by James Rosone
The DIA Director looked tired and complained, “I fully understand the party’s stated goals. It just feels like imperial expansionism.”
“Gentlemen, we all serve at the pleasure of the President. This is the strategy going forward. I suggest everyone make the best of the situation for the good of the nation, or look for positions in the private sector. You are the best officers in the military--that is why you all have been promoted, in some cases far ahead of your peers. The President wants the most qualified people in charge, not the ones who put in their time and believe that ‘now it’s their turn’” the SecDef said.
The meeting broke up and each commander went back to their respective offices to brief their own staffs and implement the orders given.
America under Attack
End of October
Washington, DC
White House – Cabinet Meeting Room
“Gentlemen, last night was the ninth domestic terrorist attack in three weeks. This last attack was against a Republican Party rally, nearly killing the Presidential candidate. By the way--do we have a final death toll yet?” asked the President.
“Ninety-seven people killed and 232 wounded. On a good note, none of the attackers survived the attack,” said Director Smart from the FBI.
“Senator Landrew is calling for the White House to make peace with the Muslims in order to end these terrorist attacks; she’s already using last night’s attack in a new campaign ad,” said AG James Roberts.
“I do not want to focus on politics; I want to discuss what we are going to do about this situation and how we are going to make this stop,” said the President, clearly irritated.
“Mr. President, the three terrorists we have managed to capture are starting to provide some good intelligence,” said Mike Williams, the National Security Director. “One of the individuals captured was just a foot soldier; he was recruited locally here in the US, so he does not know any information about future attacks or other cells. The other terrorist that is talking said he originally worked for the Quds Force as an intelligence agent and when Iran became part of the Islamic Republic, his mission changed from gathering and reporting intelligence to recruiting and building direct action units to be used to conduct terrorist attacks.”
“Really? I had not heard this before,” said AG Roberts. “When did the National Security Council (NSC) learn of this?”
“We opted to use an interrogation team from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC); they were very persuasive in getting him to talk. He originally spilled the beans about four days ago, but we did not want to say anything until his information could be verified. All of the information he gave us about his Quds Force contacts, dates and then his information about the Islamic Republic proved to be accurate, so we had no reason to believe he was lying,” Mike explained, putting down the dossier of the individual in question.
“I’m always skeptical about information obtained through the use of torture,” said Director Smart.
“He was not tortured; he was just given some pharmaceuticals to help relax him. Eventually, he said if we were willing to pay him money and place him into our witness protection system (along with his family) he would tell us about additional future attacks that he knew about.”
“I hope you are asking me for permission to do this before you went ahead and agreed to this,” replied the President, looking at Mike with a stern look.
“Of course, Mr. President. As I said, we only just broke him the other day. As a test, we asked him to give us the location and names of one of the cells that was going to conduct another attack. He gave us the names of the individuals who conducted the movie theater massacre; JSOC should be apprehending them sometime in the next few hours. They have had the safe house under surveillance for the past eight hours; they are waiting for another member to return back to the house before they execute the raid.”
“Mike, if you are going to use your JSOC guys for something like this, then please keep my office and the FBI informed,” said AG Roberts.
“I agree Mike. I have no problem with you being proactive, but please stay within the rules we set when I gave you permission to use JSOC on US soil,” said the President. He was clearly irritated that Mike was not keeping the other agencies well-informed.
“Yes, Mr. President. It was not my intention to leave anyone out of the loop on this operation; I just wanted to make sure it was real before I got everyone’s hopes up,” said Mike, who was clearly annoyed at being dressed down by the AG and the President during the meeting.
“All right everyone, let’s get back on track and continue with the rest of the brief. What is done is done. Can you please continue, Mike?” asked the President.
“Yes, Sir. As I was saying, we told the Iranian that if his information about this cell was accurate, then we would agree to his demands and have a letter personally signed by you for his review. If at any time he provides us with false information or warns the IR, his deal will be voided, and we would deport his family and the rest of his entire extended family. We would also make sure the IR knew he had been a double agent for us.”
“Well this leaves us with some interesting questions and options for what to do next,” said Monty.
“Mike, are you 100% confident that these terrorist attacks we’ve been experiencing have been directed, supported and orchestrated by the Islamic Republic?” asked Jim Wise, the Secretary of State.
“I am, Secretary Wise. What we are trying to ascertain is how many more direct action units the Islamic Republic has in the US and what their other missions are,” Mike replied.
“If this is the case, Mr. President, then this is an open act of war against the United States by the Islamic Republic,” said Eric Clarke, the Secretary of Defense.
“The question is--how do we want to respond, and when? Mike, I want full confirmation that this is, in fact, being directed and supported by the Islamic Republic. I want as much factual evidence as possible: money traces, people, signals intelligence…everything. We are going to respond, but I want to make sure we lay out a solid case against the Islamic Republic to both the American people and the world. I also want the other agencies to see if they can confirm or validate your findings. We will not go to war on sole source reporting,” emphasized the President.
“Yes, Mr. President. I’ll start working with the AG,” said Mike, nodding towards AG Roberts. “We will prepare to present the facts; we will need to present as much information as possible at the unclassified level.”
“Actually, I want to de-classify the intelligence in this case. Everyone knows our capabilities and how we gather intelligence. Do not reveal any sources or information that could damage a source or means of intelligence collection, but make sure the nitty gritty details and information is there. I want there to be no doubt as to their culpability in this.”
“General Branson, you’ve been awfully quiet. What are your thoughts?”
“I’ve been kept informed by JSOC on the progress of the interrogations, so most of this information is something I have already heard. Right now, I am trying to look at the bigger picture and figure out what is going on globally.”
“Care to elaborate on that, General?” asked the President.
“Let’s look back to the beginning of the year. The Islamic Republic started shipping heavy weapons to the cartels in Mexico. The cartels increased their attacks against the government and generally created a lot of internal chaos and instability. Then, the military conducted their coup and the problems caused by the cartels evaporated. Once the coup happened and we announced our intention to intervene, terrorist attacks start to take place all across the US. We’ve had nine attacks in the last three weeks, but twenty-three since we started operations in Mexico. The American people are becoming afraid to leave their homes or even go to work.”
“That attack against the corporate headquarters at Apple in California and the Amazon warehouse in Tennessee have caused a lot of employees to be afraid tha
t their office may be next,” said Jane Smart, the Director of the FBI.
“Yes, these types of attacks are designed to target and instill fear among the common person. None of their attacks have been against the government or what we would consider ‘hard targets,’” explained Branson.
“But you see a bigger link to this?” Mike asked curiously.
“I do. I believe everything has been orchestrated by the IR to occupy and distract us from their next move so that we will not be in a position to intervene.”
“What do you believe this next move will be, General?” asked Monty, leaning forward in anticipation of the response.
“The IR is going to conduct a massive military exercise in December. I believe this exercise is going to be used as a cover for an attack against the Israelis and the 5th Fleet,” said General Branson.
“Hmm, certainly could be. Does the intelligence support your assumption, General?” pondered the President.
Director Rubio suddenly remembered a report he had read two days ago on this topic. “Mr. President, one of our case officers published a report a couple of days ago that mentioned a possible attack against the 5th Fleet and Israel. We had tasked the agent with obtaining more information and I wanted to vet this information further before we briefed it…. I believe General Branson may be onto something. If he has additional information, then it may help us paint a better picture.”
“Thank you, Pat, for bringing us up to speed on what your agent found. It has been a well-known fact that the IR wants to destroy Israel and they believe our continued support and military bases there infringe upon the holiness of the lands of the Prophet. A lot of this does make sense when you picture it all together. I believe you both are right…the IR’s next move is probably going to be against our remaining forces in the Middle East and Israel. If this is the case, we should make preparations for it. Any suggestions?” asked the President.
“My advice is that we work off of the assumption that this is going to happen, and begin to shift specific forces to the area that could quickly be used. We could have a Marine Expeditionary Force conduct a joint military training exercise with the IDF at our base in Eilat. It would also reinforce the naval air station and port. This will place 3,500 Marines and their equipment on the ground prior to a potential attack; at the same time, we should have some of our F35s and F22s conduct a training exercise, enabling us to pre-position additional combat aircraft in Israel.”
“I would also like to add several additional anti-missile defense ships to the George H.W. Bush carrier battle group. We should also move the 6th Fleet out of Naples to Greece; they can quickly be in position if needed,” said Branson as he looked at the faces of everyone in the room, making sure they understood the gravity of what he was saying.
“I am in agreement, Mr. President,” said the National Security Advisor. “It’s better to have the forces in place and ready; if nothing comes of this, then at least our forces were able to get some additional training.”
“All right. Then let’s go ahead with the deployments; perhaps we should also send additional Special Forces teams and/or some airborne units to Italy.”
“We can do that, Mr. President,” replied General Branson as he looked at General Black, who nodded back knowing that these forces would be pulled from his resources.
*******
31 October 2040
Los Angeles, California
Ibrahim had received a coded message early in the morning, letting him know it was time to activate his direct action unit. His cell had originally been developed by the Iranian Quds Forces; now that Iran was part of the Islamic Republic, his unit fell under the IR Special Operations and Intelligence Group. Having seen the numerous attacks happening across America, it was only a matter of time until they would activate his unit. Now it was time to let the others know.
“Najim, the attack is on. Get ready while I make the calls; this is going to be a long day.”
Ibrahim had been given some autonomy in determining his unit’s targets. The first target was a big one; the unit was going to attack the central police headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles. They were going to attack and kill as many police officers as possible and then release any prisoners being held. The timeline for the attack was ten minutes; they had exactly that amount of time to kill as many police officers as they could and destroy as much of the building as possible.
Pending their survival, they were going to break into three groups; one group of two people would take one of the Chevy Tahoe’s and drive through the varying valleys surrounding LA County, throwing road flares into the dry underbrush to start as many wild fires as they could. The second group would consist of three people who would also take a Tahoe, but would head to Malibu. Their mission would be to go house to house, killing people in their homes until the police either killed them or they successfully attacked 10 homes. Then they would fade into the background of the city and wait for further orders. The third group was to head towards the Universal Movies Studio and attempt to kill and destroy as much of the compound as possible. This group would be the largest, with the remaining members of the assault team.
Grabbing his cell phone, Ibrahim begin to make the calls to his lieutenants to activate their groups. “Have everyone armed and assembled at our preplanned staging point,” he barked.
Walking down to the basement, he removed a couple of boxes that were obscuring a large black trunk that was somewhat hidden. Pulling out his key, Ibrahim unlocked the trunk and began to do a quick inventory of what he had and what he would need to bring with him. Placing his military grade body armor on, he quickly loaded six magazines of 5.56mm ammunition for his AR15. He grabbed another eight more magazines and placed them in his backpack. Next, he grabbed his Glock 19 and five eighteen round magazines. Before he left with his tools for this mission, he placed six radios with throat mics in his backpack, knowing that his lieutenants would need them.
As Ibrahim pulled into the meeting location with his Suburban, he saw most of the group had already arrived. “Ibrahim, everyone is accounted for except Abu Kassim. We are ready,” said Mohammed, one of his lieutenants.
Getting out of his vehicle, he told Mohammed, “We need to hit these targets fast and stick to the timeline. If we stay at the objectives too long, additional police will arrive and we may not get out.”
“I understand. We are ready when you give the word. Do you think the 20 of us can really pull this off?” Mohammed asked.
“As long as Saïd does not chicken out and detonates his van in front of the police station, that should kill a lot of them.”
“I do not think he will become a coward at the last minute; he has been preparing himself for this moment for a long time and I think he is ready,” replied Mohammed with confidence.
“We shall see.”
Beep, Beep. Ibrahim checked his smartphone and saw the go order from his handler. The time had come for him to do his part in this Holy war against America.
“That’s it--that’s the message. Everyone get ready; we leave in a minute. Saïd, are you ready for your mission?”
“I am ready. I will not let you or Allah down. I will be a martyr for Islam as we bring Allah’s judgment upon America,” Saïd said with a wicked grin on his face and a look of burning rage. Saïd’s father had been killed by an American drone attack when he was just a child. His mother brought him up with one purpose in mind, to avenge his father’s death.
“You will be greatly rewarded, my brother. May we all die as great a death as you will…Now start heading towards your target and complete your mission.”
As their little convoy drove through downtown LA, they could not help but revel in the chaos they were about to cause. Americans had grown fat and lazy; they were more concerned with their own lives and did not notice anything else around them. Then they saw it--a big plume of black smoke rising into the sky just a couple of blocks ahead.
BOOOOMMM!!!!! A large fireball emanated from direc
tly in front of the LA central police station. The utility truck Saïd was driving had been reinforced with bullet proof glass and armor around the passenger compartment to ensure that he survived long enough to detonate the truck. The truck had been loaded with 5,000 lbs. of high explosives and 1,000 lbs. of ball bearings to create additional shrapnel. When he reached the front of the police building, it detonated--the explosion was so powerful, it tore the entire face of the building off along with several buildings across the street. Dozens of people were laying on the pavement and sidewalks, some slowly moving, some discovering the gravity of their wounds. Others lay on the pavement like tossed and torn rag dolls. The screams of pain and cries for help began almost immediately after the shock of the blast wore off.
Speaking through his throat mic, Ibrahim ordered Khalid to have his team drive right towards the hole in the building and start clearing the building. His twelve-man team should be sufficient, considering they were all armed with assault rifles and the police were bound to be shell-shocked from the blast.
“Mohammed, I want you to have your team break into four groups. One group is to walk around and start killing the wounded. I want your other teams to start clearing and killing everyone in the surrounding buildings. We have exactly ten minutes to cause as much chaos and damage as possible and then we move to the warehouse and regroup for our next mission.”
“As you wish. This is a glorious day for us, Ibrahim. I am honored to be a part of your command,” said Mohammed, who quickly turned and ran towards the two vans carrying his team.
As Ibrahim walked towards the heavily damaged Starbucks across the street from the police station, he heard the moan and soft cry for help from a man lying on the sidewalk. His arm had been badly mangled from the blast and he had a terrible head wound. He reached out his good hand towards Ibrahim, begging him for help. Without thinking, he reached down, grabbed his Glock and shot the man in the face, putting him out of his misery.