Strike Force

DR. MARY CARSON, Secretary of State

KEN T. PHOENIX, Attorney General

CARL MINDEN, Chief of Staff

U.S. MARINE CORPS MAJOR-GENERAL ANTHONY LEWARS, White House Press Secretary

GERALD VISTA, Director of Central Intelligence

LT. GENERAL PATRICK MCLANAHAN, special adviser to the President

BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID LUGER, asst. special adviser to the President

BRIGADIER-GENERAL REBECCA FURNESS, commander, First Air Battle Force (air operations), Battle Mountain Air Reserve Base (ARB), Nevada

BRIGADIER-GENERAL DAREN MACE, Air Battle Force operations officer and EB-1C mission commander

U.S. AIR FORCE COLONEL NANCY CHESHIRE, AL-52 Dragon aircraft commander

U.S. AIR FORCE RESERVE MAJOR WYATT CROSS, EB-52 Megafortress aircraft commander

U.S. AIR FORCE RESERVE CAPTAIN MARK HOURS, EB-52 mission commander

AIR FORCE RESERVE CAPTAIN MARGARET “MUGS” LEWIS, EB-1C Vampire aircraft commander

BRIGADIER GENERAL HAL BRIGGS, deputy commander for operations (ground operations), First Air Battle Force, Battle Mountain Air Reserve Base, Nevada

MARINE CORPS SERGEANT MAJOR CHRIS WOHL, NCOIC, First Air Battle Force

U.S. ARMY FIRST LIEUTENANT CHARLIE BRAKEMAN, Tin Man commando

ARMY NATIONAL GUARD CAPTAIN CHARLIE TURLOCK, CID engineer and pilot

U.S. ARMY SPECIALIST MARIA RICARDO, Tin Man commando

COLONEL MARTIN TEHAMA, commander, High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center (HAWC), Elliott Air Force Base, Nevada

CAPTAIN HUNTER “BOOMER” NOBLE, XR-A9 Black Stallion aircraft commander, Elliott Air Force Base, Groom Lake

FIRST LIEUTENANT DOROTHEA “NANO” BENNETON, Ph.D., Black Stallion mission commander

U.S. AIR FORCE CAPTAIN WIL LEFFERTS, XR-A9 mission commander

U.S. NAVY LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JACK OLRAY, XR-A9 pilot

U.S. NAVY LIEUTENANT LISETTE “FRENCHY” MOULAIN, XR-A9 mission commander

STACY ANNE BARBEAU, senior U.S. senator from Louisiana, ranking member of Senate Armed Services Committee; Colleen Morna, her aide

GENERAL CHARLIE ZOLTRANE, commander, Eighth Air Force

GENERAL COLLEEN EDGEWATER, commander, Air Force Materiel Command

ANN PAGE, Ph.D., former U.S. senator, astronaut, and space weapon engineer

COLONEL KAI RAYDON, Space Shuttle aircraft commander

CIVIL AIR PATROL CADET MASTER SERGEANT DOUG LENZ, Cadet Lieutenant Katelyn VanWie’s NCOIC

IRANIANS

MAJOR-GENERAL HESARAK AL-KAN BUZHAZI, former chief of staff of the Iranian military

CIVIL AIR PATROL CADET LIEUTENANT KATELYN VANWIE, aka Shahdokht Azar Assiyeh Qagev, heir presumptive of the Peacock Throne of Iran

IMAM SAYYED MOSTAFA SHIRAZEMI, religious leader of Iran

MASOUD AHMADAD, president of Iran

BRIGADIER GENERAL MANSOUR SATTARI, Buzhazi’s aide

BRIGADIER-GENERAL KAMAL ZHORAM, commander of the Second Rocket Brigade of the Pasdaran-i- Engelab, or Revolutionary Guards Corps

GENERAL HOSEYN YASSINI, commander-in-chief, Iranian armed forces

FLIGHT CAPTAIN ALI-REZA KAZEMI, transport pilot

LIEUTENANT GENERAL MUHAMMAD BADI, commander of the Pasdaran (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps)

COLONEL/GENERAL ALI ZOLQADR, replacement Pasdaran commander; Major Kazem Jahromi, his aide

AYATOLLAH HASSAN MOHTAZ, Director of the Supreme National Security Deputate and military adviser to the Faqih

MAJOR PARVIZ NAJAR, Lieutenant Mara Saidi, Katelyn’s bodyguards

COLONEL JAMAL FATTAH, chief political officer, Iranian embassy, Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan

RUSSIANS

LEONID ZEVITIN, president of the Russian Federation

GENERAL KUZMA FURZYENKO, Russian chief of staff

REAL-WORLD NEWS EXCERPTS

PENTAGON PLANNING FOR SPACE BOMBER

— By Robert Windrem, MSNBC NEWS, August 14, 2001

— An experimental NASA spacecraft could well be the harbinger for a small armada of billion-dollar space bombers—“space operations vehicles” that could be launched from a U.S. base and fire weapons at almost any target on Earth, all within 90 minutes of a presidential order.

…The next generation of America’s bomber fleet will be a far cry not only from World War II’s B-17 but from the stealthy B-2 bomber as well. Speed to target is likely to be just as high a priority as a bomber’s payload in the 21st century.

…In June, Rumsfeld directed the Pentagon to investigate “suborbital space vehicles” that “would be valuable for conducting rapid global strikes,” according to a Pentagon planning document issued under his name. And as recently as last month, Boeing said it was talking to the Air Force about investing millions of dollars more in Boeing’s X-37.

Then, in congressional testimony this month, Gen. Michael Ryan, the Air Force chief of staff, acknowledged that a futuristic “space bomber” is being contemplated by the Pentagon’s long-range planners…

STRATEGIC FORECASTING INC., www.stratfor.com, 9 November 2004

— An Iranian official said Nov. 9 that Iran has acquired the capability to produce medium-range ballistic missiles in mass quantity. Defense Minister Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani told journalists in Tehran that the Islamic republic is able to manufacture in bulk the Shahab-3 missile, whose range was recently upgraded to 1,250 miles.

IRANIANS REFUSE TO TERMINATE NUCLEAR PLANS

— by Elaine Sciolino, New York Times—26 November 2004—VIENNA — Iran refused Thursday to abandon plans to operate uranium enrichment equipment that could be used either for energy purposes or in a nuclear bomb-making project, European and Iranian officials said.

The refusal threatened to scuttle a nuclear agreement Iran reached 10 days ago with France, Britain and Germany to freeze all of Iran’s uranium enrichment activities, the European officials added. It also gave new ammunition to the Bush administration, which asserts that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program and cannot be trusted…

U.S. FORCE EYES RAPID SATELLITE CAPABILITY

— Jane’s Defense Weekly, 7 January 2005—The U.S. Air Force, along with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), plans to conduct a flight experiment mid-year to see if it can rapidly place a light satellite payload into orbit aboard a small space launch vehicle. If successful, the