by Oliver North
The major gave the order to one of his men and turned back to Skillings. “How is the captain?” asked Rotem, pointing to Macklin.
“Not too bad. Same story. The vest stopped the round. But someone did a job on his face. It looks like he's got a broken jaw. And with that smashed nose, he's not going to win any beauty contests. In any event, they are both a whole lot better off than that guy,” the gunnery sergeant added, nodding toward the body of Leonid Dotensk.
Newman grabbed Skillings's right hand and tried to pull himself to his feet. “I'm OK,” he muttered, feeling angry because Komulakov had escaped. But the effort proved too painful, and he sank back onto the floor, his head still spinning as he fought to remain conscious.
Outside on the tarmac, eight IDF operators were opening the shipping containers to remove the three nuclear weapons so they could be quickly loaded aboard the helicopters. As the Israelis did this, a Royal Marine captain came trotting in out of the darkness and approached Rotem. He shouted to be heard over the noise of the four CH-46s as they repositioned outside the structure, “Sir, Major Chilton asks that you come outside for a moment. One of our lads has made an interesting discovery.”
The IDF officer and the British commando walked quickly to where four Royal Marines were standing in a semicircle. As the officers approached, one of them took out a flashlight and shined it on a pallet containing twenty gold ingots.
“We were wondering what to do with the gold when one of our troopers discovered just what all these folks were fighting and dying for,” said Major Chilton over the roar of the rotors. “It looks as if these guys were robbed.”
“How so?” asked Rotem.
The British officer held up one of the heavy bars that had been part of Qusay Hussein's gold shipment from Baghdad. The seal of the Iraqi National Bank was clearly evident. The Royal Marine unsheathed his combat knife and gouged a chunk out of the ingot and showed the gash to Rotem. To the IDF major's surprise, the bar was solid lead, gilded with a gold finish of some kind.
“Saddam wouldn't have had the time to do this just for Komulakov,” Rotem observed. “This must mean that the entire Iraqi treasury is filled with bars of gilded lead! So much for the UN Oil for Food program. No wonder Saddam can afford to buy all that military hardware.”
A Royal Marine captain ran up and interrupted them. “Major Rotem, shall we depart? I've been advised by base that there are two C-130s waiting at the Tirbil FARP for our arrival. Will you be riding on the lead helo out of here with your wife?”
The IDF officer looked around the devastated complex. A pall of acrid, black smoke hung over the warehouses and billeting areas. The barracks were still smoldering, as were several smaller structures. Overhead, the four Cobras, having refueled after attacking the Syrian armor column, were circling like angry wasps.
Rotem looked over at Newman, who was on his feet with his arm over Skillings's shoulder. The Israeli officer nodded his head and said, “Let's go.”
“Yeah...let's do that. Rachel has already told me that she's ready to go home,” Newman added.
Another British NCO approached the group and shouted, “Sir, both units have their musters complete, and the wounded are being loaded aboard now. Shall I signal base that we're prepared to lift?”
Before he could reply, one of Rotem's IDF sergeants called out to him as they headed toward the helicopters. “Sir, we've got a huge problem,” he said as he caught up with them. “I thought I'd better let you and Colonel Newman know right away.”
“What kind of a problem?” Rotem asked.
Two Royal Marines continued toward the helicopter, carrying Macklin, who was beginning to regain consciousness. Only Newman, Skillings, and Rotem heard what the sergeant had to say.
“We were taking the nuclear weapons out of the shipping containers in order to fit them onto the choppers,” the Israeli sergeant began. “We have two of the three nuclear weapons aboard and tied down.”
“And what's the problem?” Major Rotem repeated.
“Well, sir, when we opened the other shipping crate, we found nothing but sand. Sir,...one of the nukes is missing!”
EPILOGUE
Peter Newman was treated in Israel for the wounds he received during the At Tanf raid. On 30 March 1998, he and his wife Rachel, using the passports of John and Sarah Clancy, returned to the United States aboard a USAF C-17. When they arrived at MacDill Air Force Base, they were met by General George Grisham, CinC CENT-COM, and Florida Congressman “Sonny” Hester of the House Armed Services Committee. The Newmans were reunited with their son James that afternoon when he and Peter's sister Nancy arrived. On 5 April 1998, Peter J. Newman was reinstated in the USMC with the rank of lieutenant colonel and assigned to the staff of U.S. Central Command. In January 1999 Rachel gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Anne. Peter Newman was promoted to colonel in July 2000, and in February 2001 he was ordered to HQMC for duty as staff secretary to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. On 24 March 2001, at a White House ceremony, the President belatedly presented Colonel Peter J. Newman, USMC, with a second Purple Heart Medal and a second Navy Cross for the action in Iraq three years before. The citations are classified.
General George Grisham “respectfully declined” a presidential request in April 1998 for his resignation and retirement. Subsequently, he was summoned to testify before closed sessions of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees investigating what the press dubbed the “March Mideast Missile Emergency.” Both congressional committees unanimously determined that General Grisham had committed no wrongdoing and privately commended him for his actions in preventing a nuclear war. In February 2001, the new President appointed him Commandant of the Marine Corps.
William Goode replaced “John Clancy” as the director of the Hospice of Saint Patrick in Jerusalem. He continued to serve in this capacity, working closely and quietly with the “Fellowship of Believers” in the Community of Saint Patrick until May 2001, when the new President asked him to return to the U.S. to serve as Deputy Director for Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency. In June 2001 the Senate quietly confirmed his appointment and he became, at sixty-seven, the oldest head of the CIA's Clandestine Service. He now keeps the Pescador II berthed in Annapolis, Maryland, and sails regularly on the Chesapeake Bay. He remains in close contact with the members of the Fellowship around the world.
Gunnery Sergeant Amos Skillings was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat “V” for his actions during the At Tanf raid. The citation reads in part, “for heroic action on the night of 24-25 March 1998 during a classified operation essential to the national security of the United States. After repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire, Gunnery Sergeant Skillings skillfully organized the retrograde of U.S. and allied forces from the objective area to a clandestine FARP established in a neighboring country and, from there, onward to allied territory via USMC C-130.” The pilots and aircrews of the USMC helicopter squadrons that participated in the At Tanf raid and the U.S. Marine C-130 crew that lifted the British commandos from the FARP at Tirbil, Jordan, were subsequently recognized with Air Medals and a Navy Unit Citation. None of the certificates mention Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, or nuclear weapons. Skillings was promoted to first sergeant in 1999 and was assigned to Second Force Reconnaissance Company at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in 2001.
Major Ze'ev Rotem was cited for his heroism during the At Tanf operation, and the Prime Minister presented him with the Itur Hagvura, Israel's highest military decoration at a secret ceremony in June 1998. In October of that same year, his wife Dyan gave birth to a boy, Joshua Peter. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in November, Ze'ev Rotem served as military aide to the Prime Minister from December 1998 until January 2001, at which time he was assigned as the assistant military attaché at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. Although Lieutenant Colonel Rotem wears the gold and silver Itur Hagvura medal on his uniform, he is not permitted to display or reveal the text of the citation that is classified “Most Secret.”
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Robert Hallstrom, aka Julio Morales, continued to spy for the Russian Intelligence Service until he was seized by the FBI on 18 February 2001. When he was apprehended, Hallstrom was in the process of making a “dead drop” at Foxstone Park, less than a mile from his home in Fairfax County, Virginia. Though he subsequently made a plea agreement to avoid trial for capital espionage, he never revealed his relationship with his original “handler” from the Washington, D.C., Rezidentura, General Dimitri Komulakov.
Dimitri Komulakov remained in Kiev, Ukraine, pursuing “business interests” until October 2000 when he returned to Moscow as a consultant to the SVR on “matters in Chechnya.” The nuclear artillery round removed from At Tanf on 24 March 1998 was never recovered. No charges were ever filed against General Komulakov, and no warrant for his arrest was ever issued. In August 2001, a Top Secret CIA report entitled “Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” charged “individuals in the Russian Federation appear to have established contact with elements in the Islamic Republic of Iran for the purpose of selling Soviet-era nuclear weapons and/or fissile material to the Iranians.”
Qusay Hussein blamed “dissident elements and traitors” for his failure to acquire nuclear weapons in March 1998. In December 2001, Qusay was given command of the Special Republican Guards Division in Baghdad. On 21 March 2003, when U.S. and coalition forces launched Operation Iraqi Freedom, he fled Iraq with more than $500 million in gold from the Iraqi National Bank.
Dr. Hiran Aranul, the head of Iraq's nuclear weapons program, was executed by firing squad on the orders of Qusay Hussein on 28 March 1998.
Captain Bruno Macklin was treated in Israel for the wounds he incurred during the At Tanf raid. He returned to London on 15 April 1998 and was awarded three and one half years' back pay and promoted to major. In a private ceremony at 10 Downing Street, he was decorated with the George Cross for “heroic action during a prolonged, sensitiveassignment of vital interest to Her Majesty's government.” Major Macklin's citation is classified “Secret.” He has petitioned his SAS Regiment for permission to write a book about his experiences.
MI6 Officers Blackman and Thomas were both awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal by Queen Elizabeth II on 30 April 1998. They continue to serve in MI6.
Eli Yusef Habib and his son Samir successfully eluded the Syrian Army dragnet on the night of 24-25 March 1998 by driving to Damascus. They returned to their homes and families in Anah, Iraq, along the banks of the Euphrates, a week later by driving through Jordan—after picking up two truckloads of hard-to-get consumer goods at the port of Latakia. Both men remain active in the “Fellowship of Believers” and continue to ply their trade from the Mediterranean to Iran. In the spring of 2003, Eli Yusef and Samir assisted U.S. intelligence agencies in efforts to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was Samir who subsequently contributed the information that appeared in the CIA's National Intelligence Daily: “... foreign intelligence sources report that Iran has recently obtained a Soviet-era nuclear artillery round and is attempting to reverse-engineer the device in an effort to build their own. North Korean scientists are said to be assisting in this effort. The CIA is unable to verify or confirm these reports.”
