Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (13 page)

           
“Then you should know that no one on
this Commission or the Communist Party is suggesting or even contemplating the
use of nuclear weapons against the Americans, Admiral.”

 
          
“On
the contrary, sir, I know their use is contemplated quite often,” Sun said,
calmly but firmly. “I know exactly at what bases they are kept, how many, and
which missiles and ships carry them—including the carrier
Mao Zedong
.”

 
          
General
Chin looked as if he was ready to murder Sun with his bare hands. “Sit down,
damn you, Sun!” he ordered from between clenched teeth. “Be
silent
!”

 
          
“I
will
not
be silent!” Admiral Sun
said. His voice rang like a shot through the Commission chamber, and it had the
same effect as if a real gun had been fired in that room. “We seem content to
have our foreign policy dictated by the Americans, even though the Americans
have no cohesive policy with regards to Asia except the furtherance of fair
trade— fair only to themselves, of course. The threat of American military
intervention paralyzes this commission, even though we have it in our power to
reduce or perhaps eliminate the force of American intervention, or even whether
or not they will choose to intervene.”

 
          
“I
order you,
be silent,
Sun!” Chin
shouted. “Be seated!”

 
          
“Wait,
General,” Jiang said. He motioned to Sun. “Speak, Admiral, but be warned—your
fitness for your post will be determined by what you say here to this
commission.”

 
          
“I
will accept that, sir,” Sun said resolutely. “Comrade President, members of
this commission, the Party and our government has said that it wishes our
country first to reunify with the pieces lost to us by foreign conquests—namely,
Senkaku Dao, Formosa Dao, and Nansha Dao—and second to make China the
preeminent power in Asia for all time. These are worthy goals. I believe we
have the support of the people, which Sun- tzu says is necessary before the
ruler may charge the generals with preparations for war, and so we should carry
out this mandate immediately.

 
          
“But
it is obvious to me, as I am sure it is to you, that the
United States
, by its foreign policy and tremendous
military might, is the dominant force in
Asia
now. We do not retake
Formosa
,
Quemoy
, or
Matsu
from the Nationalists because we fear
American intervention. We do not retake the
Senkaku
Islands
, taken from us by
Japan
, again for fear of retaliation from the
Americans. But we have retaken the Nansha Dao, what the West calls the
Spratly
Islands
, and
America
has done nothing—in fact, American
companies
help
us pump oil and
natural gas out of fields
we
took
from other countries.
America
does not care about what happens in
Asia
, as long as it does not affect their bottom
line—their ability to make money.

 
          
“But
our very political and social framework is under attack by
America
. They try to influence our laws, tell us
not to limit how many children our families can have, or tell us to buy more
automobiles, televisions, and blue jeans or else they will not permit our goods
to be sold anywhere in the world. This evil influence is strangling our very
souls, comrades, and I see no solution except one: remove the Americans from
Asia
, permanently. This means destroy the
American aircraft carriers and destroy the main American military staging base
on the
island
of
Okinawa
. We have no choice, comrades.”

 
          
“You
are advocating nuclear war with the Americans?” General Chin retorted. “Are you
insane, Sun? It will spell certain annihilation!”

 
          
“Nuclear
war with
America
is not inevitable, Comrade General,” Sun said. “
America
has almost completely eliminated its
ability to wage nuclear war—they believe it is unthinkable and unnecessary,
given their perceived conventional weapons technological superiority. In a war
that does not threaten American lives or territory, my studies conclude that
America
, even led by a hawk such as their president
Kevin Martindale, will not launch a nuclear strike against us. But if we are
determined to win, then we must acknowledge that we shall use nuclear weapons
against the Americans. We can be secure in the knowledge that
America
will not retaliate with nuclear weapons
unless their homeland is attacked, and that even if they do employ nuclear weapons
against us, we can withstand the attack as a nation.

 
          
“We
can use our subatomic arsenal, our neutron bombs, to eradicate the Nationalist
forces on
Quemoy
and
Matsu
—quickly, before the Americans can react,”
Sun said. “We can hide the attack behind a blockade and bombardment, but the
truth will be known soon enough anyway. But the Nationalists cannot hide from
the effects of a neutron bomb in their bunkers and tunnels. Before the American
carriers arrive, we will have retaken
Quemoy
.”

 
          
President
Jiang was startled, even a bit intimidated, by Sun’s ideas and by the strength
of his convictions—but he was also intrigued by them. Here was a military man
who was not afraid to lead, Jiang thought. Here was an officer who studied
Chinese military history and ancient Chinese military teachings, then employed
those time-honored and time-tested ideas to solve modern-day problems. Here was
a man of action, a man willing to lead a struggle of liberation against the
most technologically powerful military force ever known—the
United States of America
.

 
          
And
he was not afraid to use the most terrible weapons known to man: atomic
weapons, especially the neutron bomb. The neutron bomb, developed from stolen
U.S.
plans ten years earlier, was a small,
“dirty” nuclear device that killed by saturating the target area with
radiation. The nuclear yield was small enough that blast damage was confined to
a few hundred meters from “ground zero,” but the effects on human beings of the
neutron radiation released by the weapon was devastating. Any living creature
within two miles of the blast would die of radiation poisoning within
forty-eight hours, no matter how deep underground they were; unprotected humans
within five miles of the blast would die within seventy-two hours. Further, all
significant traces of radiation would be gone within a week, leaving structures
and machines virtually untouched and unaffected. The People’s Liberation Army
could march in and take
Quemoy
without firing a shot.

 
          
“You
speak of not conducting a direct engagement against American air or naval
forces,” Jiang asked, “but you speak of destroying American carriers and bases.
Can you explain how this can be done, Admiral Sun? Do you plan on exploding
nuclear weapons all over the Pacific now? ”

 
          
The
confident smile that spread across Ji Guoming’s face was filled with energy and
enthusiasm—two emotions so alien in this old Commission chamber. “Comrade
President,” Sun said, “Sun-tzu teaches us that the army goes to war in the
orthodox, but is victorious in the unorthodox. That is the key to victory
against the Americans.”

 
          
As
Jiang Zemin and the other members of the Military Commission listened, it soon
became obvious that Admiral Sun had carefully thought this plan out, and that
he was highly intelligent and his staff highly competent. In just a few
minutes, President Jiang actually believed that this man, this Black Tiger,
could pull off the impossible.

 
          
“The
admiral should be congratulated for the attention to detail and daring of his
plan,” General Chin said, after Sun had finished. “But it is also a reckless
and dangerous plan, one that could spell disaster to the republic if a
full-scale confrontation breaks out. I feel that Admiral Sun wants vengeance,
and that in his thirst for revenge he is not thinking of the people nor of the
fatherland. Your ideas have much merit, Comrade Admiral, and may withstand
serious scrutiny by the Plans and Operations bureau of the Military Commission.
But I believe the president wishes us to formulate a strategy that will achieve
the Party’s objectives quickly and effectively. The carrier
Mao
and the task force will accomplish
those objectives.”

 
          
“Comrade
President, I must say again, we must not send the
Mao Zedong
aircraft carrier battle group anywhere near Taiwan,” Sun
said earnestly. “It would be seen as a large-scale provocation. I have a plan
to draw the American carriers well within range of our shore-based attack
planes. We would have the upper hand then. We must—”

 
          
“I
said be silent, Admiral,” Chin said angrily. “That is your final warning.”

 
          
Admiral
Sun looked as if he was going to continue the argument— but a reassuring glance
from the president himself, Jiang Zemin, caused him to relent. He bowed, folded
his hands, kept his head lowered, and did not raise his eyes again for most of
the rest of the meeting. He’d taken the chance to get his ideas presented in
front of the Commission, and he’d failed, and he’d dishonored himself in doing
so.

 
          
“We
will begin preparations for the invasion of
Quemoy
immediately,” President Jiang announced.
“The carrier battle group will be diverted north with its invasion force to
blockade the island. Within thirty days, comrades, victory will be ours! ”

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, NEAR
SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA FRIDAY, 30 MAY 1997, 0845 HOURS LOCAL (0945 HOURS ET)

           
“Like most transitions, my friends,”
Air Force Lieutenant General Terrill Samson, commander of Eighth Air Force,
began in a deep, emotional voice, “today we are witnesses to both an end and a
beginning. Although you might have a tough task believing this is a happy
occasion, I believe it truly is.” Samson was standing before a crowd of about
two hundred out on the flight line in front of Base Operations at Barksdale Air
Force Base,
Louisiana
. It was still early in the morning, and the event was scheduled early
to avoid the inevitable summer heat and humidity common this time of year.

           
Flanking Samson was the wing
commander of Air Combat Command s Second Bomb Wing, Brigadier General George
Vidriano, along with members of the staff of Eighth Air Force, the major Air
Force operational command that for years had organized, trained, and equipped
America’s bomber forces, and Colonel Joseph Maxwell, commander of the 917th
Wing of the Air Force Reserves based at Barksdale. Standing at parade rest next
to him was a detail of officers and NCOs, carrying small blue-and-gold squadron
guidons, representing the various squadrons based at Barksdale. Behind Samson
were three Air Force aircraft, washed, waxed, and polished as brilliantly as if
they had just rolled off the assembly line: a T-38 Talon jet trainer used for
copilot proficiency training, an A-10 Thunderbolt II close-air support attack
jet, and a huge, light gray B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber, with cruise
missiles hanging off its wing pylons.

 
          
“We
are here today,” General Samson continued, “to stand down one of the world’s
premier bomber units, the Second Bomb Wing, and to retire the last of this
nation’s most successful aerial war machines, the B-
52
Stratofortress bomber. In the sixty-four year history of
Barksdale Air Force Base, the men and women assigned here have stood at the
forefront of our nation’s peace and security. They have proved this by an
impressive string of awards and achievements: the Fairchild Trophy for the best
bomber wing in bombing and navigation competition; twelve Air Force Outstanding
Unit citations; and sixteen Eighth Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards.