The President stared at Preston but his eyes seemed dead. After a moment he shook his head and waved a hand at Preston. “It’s not your fault, Thomas. If you had told me that the Chinese were ready to attack the fleet, I would’ve said you were crazy and told you to continue as planned.” He paused, then said, “All right. We’ve got several dozen dead sailors, a damaged aircraft carrier, and apparently a five Filipino vice president asking for our assistance. What do we do about it?”
“JCS has devised an operation that we think can send a clear message to China, sir…
The President was obviously still hesitating. That single nuclear explosion, a relatively small burst that occurred ten thousand miles away, was hamstringing this President, casting doubts that only served to increase his anger and frustration — like Reagan’s inner torment about the American hostages held in Lebanon, the nuclear explosion and the fear of an escalating conflict between the United States and China was plunging the President into indecision.
“Sir, I’ve got to reiterate this point: every day we hesitate in sending offensive forces into Guam and put them into a position to act, the worse our situation will be. We will reach a point where we will be unable to respond at all to stop China. It’s even more important to send the Air Battle Force in right now,” Curtis continued, “because they now become the only offensive weapon we have against the Chinese in the Philippines, except submarines and long-range cruise missiles.” He referred to a wall map of the area as he spoke: “We won’t risk sending any more warships into the Celebes Sea, and the South China Sea region and the seas within the Philippines are too dangerous or shallow. China controls the south, west, and north sides of the Philippines, and they control the South China Sea itself.
“However, they do not control the east side of the Philippines, and that’s their weakness. Air strikes from either carrier-based or land-based bombers can come in from the east and strike at Chinese positions…
“Using Doctor Masters’ computer systems on Guam as well as the reconnaissance data from both the RC-135 flight and his lightweight satellites, the STRATFOR has developed several strike options designed to achieve an entire range of results. The plans require using the Air Battle Force. Without
“In short, I think Masters has developed a workable plan for dealing with the Chinese in the south Philippines. We see a pretty good chance of success, even with anticipated Chinese reinforcements in the Celebes. The primary plan is relatively small, controlled, and does not directly involve any carrier battle groups or any Marine Expeditionary Units Masters’ war-game computer calls the plan Operation WINTER HAMMER…
“Winter?” Vice President Martindale retorted. “You’re going to wait until winter to do something?” The Vice President was not known for being too swift.
“The name was simply a random combination of words made by his war-gaming computer, and its use is strictly internal. We can pick a different name for media purposes if you wish…”
“Just let me know what you’re proposing to send over there,” the President said irritably. “How much equipment, how many men.”
“The first Air Battle Wing, which is the only one currently organized,” Curtis replied, “consists of eighteen B-52 bombers, ten F-111G bombers, twenty F-15B, C, and E-model fighters, twelve F-4 fighters, three KC-10 tankers, six KC- 135 tankers, one E-3C AWACS plane, one RC-135 radar plane, one EC-135 airborne command post, three C-5 cargo planes, and ten C-141 cargo planes. It totals about two thousand men and women. The current force includes three B-2 stealth bombers as well, which have been training for use with the Air Battle Force. We also have the use of the destroyers
“According to our intelligence figures, the Chinese have approximately ten thousand troops in Zamboanga itself, plus another five thousand afloat in the Celebes,” Curtis continued, “including a full Marine regiment on Mindanao and another afloat.
