The War After Armageddon Read Online Free PDF Page A

ideas?”
    A Navy captain sitting in for the admiral raised his hand. “It’s a protected site. They figure we’ll be reluctant to attack an archaelogical treasure and—”
    “Bingo!” Harris said, pointing a gun made of fingers at the captain. The general turned to his senior Artilleryman. “Chris, I want everybody in this room to hear me giving you this order: If the Jihadis use Meggido Hill as part of their defenses, I want you to hit it so hard that there’s nothing left but a smoking hole. Got that?”
    “General,” the pol-mil rep from State jumped in, “we can’t do that, that’s one of the most important sites in the entire Middle East . . . in the world, really . . .” He looked as if he were fighting seasickness. And probably was.
    “Cultural Understanding 101,” Harris said. “On my first tour in Iraq, as a lieutenant, we were under orders never to enter a mosque. Know what that accomplished? It guaranteed that mosques were going to be used as insurgent bases and safe houses and to hide arms caches. Because we failed to take down one mosque at the outset, we turned a thousand of them into sanctuaries.” He snorted. “As for Meggido . . . two things: First, if they’re really there—you get me confirmation, Deuce—they’re not going to be there long. Our Jihadi friends are going to get an education in what happens when a commander picks a lousy defensive position just because he thinks we’ll be too limp-dicked to hit it. After that, I suspect we’ll see fewer historical sites occupied in the future. Second,” he looked around, wondering, as he always had to now, which of the officers present were reporting to the MOBIC’s internal intelligence unit, “I want everyone to be absolutely clear on one thing: I will not sacrifice one American soldier or Marine to save a single pile of sacred rocks between here and the Pacific Ocean.” He shook his head. “We’re going to
win
this campaign. And there’ll be plenty of history left over. Okay, Deuce, one more question. Same one as always: Any sign of nukes?”
    Danczuk shook his head. “Sir, as I’ve briefed—”
    “I don’t want ‘as you briefed.’ I want right now. Listen, Val, you’re doing great.” He swept the room with the commander’s gaze he’d mastered over the years. “You’re
all
doing great.” He turned back to the G-2. “But I want you to watch for any sign of nukes. Any least hint. Maybe they’re just an urban legend . . . but I want you to watch for them.”
    “Sir, the DIA and the CIA are both convinced that the Jihadis have no nuclear weapons. The last Ira ni an weapons were expended in the exchange with Israel, and the made-in-Pakistan arms were all detonated during the war with India and in the subsequent terror attacks on the United States. We’ve never seen any indicators of more nukes, sir. None.”
    “Yet, the rumors continue.” Harris nodded to himself. “Two, maybe three. Held in deep reserve. Watch it for me, Val.”
    “Sir, they would’ve used them on the MOBIC landings down south.
If
they had them.”
    Harris wiped a hand across his jaw. “Maybe. Speaking of MOBIC, what’s the latest you got, Three?”
    Colonel Mike Andretti, the G-3 operations officer, swapped places with the G-2. “Two divisions already over the beach, sir. Sounds like a bloody mess, but they’re pushing ahead. The latest situation report—the last one that came through from MOBIC—has their forward elements fifteen clicks up the Jerusalem highway.” The colonel shook his head. “It’s all just hey-diddle-diddle, straight up the middle.”
    Harris did what he could to suppress his disgust. Regulars or MOBIC troops, he didn’t believe in wasting American lives.
    “Casualties? Any numbers?”
    His aide, Major Willing, rushed in. “Sir? General Morris is on the horn.”
    Harris jumped up. “Secure or nonsecure?”
    “We have him secure, sir. He wants to talk to you ASAP.”
    Harris scanned the room.