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Any terrorist organization has a clear purpose and will do whatever it takes to achieve it, so it can judge its specific caste from the demands it makes. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

It is a pity that this time the other side put forward too many conditions, covering almost the entire Islamic world.

From Libya to Afghanistan, from Sudan to Iran, almost every Islamic country that has been particularly "cared for" by the United States is among its demands, and all of them demand that the United States immediately end its interventions, stop meddling in the affairs of the Islamic world, and even demand that the United States stop supporting Israel.

Will there be such a terrorist group?

Whether Norris believes it or not, at least the officials who regularly deal with terrorist groups will never believe that there is a terrorist organization that fights for the good of the entire Islamic world.

The reason is simple, the Islamic world is not monolithic.

Among the prohers of Islam are Arabs, Persians, Pashtuns, and even the indigenous people of the wild lands of Africa. These nations are not harmonious, have their own fundamental interests, and even have very deep contradictions, for example, the Arabs and the Persians have a deep blood feud and cannot go together at all.

Interests are everything, and no terrorist organization will fight for the entire Islamic world.

That is, there is a high probability that the attack on Manhattan Island was not a terrorist organization.

Who's who?

This is a very important issue, and if even the adversary does not know who the adversary is, it will be difficult for the US authorities to use non-military means to resolve the crisis.

Although Secretary of Defense Archibald and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Robert, both said that the US military is capable of resolving the crisis, Norris did not immediately adopt the military's advice, because this is not a war that takes place more than 10,000 kilometers away, but a war on the US mainland.

When analyzing the video call sent by Copperfield, everyone knew that the other party had the goods in hand.

The point is in one sentence, that is, the other side took the two million civilians on Manhattan Island and the tens of millions of people around it hostage.

These remarks have already hinted that if the US authorities take rash action, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Here's the point: what kind of people did the people who attacked Manhattan Island have the ability to kidnap two million, or even more than 10 million civilians?

To put it simply, if the U.S. military launches a surprise attack, the other side will use civilians as a shield, which can kill two million civilians in a short period of time.

The only thing that can be done is weapons of mass destruction!

When analyzing this issue, even Archibald and Robert had to admit that the attackers must have weapons of mass destruction.

The problem is that the meaning of "weapons of mass destruction" is too general.

It could be chemical weapons, it could be biological weapons, it could be nuclear weapons.

If it were not known what kind of weapons of mass destruction these men had, the U.S. military would not have been able to respond at all, and the assault would not have yielded any good results.

Among other things, if the attackers had a nuclear warhead in their hands, even if it was just a nuclear warhead that had failed and could not be fully detonated, it would be enough to injure thousands of civilians. In his assessment, Norris's national security adviser made it clear that a dirty bomb filled with 10 kilograms of plutonium over Manhattan Island, such as detonating on the top of a high-rise building, would be enough to contaminate the entire island of Manhattan and cause 100,000 people to be severely exposed to radiation and 500,000 people to develop leukemia in the next five years before all civilians were evacuated.

What's even more terrifying is that it's enough to make Manhattan a barren land, uninhabitable for years to come.

Can the United States afford such losses?

The answer is clearly no, so Norris certainly won't let the military take the risk.

At this point, the main issue comes to the surface.

Before solving the problem, the United States authorities must do two things: to understand the situation on the island, especially the strength of the attackers, and to stall for time and prepare for the rescue operation.

At this time, Robert again proposed to send an assault force to the island.

Unlike the previous mention, Robert's proposal was for the Navy SEAL scouts to land on Manhattan Island, find the attacker's command center, probe the attacker's specific situation, and prepare for the next large-scale assault.

Archibald strongly agreed with this suggestion, believing that a covert military operation was necessary.

The problem is that many civilian officials do not agree with the military's proposals.

The reason is very simple, the assault force sent by General Copperfield was ambushed on the beachhead, not to mention the total army, and was captured alive, which is enough to prove that the attackers have very strong combat effectiveness and are not something that the Navy SEALs can deal with. Besides, the attackers sent a very clear warning message that if the SEALs' operation failed, civilians on the island would definitely be harmed.

It was in this way that Norris's national security adviser, Cologne, made a proposal: to accede to a request from the attackers.

Not the withdrawal of troops from the Islamic world, of course, but the exchange of more than a hundred Taliban militants held at Guantanamo for captured officers and soldiers.

According to Cologne, Dennis and Howard fell into each other's hands and must have known something about the circumstances of the attackers. If you can exchange them back, you will be able to grasp the situation of the attackers.

Archibald and Robert found this proposal incomprehensible.

Since the attackers had been prepared and could annihilate the assault force, they would not have access to the core information of the captured American troops, so it was impossible for Dennis and Howard to know the attacker's situation.

Besides, making a deal with the attackers has broken through the consistent position of the US political axe.

You must know that for more than a decade, the United States has pursued an uncompromising foreign policy, and has exterminated all terrorist organizations that attack the US mainland. If we compromise with the other side because of this matter, it will set a precedent and encourage the arrogance of terrorist organizations, which will inevitably lead to a sharp deterioration of the security situation in the United States.

In the long run, the United States must not bow to terrorist organizations.

By this time in the meeting, the discussion had turned into a quarrel.

It wasn't Norris who came out to mediate, it was Secretary of State Sternberg.

According to Sternberg's suggestion, the U.S. authorities should never compromise with terrorist groups, but they could take advantage of the opportunity they want to gain access to Taliban fighters and return the bodies of fallen officers and soldiers to send assault troops to Manhattan Island, or to plant intelligence agents among them.

As for the arrangement of commandos to go to the island, Cologne again raised objections.

The reason is simple, the attackers made it clear that the helicopter transporting the bodies could only have seven people on board and that they were not allowed to carry weapons and equipment. Without seizing the initiative, it was simply impossible to take the opportunity to send the commandos to the island of Manhattan. As for sending commandos at the time of the hostage exchange, it is even more unrealistic, because the attackers will certainly be well prepared and will definitely not give the Navy SEALs any chance.

While Robert proposed other options, such as having the SEALs land on Manhattan Island somewhere else during a hostage exchange, Cologne repeatedly pointed out the risks of doing so. The attackers were able to control the entire island of Manhattan and ambush the first assault force in Turret Park, and must have enough manpower and even very advanced weaponry to be able to spot the SEALs on the island.

At this point, there is only one solution: arrange for agents to blend in with the Taliban fighters.

This time, Cologne did not raise objections.

The U.S. military's base in Guantanamo Bay is a large prison that has been the main location for Taliban militants since the Iraq War. Because the people who are eligible to come here are all high-ranking members of the Taliban, the US military has been holding them in isolation, that is, the Taliban detainees cannot contact each other, and they don't even know how many accomplices are still in this prison.

That's where it can be utilized.

As long as the intelligence agencies can be infiltrated and win the trust of the attackers, they can grasp the specific situation of the attackers and provide accurate information for the US military to launch a surprise attack.

Turner did not object to the proposal.

There is no shortage of high-ranking agents in the CIA with Arab faces, many of whom are Arabs of American nationality, and some are from Arab countries. Not only are these people fluent in Arabic, but some have also learned Pashto and memorized the Qur'an by heart.

In the CIA, the value of these high-level agents is to penetrate the inside of terrorist organizations.

Years ago, the battle to kill the terrorist tycoon relied on accurate information from a senior agent who had access to al-Qaeda.

With a few hours to prepare, these agents are up to the task.

Since it is only necessary to find out the circumstances of the attackers, there is no need to send many agents, two is enough. Only before that, they all had to go to Guantanamo, get to know a few Taliban members, gain their trust, and then go to Manhattan as members of the Taliban who had just been captured by the U.S. military.

In this way, it will take at least a day.

As soon as Turner made these demands, Norris took Sternberg's suggestion and used the hostage swap to get CIA agents involved. In order to stabilize Archibald and Robert, Norris suggested by the military as a backup plan for the Navy SEALs to attack once the CIA received accurate information. If the CIA's operations are frustrated, Navy SEALs still carry out covert infiltrations.

With very limited information, Norris didn't spend any more time discussing with his staff.

After contacting General Copperfield in the conference room, Norris issued the supreme order for Brigadier General of the National Guard to immediately contact the terrorists on the island and accede to their request, but offered that it would take a day for the Taliban fighters in Guantanamo to be identified. Also in an effort to keep the terrorists at bay, Norris approved the dispatch of helicopters to bring back the bodies of the fallen officers and soldiers.

In any case, a day is not too long for a large-scale terrorist attack.

For Liu Wei and others, they would prefer the Yankees to spend more time on this matter, because they have never thought about rescuing those Afghan mujahideen.

(To be continued)