Deterrence Page #3

movement in the Gulf area.

Okay. Apparently Israeli radio has

just issued... Good news or bad news?

A nationwide call-up

for their reserves.

That's in response to what appeared to be...

Sir, you should check this out. A large-scale

maneuver from the Iraqi army and air force.

- What is it?

- What's the story, Howard?

What's happened? No indication of

American troops in the region...

Having encountered any hostilities. Gayle?

Okay. Bear with me,

ladies and gentlemen.

This is... let's just

get this together.

Okay. All right,

here we go.

We have some information from at least

two correspondents in the middle east.

This has not yet been verified by any government

sources, and we should underscore that.

But... okay. Okay, we are now getting

word from our correspondents...

In Baghdad and Kuwait.

Udei Hussein, the dictator of Iraq,

has taken a military force

and has crossed...

His southeast border into Kuwait,

heading directly for Kuwait city.

Boy's got some balls.

Okay.

All right. Our initial reports are that the

united nations-led American peacekeeping force...

Has been overrun.

Howard, get secdef on the line.

We're trying to nail down

the significant details.

Can... can we...

Okay.

We have John Marino on a cell phone.

How is this happening?

Where did this come from all of a sudden?

I-I-I don't know.

John, can you hear me?

John?

Marsh?

- Okay, we're having some problems.

- - Marshall.

Lbs military analysts

will be with us shortly.

So far, no contact from the white house,

other than a statement that the president

is monitoring the situation carefully...

And that he is gravely concerned.

I don't understand.

What about our satellites?

How come we didn't... that's

a question for secdef, sir.

He's been distracted by the Korean mess.

Yeah, I should say, when a nation

can invade another nation...

And overrun American troops.

Sir, maybe we don't know because

it did not happen. It happened.

It's all over the news we

don't have confirmation.

We have to assume it happened.

Doesn't this bastard get it?

I'd say not.

I didn't even know we had troops in Kuwait.

Technically, we did not.

They were under

u.N. Supervision.

It was our turn in the Helsinki rotation.

How many troops were there? Three...

three-twenty. I'm not sure.

You're not sure? There's a big

difference between 300 and 320.

Either way, I'd rather have no troops than

a small force that acts as an inducement.

Jesus.

The gigantic Israeli reserves...

Well, does Hussein think that

we're just gonna let it stand?

The Israelis have begun a full mobilization.

I think he does, the little f***.

I don't need that, marsh. We need to

make this very, very clear for him.

We will. When we get home, we'll send

the bastard home without any supper...

And we slap him with every economic

and diplomatic sanction there is.

Sir, I have secretary hancock on the line.

- Well, we're doing something.

- Yes, we are.

Okay, let's get to it.

Do we have speaker capability?

It'll just take a second, sir. Marsh, Ms.

Redford, I need you to listen...

To these conversations carefully.

Decisions we make

must be made instantaneously.

Marsh, talk to the ibs fellow.

Make sure he's not taping.

The phone is ready. The secretary of defense.

Put your camera down, please.

Okay. Don, suppose you tell me why I'm hearing

about the start of world war III on the TV.

That may be overstating it a bit, sir.

Mr. secretary, I may only be holding

this office for four months,

but the president

selected me his successor...

Because of my unilateral

understanding of foreign affairs.

Hell, I deputy-chaired

the national security council.

So why don't we forego

the patronizing crap...

And have you explain

to your commander-in-chief...

Why he's hearing about this on ibs.

We're getting the pieces together, sir.

The s.O.B.

Overran our position?

It appears to be a complete annihilation.

We have a report they executed

the few prisoners they took.

The women too? There were nurses and

administrative personnel there,

so, yes, women too.

One of them was an apache helicopter pilot.

Women? That's important. That

gives us high moral ground.

How could we have been

taken by surprise like this?

We saw the activity, but we thought

it was a military exercise.

Gulf war provisions forbid any Iraqi movement

in this area, exercise or otherwise.

It's not the first time he's

violated the u.N. Provision.

We didn't feel it warranted

taking you from your campaign.

Frank, come in. General

Lancaster just walked in, sir.

Is it just the two of you? Yes, sir.

Gentlemen, I want to remind you...

That we should keep the nature

of the classified content...

That's being discussed here to a minimum.

The president is not in a secure location.

- We will be in a few hours.

- I'm afraid we don't have time.

Frank, does he have it?

What? He has what?

Nuclear weapons?

No, sir, biological and chemical.

We're looking at a computer screen.

The imagery appears to display

launching pads for Iraqi...

Tactical, chemical and biological weapons.

The site that we have there...

Contains eight canvas-covered

missile trailers...

And four deployed

probable missile launchers.

How far advanced is this?

I've never seen...

This kind of installation before.

These are m.R.B.M.S. Okay.

Are they ready to be fired, any of them?

That would depend on their ground support.

I'm hesitant to say, but conservatively,

the earliest they could launch

is in one hour, forty minutes.

They look positioned to attack Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv.

In Israel, sir. Thank you.

And Greece and Turkey as well.

- Where are these launch pads?

- Outside rabat, a few clicks from the turkish border.

They're mobile. That explains

why we had not yet seen them.

Jesus. Marsh, who's running

the show over at ibs?

Carl isaacson.

Isaacson.

Howard, you want to hook up this

isaacson fellow with marsh?

Then get me Ben-razzi. I'm sure

he's on top of this already.

Marsh, I'm going to have

to address the nation.

Let's talk to this ibs guy... - no, no, no. No,

I don't think you should address the nation.

I don't think that's a good idea.

Just make it happen.

But the writers aren't even here. Please.

Okay. Howard, as soon as you

got isaacson, let me know.

Bring him right up.

Give me what our troop

mobilization status is.

We can begin defcon 1 and

mobilization of 3,000...

In less than an hour.

We would release the tactical

fighter wing at Langley...

And then the division ready

brigade at the 82nd.

And that would put them in Iraq when?

Partial proliferation in ten days.

Then we'd have to slash our

troop strength in the koreas.

But I believe... I'm sorry, sir.

May I interrupt?

I believe premier Kim when he says

that a downsizing of our troops...

On the 38th parallel will propel him...

Into a flat-out invasion

of north Korea.

I'm not gonna drop a domino and allow

China to walk into Japan, bottom line.

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