we would have gobbled up their trap, we could well be at war with Russia now, a war that could then quickly turn nuclear, with tragic consequences for everyone on this planet. What you see are massive reinforcements in planes, ships and troops from Mainland China to Hainan Island, next to the Paracel Islands. Since we saw only minimal reinforcements along the direct Chinese border with Vietnam, we deduced that the Paracel Archipelago had to be the actual objective of China. The fact that large oil and gas reserves were recently found off the Paracel Archipelago only reinforces our belief that the Chinese are about to invade it, while trying to create a conflict between us and Russia as a diversion.’’
Bien, his expression grave, looked carefully at each of the pictures before raising his nose and looking at Ingrid.
‘’These pictures are truly shocking and alarming, General. I believe that we should go see my ambassador at once about this.’’
‘’I fully agree with you on that, Colonel. Know that I have ordered U.S. forces to prepare to counter this attack by China on Vietnam and that we are ready to support you militarily in the defense of the Paracel Islands. However, I must emphasize that we must both move quickly and discretely, so that China does not realize that we are in on to their plans. I believe that the most urgent thing to do now is for Vietnam to quickly reinforce its garrisons on the various islands of the Paracel Archipelago. If you need help in terms of troop and equipment air transportation, we are ready to help, Colonel.’’
Bien slowly nodded his head while fixing her in the eyes.
‘’My father once told me that you were the most honorable enemy he ever faced, before you became a friend and ally to him. I see that he was not exaggerating in his praise of you, General. I will now lead you to my ambassador. This truly can’t wait.’’
04:22 (Egypt Time) / 21:22 (Washington Time)
Monday, February 26 / Sunday, February 25, 1996 ‘C’
Navigation bridge of the U.S.S. NEPTUNE
Passing through the Suez Canal, Egypt
‘’So, what kind of weather can we expect around the Paracel Islands, Mister Wescott?’’
‘’Mostly, tropical hot and humid, Admiral. We are talking about daily averages above 78 degrees Fahrenheit and relative humidity averages around 81 percent. Thankfully, we will be in the dry season there, with an average of around five precipitation days with less than one inch of rain per month, contrasting with up to thirteen precipitation days with a total above nine inches of rain per month in the wet season between June and November. However, that area also sees frequent typhoons. This could prove to be a challenging environment for our pilots, sir.’’
‘’As it will be to the enemy, mister. Pass this climate info to Colonel Wilkinson as well: I suspect that he will want to obtain stocks of tropical uniforms and kit before we get to the South China Sea.’’
‘’I will, sir!’’
The meteorological section officer then saluted him and walked off the bridge, leaving Benson free to continue observing the waters of the Suez Canal around his ship. At night, and with his ship being basically invisible to most radars, the risks of collisions in this heavily used waterway were far from inconsiderate, which was why he was having his ship navigate with all its navigational lights on.
19:45 (Vietnam Time) / 14: 45 (Egypt Time) / 07:45 (Washington Time)
Docks of the Vietnamese Navy base in Hue, Vietnam
One of the crewmen in the parked column of PT-76 light amphibious tanks waiting next to a boat ramp in Hue naval base looked questioningly at his officer, a young captain.
‘’Sir, do you know where we are going?’’
His captain, who was one of the few persons in his unit to have been briefed about this surprise deployment, lied to his tank gunner while smiling to him.
‘’It’s just a snap amphibious readiness exercise called up by our High Command, Minh. We are going to be landed on a beach along our coast and prepare it for defense against a hypothetical enemy amphibious force. That’s why you can also see a lot of anti-aircraft guns next to our column.’’
‘’That’s effectively a lot of anti-aircraft guns, sir.’’ replied the tanker while looking up and down the anti-aircraft artillery convoy that had just joined them on the quays of the naval base. He could count no less than twelve S-60 towed 57mm guns, 24 ZPU-4 towed quad 14.5mm heavy anti-aircraft machine guns and eight ZSU-23-4 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. There were also eight vehicles which looked like four-wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicles but with a sort of pedestal supporting long boxes instead of the usual machine gun turret. He then looked ahead of their own column of twenty PT-76 amphibious tanks and at the three large landing ships waiting with their bow doors open and loading ramps down. Behind his tank unit was also a column of trucks, presumably carrying extra supplies and ammunition for this exercise. If they would be given time to prepare adequate defensive positions on that piece of beach to defend, then the tank gunner felt quite confident that they would be able to hold it against about any enemy force. Some eleven minutes later, the order was given to start the loading of the vehicles and guns inside the three waiting landing ships. While the Vietnamese soldiers didn’t notice it, an elderly man in a wheelchair and wearing a uniform covered with medals was watching discreetly the loading up of the three POLNOCHNY LSMs{31} from a distance, a military aide and four armed soldiers next to him. Army General Vo Nguyen Giap, now 84 years old, had tears of pride in his eyes as he watched on the loading of the tanks and guns into the landing ships.
‘’Go, men! Fight and defend our country!’’
20:53 (Arabian Sea Time) / 23:53 (Vietnam Time)
C.I.C. of the USS NEPTUNE