appreciating the situation, all discussions should remain under this roof.”
“Aha,” said Admiral Pires. “Already we are slipping into the black ops mode, already it is occurring to you that we may be ordered actually to carry out this assault on our robed brothers in the desert. Or, at the least, on their oil wells.”
“That’s the trouble with you guys. You always say yes,” said Gaston Savary.
“That’s because we are loyal servants of the republic,” replied the General. “We are here to do the bidding of the politicians. And we try, if asked, to achieve the impossible.”
“But a half hour ago, you thought this would be impossible, without getting caught.”
“I do not think that now,” replied the senior commander of COS. “I believe we could smash the Saudi oil industry with missiles and frogmen from those two SSNs. And never be detected.” Gaston Savary stood up. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I have been entrusted to conduct this study on behalf of the Foreign Minister and the President himself. I would be grateful, Admiral, if you would stay for the second part of our discussions. I have enjoyed listening to your views and I think you may have more ideas to give us.”
Savary was not the first high-ranking French official to single out the forty-six-year-old Georges Pires as a top-flight military intellect, a career officer who may yet find himself in the Palais Bourbon as a member of the French Parliament.
“Honored sir, I assure you,” replied the beefy Commando Chief, whose splendid family summer home, for three generations, was situated on the waterfront of St. Malo, less than 100 miles from the great French naval base at Brest. The Navy had always been his life, although he had found time to be married twice and divorced twice before his fortieth birthday. There was a slightly roguish look to Georges Pires, but his rise to high office in the principal assault section of the French Navy had been exceptionally swift.
Savary continued. “Well, General Jobert, perhaps you could outline for us anything you may know about the Saudi military defenses — on land, I mean.”
“Yes, of course,” Jobert said. “Let me switch on this big-screen computer, and I will tell you what I know, which is fairly standard but will show you the size of the task.” General Jobert stood back and used an officer’s shiny wooden baton to point to the map of Saudi Arabia. “They have an overall strength of around a hundred twenty-six thousand,” he began. “That’s the four elements, Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Royal Saudi Air Defense Force. They don’t have regular garrisons. The army is widely dispersed, but its strength is concentrated at four large military cities, built at huge expense in the 1970s and ’80s with the assistance of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The first one to note is right here…Khamis Mushayt, in the mountains of the southwest, about 100 kilometers from the Yemeni border.
“The second is up here at Tabuk, which protects the northwest of the country — in particular these routes that lead in from Jordan, Israel, and Syria. A third site, Assad Military City, is at Al-Kharj, 100 kilometers southeast of Riyadh, right in the middle of the desert. That’s where the Saudis’ national armaments industry is located.
“But the really big one is right here, facing the border area toward Kuwait and Iraq, right outside this city marked here — Hafa al-Batin. This is the King Khalid Military City. You can see it’s sited, deliberately, near the Trans-Arabian Pipeline (TAPLINE), which connects the big southern oil center of Ad Damman with Jordan.
“King Khalid is huge. It houses something like sixty-five thousand people, military and civilians. It’s got everything — cinemas, shopping arcades, power plants, mosques, schools, the lot. It’s built in the shape of a massive concrete octagon, with several smaller octagons inside it. Right outside the main complex they have a hospital, a racecourse, maintenance and supply areas, underground command bunkers, and the anti-aircraft missile sites. Gentlemen, you will not be attacking the King Khalid military base.”
“What’s the surrounding country like?” asked Admiral Pires.
“Absolutely wide open desert, swept by radar, no cover. We’d be facing the Saudi missiles and artillery.”
“Can they shoot straight?”
“Definitely.”
“Are they all like that?” asked Gaston Savary.
“Not quite so bad. But none of them is likely to be easy. Not for a small group of Special Forces. To tell the truth, Gaston, I can see no way for any small group to take, and force the surrender of, these strongholds. The Saudis have excellent communications and air cover. In the end, we would not have a chance.
“And in addition they have a well-armed National Guard, which is specifically tasked with defending the oil installations. The Saudis are not stupid. They know those huge complexes represent their lifeblood, and they’ve protected them very thoroughly.”
“What’s their Air Force like?” Admiral Pires asked.
“Very modern,” said Jobert. “Well-equipped. U.S. and British fighter bombers. F-15s, Tornadoes. Strong offensive capability. They also have airborne surveillance and tactical airlift capability. In brief, the Royal Saudi Air Force can move people around at will, they can see from the sky, and they have a serious strike force.”
“My notes from Prince Nasir say the Air Force bases may be vulnerable,” said Savary.
“Well, maybe. But they have two substantial air wings — that’s the F-15s and the Tornadoes. And they are divided into strike force air bases at each of the four military cities. It’s a bit confusing, but they call the base at Khamis Mushayt the King Khalid Air base. Same name as the place in the north. See? Down here by the Yemeni border.”
“That King Khalid must have been some kind of a leader,” said Savary. “Half the country’s named after him. But this is the air base Prince Nasir mentions. He plainly thinks it’s vulnerable.”
“We need to have a very careful look,” said General Jobert.
“Very careful indeed. Because it must be obvious to each of us that the consequences of any French soldier being caught, captured, or even killed would be absolutely calamitous for France. The Americans would immediately surmise we had blown the oil fields, and there’d be all hell to pay.”
“It sounds to me as if the destruction of the oil fields is several times more important than everything else put together,” said Admiral Pires. “Just imagine. The lifeblood of the people suddenly gone. An entire nation, the majority of whom can never even remember poverty, suddenly facing the fact they could all be back on camels. No oil, no wealth, no more prosperity. I think the nation would go into shock.”
“That’s Prince Nasir’s view entirely,” said Savary. “He thinks the armed forces will have no will to fight. Who for? A penniless king no longer able to pay them?”
“More like a dead, penniless king,” said Admiral Pires. “Because if this goes ahead, the Saudis will plainly rally to the cause of the Crown Prince. Especially if he promises to end the patronage of the royal princes and to put the country back together. Let’s face it, he’s the military’s only hope.”
“That is all true,” said Jobert. “The collapse of the Saudi economy would be an earth-shaking experience. But there still has to be an armed attack to subdue the Army and the Air Force, then to capture the main palaces in Riyadh and take out the King and his principal ministers. In the end, you always have to win it on the ground.”
“According to Prince Nasir,” said Savary, “the feeling against the King is so strong, the people are so angry, they would rally to the cause of
“Which leaves us with two tasks,” said Admiral Pires. “Number one, to get into the King Khalid Air Base and either take or destroy it. Then, almost simultaneously, to capture Riyadh and remove the King of Saudi Arabia from office.”
General Jobert smiled. “One thing, Admiral. Taking the air base needs to be so decisive it will cause the entire military city at Khamis Mushayt to cave in, and then cause the other three military cities to decide there is nothing left to fight for.”
“With Prince Nasir on the television appealing for calm, assuring everyone he has everything under control, it just might work,” said Admiral Pires. “Just so long as the collapse of the oil industry has the shattering effect we think it will.”
“The thing is,” suggested Savary, “this whole operation has to look like a totally Arab matter. It will simply appear that the Crown Prince has pulled off a palace coup d’etat. For the good of the people. And that may be an end to it. It just so happens that Prince Nasir chose France to help his country get back on its feet. America does not enjoy sole rights to everything it wants, you know.”
“So long as no one gets caught, eh?” muttered the General.
“Precisely that,” responded the Admiral. “So long as no Frenchman is ever discovered anywhere near the action.”
