Rogue Forces

“Yes, sir,” the major said, “but may I recommend we fire only smoke into the Citadel? You know how some revere that place, especially in the Kurdish region. They—”

“I don’t need a history lesson from you, Major,” Ozek snapped. “Get going on that list immediately. Same procedures as before: smoke to disperse the residents and mark for accuracy, high explosive to bring down the roofs, and white phosphorus to burn the place down. Get on it.”

Just as he dismissed the artillery commander with a wave of his hand, a soldier ran up to him and saluted. “Gunship is moving into position, sir.”

“About damned time.” He went back to the command post vehicle and grabbed the radio microphone. “Resim One-Eight, this is Sican One, how do you read?”

“Loud and clear, Sican,” the pilot of the AC-130H Spectre gunship reported. “One minute to on station.”

“Show me Tango One,” Ozek said. A television monitor flared to life, showing the sensor image being transmitted from the gunship. It showed a wide-angle image of the southern part of Irbil, about eight hundred yards south of the Citadel. The sensor operator switched to narrow field of view and zoomed into an overhead view of the Irbil bazaar. He followed the main highway south along the edge of the bazaar until crossing a major avenue, then started counting buildings as he continued south. “Just south of the bakery, north of the apartment building…that’s the one,” Ozek radioed. The sensor operator had locked onto the headquarters of the Masari Bank of Kurdistan, one of the largest banks in northern Iraq…and widely known to support the PKK through money laundering, international money exchange, and collecting donations around the world.

“Resim is locked and ready, Sican,” the pilot reported. The AC-130 began a left orbit around the target, with a side-mounted heads-up display and Instrument Landing System–like director needles showing the pilot exactly where to position the plane.

“Proceed, “Ozek said, then stepped out of the command vehicle and looked to the southeast. This was his first time seeing an AC-130 attack in person…

…and he felt a little disappointed. Most AC-130 attacks take place in darkness, where the muzzle flashes of the aircraft’s 40-millimeter cannon and 105-millimeter howitzer lit up the night like nothing else. He saw the howitzer round hit and a column of smoke arch into the sky before he heard the BOOM! of the gun and the explosion on the ground, and he wished he had stayed to watch the hit on the screen—he was going to have to wait for the video replay.

He went back to the command vehicle and looked at the sensor image. Smoke still mostly obscured the view, but the bank building looked obliterated, as did parts of the bakery and apartment building facing the bank. The precision of that gunship was amazing—that shot was from over twenty thousand feet overhead!

“Looks like a good shot, Resim,” Ozek radioed. “No signs of antiaircraft response. If you’re good to go, we’ve got quite a few targets on our list. We’ll be firing some mortar rounds from our position into the north part of the city; they should be no factor for you. Let’s have a look at Tango Two.”

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, THE PINK PALACE, ANKARA, REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

LATER THAT EVENING

“It’s the first encounter with an Iraqi military unit,” Minister of National Defense Hasan Cizek said as he entered President Kurzat Hirsiz’s office. “Report from Tall Kayf, north of Mosul. The brigade based at Nahla has reappeared and reoccupied their base.”

“Any contact with our forces?” Hirsiz asked.

“Yes, sir. A helicopter pilot and a crewmember were injured when his aircraft was shot down by an Iraqi man-portable air defense missile.”

Hirsiz waited, but that was all Cizek had to report. “That’s it? No other casualties? What about the Iraqis?”

“No casualties, sir.”

“What did they do, throw water balloons at each other? What do you mean, no casualties?”

“They didn’t fight, sir,” Cizek said. “Our unit let the Iraqis and the American engineers who were out at their reconnaissance plane back into Nahla Air Base.”

“They let them back in? The Americans, too? I ordered that plane dismantled and brought back to Turkey! The Americans were allowed back onto the base with parts from the plane?”

“The unit commander was going to stop them, but the armored commando and the robot threatened retaliation with their weapons and from an orbiting unmanned aircraft. Then the Iraqi brigade arrived. The unit commander saw he was outnumbered and decided not to engage. The Iraqis and Americans did not engage as well. They went into the base, and the security unit went back to their posts.”

The anger Hirsiz felt at having his orders ignored quickly subsided, and he nodded. “That was probably a good decision on the commander’s part,” he said. “Send a ‘well done’ to his parent unit.”