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Acts of War

by Darrin A. Colbourne

"Headed your way." A voice said softly on his radio. Domingo Chavez, leader of Rainbow's Team Two, didn't acknowledge. He didn't need to. He simply scanned the desert horizon with his night vision goggles. They'd see the vehicles soon enough, old British Land Rovers and a few domestically produced jeeps, travelling in column along a well worn path to the troubled city of Beirut. Chavez and his men were deployed around the route to make sure the convoy never got there.

It all came down to this moment, the final act of the "First War of the 21st Century", an act which couldn't come too soon for the entire world, but especially the United States. The campaign had taken two years, and cost the lives of many people on both sides, but the good guys had the upper hand for most of the conflict, and despite some major setbacks had prevailed throughout. In reality, the war was just a prelude to an ongoing vigil against modern villainy and hatred, an evil hidden behind the cloak of righteousness and piety. It had been the first Special Forces war, where most of the battles were covert ones, hidden from view of the peoples on whose behalf they were being fought. The few overt conflicts were spectacular and devastating, mainly for the bad guys.

It started with the greatest intelligence gathering campaign in history. The allied effort was managed primarily by Mary Pat Foley, Deputy Director (Operations) of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Suddenly flush with funds and new Human Intelligence assets, Foley worked with intelligence agencies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to blanket the Arab World with an information dragnet. Falling back on her aggressive style and utilizing covert action groups like Israel's Mossad, Germany's GSG and France's DGSE, the intel campaign turned over the rock of Radical Islamic Fundamentalism, forcing all the dangerous elements into the open and creating reams of data for the world's military and law enforcement agencies to exploit.

Much of the data went to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which mounted a nationwide counterintelligence manhunt, reeling in sleeper agents by the dozens and turning them over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to be summarily deported. The American Civil Liberties Union protested the actions vigorously, but was roundly ignored. In such a war there was no action that could be considered unfair.

The US State Department used the data to bolster demands they had been making to countries since September of 2001. Unfortunately only a few were listening. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and a reluctant Jordan all vowed to cut off all funding and support to terror groups operating in the Middle East, as well as any related groups or nationals. All three countries kept their promises, and a major source of money and supply, as well as living space, had been denied to the enemy. Then it was time to deal with the support the terrorists still enjoyed.

The US Air Force's 409th Information Warfare Squadron was an untried unit, but the war put it through a trial by fire. The staff of this squadron fought its battles not in the air but in the ether, and its goal was to guarantee American supremacy in cyberspace. After a concerted hacking campaign, billions of dollars in international banking and credit accounts accessible by terrorist groups disappeared without a trace. Assets like front companies and safe houses around the world were seized and blocked off. Suddenly, terrorists were penniless and forced to flee to the few countries that would still allow them in.

With the words "Do as you must," The President sanctioned Israel to take actions it had been desperate to take for decades. It meant the death knell for the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In a series of lightning attacks in Gaza and the West Bank Israeli forces decimated PLO and PFLP centers of organization. Palestinian "Police" units were decimated, and settlements across the small regions were demolished in the onslaught. Jerusalem was cleared of Palestinians overnight, raising an outcry throughout the Islamic world. No one was listening. Yasser Arafat, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, declared that his successors would devour the Jews and their warmongering American patrons like vultures devour carrion just moments before a Mossad officer put three bullets in his head.

Palestinian Autonomy was reduced to a memory, and Israel declared the re-conquered territories were within Israel's new borders. The United States led most of the free world in recognizing the claim and the Israelis, bolstered as never before, took the next step. A massive frontal assault heralded Israel's return to Lebanon. After three weeks of bitter fighting Hezbollah was gutted, reduced to a handful of small groups that allied forces proceeded to hunt down and destroy one by one. Seeing the devastation Jordan and Syria began to mobilize, but a mass of overflights of NATO tactical aircraft from ships in the Mediterranean and from Turkey put the two Arab nations on notice: Interfere with Israel and spell your own doom. US Marine Recon Battalions, as well as GSG, British Special Air Service and DGSE troops were already operating in the two nations, rooting out Al-Qaeda and Islamic Jihad cells, driving them into the open and killing as many as possible. This was the real reason Syria and Jordan didn't come to Lebanon's aid. Their forces would have problems enough dealing with the European and American invaders.

The US opened its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to forestall an astronomic raise in the price of oil by OPEC. The raise had been called for by Saddam Hussein, who said it was time the invaders learned who the masters really were. The President decided it was time to finish old business. An entire US Army Light Infantry Division---600 dedicated night-fighting Special Forces troops---was dropped into Iraq with the sole purpose of finding and fixing the whereabouts of the rogue leader. An entire squadron of F-117 Nighthawks was on standby in Kuwait, with four planes aloft and ready to sortie at all times in case the Iraqi President was caught in the open in a convoy or in a fixed above ground structure. Planners' hearts sank when he was finally pinned down in an apartment building. His Republican Guard had taken over the neighborhood and had filled and surrounded the structure with civilians from around the area. In one of the many tough decisions he would face throughout the war, the President ordered the strike.

When the Nighthawks' bombs fell, over a thousand Iraqis were killed. The most important victim was Hussein himself.

The dictator had left no one powerful enough to rule in his stead. The allies chose an occupation government and told it in no uncertain terms that Iraq's days of supporting terror were over. The Republican Guards were disbanded and their vehicles were destroyed. Terrorist cells fled yet again, some trying to reach Iran, whose ruling clerics declared a holy war against the Great Satan and its allies.

In a move that would never be revealed to the general public, the President promised that unless Iran renounced terrorism, left Iraq alone and allowed the war to proceed as planned, the allies would define the term "Holy War" for everyone, by destroying every Mosque in Iran. Every Mosque. Just to prove it was no bluff, an F-18C armed with Mavericks reduced an abandoned Mosque in the south of the country to dust. In public, the allies called it a terrible mistake, but the Iranians knew better, watching as carriers in the North Arabian Gulf conducted hundreds of simulated attacks into Iranian air space, exercising for the real thing. Iran was furious, but chastened, deciding to comply openly for now and wait until a later date to punish the infidels.

For good measure, several of the air attacks into Iraq were conducted by B-2 Spirit bombers operating out of Diego Garcia. Colonel Robert Zacharias of the 509th Bomb Group prayed for the souls that would be lost as his 16 Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missiles arced away, devastating one of the numerous "Presidential Palaces" in the country manufacturing strategic weapons. He tried to console his Mormon conscience by weighing the number of lives lost against the potential loss of life those facilities represented.

In Libya, Colonel Mohammar Khaddafi watched the events unfolding around the Middle East and decided discretion was truly the better part of valor. He immediately gave orders to his commanders to round up all terrorists operating in the country. The ranking Libyan officers were truly shocked when they realized he was serious. It was slow-going for the Libyan forces, but after a month or so the terrorists that had survived the hunt were arrested and detained in a maximum security facility. The Colonel stunned his people again by ordering that all prisoners not known to have terrorist ties be removed from the facility. When this was done, he placed a phone call to his UN Ambassador in New York, who later called the US State Department.

Hours later, after intelligence assets confirmed the validity of Khaddafi's story, F-18s operating from carriers in the Med leveled the prison and all of its occupants. The Colonel considered it a small price to pay to keep America off his back for a little longer.

Islamic Fundamentalist groups became true nomadic tribes, without money or nations to turn to for help. Egypt and Sudan finally joined in the movement to exile the groups from the Middle East, while Muslim "freedom fighters" in Eastern and Central Europe and Southern Asia sought quickly to distance themselves from their more fanatical brethren. Nations like Cuba and China rounded up sympathizers and advance agents looking for support and tried them as spies, resulting in hundreds of summary executions.

Soon only Afghanistan remained to succor the surviving terror groups. Several cells of Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Infitadeh and smaller splinter groups converged in that country, taking refuge under the auspices of the ruling Taliban. Afghani forces were on a war footing, ready for anything the allies could dish out.

In a surprising move, Pakistan opened its country to the allies to use as a staging area. The offer was accepted, and the new CENTCOM, Lieutenant General Marion Diggs, gathered a force strong enough to crack open the Afghani defenses and allow the SpecOps forces to do their job. America deployed the 11th, 10th, 2nd and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiments, as well as two Marine Expeditionary Units (Special Operations Capable). These forces were augmented by tank companies from Britain and Germany, and supported by a massive force of Pakistani infantry. Special Forces from all over the world were interspersed among the invaders, and tactical aircraft coming from Pakistan, India and the Arabian Sea crisscrossed the region, guaranteeing air supremacy.

The main attack began with a blunt armor and artillery strike across the border. Afghan regulars fought hard but were outmatched in the assault. That left Afghan guerrillas to defend the country while the terror groups went underground. The guerrillas fought the allies the way they had fought off the Russians, but the allies were ready for it, and three LIDs and two full Recon Battalions were dedicated to combating the Afghans while the rest of the SpecOps complement brought the targets out of hiding.

The groups were all but lost once they were out in the open. Choosing to make a last stand left them vulnerable to both conventional and unconventional warfare. One or two groups stayed hidden, watching while the rest were pounded into the desert sands.

The Taliban surrendered when the people they were fighting for were so thoroughly destroyed. In an ironic twist, Russia was asked to return to Afghanistan to take control of the rudderless country, this time with the support of the free world and the understanding that they were there to make sure terrorism would never find a safe haven in Afghanistan again.

Some amazing victories had been won in the war, but some sad defeats had been suffered as well, one of which was that the victories, broader than any against terrorism in history, still had not gotten everybody. One major leader still survived, the one that had brought all of this misery down on his brethren. He'd been constantly moving since operations began, and actually managed to stay out of the crosshairs for most of the war. But eventually he too slipped up, and it was Team Two's job to take advantage of that mistake.

Beirut, Lebanon was an empty shell of a city, abandoned by average Lebanese citizens and scoured of terrorists long ago by the Israelis. Apparently the target had decided it would be a perfect spot to recover and rebuild.

There were dozens of approaches to the city, but the convoy had been under constant surveillance by all manner of men and machines since it left its last hidey-hole, and everyone involved in the operation was dead sure that this sand road was the route the convoy was taking. Chavez hoped they were all right. His team was dug in around the area, covered in sand and camouflaged as well as they could manage. He checked the horizon again.

Shadowy bumps were approaching on the road, travelling with no lights on and trying to be as covert as possible. It would have been easier to just bomb the convoy from the air, but the word had come from on high: This death had to be confirmed by eyewitness account.

"Ready." Chavez whispered into his radio. He didn't expect a response. He wanted everyone's focus to be on the vehicles.

The convoy came on, speeding up with the city in view. The time for caution seemed to be over, and the target was making a mad dash, trying to get into the urban environment before he was discovered.

Team Two watched and waited, fingers on triggers, muscles flexing, waiting for the moment to spring the hastily built trap.

The lead vehicle crossed the right marker. "Go, go, go!" Chavez whispered into his radio.

Paddy Connolly squeezed a trigger switch in his hand, and the night lit up as mines laid along the road exploded, scattering most of the convoy. The two trailing vehicles survived and veered off, but the remainder were upended and strewn along the path.

"Get the strays!" Chavez ordered. From nowhere an RPG flashed through the night and disintegrated a moving Land Rover, while dozens of rounds from a Squad Automatic Weapon riddled a small truck.

Survivors of the explosions were now climbing out of their vehicles and trying to mount a defense. The entire team opened up, dropping Al-Qaeda soldiers with three-round-bursts of 9mm ammo.

Two terrorists pulled a robed figure out of one of the Land Rovers. Looking on from a high sand dune, Homer Johnston set himself and called on the radio, "Target!"

Be sure, Homer, Chavez thought as he said. "Take the shot!"

Johnston fired, watched the round, adjusted, fired again, adjusted again, fired again. He wanted to be just as certain as everyone else.

The first round caught the robed man in the throat, splattering blood on his helpers and causing them to panic. They tried to lower their charge, causing the second round to miss high. The final shot took the top of the target's head off.

"Rock and Roll!" Chavez ordered. His team emerged from hiding and moved in, cutting down the remaining terrorists in detail. Soon the desert night was silent. Rainbow had prevailed, the first time in the war where all the casualties were on the other side.

The Team gathered around the robed figure. The destruction caused by the rifle rounds rendered the head unrecognizable, but the remains of the beard were unmistakable. Someone began to document the scene with a small camcorder, starting with their marksman's gruesome victim.

"Police the scene." Chavez said, and his team dispersed to look for any useful intelligence data. Just before he went to join them, he took one last look at the remains of Osama Bin Laden.

Domingo Chavez checked his watch. It had just become September 11 in this part of the world, and he'd just given America a fitting anniversary present.

"Alluah Akhbar, Motherfucker." The soldier said, before he turned and walked away.

Author's Note: I noticed that several authors posted stories dealing with the tragedies in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. I guessed that writing those stories helped the authors deal with what they were feeling about what happened. It is in that same vein that I present this story. It is much more bloodthirsty than the others and if that bothers you I apologize, but I will not take back a single word.

This has been a stylized representation of the war the United States and its allies will be committing itself to fighting. It will not be glamorous, valorous or romantic. There won't be any patriotic songs written about it, and the good guys will be forced to think and act in ways that would never occur to most freedom-minded people. That this mind-set exists is what made this country great, but it will have to be set aside, because this war must be fought. It has been postponed for too long, and may God grant that such a tragic loss of innocent life not occur again until it can be won.