Incirlik.
Our time frame is not flexible. We expect to see immediate movement of troops, ships, and aircraft within seven days. We expect final withdrawal to be complete within six weeks, even if this means abandoning materiel.
2) There will be immediate recognition by the Israeli Government of an Independent, Democratic, and Sovereign State of Palestine, based in the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, occupied by Israeli forces on and since June 4, 1967. There will also be agreement to take immediate steps to withdraw all Israeli troops from the occupied territories. We also require an immediate undertaking from the Government of the United States to make Israel comply with the Hamas demands without delay.
Failure to comply with the above conditions will mean the certain destruction of your great cities of Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C., as well as the remainder of the East Coast of the United States.
We are assuming you receive this document on August 21. You have until midnight, Thursday, October 8, to enter the final stages of your total evacuation from the Middle East. Unless we see clear signs that this is happening, we shall cause the tsunami within twenty-four hours of that date.
I am certain your experts will confirm for you the absolute feasibility of our intentions. We are perfectly capable of causing a landslide, sometime on October 9,2009.
Do not delay. With the great Allah fighting with us, we wish you out of the Middle East forever. Only He can grant us victory. We will stop at nothing to achieve our objectives.
— Hamas
President McBride sighed. “Bob,” he said, “this letter is from a nutcase. He came up with the bright idea of claiming to have exploded Mount St. Helens — after the fact, of course. Which anyone could have done.
“Then he used the absurd notion that someone might have believed him, in order to press home these outrageous demands. But I doubt even he is crazy enough to think we might start evacuating the entire military force of the United States from the most volatile part of the world. Just because he has threatened to drown New York City.”
“I guess so, sir,” replied Hatchard. “But, Christ…you don’t suppose this guy
“Hell, no. Let me tell you something. Anytime there is a natural disaster — volcano, earthquake, flood, fire, or famine — you get a spate of letters from deranged people claiming to have caused it, started it, inspired it, or forecast it.
“Billy, no one takes notice of these crank communications. It’s not as if someone called the day before and announced,
“Okay, sir. If that’s your decision. Meantime, you want me to have this letter copied and sent around to various interested parties in the military and in Intelligence, maybe the Defense Secretary, Secretary of State, perhaps?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, Bob.”
“Okay, sir. But a word of caution. In the million-to-one chance that someone actually did explode Mount St. Helens, and is now planning to drown the East Coast, how about I just circulate this document, with a short cover letter? You know, informing people you are inclined to dismiss the entire thing as a hoax? But you are open to guidance? That way, we’ve covered our asses. I know it’s not going to happen, but if it should, well, then, it won’t be your fault. It’s the useless military for not taking care of it in the early stages…In politics, always cover your ass…right, sir? You stick that document in a file, and then it happens, there’s no one to blame but you. Why take that chance? Trust me, sir, let’s cover our ass…”
“Okay, buddy. But if we suddenly have the entire office filled with raging Admirals and Generals champing at the goddamned bit to attack Arabs, I’ll blame you.”
“Fine, sir. You can do that.”
Bob Hatchard retreated and had copies made of the Bandar Abbas letter. He dictated a short memo to each recipient that read:
The President believes this to be either a hoax, or from a straightforward crank. He notes the writer’s claim to have erupted Mount St. Helens did not come until a few days AFTER the event, and has asked me to inform you that, at this time, as Commander in Chief, he has no intention of evacuating our entire military presence from the Middle East as requested.
Nonetheless, he wanted you to see this, for what it’s worth, and he will keep you informed, should there be a further communique.
Sincerely,
Bill Hatchard, Chief of Staff.
The document was sent to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State, who both agreed entirely with their leader. It was also sent to Admiral Morris, who did not; to General Tim Scannell, who had read Lt. Comdr. Jimmy Ramshawe’s brief, and to Adm. Alan Dickson, the Chief of Naval Operations, who, in agreement with Scannell, most definitely did not go along with the President’s assessment.
Adm. Arnold Morgan was not on Bill Hatchard’s circulation list. But he received a copy by courier from George Morris. Alan Dickson sent a copy to Adm. Dick Greening (Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, CINCPACFLT), to Rear Adm. Freddie Curran (Commander, Submarines, Pacific Fleet, COMSUBPAC), and to Rear Adm. John Bergstrom (Commander Special War Command, SPECWARCOM).
By midafternoon (EDT), all high-ranking U.S. Navy personnel with major responsibilities in the Pacific operational area had been instructed to read the Ramshawe brief,
To a man, they considered the coincidences to be too great. There was, no doubt, ample evidence for linking the assumed Hamas terrorist leader Major Ray Kerman to the current volcano problem. According to Ramshawe, Admiral Morgan had actually photographed Kerman in company with leading Iranian volcanologists, on top of Cumbre Vieja, which most realized after reading Ramshawe’s brief was the most likely target for the kind of event threatened in the letter.
Meanwhile, it did seem likely that the second
President or no President, General Scannell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, called an emergency conference in the Pentagon for Monday morning, August 24, at 1030. This was strictly military, highly classified, and the General also invited Admirals Morgan and Morris, plus the young “Sherlock Holmes of Fort Meade,” Lt. Comdr. Jimmy Ramshawe.
The task was fivefold: one, to examine the letter from Hamas and call in an expert to judge the psychological condition of the writer; two, to appreciate the situation and discuss a possible plan of defense against an attack on the volcano of Cumbre Vieja; three, to discuss the possibility of the terrorists going for any target other than Cumbre Vieja; four, to hold preliminary discussions on the possible evacuation of New York City, Boston, and Washington; and five, to make recommendations to the President of the United States for immediate civilian action in those cities.
General Scannell called Admiral Morris and requested he bring data with him outlining the basic requirements a terrorist might need for knocking down a high, four-mile-long granite cliff. Also, it would be useful to have an American expert from one of the universities to explain the ramifications of such a landslide, perhaps to offer expert opinion on the real-time chances of a mega-tsunami developing.
He booked lunch tomorrow, Saturday, with Arnold Morgan, Admiral Dickson, and the visiting Rear Admiral Curran, to try to assess a Navy operational plan in the eastern Atlantic, almost certainly to surround the west coast of La Palma with a U.S. battle group with state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile capability.
