Prelude to World War Three: The Rise of the Islamic Republic and the Rebirth of America

The Chosen People

General Fan Changlong, the Vice Chairman of the CMC, had called an emergency meeting to discuss the imminent attack to take place by the Islamic Republic. “General Changlong, the IR has been conducting terrorist attacks against the Americans for the past ten weeks. What is new about this situation?” asked Zhang Jinping, the Premier of China.

“Premier, our intelligence operatives within the US military have confirmed that the Americans are planning to declare war on the IR on December 1st. Their attack will originate from Israel and will include several seaborne invasions as well,” said General Changlong, looking at General Zhang Yang, the Minister of Defense.

“Premier, the information has been confirmed by other sources as well. Our cyber command has decoded numerous orders for ships, aircraft and munitions to be moved to Israel,” said the Defense Minister.

“Hmm…I suppose this could work to our advantage. I had hoped the coming conflict between the US and the IR could have been held off until the start of the New Year.”

“The American intelligence agencies have traced all of the terrorist attacks to the IR; I suspect they were waiting until they have everything in place and then planned to present the case to their people and to the world,” said Xi Lee, the Director of State Intelligence.

“I never understood the Americans’ need to justify their actions to the rest of the world. They somehow believe they need the world’s permission to act in their own self-defense.”

“Premier, this presents us with a unique opportunity. Rather than waiting until the New Year to launch our attack, we could launch our attack on December 7th. The Americans will be heavily engaged in the Middle East by that point, and they will not have the forces available to prevent us from taking Guam and Taiwan,” said Admiral Wei Shengli.

“Admiral, you do realize the date you have recommended for the attack is the same day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor?” asked the Premier.

“I do. This time we will finish what the Japanese could not.”

“Very well. Proceed with the modified timetable, but make sure we do as little as possible to draw any major attention from the Americans prior to our attack. It has to be a complete surprise if this is going to work to our advantage.”

“Caliph Abbas, our intelligence assets are reporting that the American 5th fleet in Eilat has put to sea and is currently heading on a course towards the Indian Ocean. Our reconnaissance flights out of Egypt have spotted the American 6th fleet moving towards the Suez,” said General Rafik Hamza, the Military Commander of the Islamic Republic.

General Hamza had been the second in command of the Saudi Royal Army before the formation of the Republic. He had been trained by the American military and had attended the finest American schools, so he knew the capabilities of the American military and quickly recognized these movements as a precursor to what will most likely be an attack on the IR by the Americans.

“What about the Israelis? Has their military posture changed in the last 48 hours?” asked Caliph Abbas.

“The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has called up their entire reserve force for what they are calling a ‘military readiness drill.’ Most of their military forces are starting to leave their bases and moving to forward defensive positions. We are also seeing a repositioning of their air defenses and anti-missile laser defense systems. Our assumption is that they are moving them around in case we had them pre-positioned by artillery or missiles,” explained Huseen ibn Abdullah, the Director of Intelligence, as he laid down a tablet that he had been reading from.

“Caliph, we need to launch the invasion immediately. The Americans and the Israelis have seen through our deception and know we are positioning to launch a first strike against Israel.”

“The Americans have also determined that we are behind the terrorist attacks on their homeland. They have held off on attacking us until their military is in position to strike us,” said the Director of Intelligence.

“How soon until the nuclear devices are in American ports?”

“The ships are at sea now. In concert with the Russians and Chinese, I have redirected the ship that was heading to the Port of Los Angeles to move to Baltimore Harbor, and the other ship is heading towards New York Harbor. It will not be in position for another seven days,” said Admiral Jaffa Mustafa, Commander of the Islamic Republic’s Naval Forces.

“Why the change?” asked Caliph Mohammed.

“The Russians asked that we use the devices to hit two of the larger East Coast ports. This would hinder their ability to move supplies and reinforcements overseas, and would cause considerable infrastructure and civilian deaths. The Chinese have also asked that we not attack the Port of LA; they have a surprise for the Americans that require the port to remain intact,” the Intelligence Director said, nodding towards the head of the military.

“Thank you for the clarification, General Muhammed. What is the likelihood of success if you were to launch your attack immediately?”

“Pending the Navy is able to keep the American carriers occupied and the Air Force is able to overwhelm the American and Israeli Air Forces, my land force should be able to cut Israel in half within 72 to 96 hours. At that point, we will be able to destroy them piecemeal,” said General Abdullah Muhammed. He was the military commander on the ground who would lead the Islamic Republic forces in their invasion of Israel.

Prior to the formation of the Republic, Abdullah had been a general in the Iraqi Army; he too had been trained by the Americans and had initially fought against them during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 when he had been an officer in the Republican Guard.

“General Hamza, how quickly do you believe we will be able to overwhelm the American and Israeli laser defense systems?”

“Nothing is certain or guaranteed when fighting the Israelis and especially the Americans. Our initial assault calls for a massive overwhelming of their systems. We will be using the newest version of the Russian 9A53 Tornado multiple rocket launch vehicles to send an assortment of no less than 20,000 120/220/330mm rockets at targets all across Israel, with the vast majority being targeted against their airfields and air defense systems. 90 % of these rockets will be launched over a six-hour period. This will provide our aircraft six hours to engage the American and Israeli Air Forces and destroy them.”

“Following the first two waves of fighters, our bombers will launch an additional 300 cruise missiles, specifically targeting the Israeli power generation plants and major transmission nodes. This will disable electricity all across the country, further hindering their ability to coordinate their defenses. The third and fourth wave of aircraft will be our fighter bombers, who are assigned to attacking and destroying the Israeli missile and air defense capabilities as they are identified. We will have twelve airborne early warning and control aircraft aloft to assist in directing the air battle.”

“The Navy will send all of their missile boats against the American fleet heading towards the Horn of Africa. Between the ten attack submarines and sixty missile boats, they will attack the fleet with over 400 anti-ship missiles. We are also launching 100 ballistic missiles from our OTR-21 Tochka vehicles at the carrier battlegroup. Five of the missiles are armed with a five kiloton nuclear warhead. It’s just enough power to destroy the fleet and minimize fallout to the area. It is possible the Americans will respond with nuclear weapons in retaliation. However, despite this concern, the opportunity to destroy two of their seven operational carriers is worth the risk.” General Hamza nodded towards General Muhammed to take over.

“Once the missiles have launched, we have 1,200 various artillery pieces that will begin to fire into the prepared Israeli defensive positions. The artillery will be able to fire a continuous barrage for several hours, providing covering fire for our armored forces as they advance to engage and destroy the IDF and Americans. I assure you, this will not be a repeat of the Six Day War or the War of 1973. This time, Israel will be destroyed.” General Hamza spoke with a confident swagger of a man who had thought about this moment for a long time.

“Then, Generals, let’s proceed with the attack. General Hamza, the attack will commence on your order once you have returned to your field headquarters. The rest of us shall continue to remain in the bunkers; we need the leadership to leave for their separate bunkers in case the Israelis or Americans get a lucky shot off and destroy this position.”

With that, the military members left to quickly return to their units and begin to issue the orders that would start World War III and the annihilation of the Jewish State.