by James Rosone
“That is true. The next test will be Great Britain and the EU,” Sergun said.
“Yes, but they do not pose a serious threat to our forces. Our Air Force is on par with theirs these days and they do not have the ground forces needed to stop us,” Gerasimov said.
“Let’s hold a military exercise in mid-January along the NATO lines. We’ll make this a joint exercise with our Belarus and Eastern Ukrainian allies. We need to make sure we include NATO officers to ensure we defuse their apprehension. Once the IR attack is in full motion against the US and Israel, then we can make our move.”
“True, Mr. President. We had planned to attack the EU next fall; the IR is going to make us move our timeline up sooner than we had anticipated. If we coincide our winter training exercise with the timing of the IR’s attack, we could redirect the training to a full-on invasion of the EU and a combined first strike against the Americans. Our forces will have been dispersed and have crossed into the EU, so neither the EU nor the Americans would launch nuclear weapons at them,” General Sergun said devilishly.
“Despite our forces being dispersed, the Americans will respond with nuclear weapons if we use them on their troops; it’s part of their standard procedures.”
“Mr. President, to launch nuclear weapons the Americans need their President to authorize it, if he is not available then it passes down to the Vice President, next it goes to the Speaker of the House. All of these people will be at the inauguration and if the IR plan works, they will have decapitated all of the people in the line of succession that could authorize an attack,” said General Gerasimov.
“What is the state of our ballistic missile defense system?”
“We have twenty-one pulse beam batteries covering the likely approaches their missiles would take from either submarine launch or their missile silos. In addition, we have recently launched four new weather satellites that are part of our space-based laser missile defense system. Our primary concern would be their stealth bombers; we may be able to identify some of them, but more than a few would slip through our defenses,” said General Sergun.
“The question we have to ask is this--can we inflict enough crippling damage to knock the Americans out of the war at the start and secure the rest of Europe? And can we absorb the damage the Americans are most likely to inflict?” asked President Fradkov. “The other question is--will the Chinese play their part and strike the American West Coast and their Pacific Fleet?”
“During our last talks with the Chinese, they seemed like they would do their part. They want to absorb Southeast Asia and the Rice Bowl it would bring; they may even look to secure Australia if the Americans are knocked out of the equation. The hardest challenge our forces and the Chinese will have is ensuring we coordinate our attacks to coincide with the Islamic Republic’s assault,” General Gerasimov said.
“Yes, it will be a challenge trying to synchronize everything, but I am not sure we will have an opportunity like this ever again. If we and the Chinese choose not to join in this attack, the Americans will recover quickly and obliterate the Islamic Republic. If we limit our first strike to purely military targets, chances are if the Americans respond, they will likewise limit their strikes to our military facilities as well. The GRU believes our missile defense will help reduce the number of potential strikes we would absorb; our only real concern is wondering how effective the Americans missile defense system is,” said General Sergun.
“Let’s move forward as if we are going to execute this operation with the IR and the Chinese; if we need to cancel the operation, we can do so right up until the last minute if we believe the Chinese are not going to be able to pull off their end, perhaps we even let the Chinese launch the first attack and while the Americans are responding to that threat, we hit them,” said the President.
South of the Border
Mid-September 2040
Mexico City
“Colonel Zedillo, we have received final confirmation. We are to begin the coup immediately. Send the word to our people to start arresting the various commanders and military officers we know will not cooperate and replace them with ones that will. I want this done within the next two hours. We are to commence with the coup by the end of the day” General Galván said.
“Yes, General. We shall have everyone in position soon,” Colonel Zedillo said as he began to send a coded text message to let everyone know the coup was going to take place that day.
General Guillermo Galván was an egotistical narcissist who had a god complex. He truly believed he could one day become President or take control of the country and lead Mexico to new greatness. His tenacity, skill and determination had led him to become the second highest ranking general in the Mexican Army. For years he had fought the cartels, until two years ago when he was approached by a member of the IR intelligence service. They had offered him five hundred million NAD to stop attacking the cartels and to start cooperating with them.
The IR’s goal was for him to form a partnership with the cartels to take over the country and ensure the Americans would not pose a threat to his government once he completed his overthrow of the current government. If he was able to successfully plan and execute the coup, he would have their full support to become the new President. He would need to continue to turn a blind eye to the cartels and to change his country’s stance towards the US. The IR reasoned with the General that by incorporating the cartels into the government, a prearranged percentage of revenue made by the sale of drugs globally would be given to the government. The IR would then ask for permission to base soldiers in Mexico and he should accept.
Colonel Jose Zedillo was the commander of the soldiers that protected the Presidential Palace and the Mexican government. General Galván had been able to recruit most of his officers with money provided by the IR and assurances that they would receive promotions and more authority under his regime.
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When the coup finally happened, it transpired quickly, despite some army units refusing to be a part of it. Their commanding officers were quickly eliminated as well as any other individuals who wanted to resist. The IR had numerous Special Forces groups assisting the Mexican Army with securing important government institutions and military bases as well as eliminating opposition and potential opposition leaders. The first two days of the coup were bloody; thousands of people within the government, media, and individuals identified by the Islamic Republic intelligence network were killed and others with needed skills and political leanings contrary to America were installed. Within two days, the entire country had been secured with help from the military; the police had no resistance or violence from the cartels.
At first, the US stood on the sidelines to see what would happen. Within five days of General Galván taking over the country, several governors refused to recognize him as the new leader. Several military units whose commanders had not been replaced also revolted against the coup; the situation in Mexico appeared to be quickly dissolving into a civil war. Those governors who initially stood up to the military dictatorship being imposed were quickly killed by IR Special Forces units at the request of General Galván. It then became apparent to the US President and his advisors that the level of involvement by the Islamic Republic was much greater than could have been anticipated.
The IR quickly recognized the new military dictatorship and even the cartels aligned themselves with the rebels. IR military advisors and Special Forces who were already in Mexico began to assist the Mexican army in neutralizing the loyalists, with assurances from the IR that an additional 10,000 troops would arrive by air to further assist the new government.
For the IR, the situation played out exactly how they had hoped. Mexico was becoming a base of operations that would necessitate an intervention by the American military. The ensuing battle that would rage in Mexico would tie down American forces, keeping them from being quickly mobilized for the coming fight with Israel. Once the Americans did intervene, the IR sleeper agents would t
hen start their part of Operation Allah’s Judgement and would rain chaos and terror on the American people for the next three months until it was time to deliver Allah’s Swords.
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End of September 2040
Operation Brimstone
As it became clear that Mexico was going to become a base for IR forces in North America and that the Mexican government was going to become a narco-state sponsored military dictatorship, President Stein saw no other option than to intervene in Mexico. The Pentagon had been working on a war plan to capture and then integrate Mexico as a US Territory for nearly six months. Units had been identified along with equipment that would be needed. The President only needed to give the order and within three days the operation could begin.
On September 26th, President Stein gave the order for Operation Brimstone. The President brought in the Congressional leadership of all parties and had the National Security Advisor, Director of the CIA, Director of DHS and the Secretary of Defense brief them on the situation in Mexico and explain the finer points of Operation Brimstone. At the end of the meeting, the President asked for approval for the operation. Support was unanimous from the FP and Republican Party leadership and their representatives. Several Democrats also voted for the campaign, despite most voting against it.
On the morning of September 29th, US Forces began hostilities in Mexico with devastating effectiveness, attacking by land, air and sea across the US southern border, the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of fighters, drones and cruise missiles began to hit critical military targets all across Mexico, with hundreds of Special Forces and American paratroopers landing all across the country securing airports, critical bridges and military command and control centers.
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30 September 2040
Philadelphia, PA
The day after President Stein announced the US was going to intervene in the Mexican Civil War to restore order, the IR activated one of their direct action teams to start their attacks. These outbreaks of violence would continue to escalate in frequency until the final two assaults, when IR agents would direct a full insurrection and rioting of several major cities.
Nagim Abdullah had just finished his coffee and was returning back to work when he received a text message. He quickly checked his phone and understood that his particular group had just been activated. Nagim had succeeded in obtaining a warehouse position shortly after his arrival from Oman a year ago as a political refugee. He had been recruited by the IR intelligence service to be a group leader for a direct action unit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just prior to leaving Oman.
His orders were to obtain a low-level job that would draw little attention and wait to be activated. They had given him three targets to attack; the first was a mall located in the downtown area. If he survived the attack at the first target, then he would proceed to his next target, which was a movie theater in one of the suburbs.
His orders were simple; spend no more than three minutes in the mall shooting as many people as possible and then quickly get away. Lay low for twelve hours and then conduct the next attack. He would continue to move down his target list until he was either killed or he completed his mission. Once the assignment was complete, he was to head to Detroit where the IR had a major operation planned.
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01 October 2040
Washington, DC
White House – Situation Room
Since the authorization of Operation Brimstone, the President had requested a brief every twelve hours until the country had been fully secured.
“Mr. President, the first 48 hours of Operation Brimstone have been completed. There were 1,353 bombing sorties, which hit various military and strategic targets all across Mexico, with a special emphasis on hitting the known cartels’ positions. While this has been taking place, 30 Special Forces A-Teams began hitting every known cartel safe house, drug factory and leadership residency location. They were either directing the air strikes on the ground or quickly following in afterwards with ground forces to ensure the targets were killed,” General Branson said.
“Delta Force was tasked with attacking the central military command base in Mexico City and quickly apprehended General Galván while they were trying to organize a defense of the city and country. They also captured and secured the Presidential Palace,” General Branson said, giving the President a minute to ask questions before he continued with the brief.
“Please continue, General,” said the President.
“The 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a combat jump directly onto the Mexico City International airport and secured it for follow-on forces. The entire XVIII Air Borne Corps, all 35,000 of them, completed their combat jumps and hit over a dozen locations across Mexico City. They also landed with their Light Tactical Vehicles (LTVs) and two battalions of the new light tank drones. They are currently securing the remainder of the city and expect to have it fully secured within the next 72 hours. We have an MP Brigade landing at the international airport who will assume the policing duties in the city so that the airborne units can start to move to their other objectives outside city borders.”
“Our Navy quickly neutralized the Mexican Navy, either capturing what ships they could in port with the SEALs, or destroying the ones they could not capture. 1st Marines led the charge across Southern California, securing Tijuana and moving through the Baja Peninsula. 2nd and 3rd Marines are making various amphibious landings all across the Gulf Coast of Mexico.”
“1st Armored Division out of Ft. Hood is leading the ground invasion from Texas, along with the 1st Calvary Division out of Ft. Bliss. The 4th Army Division has several battalions securing positions across the Arizona and New Mexico borders, with the rest of the division pushing inland through the desert. The commanders on the ground believe the majority of Mexico will be secured within the next 96 hours and full occupation of the country will be accomplished within 10 days as more follow-on forces arrive and begin to move to every major city in Mexico.”
“It still amazes me how fast our forces were able to capture and secure most of the country,” said the President, genuinely impressed.
“Mexico is not that far from most of our military bases, and sharing a thousand-mile border does make it a lot easier to invade. We also had the element of complete surprise, thanks to your speech earlier about the US taking a “wait and see” attitude towards the new government. They were completely lulled into a false sense of security,” Eric Clarke said with a smile.
“I want to make sure that once follow-on forces are in Mexico that we extract our frontline troops so they are ready for any other surprises. I did not think the IR would have gotten involved so soon, nor have as many people on the ground as they did,” said Eric Clarke with a bit of concern in his voice.
“They caught a lot of people by surprise with that,” said Patrick Rubio, the Director of the CIA. The CIA was starting to catch a lot of flak in the media and by the DOD for not knowing there were already several thousand IR troops in Mexico.
“How many casualties have we taken, and has there been much resistance?”
General Branson resumed his brief to answer the President’s question. “Resistance was heavy the first day. The A-Teams had 12 Killed in Action (KIA) and 37 Wounded in Action (WIA), the SEALs had 17 KIA and 31 WIA; Delta Force lost a lot, 31 KIA and 67 WIA.”
“Why did Delta take so many casualties?”
“They had the toughest, most well-defended target; the military headquarters compound was heavily guarded by Mexican and IR Special Forces. They put up one heck of a fight before they were able to capture General Galván,” said Branson.
“Sorry for interrupting, please continue General.”
“During the airborne operation to secure the Mexico City International Airport the 75th Rangers suffered 19 KIA and 124 WIA and secured the airport within two hours. They also repelled two separate uncoordinated attacks by the Mexican Army. That concludes the Special Forces casualties; th
e rest of the Army had 293 KIA and another 2,321 WIA, the Marines 312 KIA and 1,543 WIA, the Navy lost 43 KIA and 132 WIA, and the Air Force lost 27 KIA and 254 WIA. We expect casualties to continue to climb as additional follow-on forces arrive and as more objectives are secured throughout the country. Most of the military has either surrendered or been killed; there are some of the hardcore units that faded away and will probably cause some problems down the road.”
“The cartels have also been putting up a good fight, though they are also melting away into the population, so we’ll need to hunt them down. The MANPADS the IR provided have caused us a lot of problems; we’ve lost 13 helicopters, 46 drones and four aircraft that flew a little too low. We are also starting to see more use of those RPG-7Vs as well,” said Branson as he concluded his brief.
“Gentlemen, I’m impressed with our success thus far. I want to make sure it continues, so please use whatever resources and troops are needed to pacify the country quickly. I want law and order restored soon and I want a return to normalcy, or as close to it as possible.”
Knowing the domestic aspects of Mexico and America still needed to be discussed, the President changed the direction of the meeting and asked for his domestic advisors to begin their brief. “Moving to domestic matters, Jim, I believe you had some information you wanted to share--but prior to us getting into that, I want to make sure everyone is working towards stabilizing Mexico. I want the FBI to hire an additional 1,500 Special Agents and start to identify Spanish speaking agents who can start setting up field offices in Mexico. I want the DOJ to start developing their plan for criminal prosecutors and a police force,” said the President as he looked over the men and women at the table.
“I have my best people working on this Mr. President; we have several plans underway right now to accomplish that goal. I will have more details about this in my brief with you tomorrow,” said Attorney General James Roberts.
