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rubble adding to the chaos.
 This missile and artillery barrage is being coupled with massive air strikes
in advance of the three pronged assault on Seoul. One leg of that assault is a
thrust at Inchon along the coast, which is hitting the outskirts of Seoul to
the west. This is the army group now entering Pyokche. A second thrust is
coming from the north through Uijongbu. The third thrust is splitting off
several divisions from the attack down the middle of the country through
Ch unch on, approaching Seoul from the north and east.
 Along the coast DPRK forces have advanced as far as YangYang. Right now, the
penetration, except for small pockets of resistance, is along a line running
from YangYang, eastward to Ch ung on, over to
Uijongbu and then to the eastern coast at Pyokche. We expect DPRK forces to
enter Seoul this afternoon, either tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest.
Given the current rate of advance, I would be surprised if it wasn t today.
 We can attribute much of this success to the DPRK Special Forces who were
extremely successful in sabotaging many ROK and US aircraft before they could
take off, which were followed up by massive ballistic missile strikes on all
airports and airfields. Those strikes are continuing to this moment.
Unfortunately, those same forces were not successful in eliminating the U.S.
2ndInfantry Division leadership at Camp Red Cloud, although they did penetrate
the perimeter briefly where they attacked a number of housing units. This
added significantly to the confusion.
Jien Zenim sat back in his custom-made Natuzzi chair and considered the
developing world situation.
The GIR was continuing to advance in the Middle East, albeit their rate of
advance was slowing. The
Americans and NATO had been pouring men and equipment into that region for
many weeks now and would be in a position to start seriously challenging GIR
forces within a few short weeks. Now, they would have this to deal with.
He tried to picture the  situation room in the White House. Surely they were
concerned, perhaps even panicking, worrying about China s response.
 Li, make sure that we open up a direct line call to President Weisskopf. I
want to& try and calm the situation& offer to mediate. And make sure word of
that is passed onto David Krenshaw at WNN.
Jien doubted that the conversation with Weisskopf would even take place,
although the American State
Department (and probably their Defense Department too) would be urging the
President to avoid any confrontation with China at this point, given the over
all world situation.
Jien was well aware of that situation. He and his comrades had been
manipulating it towards this for years. After all, the cold war was over,
America was the world s only superpower and that had warranted those deep
cuts. It just made such perfect sense, particularly when China was catching
the capitalism fever and wanted to  open its markets, particularly when so
many American politicians were so easily bought off with money or vice.
No, Jien knew exactly what situation America s military was in, and what
situation his own was in. The irony of it was, that America had funded both
for their own cut backs and China s build-up with their own money!
Now, the Americans were in a situation where a single major theater engagement
was a stretch for them;
and now they were facing three major theater engagements in Turkey,
Saudi/Egypt and now Korea.
Soon, the beleaguered Americans would be facing a fourth theater scale
confrontation, and Jien had
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ensured that the fourth one, his own, would be the largest and costliest from
the outset. China s role in
 Breath of Fire would be,  the straw that broke the camel s back, as the
Americans would say. Or as
Sun Tsu taught: the application of overwhelming force when your enemy was
distracted in another direction.
In the mean time, Jien would cause as much political and moral damage as he
could by continuing to manipulate the American public through their press up
until the very 11thhour. The more dissension, the more discord, the more
confusion and loss of confidence he could instill in them, the better.
February 28, 2006, 13:17
Situation Room, White House
Washington, D.C.
 This is an unmitigated disaster! Akin to what happened in the Philippines
after Pearl Harbor.
 You are telling me we are down to 50% operational strength for the 7thAir
Force over there in just one day? How in the hell did that happen, Jeremy? And
we re down to 65% in terms of combat effectiveness for the 2ndInfantry
Division.
 Gentlemen, we were supposed to be on heightened security alert and measures
at all bases! The North was conducting exercises that emulated this very
attack!
Jeremy Stone understood his President s frustration. Jeremy was frustrated
too, and knowing that the
President himself had been one the most successful military general s in the
last half century, he could just imagine the old general wanting to come out
in him. But, while being frustrated, he could also understand why the disaster
in Korea was occurring.
 Mr. President, I have to be honest with you. It may not help at the moment,
in fact the only thing that will help those boys over there at the moment is
their grit and determination and that of our allies, the
South Koreans and us getting them some relief as quickly as possible. They are
going to have to conduct a fighting withdrawal while forces to the south
establish a strong defense line. It ll mean abandoning Seoul and Inchon. If we
wait though, our forces there are going to be surrounded and we ll be looking
at a surrender of those forces in a matter of weeks, if not days.
 But, in terms of the current disaster, Mr. President, we were just too thin.
When our enemy can lob ballistic missiles and rockets at us by the thousands
per hour, Sir, there just are not enough Patriot, Improved Hawk or any other
defensive missiles to get them all; and we ve been watching them build up like
this for years, while we staffed down and tried to  talk. No disrespect
meant, Secretary Reissinger, but we should have backed up all of that talk
with a credible force.
 The results were predictable. Our defenses were overwhelmed, despite our
hi-tech advantage. In addition, despite the increased security measures of the
last few years, it turns out the North Koreans had dozens of sleepers working [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]