Cobra

by David E. Meadows

  What went through the captain of this destroyer’s mind as he waited on the bridge, watching four torpedoes bear down? President Crawford had called the widow the day of the destruction of the USS John Rodgers and the loss of all who sailed her to offer his condolences and the thanks of a grateful nation. But words could never replace the husband and father who disappeared in seconds of madness.

  “DD-21, sir,” Roger said.

  “What?”

  “The answer to your question, sir. The Gearing was a DD 21-class warship. The latest destroyer class of the United States Navy.”

  His thoughts refocused, President Crawford leaned forward and tapped the folder again. “This DD-21 sank the patrol boat that launched the surface-to-surface missiles as well as the submarine and two Libyan fighter aircraft that attacked it. The battle damage from the short fracas sank the Gearing, and we had no resources within reach to rescue those sailors until three days after they abandoned ship and drifted in the waters off the Libyan coast. We couldn’t even convince our Italian ally to send helicopters or ships into the Gulf of Sidra to pick them up.” President Crawford clasped his hands together and folded them over his chest in a prayerful position.

  “Everything seemed to escalate from this incident, gentlemen. The two ships in Gaeta, Italy, were hit by a car bomber; one admiral killed and another wounded. North Korea invades South Korea. So, where is the plan connecting all these events’? Is it a Chinese operation to consolidate the Korean peninsula by keeping us occupied in the Mediterranean, or is it an Al-Qaida plot to keep us occupied in Korea while they consolidate the entire North African coast? Or, are the two even connected? I don’t know.” He sighed. “And, what, pray tell, do we do if China slows down or stops international trade with us? I mean, where in the hell is our heavy industry today? There’s little of it left in America.”

  The three men exchanged quick looks but kept quiet. Lots of questions and few answers.

  After a few seconds of awkward silence, Bob Gilfort leaned forward and asked, “Mr. President, may I get a copy of General Stanhope’s file for review?”

  President Crawford reached forward and shoved the file to the edge of the desk so the secretary of state could reach it. “Let me know what you think after you read it and, Bob, keep it between you and Roger. The director told me a lot of sensitive sources were used to obtain this information, and he would like to protect these sources this time.”

  Bob Gilfort reached forward and pulled the folder to him, flipped it open, and rifled the pages quickly before handing it to the secretary of defense.

  President Crawford shook his head. “We have to wrap up the North African crisis as soon as possible; rescue the hostages in Algiers and withdraw from North Africa. Meanwhile, Bob, Roger, start laying the groundwork with our European allies to withdraw from Bosnia. We need that division in Korea. I want to put the best picture possible on how we do this, because I believe how we handle it will have long-term impact on our role and responsibilities as the world’s leader. Our global influence in future years depends on America’s performance in the months to come.”

  “As everyone knows, my orders to General Leutze Lewis, the new commander of our forces in the Mediterranean, is to disengage along the North African littoral. Disengage and prepare to sortie from the Mediterranean to join Joint Task Force Offensive Eagle off Korea. I have told him I want us to avoid further escalation of hostilities in the North African littoral. No offensive action from our side is to be taken. If you are right, Roger, and the tide is turning in Korea, then we will redirect forces from there to the Mediterranean. Until then, my orders to General Lewis remain in effect; take no action that expands our entanglement with this mess in North Africa. Just get our citizens out of there and pull out.”

  “Obviously, the British are aware or have some inkling of your plans, sir. They are right, in a way. If Korea doesn’t show signs soon of winding down, then the United States is going to have to withdraw from the Mediterranean and from Europe. The Europeans are going to have to worry about the Balkan peacekeeping operations. They will scream and shout, no doubt. Additionally, we are going to have to withdraw the remainder of our troops out of Europe except for a small number. We will leave an infrastructure — several garrisons active — behind to support, what we will say, is for our return after completing the military operations in Korea. Between us, I doubt Europe will ask or want us to return. Our forward presence in Europe and in most of the Pacific remains baggage from the Cold War. We can use current events as an opportunity to reduce our overseas presence when Korea is over and bring our forces home where they belong.”

  “Mr. President, this will kill Admiral Hastings’s NATO nomination,” Roger objected.

  “Mr. President, I believe our allies will understand our withdrawal of forces but—” Bob Gilfort began.

  “We have to ensure these moves aren’t misinterpreted as a return to isolationism,” Franco added.

  “What about Israel? Without a forward deployed infrastructure, there is no way we can provide timely military support to Israel, if needed,” Roger argued.

  “Mr. President, I think September 11, 2001, negates any policy of isolationism. We have to remain engaged. Remnants of Al-Qaida still remain out there, plotting to kill more Americans and destroy Western civilization.”

  “Gentlemen.” President Crawford rubbed his eyes a few times as he answered. “I don’t intend to tell the allies we are disengaging or even withdrawing our forces until we have unwrapped ourselves from North Africa with the exception of one. I will tell the prime minister of Great Britain. We have a phone call scheduled for later today.”

  “What if—”

  “I know, Franco,” President Crawford interrupted, holding his hand up toward his national security advisor. “It is a chance we take that he may decide to share this information with the French or Germans.

  Personally, I don’t think he will. Most of the British are aghast over the Royal Navy steaming with a French battle group and having no overt links with the United States Navy. Plus, the fact that they are under the command of a French general pisses them off. I think we have an opportunity to throw a wrench into the European Union and it’s anti American stance, and this will do it. Back to the matter at hand.

  Withdrawal from the Med.”

  “If we withdraw Navy and Air Force elements from Europe and the Mediterranean, we will redeploy them immediately to Korea. Bob, the game plan will be once we start to execute it, you will inform our European allies about us withdrawing our troops from the Balkans. I will call our two favorite leaders in Paris and Berlin to tell them the necessity for such an action. I believe they’ll understand. I’ll tell the prime minister when we talk later today.” President Crawford shut his eyes as he pinched his nose again. He felt drained. He had had less than a couple of hours’ sleep last night, and since this started, the longest period had been six hours. Even he knew the toll was showing. An opportunity to lie down provided little sleep. Current events mixed with concern about his wife and the knowledge that what actions he took could mean to the future of the United States whirled through his thoughts.

  Looking up, he said, “Sorry, Bob, you were saying?”

  “If we fail to reestablish a presence in Europe when the Korean conflict is over, then we lose what influence we enjoy in NATO and on an individual basis with some of our more important allies. Never before in our modern history have we needed to increase resources in our diplomatic service. If we are reducing military presence, then we must increase diplomatic presence and engagement. Otherwise, our leverage as a world power will suffer greatly,” he pleaded.

  “Always that chance, Bob. I didn’t say we wouldn’t return to Europe. I’m not even saying we will leave the Mediterranean. What I am saying is that if we have to pull our forces out for Korea, then they may not want us back, and we may even reach the conclusion that America’s best interests are better served elsewhere. It is something we will have to think about
during the months to come.” The last two years of his second term were supposed to be devoted to establishing an enduring legacy for his administration, not fighting some godforsaken war — oops! Military action — in Korea and watching Americans die on both sides of the globe.

  Franco picked up the black notebook off the floor beside his chair. “Mr. President, the polls show the American people are still behind you—”

  “Franco, they will still be behind us when we leave Europe. They will not be behind us if we lose. Americans hate losers, and they hate to discover themselves in that position. We have never been losers in our history, and we do not tolerate losers or losing well. The American people will never forgive an administration that promulgates an image of our country that is less than one that stands above the rest. We must win in Korea.” Crawford looked at the secretary of state. “Bob, have you had any success with the Chinese in getting them to use their influence with the North Koreans?”

  Bob shook his head. “They continue to remonstrate that they have no influence. They tell us they are in talks with the North Korean leadership. Candidly, they offered an informal and nonattributable comment that further successes on the battlefield will cause the North Koreans to cease this misadventure. I believe they truly do want the North Koreans to stop this action and that they are working behind the scenes to get them to return past the thirty-eighth parallel.”

  “See, gentlemen, even our most favored trade partner and world nemesis recognizes we have to have combat victories in Korea for the combat operations there to cease.”

  “We are having combat successes, Mr. President. We are driving them back.”

  “You mean we were driving them back, Roger. For the past two days, it seems to me the offensive has been stalled a few miles north of Seoul.

  How far have we driven them back? Sixty miles? I wouldn’t say the North Koreans are in full flight.”

  “What is it you propose, sir?” Bob asked, glancing at Roger.

  “We do control the air,” Roger offered.

  “Just what I said, Bob. Continue our offensive, even if we are only inching forward, and end the North African operation. I don’t want us to have to withdraw. It sends the wrong message to the world. We will not forget nor forgive the Libyans for sinking the USS Gearing. We will extract our pound of flesh from them, but we may have to do it later. We have lost four warships in the European Theater and not one off Korea, and the action is hotter in Korea. Roger, you have two weeks to wrap it up.”

  “We have only lost two, Mr. President,” Franco interrupted.

  “Four warships, if you count the two in Gaeta, Italy, who had their sterns blown off by a car bomber.”

  “Not blown off, damaged, Mr. President,” Roger corrected.

  “Two weeks! Mr. President, we still have fifty hostages being held God knows where by the Algerian rebels, and intelligence reports that Libya is in the middle of another coup. If we pull out in two weeks, we could leave a war behind us.”

  “A war that Europe will have to handle,” President Crawford said softly.

  “This is what I want you three to do, and I don’t want to read about it tomorrow in the Washington Times or Post. I want it close-hold. I don’t want someone else working this. I want you three to work it. I want a strategy that does just what I said with the best possible domestic and global spin on it. I want the world to see America as the military superpower it is. We know that if the wrong spin is placed on this withdrawal from Europe, it will be viewed as a major chink in our armor as the world’s lone remaining superpower. That is one reason, Bob, you will do whatever is necessary to win Admiral Hastings’s approval by NATO. I want him in place within the next two weeks. But, Bob, I want a backup position in the event we are unable to get him confirmed before news leaks that we are considering pulling out of Europe.”

  He pointed his pencil at Franco. “You, I want preparing the press releases and chronological order of events to ensure a proper spin on our withdrawal from the Balkans. Franco, I know how you love to play spin doctor. This time, do the good job that I know you can. While I doubt all of you agree with me, I view how we do this in the coming days, weeks, and months as determining America’s future as the world leader. And, Roger, it is four we have lost. Two sunk and the two Sixth Fleet ships in Italy the car bomb damaged. They can’t get under way on their own power, can they? So, they are lost to us.”

  Franco nodded and scribbled furiously as he made notes.

  “And keep those notes with you. Don’t leave them lying around your desk like all the others.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “This may also affect our economic leadership, Mr. President,” Bob Gilfort added.

  “Yes, Bob, it may. I would say little would hurt our military superpower status, whether our forces return to Europe at their current level or we keep them in the United States. We may go to a rapid deployment idea the Army and Air Force have developed or start a rotating deployment schedule among service elements like the Navy does with its blue-gold crew concept.”

  The president stood and began to pace. Roger called it his “professor” trait. “Even with funds we diverted to force through my health plan, we are still the world’s only superpower. I don’t buy this Republican bullshit of it being a hollow force. It isn’t, and our military are proving it.”

  He waved his hand, making a point. “What most people don’t realize is that when we finished World War II, we finished it as the only country to come out of it with a healthy economy. Roosevelt’s policy brought us out of the Depression and gave our economy a healthy shot in the arm.

  That healthy post-World War II economy made the U.S. dollar the bellwether for determining global wealth and economic health. No other currency has ever competed with it … until now. We may say publicly positive words about the euro, but the euro is a threat to American economic hegemony.”

  He pulled a dollar bill out of his pocket and held it up. “The euro is already used by major global businesses as a comparative currency with the U.S. dollar. This small piece of currency” —He waved the dollar bill—“has held world confidence for more than seventy years. If something happens to cost the U.S. dollar this confidence, the euro will gleefully ease right into its place. We will find ourselves in the same predicament the British did after World War II when they had no option but to watch the U.S. dollar replace the pound as the international currency of choice. Make no bones about it. The euro is a threat, which is another reason I intend to lay before the prime minister of Great Britain a proposal the British lion will find hard to turn down.” He paused for a moment. “Ironically, we thought the euro was dying in the first ten years of its existence. I figured at any moment during those years to see European governments pulling away from the concept and returning to their own currency, but here it is nearly twenty years later, and the euro flourishes and threatens our economic hegemony.”

  He tossed the dollar bill on the desk. “I don’t need to tell you what will happen to America’s leadership if global confidence is lost in it.

  Worst case is the euro will become the primary currency for determining world economic health. If that happens, we will find our economy not just in a gradual decline but in a rip-roaring recession as people and nations trade U.S. dollars for euros. Keep that in mind as we go down this road. Other world powers in the past have had this same challenge, and none of them survived it. We will, and you must keep that foremost in your consideration. America can survive these challenges to its military might, but the underlying economic threat is far more sinister and dangerous. Bluntly, we can lose the Korean conflict and even the bulk of our military involved in it, and we would still remain the world’s only superpower. However, if we lose our economic hegemony, then America begins a quick descent from its place as world leader and we will slowly return to isolationism. We will become just one more player at the table of global stakes with little influence as we follow Europe’s lead. No, gentlemen, it is better to lose a
n entire Army division or Navy battle group than for the world to lose confidence in our economic banner.

  “I am not going to allow that to happen. We are going to come out of this crisis stronger economically and militarily. How? That is what I need you to come up with: a plan that takes us through this critical period in American history. A period that can just as well mark the decline and fall of America’s leadership. When I finish with the prime minister, we will have thrown some discord and discontent among our European allies and that, gentlemen, is what we need as we extricate ourselves from these military actions.”

  The three men, energized, assured President Crawford they could do it.

  “Good. Franco, what is the latest on Senator Patton’s call for a War Review Committee? Jesus! You’d think a senator would have enough sense not to call it a war. That’s another thing, Franco, you get word out to the Executive Branch that these are not wars we are involved in. They’re military operations.”

  “Yes, sir. I will ensure it is done before lunch, Mr. President.”

  “Good,” Crawford said, nodding. He tossed the pencil to one side. He ran his hand through his hair again.

  Bob Gilfort’s eyebrows bunched slightly as he watched the burdened president grab the pencil again and start to drum it on the table. Times like these made him thankful his own thoughts of trying for the presidency years ago never rose beyond the should I or shouldn’t I point.

  “Mr. President, Senator Patton will use this War Review Committee to investigate your handling of the two crises. What I have discovered is he will place the sinking of the USS Gearing, USS John Rodgers, and the other military setbacks in both North Africa and Korea directly on the doorstep of the administration. Being kin to General George Patton doesn’t hurt his agenda or credibility. He enjoys great popularity with the American people and will use this highly visible committee to further his own presidential aims. With the presidential race less than two years off, this is a great opportunity to slam-dunk the administration and earn some free press for him.”