Baghdad and most of Iraq gone, we won’t need to go to war with Saddam Hussein.”
Wolffer replied, “Actually, we won’t need to go to war with Syria either, or Iran, or any other hostile country which will no longer exist.”
Madox said, “I like the sound of that. Don’t you, Harry?”
Harry hesitated, then replied, “Yeah, if you like the sound of mass murder.”
Madox stared at Harry and said, “I have a son, Harry—Bain Junior, who is a reserve officer in the United States Army. If we go to war with Iraq, he will be called to active duty, and he may die in Iraq. Bottom line on that is I’d rather see everyone in Baghdad dead than to be notified that my son is dead in Iraq. Is that selfish?”
Harry didn’t answer, but thought,
Yes, that is selfish
. Also, Madox was conveniently forgetting the American sons and daughters he was going to nuke in America.
Bain Madox said to Harry, and to the others, “Sometimes a joke illuminates a truth that people won’t admit to. So let me tell you a joke, Mr. Muller, which, in your line of work, you may have already heard.” Madox smiled in the manner of a person about to tell a good one. “So, it seems that the president—Mr. Dunn’s boss—and the secretary of defense—Mr. Wolffer’s boss”—he smiled again and went on—“are having a disagreement over some policy issue, so they call in a junior aide, and the secretary of defense says to the aide, ‘We’ve decided to A-bomb a billion Arabs and one beautiful, blond-haired, blue-eyed, big-breasted woman. What do you think?’ And the young aide asks, ‘Mr. Secretary, why would you bomb a beautiful, blond-haired, blue-eyed, big-breasted woman?’ And the secretary of defense turns to the president and says, ‘See? I told you no one cares about a billion Arabs.’”
There was some polite and restrained laughter around the table, and Harry, too, smiled at the old joke, which he’d heard a few times.
Madox asked Harry, “Point made?”
Edward Wolffer returned to his subject and said, “Regarding Iraq, ground wars are costly in terms of men, materiel, and money. And ground wars always have unintended consequences. I can tell you from firsthand knowledge—and Paul can verify this—that this administration is hell-bent on provoking a war with Iraq, then Syria, and eventually Iran. In principle, none of us, I think, are opposed to this. But for those of us here who fought in Vietnam—Bain, Jim, and I—we can say with some authority that when you let loose the dogs of war, those dogs are out of your control. The beauty of a nuclear attack is that it is quick and cheap. We’ve already bought and paid for a huge atomic arsenal—we presently have about seven thousand nuclear warheads—that is sitting around doing nothing. For a small fraction of the cost of those warheads, we can achieve monumental results. The results of a nuclear strike are unequivocal.” He grinned and added, “The New York Times and the Washington Post won’t have to agonize over whether or not we’re winning the war on terrorism.”
Everyone laughed, and Bain Madox asked, rhetorically, “You mean, I won’t have to read some bleeding-heart story in the Times about some little girl and her grandmother who were wounded by American fire?”
Again, everyone laughed, and Wolffer said, “I don’t think the Times or the Washington Post are going to send any reporters into the nuclear ash to get a so-called human-interest story.”
Madox chuckled, then looked again at the map on the screen. “I see on the list the Aswan High Dam.” He moved a cursor to Egypt and the southern Nile. “That, I assume, is the mother of all targets.”
Wolffer replied, “Indeed, it is. A multi-warhead missile will take out that dam and send billions of gallons of water rushing down the Nile, which will, in effect, wipe out Egypt, killing perhaps forty to sixty million people as it floods the Nile Valley on its way into the Mediterranean. This
Wolffer replied, “Actually, we won’t need to go to war with Syria either, or Iran, or any other hostile country which will no longer exist.”
Madox said, “I like the sound of that. Don’t you, Harry?”
Harry hesitated, then replied, “Yeah, if you like the sound of mass murder.”
Madox stared at Harry and said, “I have a son, Harry—Bain Junior, who is a reserve officer in the United States Army. If we go to war with Iraq, he will be called to active duty, and he may die in Iraq. Bottom line on that is I’d rather see everyone in Baghdad dead than to be notified that my son is dead in Iraq. Is that selfish?”
Harry didn’t answer, but thought,
Yes, that is selfish
. Also, Madox was conveniently forgetting the American sons and daughters he was going to nuke in America.
Bain Madox said to Harry, and to the others, “Sometimes a joke illuminates a truth that people won’t admit to. So let me tell you a joke, Mr. Muller, which, in your line of work, you may have already heard.” Madox smiled in the manner of a person about to tell a good one. “So, it seems that the president—Mr. Dunn’s boss—and the secretary of defense—Mr. Wolffer’s boss”—he smiled again and went on—“are having a disagreement over some policy issue, so they call in a junior aide, and the secretary of defense says to the aide, ‘We’ve decided to A-bomb a billion Arabs and one beautiful, blond-haired, blue-eyed, big-breasted woman. What do you think?’ And the young aide asks, ‘Mr. Secretary, why would you bomb a beautiful, blond-haired, blue-eyed, big-breasted woman?’ And the secretary of defense turns to the president and says, ‘See? I told you no one cares about a billion Arabs.’”
There was some polite and restrained laughter around the table, and Harry, too, smiled at the old joke, which he’d heard a few times.
Madox asked Harry, “Point made?”
Edward Wolffer returned to his subject and said, “Regarding Iraq, ground wars are costly in terms of men, materiel, and money. And ground wars always have unintended consequences. I can tell you from firsthand knowledge—and Paul can verify this—that this administration is hell-bent on provoking a war with Iraq, then Syria, and eventually Iran. In principle, none of us, I think, are opposed to this. But for those of us here who fought in Vietnam—Bain, Jim, and I—we can say with some authority that when you let loose the dogs of war, those dogs are out of your control. The beauty of a nuclear attack is that it is quick and cheap. We’ve already bought and paid for a huge atomic arsenal—we presently have about seven thousand nuclear warheads—that is sitting around doing nothing. For a small fraction of the cost of those warheads, we can achieve monumental results. The results of a nuclear strike are unequivocal.” He grinned and added, “The New York Times and the Washington Post won’t have to agonize over whether or not we’re winning the war on terrorism.”
Everyone laughed, and Bain Madox asked, rhetorically, “You mean, I won’t have to read some bleeding-heart story in the Times about some little girl and her grandmother who were wounded by American fire?”
Again, everyone laughed, and Wolffer said, “I don’t think the Times or the Washington Post are going to send any reporters into the nuclear ash to get a so-called human-interest story.”
Madox chuckled, then looked again at the map on the screen. “I see on the list the Aswan High Dam.” He moved a cursor to Egypt and the southern Nile. “That, I assume, is the mother of all targets.”
Wolffer replied, “Indeed, it is. A multi-warhead missile will take out that dam and send billions of gallons of water rushing down the Nile, which will, in effect, wipe out Egypt, killing perhaps forty to sixty million people as it floods the Nile Valley on its way into the Mediterranean. This
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