The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

'It's all a trick!' Defense insisted.
'If so, it's a damnably clever one,' Ben Jakob said.
'You believe this twaddle, Avi? You?' Ben Jakob had been Rafi Mandel's best
battalion commander in the Sinai, so many years before.
'I don't know, Rafi.' The deputy director of the Mossad had never been more
cognizant of his position as a deputy, and speaking in the name of his boss did
not come easily.
'Your evaluation?' the Prime Minister asked gently. Someone at the table, he
decided, had to be calm.
'The Americans are entirely sincere,' Avi replied. 'Their willingness to provide
a physical guarantee – the mutual-defense treaty, and the stationing of troops –
is genuine. From a strictly military point of – '
'I speak for the defense of Israel!' Mandel snarled.
Ben Jakob turned to stare his former commander down. 'Rafi, you have always
outranked me, but I've killed my share of enemies, and you know it well.' Avi
paused for a moment to let that rest on the table. When he went on, his voice
was quiet and measured and dispassionate as he allowed his reason to overcome
emotions no less strong than Mandel's. 'The American military units represent a
serious commitment. We're talking about a twenty-five percent increase in the
striking power of our air force, and that tank unit is more powerful than our
strongest brigade. Moreover, I do not see how that commitment can ever be
withdrawn. For that to happen – our friends in America will never let it
happen.'
'We've been abandoned before!' Mandel pointed out coldly. 'Our only defense is
ourselves.'
'Rafi,' the Foreign Minister said. 'My friend, where has that led us? You and I
have fought together, too, and not merely in this room. Is there to be no end to
it?'
'Better no treaty than a bad treaty!'
I agree,' the Prime Minister said. 'But how bad will this treaty be?'
'We have all read the draft. I will propose some modest changes, but, my
friends, I think it is time,' the Foreign Minister said. 'My advice to you is
that we accept the Fowler Plan, with certain conditions.' The Foreign Minister
outlined them.
'Will the Americans grant those, Avi?'
'They'll complain about the cost, but our friends in their Congress will go
along, whether President Fowler approves them or not. They will recognize our
historic concessions, and they will wish to make us feel secure within our
borders.'
'Then I will resign!' Rafi Mandel shouted.
'No, Rafi, you will not,' the Prime Minister said, growing a little tired of his
histrionics. 'If you resign, you cast yourself out. You want this seat someday,
and you will never have it if you leave the cabinet now.'
Mandel flushed crimson at that rebuke.
The Prime Minister looked around the room. 'So, what is the opinion of the
government?'
***