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“Everything. Cell phone traffic, Internet, military, civilian critical response, religious leadership, politicians…the whole country is talking.”
“What about the media?”
The secretary of state fielded the question. “Twenty minutes ago al-Jazeera broke into their newscast with footage of fire trucks and ambulances entering the base.”
The president pondered that thought for a moment and then looked at the plasma screen. “Brad, what are the Joint Chiefs telling you?”
“We had two AWACS on station.” The secretary of defense was referring to the Air Force’s E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System. “One over Baghdad and the other out over the Northern Gulf. Nothing moved through that airspace this morning that wasn’t either ours or the Brits’.”
“They’re sure?” the president pressed.
“Yes,” London hesitated. “There is, however, one extremely remote possibility.”
“What’s that?”
“If the Israelis have developed a stealth bomber, it is possible that they could have pulled it off, but the entire Joint Chiefs think this is not a realistic scenario.”
“Irene?” the president asked the director of the CIA.
“We’ve heard nothing along those lines. Our own B-2s cost over two billion dollars apiece. Their economy could never support that kind of expenditure, and even if they could, why would they risk flying it in broad daylight?”
“I agree,” said England.
“Satellite photos?” the president asked.
“The NRO should have a report for us within the hour.” Kennedy took off her reading glasses and set them on her briefing book.
“I have a preliminary report from my bomb damage assessment experts,” England announced. “They say they see no evidence of an air strike.”
The room went quiet for a full ten seconds and then the president asked, “So we’re left with what?”
Kennedy picked up a pen, tapped it on her leather briefing book a few times, and in a soft voice said, “Sabotage or disaster.”
“Disaster?”
“The Iranians aren’t exactly known for their stringent building codes. They’ve had structural engineering problems before, usually during earthquakes, but they did have a relatively new apartment complex collapse a few years ago. It turned out the builder was using substandard practices. Almost a hundred people died.”
“And you think they would allow substandard building practices on a project this important?” the president’s chief of staff asked.
“One would think not, but I’ve learned the hard way that the Iranians can be very hard to predict.”
President Alexander thought it over. After a few seconds he looked at Rapp and asked, “Any thoughts?”
Rapp briefly considered censoring what he was about to say and then decided it wouldn’t matter. “Without having all the facts I’d say there’s a ninety-five percent chance the Israelis are behind whatever happened. There’s a remote chance the collapse was due to shoddy construction, but I really don’t think it’s going to matter.”
“Why?” the president asked.
“The Persian ego will never admit to such a failure. Even if this thing collapsed on its own they will blame Israel. Either way they will be looking for blood.”
“I agree,” Secretary of State Wicka jumped in. “The only thing I would add is that they are likely to blame us as well.”
“Any chance you can get their foreign minister talking?” the president asked.
“I don’t think so. I expect them to close ranks on this one and let Amatullah do the talking. This would be a good time to use our back-door channel.”
Alexander looked surprised. “I wasn’t aware we had one.”
Kennedy cleared her throat. “After 9/11, sir, we opened a line with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. They are not big fans of al-Qaeda and the other Sunni terrorist groups. They had been keeping tabs on the Taliban and al-Qaeda for some time. They gave us crucial intel that helped us in the early months of the war.”