George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 8

< Episode 7 >

It would have been ideal if the B-52s and B-1s had reduced the city to dust, but due to concerns about harming innocent civilians, the bombing was conducted with as much local cooperation as possible.

The bombing, carried out in accordance with George W. Bush’s declaration that we must not become monsters ourselves, completely crippled the Taliban government’s administrative and military capabilities.

Thanks to the presidential decree to sweep even suspected areas, every anti-aircraft gun and tank was turned into scrap metal, and the armory was consumed by fire, leaving not a single bullet.

“The bombing is over! Warriors!”

However, this also meant that a large number of Taliban government forces and al-Qaeda members were able to hide in civilian houses and avoid the bombing.

“Gather at the assembly point!”

For a week, the Taliban command had been housing civilians in the same residences as soldiers. Soldiers were trained to conceal anti-tank weapons and ammunition, including personal firearms, within civilian homes. Their plan was that if the United States invaded, they would retrieve the hidden weapons, reorganize at the assembly point, and then launch a counterattack.

All preparations were complete. When the counterattack commenced, they would retreat like the Soviets had. The Taliban was ready to fight the Western world.

That’s what they believed.

Until the U.S. military, using satellites and drones, confirmed the gathering of ground forces and unleashed hundreds of Tomahawk missiles, each loaded with 450kg of high-performance explosives.

But still, the Taliban could fight on.

After nearly 200 years of conflict with the Western world, they had constructed numerous bunkers. Inside these bunkers, the Taliban held their breath, biding their time.

So they could still fight.

Until the F-111 fighter-bombers, accompanying the returning bomber squadron, dropped bunker busters!

However! Even after all that, they couldn’t eliminate all the secretly hidden bunkers, proving the saying that even a dog gets to eat something in its own house. The Taliban and al-Qaeda forces emerged from these gates of hell and spilled onto the streets.

“Assembly complete.”

“Less than half of what I expected! Did they all run away!”

They ran away to the afterlife.

“To abandon Jihad [holy war] simply because you fear gunfire! Do you think Allah will leave you unpunished in the afterlife!”

Mohammad Omar was a dictator. A dictator’s position is inherently unstable, and to maintain power, they must constantly suspect others. Mohammad Omar was no exception, and he suspected the loyalty of soldiers who had seemingly surrendered.

“Contact has been established with several other bunkers. They report they are coming out to join us.”

Despite the numbers being far lower than anticipated, Mohammad Omar began his speech upon hearing that there were still troops loyal to him.

“War is spirit! We possess a noble spirit that they lack! If we only have the will to attack, born from our awakened spirit, Allah will protect us, and even bullets will avoid us! The enemy’s ability to wage war will be nullified! Just like during the ‘Bear Trap’!”

The ‘Bear Trap’ was a term summarizing the past war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan. The Soviet Union was likened to a bear, and Afghanistan to a trap. The bear, angered by the trap that ensnared its foot, ultimately failed to achieve its goals and limped back to its lair with an injured leg.

“Allah Hu Akbar!”

Allah is great! Protect our homeland, Afghanistan, from the Western world!

“Allah Hu Akbar!!!”

Allah is forever eternal! Defend our homeland from invaders!

“Crazy bastards.”

But madness cannot stop missiles.

Sixteen Hellfire missiles, launched from AH-64 Apache helicopters, sent the Taliban, intoxicated by the fervor of their distorted religion, to their final reward.

* * *

Many CIA agents were dispatched under the authority of the Vice President. The President may have opposed this crude operation. It was conducted so secretly behind the scenes that the CIA team was only able to infiltrate urgently the day before the bombing began. The problem was that they did not have proper equipment because they infiltrated in a hurry. Some people came with only one submachine gun, and those who took good care of themselves were armed and had information by listening to advice from local collaborators or receiving supplies in advance.

「Operation code Scorpion captured. Please give orders.」

‘Scorpion’ was the operation code that Bush directly assigned to Osama bin Laden. It signified the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden, a task difficult for even a large force, let alone a single CIA agent. Among the code name candidates, there was also the original operation code, Geronimo, but Bush was cursed and rejected.

The operation system was also severely distorted because it had a hastily created operation and a hastily created organization chart, and the CIA in the field had to ask the Secretary of Defense for operation permission.

「HQ? Damn it. Please give operation orders. The target seems to be moving.」

“Wait.”

「Wait? Is support coming?」

“Wait.”

「…Okay. Wait.」

HQ, or the CIA agent who ordered the standby at the field headquarters, was holding his cell phone with a very desperate expression. The grip on his palm tightened. His cell phone was a famous Finnish brand known for its durability, but it was creaking.

“Secretary of Defense! Are you serious?”

「John. Let me say it again. I can’t send troops.」

What kind of nonsense is this? Just proving that the CIA was the first to capture the target would greatly increase the CIA’s position, and if he could catch it with that information, he could be on the rise.

The more John’s influence in the CIA grew, the more Rumsfeld’s influence would grow.

Even if that wasn’t the case, why would he let go of a fish he had already caught?

It was no secret that the CIA and the Department of Defense were at odds, and everyone knew that Rumsfeld was the reason why the Department of Defense was at odds with the CIA. But no matter how reckless Rumsfeld was, he could not have turned everyone around him into enemies. He was at odds, but he had spies planted in the departments he was at odds with.

One of those spies was this man. Rumsfeld’s work was always rigid and he often abused his power, but ironically, John found those actions so cool.

Everyone imagines wielding power above the law at least once. Everyone knows that it is morally wrong, but that is why everyone imagines it. How nice would it be to actually live like that.

Rumsfeld was such a man. He reigned above the law and ruthlessly eliminated political enemies who stood in his way.

John had fallen in love with Rumsfeld as a man.

But that’s that, and this is this!

“Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld! Send one company right now! No! Send even just one Ranger team! We can suppress them enough!”

If he missed it now, the United States would have to waste defense funds somewhere again and waste national funds. No matter how much the other party was Rumsfeld, he could not tolerate that.

「The CIA must not catch Scorpion! Every success of the CIA is a failure and shame for the Department of Defense!」

“Then send something! I don’t care if the Department of Defense catches it or not, just catch it!”

「You always said you wanted to do something that would promote national interests. So you wanted to do something ‘patriotic’?」

John did not know what to say to Rumsfeld’s absurd words. But it was true that he wanted to do something patriotic. The reason John joined the CIA in the first place was because he was a patriot. The CIA was one of the few professions that dealt with the deepest information in the United States and could access the truth. That is why John wanted to serve the country even if he had to get his hands dirty.

Then there was only one thing he could say.

“Tell me.”

「I believe you know that our country is always craving oil.」

“That’s right. There was a lot of talk about eco-friendliness because of high oil prices.”

「We are going to invade Iraq.」

“No way.”

「We need to drive Osama bin Laden into Iraq.」

“Is that a presidential decree?”

「…If you support the unitary executive theory [the theory that the president has complete control over the executive branch], you can think of it that way.」

The unitary executive theory. That was a constitutional interpretation put forward by the Vice President’s aides. Therefore, it could be seen as the Vice President’s intention.

He thought he had brought a truly patriotic story, saying it was a patriotic story. He suddenly thought that it might have been better not to listen if he had thought about his family.

But let’s remember why he joined the CIA. He made a decision right away.

“I will follow orders.”

「Good work.」

“For God and country.”

「For God and country. Patriot.」

Osama bin Laden disappeared from Kabul like that.

* * *

“Move! Move!”

“Breach!”

There is a saying that one drop of sweat shed today becomes one drop of blood shed tomorrow. It means that if you don’t want to die in real life, shut up and practice.

In that sense, Delta Force had no blood to shed. They were always the best in the world and the strongest. They had $1 million weapons, practiced for 100,000 hours, and were worth a hundred men.

But do you know why terrorists, especially those who are deeply religious, are dangerous? It was because they justified everything in the name of God.

To them, terrorism was a holy war. Terrorists were executors of justice, holy warriors of the apocalyptic age full of disbelief, and vanguards of Allah who came to punish the fallen earth.

In short. What they do is always the right thing.

Only in their imagination.

So that human is probably thinking the same thing right now.

“Allah Hu Akbar!”

The United States has not tasted terrorism enough yet.

“What a load of crap.”

Or maybe not.

“What happened? Is it fake?”

“I just received orders 10 seconds ago. Everything in this building is a terrorist, so be careful of booby traps and authorize unconditional preemptive strikes.”

The squad leader carefully turned over the terrorist’s body with his foot.

“And of course, the bomb is real. It’s button-type. Fortunately. What are you doing? Quickly get back into position! Pursue Scorpion!”

“Damn it! Is this another false alarm? Is there anything right about the information from the CIA?”

He tried to cover up the shame of being almost unilaterally attacked by the elite with the fact that the CIA gave strange information, but the embarrassment that had risen once did not easily go away. Perhaps the heat of the desert came in and could not get out. No, he decided to do so.

“Move if you have time to complain! Hurry up!”

Delta Force, which had finished searching, received its next target.

* * *

It was 1 hour and 20 minutes after the Shock and Awe operation began.

People are also animals, so there is such a thing as instinct, which is usually called intuition. There are times when that intuition rings an alarm, and when it is expressed externally, the chest or throat feels stinging, tingling, and coldly frozen.

The word that made this feeling into a word is ‘ssahada’ [martyrdom].

The feeling I’m feeling right now is that.

Except for one person who collapsed from food poisoning, not a single person has even suffered a minor injury, and the operation is going according to plan, but one thing keeps bothering me in my heart and making me uncomfortable.

Come to think of it, do you know why the Bush administration failed to ‘Geronimo’ Osama bin Laden in the early days? Whether Rumsfeld had a CIA phobia or whether he had a family member who died because of the CIA, he interfered with everything the CIA did by abusing his power. Ah, let’s drop it.

It was simple.

The CIA captured Osama bin Laden and requested support, but this bastard ignored it.

This was surprisingly true, and it was a fact that even he did not deny.

But all of that CIA’s information was coming to me. There is no element for Rumsfeld to intervene anywhere.

“No. No.”

Is this really all the information coming in? The Vice President always showed George W. Bush only the information that suited his taste.

Even if Rumsfeld didn’t do anything, the CIA was half playing in the hands of the Vice President.

What if the agent himself defected to minimize that? What if they don’t report at all? Or, what if some CIA dispatch teams are now being commanded by the Vice President or his subordinates?

It was not impossible. Betraying the country for money is not just something in movies. It always happened and could still happen now.

“But there’s nothing I can do.”

Confirmation was impossible unless I ran into that war zone with a gun and checked everything with my own eyes. The CIA and the Army were already searching the entire city like lice, and it was surrounded without a gap with dozens of tanks and armored vehicles and tens of thousands of troops.

“Wait.”

No. Wait a minute. There was one left.

“Secretary of State.”

“Yes, Your Excellency the President.”

“How many drones with Hellfire missiles are left?”