Brown, Dale - Independent 01 (4 page)

           
“Damn, I
think we’ve got something here. .. .”

 
          
THE KREMLIN,
USSR

 
          
Through swirling gusts of snow that
fell outside the triple-paned windows, the Soviet Union’s Minister of Defense
Sergei Leonidovich Czilikov had difficulty seeing even as far as the frozen
Moscow River and the new Varsauskoje Highway that spanned its southern and
northern banks. He watched policemen trying to direct traffic around a minor
collision in the middle of
Bakovka Avenue east
of the new
Kremlin
Administrative
Center
. Another long, severe winter
was coming.

           
Czilikov
turned away from the icy scene outside, but things were equally as depressing
and cold inside. Seated around a long oblong oak table in the cavernous office
were the members of the Kollegiya, the Soviet main military council. The
Kollegiya included three deputy ministers of defense, a KGB general, the
commanders of the five branches of the Soviet military, and five generals
representing various support and reserve elements of the military. Fifteen men,
six in business suits with medals and ribbons, the rest in military uniforms,
and not one of them, least of all Czilikov, under the age of sixty. All but
one, the relatively young KGB chief, Lichizev,
were
Heroes of the
Soviet Union
.

           
They were
surrounded by aides and secretaries in hard metal folding chairs arranged along
the century-old tapestries covering the walls of the room. Two elite Kremlin
guards, each armed with AKSU submachine guns, flanked each heavy oak door
leading into the chamber.

           
Everyone in
the large, cold room looked on edge. Czilikov knew what each of them was
expecting. As he moved to the unoccupied head of the conference table, the
hubbub of noise died abruptly away.

           
“We must
attack,” Czilikov said. The faces of the fifteen men remained stony, grim.
Mindless cattle, Czilikov thought to himself. The new general secretary had
such a firm stranglehold on these formerly powerful soldiers, Heroes of the
Soviet
Union
, that most were afraid even to look up from the table. The
spirit of
glasnost
in general
secretary Mikhail Gorbachev’s regime had been squashed.

           
“Intelligence
reports are conclusive,
tovarishniyes,”
Czilikov declared. “Nearly all of the pro-Khomeini factions have been defeated
by the moderates, and the pro-Western government is consolidating control of both
the people and the military. The Alientar government in
Iran
has promised a return to pre-Khomeini wealth and prosperity for its
people—funded by the Americans, of course. The KGB predicts that the Iranians
will agree to the reopening of air and naval bases and listening posts in
Iran
in exchange for generous financial assistance.
Which means
that arms sales to
Iran
from the West, which were nothing more than secretive trickles,
may soon flow like vodka.
”

           
Czilikov
fixed each of them with an imperious stare. Despite his age, his eyes danced
with the same fire as when he was a young tank commander rolling triumphantly
across
Poland
in World War II. “The old efforts to consolidate the Transcaucasus under our
rule by kindling this wasting, bloody war between
Iran
and
Iraq
have
failed. Our former leader, more concerned with his television image than the
needs of the future world Communist state, failed to anticipate that religious
fanaticism can be a powerful, sustaining force—particularly in Iran. Our lack
of success in supporting the Hussein regime in
Iraq
has seriously hurt our prestige. The result is that we are in danger of losing
all our influence in the whole
Middle East
.”

           
“Could this
really be so, Comrade Marshal?” Deputy Minister of Defense and Chief of Ground
Forces General Yegenly Ilanovsky asked. “Surely the hatred that the Iranians
have for the Americans cannot be erased overnight? Thousands were killed in the
American bombing raids on
Tehran
and
Kharg
Island
just a few years ago.”

           
“Raids
which the Iranians themselves foolishly invited by attacking American shipping
in the Gulf and staging that Christmas terrorist attack on
Washington
,”
Admiral Chercherovin, commander in chief of the navy, said. “They seem to have
an instinct for self-destruction.”

           
“Which may
play into our hands nicely,” Lichizev, the KGB representative, put in. “As for
how the Iranians feel about the Americans at the moment, my agents in
Iran
report a distinct softening in attitude. Public memory can sometimes be
conveniently short, and official memory can be adjusted. The CIA has given
vital military support to the puppet regime of the Ayatollah Falah Alientar.
They have helped crush his enemies very effectively, much as they did when the
Shah Pavelirili Rezneveh was in power, before they got an attack of democratic
conscience....”

           
“It is
obvious that past transgressions have been forgotten,” Czilikov summed up. “And
if the
United States
and
Iran
sign a
friendship and cooperation agreement, the Iran-Iraq war will be over within days.
Iraq
will not
fire on an American vessel, and the skies over
Iran
will be nearly impenetrable if American planes are allowed to land there. We
will be as powerless as we were in
Egypt
twenty years ago.”

           
The
Kollegiya became silent. The next question hung over the group like a poised
guillotine blade, but no one was going to ask. Czilikov’s gaze swept over the
gray-haired men at the table, but he met few direct glances.

           
They were
waiting for their orders, Czilikov decided. Well, give them the order....

 
         
“Operation Feather has been approved
by the Politburo,” Czilikov finally said.
“The plan for the
occupation and control of
Iran
and the
Persian Gulf
.
Swift execution is essential. The
United
States
must be prevented from entering the
Persian
Gulf
with a major naval air force. We do not want a repeat of
their flagging operation of five years ago. We must take tactical command of
the
Persian Gulf
theater
before
Iran
formally
asks the
United States
for assistance. Ayatollah Larijani has established a govemment-in-exile in
Syria
and has been persuaded to help us. He will announce that it was the pro-West
members of Alien- tar’s party who precipitated the war with
Iraq
.
He will denounce the war as an American plot to divide the Islamic brotherhood.
He will call for a holy war against Alientar’s puppet regime.”

           
Czilikov
paused, letting his carefully chosen words sink in. “Then he will announce an
alliance with President Hussein of
Iraq
to unite the two warring nations under a new flag, creating the Islamic Republic
of Persia.”

           
Czilikov
returned to his seat and motioned to First Deputy Minister of Defense Sergei
Khromeyev, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. Khromeyev stepped
before a wide flat-lens computer screen set up in a comer of the room.

           
“The
tentative scenario has been approved by the Politburo,” Khromeyev began. “The
ultimate objective of Operation Feather is to consolidate the
Persian
Gulf
region under complete political and military control of our
Soviet Communist party. The party, through the defense council, has ordered the
Stavka to accomplish the objectives set out in these orders.”

           
Khromeyev
referred to a folder on the long conference table as a detailed
computer-generated map of the
Persian Gulf
appeared on
the screen. “Forces employed will consist mainly of air, land, and sea forces
under the command of the Southern Military Theater. Operation Feather will be
conducted using forces generated during Operation Rocky Sweep, our annual
Southern
TVD
military district combat exercise. The forces mobilized during
Rocky Sweep will be augmented by reserve forces for home defense as Operation
Feather is implemented. A small but dramatic Iranian attack against one of our
destroyers in the
Persian Gulf
will precipitate our
defensive containment response. The attack will be preplanned by GRU and KGB
agents in place in
Iran
,
and will use Iranian Silkworm antiship missiles fired from Bandar-Abbas near
the
Strait of Hormuz
.

           
“We already
have an entire carrier task force in place. The Mockba-class
Leonid V. Brezhnev
aircraft carrier is
stationed in the
Persian Gulf
. The
Brezhnev
battle group is nearly unopposed—the Americans, I’m glad
to say, still refuse to put one of their carriers in the gulf out of fear of
reprisal. The
Brezhnev
has six
cruisers, ten destroyers, and ten support vessels. When the destroyer
Sovremennyy
is attacked, the battle
group will attack the Iranian military ports of
Abadan
,
Bandar-Abbas, and Bushehr. The group will be reinforced by Tu-95 and Tu-121B
naval bombers from our ports in
South Yemen
. Control of
Bandar-Abbas will give us control of the Straits of Hormuz, the major
chokepoint, as you well know, of the entire
Persian Gulf
.
The southern
Teatr Voennykh Deistvii
will occupy
Tehran
, with assistance
from three divisions from
Afghanistan
,
which will control the eastern border.
Southern TVD
,
Caspian flotilla, and Iraqi forces will capture the western frontier.”

           
Czilikov
noticed a few nervous faces in the Kollegiya. They were not, it seemed, itching
for battle. They would follow orders, but this was a far more ambitious
operation than they had expected.

           
Khromeyev
pushed on. “Syrian and Iraqi forces will contain any American military reaction
from
Turkey
,
and the
Brezhnev
carrier battle group
in the
Persian Gulf
will close off the air and sea
approaches to the
Persian Gulf
, the
Gulf
of
Oman
and the
Arabian
Sea
.” Czilikov stood and faced the Kollegiya. The computer map had
frozen with the scene of red sickles and hammers spread from
Syria
to
Pakistan
.

           
“In one
week we will occupy
Iran
,”
Czilikov said. “A coup will reinstate the Islamic regime of Larijani, which
will, as mentioned, unify
Iran
under the Islamic Republic of Persia. We will retain both political and
military control of the region and prevent the
United
States
from ever regaining a strong
strategic foothold in the
Persian Gulf
.”

           
There was a
low rumble of voices. Czilikov sat, folded his hands before him on the table,
waiting for the rumble to subside. A few short years ago such a bold plan would
have provoked vigorous, angry protests. No longer. Already the men surrounding
Czilikov began to quiet. The members of the Kollegiya were either too
dumbfounded or afraid or both to speak out. Czilikov let his words linger for a
few moments, then said, “Your comments,
tovarischniyes.”

           
“It’s a
brilliant plan,” Ilanovsky said enthusiastically.
“A swift,
crushing pincer that will grab the entire region away from the
U.S.
”

           
“I assure
you the navy stands ready, gentlemen,” Admiral Cher- cherovin added. “The
Brezhnev
battle group can easily control
the region, and our naval aviation forces from
South Yemen
and
Vietnam
will intercept all American rapid deployment air forces.”

           
Each of the
commanders of the armed forces, in turn, weighed in with their enthusiasm and
support for Czilikov’s invasion plan. But such overwhelming support didn’t
especially hearten the Minister of Defense. Intimidated military commanders
tended to make unreliable decisions. He was about to make some comment about
his staff’s excessive enthusiasm when he noted a quiet but animated discussion
between Deputy Minister Alexi Ivanovich Rhomerdunov, commander in chief of
aerospace forces, and one of his staff members. The staffer was all but being
pushed back into his seat by Rhomerdunov, who had to be at least thirty years
older than his enthusiastic aide.