The ISIS Gambit

IX

“Where do we stand with the Americans and the Israelis?” Russian President Sergei Gromyko asked his defense minister.

“We’ve just recently intercepted a phone call from the Assistant Director of the CIA to one of his subordinates about a combined American-Israeli operation,” the defense minister replied. “We don’t know what, or when, this will take place but the intercept made it sound like something is definitely in the works.”

“What’s our best guess as to possible targets?” the Russian president followed up.

“The only obvious targets are in Syria, maybe northern Lebanon. There are a few Quds Force holdouts in the Damascus area and then Hezbollah has several newly established areas in Syria as well since they’ve had to vacate Lebanon. The call we intercepted was with Colonel Thomas Jackson. He’s the same colonel who led the raid in Tehran a couple months ago, so we are pretty sure this will be some type of commando raid and will most likely not include the Kurds — that eliminates a few targets.”

“What about some of our bases? Is there any possibility they could target us?”

“We don’t think so,” the minister replied. “Based on what Ambassador Chekhov indicated, the Americans know that two of the ships that attacked them are from our merchant marine. How much more than that, we don’t know, but they didn’t give Chekhov any indication otherwise. Since these originated from Latakia, I’m sure they’ve guessed we had a hand in this, though again, we don’t know how much they have learned. If Mossad has learned of our role, you can bet they’ll have told the Americans. However, I haven’t heard anything about this, and if the Americans knew, you can be sure they’d be letting us know. Either way, the limited role we had in this that the Americans know we had wouldn’t warrant a military operation, let alone a combined one. As far as we know, they still believe this to be a strictly Hezbollah-Iranian operation — and there are plenty of Hezbollah targets in the region. Who knows, the Israelis might simply be looking for political cover for a large-scale operation against Hezbollah — something they’d definitely need. I’m sure they remember the fallout from their attack in Lebanon under Ariel Sharon back in the ‘80s. I wouldn’t want to relive that if I were them. Nevertheless, I’ll be placing our forces on alert throughout the region but I don’t see the need to send in any reinforcements at this point.”

“Okay then, how can we handle this oil issue? If they succeed in driving the price of oil below sixty dollars a barrel, it’s really going to hurt.”

“Mr. President,” the foreign minister replied, “I’ll be starting with the Saudis and seeing if we can’t get them to seriously cut back on production. They’ve been after the same missile system we have in Syria and I’d like to think that if we gave them a sweet heart deal on this system, they’d be willing to curtail their production to keep the price closer to where it’s at right now. I’ll be doing the same thing with Venezuela. Even though they are in America’s back yard, if we could introduce the same system to them that would be a huge coup for us — both in keeping the price of oil high but also give us another customer for the defense industry.”

“I like that. However, I still don’t like the US and the Israelis joining forces. You don’t have any concern with the Israelis and the Americans joining forces in Syria?” President Gromyko asked his defense minister.

“Concern? Of course there’s some concern,” the defense minister replied. “However, since the Americans haven’t even said a word about our involvement in this, I don’t think we need to worry. Again, as Ambassador Chekhov indicated, if the Americans learned of our role, they wouldn’t hesitate to not only let us know, but they’d also let the whole world know how deeply involved we actually were. So far, I think it’s been quite the coup in its own right.”

“Very well, then, check with both the Saudi and the Venezuelan ambassadors and see if they might be willing to help us out for an awesome deal on a new missile system. Let me know what comes of this.”

“Good morning everyone,” White House Press Secretary Chris Thompson began as she addressed the White House press corps. “I know the last day and a half has been challenging to say the least but we are beginning to piece together a few things. I believe everyone knows of the four ships that launched a number of missiles at Boston, New York and Washington D.C. this past Sunday. You obviously all know the damage they inflicted. We have captured all four of the ships and the crews responsible for the attacks. At present, it appears that Hezbollah bears primary responsibility for this as the missiles used are the same ones they used to attack Israel six weeks ago. All four ships originated at two different Syrian ports and two of these ships are Russian-flagged vessels: the MV Admiral Ushakov and the MV Tibor Szamueli. I believe most of you know that the Israelis have thoroughly decimated Hezbollah in response to the attack they sustained just weeks ago. It appears that Hezbollah smuggled these missiles out through Syria just as the Israelis launched their offensive.”

“Chris, so you’re saying that the attacks on us were the result of a Palestinian terrorist organization?” the NBC News reporter asked.

“It would appear that way at present. The Israelis did everything they could to destroy Hezbollah and its weapons arsenal. The current thinking is that Hezbollah managed to get these out before the Israelis moved in.”

“What about the Syrians?” Noel Johnson of ABC News asked. “Surely they bear some responsibility for this.”

“Of course they do,” Thompson replied. “As I just said, all four ships originated from Syrian ports.”

“So, are we going to do anything with them other than scold them?” Johnson followed up.

“Noel, at present, all we know is that all four ships left the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia and that Hezbollah smuggled the missiles out of Lebanon through Syria.”

“Surely you don’t expect us to believe that the Syrians didn’t know anything about a couple hundred trucks driving from Lebanon to these two ports?”

“No, of course not. However, this attack took place only thirty-six hours ago. We are still gathering intelligence on this attack. There’s an incredible amount of information to piece together.”

“What about the Russians?” the Fox News reporter asked. “You indicated that two of the ships involved were Russian. Will there be any retaliation against them? And, what about NATO? If Russia was involved, shouldn’t we get NATO involved?”

“Right now, all we know is that two of the ships were Russian. We do not know of any complicity the Russian government might have had, so no, at this point, we will not be getting NATO involved. However, the President has decided on the construction of a new pipeline similar to the Keystone pipeline only this one will run from Canada to California instead of Texas. After the events of the last couple months, it’s more than obvious that an economy as large as that of California’s needs a more reliable source of energy. The President will spell this out in more detail when he announces his national energy policy this next week.”

“Wait a minute Chris,” the reporter followed up. “You’re announcing the authorization of this new pipeline — as part of a national energy policy — at the same time you are indicating that these Russian ships were involved in the missile attacks on Sunday. Are you implying that we’re retaliating against the Russians economically as they might have had a more overt role than what we’ve been led to believe?”

“Not at all. We know two Russian-flagged container ships were involved. However, we have no evidence at all that the Russian government was involved. Quite frankly, I find it hard to believe that they could possibly be involved in such a heinous act.”

“You see, Mr. President,” the defense minister said to President Gromyko, “the Americans know nothing. Even after the reporters follow up with the press secretary, she flatly admits we had nothing to do with this. She doesn’t see how we could ‘possibly be involved in such a heinous act.’ We have nothing to worry about, Mr. President.”

“Other than the price of oil dropping like a rock,” the foreign minister added. “However, I think this will be a short term situation and yes, I agree with you, I do not think we have anything to worry about.”

“Do you really believe the Americans would tell the press anything if they knew of our actual role?” President Gromyko addressed his two advisers. “I agree, it sounds as if they do not know anything, especially since their sole retaliation is economic. We can weather that storm. If they really thought we had a role to play, they wouldn’t announce anything at all. As it is, I think their response fits proportionately with the two ships flying our flag. But… to be on the safe side, tell our forces to be on the alert anyway.”