The Senate Majority Leader, Minority Leader, the Speaker of the House and House Minority Whip rose and shook the President’s hand. They nodded tritely and were escorted out by Johnny Withers.
The President picked up the phone and punched the appropriate button for the phone that rings on Secretary Talbott’s desk. She answered.
“Marge, where do we stand with our people? What have you heard? Where are they that we can get them out?”
“Mr. President, I have had several reports earlier today. Most are headed for Inchon, Ascom City, to be precise. If we can get some helicopters in there, we should be able to get them out. Most of them won’t get there until late tonight or tomorrow, as they are walking out with the flood of refugees from Seoul. The pre-arranged pickup point is one of which they are all aware. They are gathering there and await rescue.”
“All right, Marge, tell them that as soon as our Marines are close enough, we’ll send in some Sea Stallion helicopters to pull them out. Wish them luck from me.” He hung up the phone.
“Peggy, get me Admiral Stark on the phone,” the President said into the intercom. Two minutes later, the President’s phone rang. “Admiral Stark here, Mr. President.”
“Admiral, what is the estimated time of arrival of that Marine Expeditionary Brigade into the Yellow Sea? How soon will they be in helicopter range to evacuate American personnel from Inchon?”
“They should be within round trip flight time and distance in about thirty hours, Mr. President. I strongly recommend, however, we wait until daylight before attempting to affect a rescue. I wouldn’t want to send the choppers in at night, having to look for people, especially with a lot of Koreans around who just might want to hitch a ride.”
“OK, Admiral, that sounds reasonable to me. I’ll leave it in your hands. I believe you have the necessary details?”
“Yes, sir, Mr. President. The helicopter crews are in briefing as we speak. Gives them plenty of time for preparation.”
“Thank you, Admiral.” Jason Thornton hung up the phone. He turned on the television to Fox News Channel. Live broadcasts of anti-war demonstrations were coming from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit. It seemed that everyone everywhere in America was against American involvement. The screen played to live broadcast from Seoul. The reporter appeared to be a few hundred meters behind the fighting. Black smoke was everywhere, and the noise was deafening. The reporter pointed to South Korean jet attack aircraft streaking north to bomb the invaders. Two M-60 tanks rolled behind him, making it impossible to hear what he said. House to house fighting, urban warfare, military operations in urban terrain, by whatever name, was the most costly in men, material, infrastructure, and civilian casualties. Ambulances came crawling past him, and several wounded soldiers were seen staggering towards the rear behind him. An artillery shell exploded against a building fifty meters away. The blast and debris laid the reporter and cameraman on the ground. The camera kept rolling while they regained their stance. The reporter was obviously dazed, wobbling on his feet. The cameraman wasn’t much better. Someone, probably the sound man, came forward and helped the reporter limp away under the eye of the camera. It appeared that Nam Sam Mountain overlooking Seoul was falling to the enemy. The cameraman panned to the air battle in the sky. The sound man now was talking; taking the place of the reporter.
“The South Korean Air Force has taken its toll on the North Korean Air Force. There is no question that the South Koreans have superior pilots and fly superior aircraft and have superior training. They have almost swept the skies free, at least here over Seoul today, of North Korean planes. Their nemesis, however, is surface to air missiles. We have seen a number of South Korean fighter planes go down in flames from surface to air missiles. They appear to be shoulder fired surface to air missiles. Any time one of the South Korean ground attack aircraft swoops in to strafe the North Korean forces, a dozen stinger type missiles are fired at it. The North also appears to have mobile anti-aircraft guns in excess. They are like four heavy machine guns mounted on a tank chassis. I’m told they are Soviet built ZSU-24s. We have reports that they are using them to attack fortified South Korean positions as well as using them against aircraft. We’re going to have to pull back from here a bit. The North Koreans have broken through the Nam Sam tunnel. Small arms fire is beginning to rake the area. Back to you, Bill.”
“Shit,” thought the President, half aloud. He looked at his watch. 16:30. they had another update meeting in thirty minutes. He punched in Marge Talbott’s number again.
“Marge, get ahold of the North Korean representative. Tell him we plan to evacuate our people by helicopter in thirty-six to forty-eight hours. The evacuation point will be in the Inchon area. We request that no hostile fires be directed against our aircraft. It would not help their cause to shoot at our folks while we are trying to evacuate American civilians. Especially stress that would be a factor in tilting American participation in this war.”
“I have already done that, Mr. President. I took that liberty and told him where and how but didn’t have a time reference for him. I’ll pass that on immediately to him. If there is nothing else, Mr. President, I will see you in thirty minutes.”
“I knew there was a reason I picked you for Secretary of State. See you in thirty minutes.”
The attendees were in the War Room when Jason Thornton entered.
“Marge, what is the international scene like? Anybody for doing anything other than sitting on their thumbs?”
“Unfortunately, Mr. President, that’s about it. There are significant demonstrations in London, Paris, Stockholm, Berlin and a few lesser ones scattered around. It seems nobody wants to go to this war.”
“Admiral Stark, where do we stand with getting our carrier groups in range?”
“The Marine Expeditionary Brigade has been making excellent time. As I earlier stated, we can affect a rescue in thirty-six to forty-eight hours. Another twenty-four hours after that and all three carrier battle groups will be within striking range of one hundred and fifty miles or less.”
“The unofficial word I have on the hill is that neither house of congress is willing to go along with this one. I am in quite a quandary. General Craig, what is your overall view of this war? If the United States jumps in to help South Korea, do we stand a chance of pushing the North back to the 38th Parallel or back to the Yalu?”
“Forgive me, Mr. President, but what are the chances of the Chinese jumping in?”
“Damn it, General! I wish to God I knew. Marge, can you give us anything on that? Any indication about Chinese intentions?”
“Well, Mr. President, I have a sinking gut feeling that they have known about this for some time. Maybe that’s why so many of their merchant ships are tied up in port. They aren’t as inscrutable as they like to think they are. Just reading body language of some of their embassy folks my staff and I met with this morning is that they are jumping up and down inside with glee. I don’t like it. I have a sinking gut level feeling about this.”
“General Craig, how are the South Koreans doing?”
“About as well as can be expected, Mr. President. Ultimately, though, I don’t know. The North has so many men under arms, well over a million, that they might overwhelm the South by sheer mass. The South Korean satellites are in orbits of close proximity to ours, and they are seeing the same pictures we are. They don’t look good. Forces are still pouring down all of the roads out of the North into the South. The initial onslaught was down the roads by mechanized forces. We are starting to see follow-on infantry forces spreading out through the countryside while mechanized forces continue to pour down the roads. They know that if a battalion or larger force concentrates, they might catch a small tactical nuke. Therefore, no formations larger than a company are moving either on the roads or through in the rural areas. With the exception of Seoul, the North is making better time in the western part of the peninsula, where it is flatter, than they are in the eastern mountains. That is to be expected. The North has made a pretty good dent, although they are slowing down. The South Korean Air Force has taken very serious losses. I don’t know how long they can sustain them. If they lose air support, it will become pretty much a ground pounders war. Light infantry will be slugging it out toe to toe. It tends to be that way in the eastern part of the peninsula anyway. Having said that, the North can form a solid line across the peninsula and march south. They have the manpower to do that. What that means is that the South doesn’t have the manpower under arms to match them under those conditions. South Korean units will be isolated and destroyed in place. If it comes to that, the South will probably lose. I would like to remind you, Mr. President, that we have only eight active divisions in the area, and most of our reserve and National Guard Divisions are hollow. That especially applies to our Army and Navy reserves. I am not so certain that our concept of Network Centric Warfare will stand us in such good stead under these conditions.”
“Johnny, go out in the hall and call the Secretary of the Treasury, Wall Street, or whoever the hell else you can think of, and try and get a handle on the size of the American investment in South Korea. I want to know how many billions of dollars American investors are going to lose if South Korea falls.”
“Yes, Mr. President.” Johnny Withers moved to the hall where Robert Lee was waiting for his charge. Withers made his calls.
The President studied the video screens depicting the battle from the satellite broadcasts. “Comments, anyone?”
No one spoke.
“At this time, I don’t see how we can do anything but sit this out. I don’t know what the long-term consequences will be, but I’m damned sure they won’t be good. We don’t have the support of the international community, support from the American people is in doubt, Congress won’t support it, you tell me now that mass has somehow been restored as an important principle or war, and that we lack mass, transportation assets, trained reserves, and I don’t know what else. Does anyone see it any differently?”
No one spoke. “All right, we will move our carrier battle groups into position off the peninsula, but we won’t get involved. We will rescue our own people and monitor the situation. I hope they don’t go nuclear, but if Seoul gets desperate enough, would they take out Pyongyang? Or vice versa? Will the North nuke the South if there is a reversal? General Shelton, you have a comment?”
“Mr. President, I don’t see the North using nuclear weapons against the South, at least not unless South Korean forces pass north of the 38th parallel. In that case, I think the North would use them on anything that crosses the line. They want the South, its industrial capacity, its trained work force intact and its food-producing capability. I don’t think they will cut off their nose to spite their face on the south side of the line.”
“Point well taken, General. All right, if no one has anything else, then we will be bystanders off the coast. All we want are our people. Marge, make sure you transmit this to both the North Koreans and the Chinese. We will not enter into this conflict, at least not as long as we have our people out of there, safe and sound. If any harm comes to the several thousand Americans there, the story might change.”
“I will transmit that message in person by calling upon both embassies before I have supper tonight, Mr. President.”
“General Craig, have our forces stand down a notch. No use keeping the red flag up if we aren’t going to war.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Anything else anybody wants to add or say? Ed? Roger? Jim? No? Then meeting adjourned.” Jason Thornton had a very sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He returned to his office upstairs and poured a large rye over ice, to which he added Coca-cola from a small refrigerator in the back of his office.
There is a difference between doing what is right when you can afford to do it and doing nothing when you cannot. I’m not going to throw the lives of American military personnel on a useless, unsupported quest. Good God, my own political party won’t even support me. Well, we aren’t going to be the world’s policeman anymore. It will just have to grow up or die on its own, thought Jason Thornton.
