Besides him, who else could it be?
Simon forced a bitter smile, uglier than crying, and chanically pressed the answer button.
Sure enough, before he could make any sound on his end, Brenan's voice, twisted with extre anger, roared like a flood breaking through a dam, instantly filling his entire ear canal:
"Simon! What the hell are you doing?! Have you seen the latest ergency intelligence?! Kirkuk! Kirkuk! That son of a bitch, who should go to hell ten thousand tis, Song Heping! He actually dared to launch a sneak attack on Kirkuk! He's seized the Kurds' oil fields! This is a blatant declaration of war against our United States of Arica! Provocation!"
At this point, perhaps because he was speaking too fast, Brenan had to pause to catch his breath, then continued cursing:
"This lawless, despicable, shaless terrorist! Bastard! Beast! I told you long ago not to trust this yellow-skinned monkey! I said we should have bombed him back to the Stone Age! What are you and your intelligence system doing? Why wasn't there a warning?! How could you let him succeed?! You have to take responsibility for this!"
Simon silently moved the phone slightly away from his ear, listening expressionlessly as Brenan unleashed his crude language and racist insults on the other end of the line for more than two minutes, venting shock and uncontainable rage.
He could imagine Brenan in his office, face pale, waving his arms, spitting everywhere.
It was only when Brenan's voice seed to pause due to lack of oxygen, leaving only a heavy, bellows-like breathing sound, that he asked with a nearly hysterical tone:
"...You tell ! Now! What are we going to do about this damn ss?! The president is calling an ergency eting in an hour! I need answers! Now!"
Simon then slowly brought the phone back closer to his ear, his voice exceptionally calm.
Because he knew that when anger and roaring couldn't change the facts, calm, even cold realism was the only way out.
"SIR."
He said clearly, even skipping the usual niceties, "Now on the table, in front of you and the president, there are still only two paths, just like what I told you in Daguge, with no changes at all. It's just that now, the balance has completely tilted due to Song Heping's actions."
"The first,"
He spoke at a steady pace, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself.
"Imdiately order a massive military increase, have the US Army's main forces return to Illiguo. Like when we overthrew Saddam's regi, mobilize tens of thousands of troops, use every possible force, including at least two carrier strike groups, for indiscriminate carpet bombing and ground clearing of all areas controlled by Song Heping, wiping him and his forces out completely by any ans necessary. Then retake Kirkuk."
He deliberately paused, allowing the other side to fully consider the cost of this option before continuing:
"But the problem is—let alone whether the president and the gentlen on Congress Hill will approve a proposal that essentially admits our strategic total failure, requiring us to fall back into a large-scale ground war quagmire. Even if they've all gone mad and approved it. Can we do it? Can we really bear the consequences that co with it?"
He began detailed analysis, like a calm surgeon dissecting a corpse:
"Song Heping is not Saddam, he won't stupidly wait in place for our bombs to fall. His core forces are highly mobile, decentralized, fragnted. They are not governnt army, with cities they must defend, and he's a China People, best at guerrilla warfare...
"If I'm not wrong, he'll break into small pieces, burrow into the desert, hide in the mountains, or even, without hesitation, take his core forces and escape directly to Persia. According to our intelligence, his relationship with the Persians is not ordinary."
"At that point, besides still dealing with the '1515' Mad Dogs, we'll also face a more difficult, more cunning Song Heping who has gained full support from Persia! An ever-present Ghost with imnse funds and external support! By then, even our most important ally—the Kurdish Autonomous Governnt in Elbil, will be uprooted by various forces due to our incompetence and making too many enemies! Our influence in Illiguo and even the entire Middle East will suffer devastating blows! This cost...do you think we, or rather you, and Mr. President, can bear it? What will dostic opinion say? What will our allies think?"
He rcilessly threw out a series of questions, each one hamring at Brenan's heart.
"Then the second,"
Simon paused, speaking each word unusually slowly and clearly, ensuring each word hamred into the other's brain like a nail.
"Compromise. Drop our pathetic dignity and so-called political correctness. Admit reality, admit Song Heping has beco a powerful local actor in Northern Illigo, impossible to ignore or easily remove. Agree to his terms, imdiately, unconditionally agree!"
"Then provide him with the supplies, funds, and even a certain level of political recognition he wants. After that, form a temporary, purely interest-based tactical alliance with him. First, concentrate all our forces and his to swiftly eliminate '1515,' our current biggest threat. Restore order in Kirkuk—of course, within the frawork of his cooperation with us."
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