The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

to support his old friends, and selling them weapons is a big moneymaker for
him, but if things blow up, he won't push like they did in the old days. We
learned that with Iraq. He might continue to pump weapons in – I think he won't,
but it's a close call – but he will do nothing more than that to support an Arab
attack on Israel. He won't move his ships, and he won't alert troops. I doubt
he's willing even to back them if they rattle their sabers a little. Andrey
Il'ych says those weapons are for defense, and I think he means it, despite the
word we're getting from the Israelis.'
'That's solid?' Alden asked. 'State says different.'
'State's wrong,' Ryan replied flatly.
'So does your boss,' van Damm pointed out.
'In that case, sir, I must respectfully disagree with the DCI's assessment.'
Alden nodded. 'Now I know why Trent likes you. You don't talk like a bureaucrat.
How have you lasted so long, saying what you really think?'
'Maybe I'm the token.' Ryan laughed, then turned serious. 'Think about it. With
all the ethnic crap he's dealing with, taking an active role bears as many
dangers as advantages. No, he sells weapons for hard currency and only when the
coast is clear. That's business, and that's as far as it goes.'
'So, if we can find a way to settle things down . . . ?' Alden mused.
'He might even help. At worst, he'll stand by the sidelines and bitch that he's
not in the game. But tell me, how do you plan to settle things down?'
'Put a little pressure on Israel,' van Damm replied simply.
'That's dumb for two reasons. It's wrong to pressure Israel until their security
concerns are alleviated, and their security concerns will not be alleviated
until some of the fundamental issues are settled first.'
'Like . . . ?'
'Like what is this conflict all about.' The one thing that everyone overlooks.
'It's religious, but the damned fools believe in the same things!' van Damm
growled. 'Hell, I read the Koran last month, and it's the same as what I learned
in Sunday school.'
'That's true,' Ryan agreed, 'but so what? Catholics and Protestants both believe
that Christ is the son of God, but that hasn't stopped Northern Ireland from
blowing up. Safest place in the world to be Jewish. The friggin' Christians are
so busy killing one another off that they don't have time to be anti-semitic.
Look, Arnie, however slight the religious differences in either place may appear
to us, to them they appear big enough to kill over. That's as big as they need
to be, pal.'
'True, I guess,' the Chief of Staff agreed reluctantly. He thought for a moment.
'Jerusalem, you mean?'
'Bingo.' Ryan finished off his Coke and crushed the can before flipping it into
van Damm's trash can for two. 'The city is sacred to three religions – think of
them as three tribes – but it physically belongs to only one of them. That one
is at war with one of the others. The volatile nature of the region militates
towards putting some armed troops in the place, but whose? Remember, some
Islamic crazies shot up Mecca not that long ago. Now, if you put an Arab
security force in Jerusalem, you create a security threat to Israel. If things
stay as they are, with only an Israeli force, you offend the Arabs. Oh, and