Prologue - Page 3

Saddam shifted his focus back to Colonel Duri. “When is the delivery scheduled?”

“Friday night.”

Saddam nodded carefully. “We will then stage the incident on Wednesday.”

Duri smiled slightly. “Yes, sir. It doesn’t matter where UNSCOM goes, we will deny the weapon inspection teams access to the hotels if need be. It should focus the American satellites and spy planes on those facilities.”

“And away from the sea,” finished Saddam.

United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) served as an umbrella organization for America’s weapon inspection program. This too changed. At the end of the Gulf War, Iraq held its breath under the threat of the massive Allied Armies. Saddam signed agreements permitting the West to search for banned weapons throughout his country. The alternative had been annihilation, but who would be so stupid as to believe he would live up to the agreements? The Americans—that’s who.

“Yes, away from the sea,” agreed Duri.

“And the missiles?”

“By early next year, twenty Al-Hussein and thirty-five Al-Abbas will be fitted with VX-Beta specific warheads. We probably will be ready to launch sometime in mid-February.”

Saddam bristled somewhat at the mention of the Al-Abbas missile. It had a range one hundred fifty kilometers greater than the Al-Hussein named after himself.

“Valentine’s Day. We will do it when the Americans show their sentimental weakness. You will be able to hit the carriers?” he asked eagerly.

Duri had no idea whether the modified SCUD missiles could even find the USS George Washington or USS Nimitz carriers. The SCUD was basically an unguided missile that more or less landed within twenty kilometers of where it was sent—if all went well. Of course, to admit something that might not be as the Great Leader believed could be fatal—especially when they were planning the deaths of thousands of Jews and Arabs. “Yes,” he lied.

Saddam held his gaze and looked back to the target list. “You’ll be aiming more than one at these targets?”

“The Jews get three each, as do the Iranians and Saudis. The rest are distributed among the other targets,” he explained.