by John Price
FBI spokesperson Ora Slabaugh, in announcing the initiation of the investigation, said, “We are looking into not only the timing of these fires, but also into the fact that each fire was initiated by an unknown incendiary device. If somebody, or several persons behind these fires, think these vehicle fires are a joke, they should know that the FBI is not laughing. We will not rest until we locate, identify and file criminal charges against the perpetrators of these crimes.”
Early indications from law enforcement officials are that no messages from persons claiming responsibility had been received by either the FBI or police agencies in the affected cities. One FBI source, on background and not for attribution, told the Associated Press that the Bureau is concerned about two aspects of the fires - the advanced device used to start the fires and the method used to coordinate the fires within the narrow time frame involved. The Bureau source said that the level of coordination and technical sophistication pointed to a foreign military or intelligence agency. No ignition devices have yet been located.
Finishing the AP news feed Kevin said, “Jocko, we got ourselves a story here. Think about it. When did the first plane hit the North Tower?”
“Uh. It was before 9 AM. I know that. I was still on my first cup of Joe.”
“Correct. 8:46 to be exact. The South Tower was hit at 9:03. These ten building fires were all started, according to this feed, between those very early morning times, give or take a minute. That degree of coordination across five time zones is fairly impressive. Somebody is trying to send us a message.”
“Maybe,” Jocko said, “But what’s the message? That a bunch of terrorists, domestic or otherwise, can start fires in building lobbies in ten cities, all at the same time. Big deal.”
“You’re still not getting’ it. Whoever did this could have rigged up bombs, instead of just incendiary devices and killed lots of people. The point of this impressive nation-wide effort must have been to either demonstrate, or more likely, to practice the coordination of several ignited devices at the same time. If these fires were pulled off by radical religious groups or gun supporters, then why no injuries or deaths? Why no massive property damage? The federal building bombings all involved large numbers of deaths and massive damage, so why not now? The only thing that makes sense to me is that America’s foreign enemies are doing a run-up practice before the real thing. Jocko, something evil this way comes.”
68
Private Quarters and Situation Room - White House
Washington, DC
“Mister President. Colonel Taylor here. I apologize for waking you.”
“Umph. Wha…what’s the time? Oh, man….okay….what is it?”
“Sorry sir, but we have a situation.”
“What? Where?”
“Our satellites, and the Israelis, are detecting mass movements of armed military equipment southwest of Damascus on route seven.”
“So? They announced a joint training exercise….a few days ago….like last Friday. What….the….is everybody asleep at the Pentagon. Don’t they read their own briefing docs? I’m going to….”
The Colonel had been well trained to handle middle of the night conversations with the nation’s chief executive. Situation Room staff were more than well aware that the President hated to be awakened, disliked having to leave his bed for the Situation Room and held in low repute those in the military whose job was to ask him to do so. The colonel plunged ahead, saying, “Sorry, sir, General Houston, CJCS, asked I wake you. He wants you to know that Israel picked up a conversation between the Kremlin and Tehran last week that could be interpreted as discussing an armed attack on Israel from Damascus. The movements being seen appear to corroborate that conversation.”
“The Israelis heard this last week….and I’m just now hearing about it? What the….”
“Mr. President, sir, it was part of the security briefing on Monday that you missed, sir.”
“Fine. Fine. Has the PM tried to call me yet, Colonel?”
“Sir, you’ve had several calls in the last hour from the Israeli PM, but we didn’t wake you for those.”
“Okay, so, what does the esteemed General Houston suggest I do, Colonel? I didn’t turn into until after midnight. I could really use some sleep, so….”
“General Houston has asked that you meet the Joint Chiefs in the Situation Room.”
“When? Can we put it off until….”
“Sir, General Houston and the Joint Chiefs are here in the Situation Room, now, sir. They are asking if you could please join them as soon as you are able. What shall I tell them, sir?”
“I for sure don’t want to hear on Fox about my refusal to meet with the military. Give me a few minutes to hose off and caffeine up. Tell General Houston that he better have more than just some training exercise in Syria…Tell him I said that, Colonel, got it?”
“Yes, Mr. President, sir. I’ll inform the Chiefs that you’re on your way.”
“I didn’t say I was on….forget it….I’ll be right down.”
69
Situation Room – White House West Wing
Washington, DC
At 3 AM the Situation Room was as brightly lit as the skies outside the West Wing were starkly dark. The large table in the main conference room of the 5,000 square foot intelligence center seats up to fifteen comfortably, but on occasion has held more, as some in attendance stand around the room. On this early morning the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Scott Houston, was seated at the end of the table opposite the President’s traditional chair. The other military chiefs were seated randomly around the table, intermixed with representatives of the National Security Agency, the CIA and DHS. None appeared to be particularly pleased with what they were seeing, in real time, on the six large flat screen televisions mounted on the walls of the room. Drone aircraft feeds from three US drones were displayed, along with two feeds from Israeli drones and one from an Israeli fighter aircraft.
All six showed large convoys of military equipment moving in the mid-morning light southwest of Damascus. NSA and CIA intelligence analysts had easily identified the mechanized weapons and troop carriers as of Russian and Iranian origin. The military and intelligence officers were discussing the markings on the equipment when the President walked in the room dressed in a Georgetown sweatshirt and jeans. Everyone stood. The joint chiefs and other military personnel snapped a salute. The President glanced at the television screens and then around the room as he made his way to the far end of the table, Starbucks coffee cup in hand. He refused to drink the Navy Mess coffee served in the White House, much to the irritation of the cooks and the Secret Service who fetched his coffee for him.
Dropping down into his chair the President audibly grunted, saying “OK….Why isn’t what I see on these screens exactly what they told us it would be, a Russian-Iranian training exercise? And what was so important that I’m rousted out of bed at 3 AM in the morning? General Houston? I understand you made the decision to haul me down here?”
General Houston had never gotten along well with this President. He didn’t think that the President had a basic respect for the leadership of the nation’s military, even though he frequently praised the enlisted men and women in public speeches. As a consequence, though he respected his position as his Commander in Chief, he had the same basic lack of respect for the man that the President evidenced towards the General and his flag staff peers. The General took his time and took two deep breaths while appearing to study the document in his hand. He then looked up at the President and said, “Mr. President. This is not a training exercise. We have intercepted all radio communication with the commanders on the ground. Each has been instructed to proceed with all deliberate haste to the Israeli border, and….”
“So? What’s so earth-shattering about that? They race to the border. They stop. They scare Israel and apparently you, Houston, then they retreat and share a few bottles of vodka. No big deal. Like they said, a training exercise.”
The G
eneral took an even deeper breath and responded, “Sir. The intercepted commands all instruct these forces to breach the Israeli border, and thereupon to proceed south across the Golan Heights and into Israel. A Russian communique from Moscow to the theater commander discusses entering Tel Aviv and later Jerusalem. Mr. President, this is an invasion of the sovereign territory of an allied nation. We have no choice, but to….”
“General, I’m not going to even think about discussing choices until and unless….’
“I apologize for interrupting, Mr. President,” Colonel Taylor said, interrupting, “but we have an incoming emergency call, on the secure red line, from the Prime Minister of Israel. Will you take his call, sir?”
The President almost appeared to sneer, took a sip of his Starbucks and blurted out, “Colonel, first….I was talking. Last time I checked, I was still your Commander in Chief. I noticed you didn’t interrupt the General while he was speaking. But once he had finished speaking and I was trying to speak, then you felt it was appropriate to interrupt me. Should that happen again, Colonel, I’ll look for a nice duty station for you. Maybe in Alas….Never mind, you get my meaning, I assume. Tell the PM that I’m tied up right now with my Generals watching Israeli television. Tell him we’ll get back to him. OK?”
“Gentlemen and lady. I’m done here. Obviously you’ve been spooked by our friends in Moscow and Tehran. They accomplished their goal. They ran a few troops down the road towards Israel and managed to get me up in the middle of the night. Great. I’m going back to bed. If and when these fellows should actually cross into Israel, by more than a few feet, I mean, then let me know and I’ll call Vladimir and sort it out. Next time, spend a little more time analyzing before you deprive your Commander in Chief of his needed rest.”
70
Landover Hills, Maryland
As a bedroom suburb of the nation’s capital Landover Hills enjoyed significantly higher income per capita than the national average. Home values had not declined during the economic downturn, due to the federal government’s role as the country’s best employer. When Abdul Azim Mahaz and his team were scouting the DC area for their preferred location they noticed the upscale nature of the Landover area, but that was not the reason they selected it. The final decision to select Landover was approved by Tehran because of its proximity to U.S. 50. The highway, also known as the John Hanson Highway, was a direct shot from Landover to the Mall in downtown Washington, D.C. The highway was a major feeder route into D.C. for federal employees, but it was not part of the federal interstate highway system. Iranian intelligence had concluded that US 50 would allow agents in the U.S. to travel without being stopped at interstate traffic control booths The last thing Tehran wanted was a thorough search of their cargo vans. It was a risk they couldn’t take.
Abdul Azim Mahaz’s last name meant ‘place of war’ which Tehran felt was quite appropriate for his assignment in America. He proudly signed his name on the lease for the large home with a three car garage, located at the end of a cul-de sac and only five minutes from U.S. 50. Abdul and Naveen quietly moved into the home. Naveen was introduced to their neighbors as Abdul’s wife, though actually she was an Iranian intelligence agent. Landover was populated by large numbers of foreign nationals, so the appearance of Abdul and his wife raised no eyebrows. Abdul and Naveen smiled at their neighbors when they saw them, but avoided any extensive conduct. After they had been in residence several weeks they received a cell phone call alerting them to the arrival at their home before dawn of three cargo vans. The garage doors were all solid wood, with no windows, so once the vans had been parked in the garage, they were not visible to the neighbors. The solid white non-descript vans arrived one hour apart.
A week later two men moved into Abdul and Naveen’s Maryland home. Neighbors were told that the men were Naveen’s younger brothers who wanted to immigrate to America and were working on their masters’ degrees at American University. They would occasionally leave the Landover home, as if they were heading to class, when in reality they were making purchases of materials needed for their work on the vans. The first project in which they engaged was to apply graphics to the vans to identify them as commercial vehicles for a carpet store in Falls Church, a house repair and remodeling service in Front Royal, Virginia and an automobile glass replacement store in Richmond. The vans were next outfitted with large wooden cabinets which would appear to any casual observer as consistent with the business needs of the owners. Built into the middle of each cabinet system was a large cabinet lined with two inches of lead. The lead-lined cabinets were to be hidden behind by rolls of carpet, tool boxes and racks of auto glass.
Once finished, Abdul and the two Iranian agents took the vans out on a test drive. They drove directly down U.S. 50 into Washington, D.C., encountering no DHS traffic control booths. They followed the highway markers showing U. S. and the number 50 on a federal shaped crest. By following the signs they were able to drive directly down New York Avenue and to the federal Mall. Abdul clicked his cell phone when the three vans reached the area of the Mall equidistant between the Capitol and the White House. The other two agents clicked their phones back. Abdul smiled broadly as he turned the steering wheel to head his carpet service truck back to Landover. This will be so easy, he thought. The infidels, he thought, will have no idea how it even happened and then it will be too late, in any case.
Once Abdul notified his U.S. contact with Tehran that the vans were outfitted and drive-tested, three deliveries were made to Abdul and Naveen’s home. All were made in the middle of the night. Each required six persons to carry the metal wrapped boxes into the home. The delivered boxes were carefully installed in the lead lined cabinets in the vans. Before coming to America, Abdul and his fellow agents had been carefully trained in Tehran by Iran’s top scientists, educating them on the intricacies of the care, transport and detonation of nuclear devices.
71
Situation Room – White House West Wing
Washington, DC
The President was still dressed in his G’town sweat shirt and jeans. The same people were in the Situation Room. The clock showed that it was now 8 AM in DC, five hours after the President’s first visit to the crisis control room in the West Wing. The room was first requested by President Jack Kennedy after the abortive Bay of Pigs incident because he wanted the ability to manage a crisis with enhanced communication and intelligence facilities. Though the President’s attitude when he entered the Situation Room appeared to have improved somewhat with increased sleep, he was still nursing his grande Starbucks. He slouched into his seat at the head of the table glaring at his top military and intelligence advisors with obvious skepticism. He said, “The colonel tells me that you’ve got some evidence that my friend Vladimir may be playing games. Spill it. What’s he doing now?”
The NSA analyst tasked with presenting the current situation cleared his throat and said, “Mr. President, you asked not to be disturbed until and unless the Russian and Iranian troops crossed the border with Syria into Israel. That occurred, sir approximately thirty five minutes ago, sir, as screens one and four clearly show. The Israeli border has now been breached, by at least a mile along a broad front. Under international law….”
“I didn’t come down here for lectures on international law….I used to teach law….remember? I still think this is part of a training exercise….never mind. Get me Vladimir. On the red line of course.”
The Colonel whose head the President had figuratively chopped off at 3 AM waited until the President had completely finished his statement then said, “Mr. President, the Israeli PM is on the secure line. He’s demanding that he speak with you, sir. May I connect him while we reach the Russian President? He’s called every hour since 2 AM. OK, Sir?”
“He’s demanding that he speak with me? Really? Tell him to go….uh, that….I’m busy, right now. Do you have Vladimir on the line yet?”
“No, Mr. President, we’re being told that the Russian President is not availabl
e, sir.”
“Huh….Not available? What the heck does that mean? You think he’s still mad about losing his troops at Fort Carson? He’s the head of state….he has to be available, right?”
The Colonel bit his tongue to avoid bringing up the Presidents’ absence during the slaying of a US Ambassador. “Yes, sir, he is the head of state, but his office is telling us that the President is out of town. They describe his absence as a much needed vacation. We pressed, as firmly as we could, diplomatically, for a contact number and we were told that he’s out hunting in the Russian wilderness and unavailable to be reached. It’s all very strange, sir. The NSA is always able to contact any head of state, usually within a matter of minutes.”
The President said nothing. He looked at General Houston, expecting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to explode with invective. But the General said nothing. No one in the room said anything. The President chewed on a yellow pencil until he bit off the eraser, which he spit across the table. The President’s scowl suddenly turned into a beaming grin, as he said, “Great….Don’t you see, gentlemen….this is what I’ve been telling you. I know that his not taking my call has nothing to do with the death of those Russian paratroopers at Fort Carson. Vladimir fully accepted my apology over that little problem….I’m sure. If this little movement of the Russian and Iranian troops was anything except a military exercise Vladimir would be right there….in command….at the Kremlin. No way Vladimir would leave Moscow during an invasion of Israel or any other nation. He’s not in Moscow because these troops are just playing war games, racing around in the desert, or whatever the terrain is there northeast of Israel. What a relief! I knew this was totally blown out of reality. General Houston, you can lower your blood pressure. Everything’s fine. Just as I said.”
