The Red Collusion Page 18

  President Butler thought to himself for a moment, and then addressed Secretary of Defense Manning again.

  “This is definitely an analysis that I can accept. But then, what do you think the motive is for this insanity by these goddamn Communists?”

  “Mister President, there is no question here that they want to save their homeland. That’s exactly how they see it. We have indications that even in the Soviet Union itself, some unrest has started among some restive labor unions and industrial complexes. In their view, all evil and fermentation originates in the free states of Western Europe, and therefore, in order to nip this agitation and insurrection in the bud, they must neutralize those states. They also believe that by doing this they can put a stop to outside agitation, and also, judging from history, when the motherland is at war against an external enemy, the whole nation unites behind the regime and its leaders. As they see it, it’s like killing two birds with one stone.”

  A junior naval officer entered the room. He saluted, and General Abramson snatched from his hand, almost violently, a sheet of paper fresh from the teleprinter. The Admiral read it intently.

  “What is it, General? Has the Russian fishermen started talking?”

  “No, Sir”, General Abramson replied, still reading the paper. “I’m afraid, Sir, that our time is running out. Both our Intelligence and our allies in West German Intelligence are detecting a general rush of activity over the radio networks in the past half hour, unprecedented in its scope, to hundreds of Soviet troops, especially the armored divisions. It appears that they are receiving orders to move forward.”

  A stunned silence descended upon the Situation Room.

  “Mister Manning, Secretary of Defense”, President Butler said softly in a subdued voice that was nonetheless sharply authoritative. “The Reds are waging war and we are still talking ourselves to death here. I want to hear plans of action right now. But first of all, General”, he turned to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff, “If they start moving now, how long will it take them to reach the antitank positions between the Germanys?”

  “Mister President, it will take them a day and a half, maybe two days at most. In East Germany, they are on friendly territory, all their tanks can move freely on the highways, just like in a military parade. The only thing that can slow them down, in my opinion, is traffic congestion. Nothing else”.

  The President turned to his aide, who had returned to the Situation Room.

  “Secretary of State Peter Perry is sitting outside with the Russian ambassador. Tell Secretary Perry to get rid of the Russian and come here at once.”

  The aide hurried out of the room.

  A minute later, the aide returned with the Secretary of State in tow.

  “Sit down, please”, the President ordered the Secretary. “Mister President, the Russian Ambassador said that…” The President interrupted him unceremoniously.

  “This communist’s lies don’t interest me right now”, said the President.

  The Secretary of State was astounded. He had never been treated like this by the President and had never seen him in such a combative mood. The President disregarded his Secretary’s offended expression and went on.

  “Mister Perry, half an hour ago, the Red Army’s masses of tanks and armored personnel carriers started their engines and are moving towards us. The time for diplomacy is over and the time for action has begun. Within thirty-six hours we will be at war against enormous numbers of tanks that can flood the European continent in a few days. I want you to be an active participant in the decisions that we will be taking now.”

  Secretary Perry nodded, acknowledging the gravity of the situation. The President quickly turned to the Secretary of Defense.

  “Secretary Manning, what can we do now except sit on our hands waiting for them to overrun us?”

  “Mister President, there are quite a few targets that we can attack in

  East Germany, but we will then be perceived as the belligerent party”.

  “I can live with that”, the President replied irritably. “We are at a huge numerical disadvantage against their tanks. So I understand that you’re referring to an aerial assault, right?”

  “Yes, Sir. We have qualitative superiority in the air, in both aircraft and ordnance.”

  The President now turned to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General James Cannon.

  “All our planes are armed and ready. What can we achieve by attacking, General?”

  “Mister President, we are in the middle of winter, so it’s almost impossible to operate at night. In addition, East Germany has the densest and most effective anti-aircraft array in the world with thousands of antiaircraft missiles in almost one hundred batteries. This is sure to cause us significant losses.”

  “I didn’t ask about losses, General”, the President rumbled. “If they breach the West German border, there will be many more losses. What can you do?”

  “Mister President, we have several squadrons of A-10 attack aircraft which are highly effective tank hunters. They are very efficient and can work at low altitude, and therefore can’t fall prey to most of their antiaircraft missiles. Recent reports of the Soviet inventory at the front mentioned 30,000 tanks; if that is so, we can delay their advance but not much else. We can also attack roads and bridges. We can gain around sixteen to eighteen hours.”

  The President looked into the faces of each of those present.

  “Is everybody in agreement with the General? If so, then all we have to do now, in your opinion, is to sit on our fat asses and wait for the swarms of tanks to flood our forces and our allies?”

  The Situation Room fell into absolute silence. Nobody spoke. The President got to his feet and started pacing around the conference table, his subordinates following him with their eyes.

  “White House Chief of Staff!” “Yes, Mister President.”

  “Go out now, please, and tell the Press Secretary to call an emergency press conference. Have them wait for me in the press room and I’ll get there in a few minutes.”

  The Secretary of State, like the rest of his colleagues in the room, had no idea what the President was plotting, but unlike his colleagues, he asked the President directly.

  “Mister President, what are you going to tell the nation?” “Lies. Simply lie to them.”

  “What, Mister President? I don’t understand.” “You will soon understand, as will everyone else.”

  The President turned to George Brown, the CIA Director.

  “Are you with us? Are you sure? Again, you are not speaking. Does the Central Intelligence Agency have nothing to say? Have you contacted our friend in Moscow?”

  “Mister President, I am just as worried that our military options, outside of launching tactical nuclear weapons, are very limited. Regarding that source, a directive has gone out and we will soon be getting information.”

  “Let me correct you”, the President replied. “Our options, outside of activating tactical nuclear weapons, are not limited; they are nonexistent. I have a question for you, as an intelligence expert. If we now send a message to all our commands, including our headquarters in Germany, and this communication must reach the last tactical missile battery in Germany, what are the chances of the Russians intercepting and deciphering the message, and how long will it take them?”

  All eyes were on the CIA director.

  “Mister President, I am sorry to say that they have incredible capabilities in this area, even though we code our messages, of course.”

  The President did not waste time waiting for the CIA Director to finish his words.

  “In this case, that I have in mind, it could be an advantage. You make sure this communication is coded, but not too heavily. I want them to decipher it is soon as possible. If it weren’t to arouse suspicions, I would ask you to transmit the message as is. Now carry on, Mister Dire
ctor”.

  “Mister President, if it is not coded heavily, they will decipher it within half an hour, even twice over.”

  “Hold on, I don’t understand. What do you mean by half an hour twice over? Do you mean a quarter of an hour?”

  “No, Mister President, sorry I wasn’t clear. I meant to say that when the message leaves the Pentagon, their experts in the Russian Embassy here will have deciphered it. If not, then Russian Intelligence will definitely decipher it when it reaches Germany.”

  The President of the United States, the Commander in Chief, rubbed his fingers slowly over his cheek.

  “Since you’ve left me no choice and have given me no useful, effective military option, and since within a day or two we will probably be in the middle of a war, then all I have left to do is gamble. I’ve just been thinking over a pretty weird idea, but the more I think of it, the more I like it.

  “I want to play them on two playing fields at the same time; exactly as they are playing with us, with force on the German front and with deceit in the North Sea. I’m going to play the Russians at their own game, according to their rules – exactly. I have no doubt that it will cause them serious confusion, which may expose their real intentions.”

  Secretary Perry, as well as Secretary Manning, seemed puzzled.

  “Mister President”, said the Secretary of State. “I don’t get it. What are you going to do?”

  “I’ll explain. In field number one, I want to show them an iron fist, to make them think that I’m eager to use the opportunity that they have given me to blast their forces. You two”, the President looked at his Secretary of Defense and then at the CIA director, who were anxious to hear the rest of the President’s plan.

  “You two will issue a directive, relaying a fictitious order from me as Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces. In this message, I will order that all our tactical nuclear weapons fire their nuclear warheads the minute the Soviet forces cross a certain line in East Germany, which I will show you now.”

  President Butler stood up and turned to the large map on the wall behind his chair. He studied the map briefly, then placed his finger on a spot on it, and, still holding his finger there, he turned his head back to his audience.

  “Write this down. That line is twelve longitude, north of the city of Rostock and then along the river Elbe. Once the first Soviet tanks cross that line, the order is to fire at will. This order must not be ambiguous and cannot be interpreted in any other way. The Soviets will understand that I am determined to destroy their armor while it is still on East German territory.”

  The President looked at the officials around the table to see if everyone was following.

  “Is it clear so far?”

  “Yes, Mister President”, the Defense Secretary and the CIA director replied almost in unison.

  “Now, let’s go to the other game on the other field, which is the public one. There I will play the exact opposite. There I will be the purest nun, from the most sacred convent, a Mother Theresa. I will soon hold a press conference that will open with an address to the nation. I’ll begin with a heartfelt apology and condolences to the Soviet nation on the death of their seamen in the explosion in the North Sea. I will announce that the government of the United States has decided to compensate the families of the dead in dollars. I’ll explain to them that a malfunction occurred in one of our strategic bombers, which was on a training mission, carrying missiles made for practice and therefore, with relatively small warheads. Here I need your help, Mister Commander of the Air Force. Please give me a scenario that may explain why such a missile would be launched from a bomber.”

  The Commanding Officer of the Air Force thought this over.

  “Mister President, it could be an extremely rare coincidence where the pilot, mistakenly and contrary to standing orders, pressed the button of an electrical system in the middle of a powerful thunderstorm. The bomber was charged with such an amount of static electricity that it caused an electrical short, resulting in a spontaneous missile launch. We can also add that this is the first time we were aware of such a problem, and that of course, we are investigating etc. etc.”

  “Good for you, General. Finally, you are creative”, the President teased his Air Force Chief.

  “Mister President”, the Commander of the Air Force continued, pointedly ignoring the President’s implied rebuke. “Perhaps we can go another step forward and assume full responsibility for the entire event, from beginning to end. That is, we can say that the missile exploded due to a self-destruct order that we radioed to it in order to prevent a catastrophe in Russia. This way, they will understand that the missile would not have continued to Murmansk in any case, and of course, we will voice our regrets that a Russian Navy vessel happened to be in the area of the explosion.”

  The President took a few seconds to collect his thoughts before he responded to the Air Force General. His head leaned on his fists and his forehead was furrowed.

  “I will indeed use the description of the incident as you recommend, as well as the self-destruct at our initiative. After all, it makes sense.

  However, I don’t want in any way to contradict their version and suggest that they are liars. As I’ve already said, I’m going to play along with their game. I can’t wait to see their faces over there in the Kremlin when they hear my speech. I think it will cause them some confusion and everything will be open to question. From that moment, they’ll start suspecting us and what we have in store for them. Add to this the order to launch nuclear missiles without deliberation on anyone daring to cross the 12th Longitudinal, and the confusion in the Kremlin will be complete.”

  President Butler leaned back in his chair a little smugly, folding his arms behind his head.

  “Well, gentlemen, what do you think? Secretary Perry?”

  “Mister President, even if we did have an implementable military option, I have a feeling that your plan would lead to a much better outcome.”

  “Mister President”, this time it was the CIA director. “I think that this is an excellent idea that could confuse them and cast doubts on their course of action so far. They won’t understand why we’ve adopted their false version regarding the cruise missile, and therefore will also have a hard time understanding what our follow-up plans are.”

  President Butler smiled slightly, for the first time in many days. He turned to his spy chief.

  “So, when I retire, can you get me a job with your agency?”

  The director smiled.

  “Of course, Mister President, I will be delighted, even though I’m sure that you will be offered more senior positions with better compensation.”

  “Well, we’ve got a war to run. I’m going to the press room. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and for the American people.”

  The President rose to his feet and strode out of the room.

  Chapter 15

  The Red Army’s General Staff Headquarters was housed in a huge, imposing building on the Moskva River in Moscow’s Khamovniki district. The white building was dubbed by many, though not in public, “the Russian Pentagon”. The Minister of Defense, Marshal Budarenko, was sitting several floors below ground level, in the war room complex. This was a world in itself, now buzzing with activity. Dozens of officers and soldiers moved around the spacious halls in a frenzy. A large, low table in the center of the room held a map of the European continent. Small wooden models, especially of tanks, most of them blue and the others red, were scattered around the map. Soldiers surrounded the table holding what looked like pool table cue sticks, moving the small models around the map. Most of the tank models were concentrated in the area on the table representing Poland and the two Germanys, blue against red.

  The Minister of Defense sat in his office on the second floor with a glass wall which afforded him a commanding view of the large, spacious control table. His military a
djutant sat next to him, passing to him, from time to time, dispatches received from the front by a teleprinter in the next room. Most of the dispatches were reports concerning problems or requests from various units in the field, especially regarding supplies of fuel and ammunition. Only two hours before, the Minister of Defense had ordered all the Soviet ground forces stationed in Poland to move west into the territory of the German Democratic Republic. The first tank units had already crossed the border, and so far, no resistance by the German civilian population or the East German army had been recorded. The maneuver was going ahead without incident. It is still too early to draw conclusions, the Minister thought to himself, but so far the reports have been encouraging. If it goes on like this, we can cross the border between the Germanys in just over 24 hours.

  The Minister focused his gaze on the large control table on the floor below. A dense concentration of little wooden tanks lined the central route leading to Berlin. North of it, an even larger force was concentrated in the area of the city of Szczecin in Poland, and an arrow pointed towards the large port city of Hamburg. From the concentration point of the third, southernmost force, an arrow pointed towards three cities in West Germany: Leipzig, Dessau and Halle.