Page 65 of Soul on Fire
“The North Koreans traded for Ebola and gave it to the Syrian diplomats.”
“No,” Ikolo said softly, “They infected the diplomats.”
Bai nodded.
“If North Korea and Syria are allies, why would the North Koreans want to infect them with Ebola virus? What’s in it for them?”
“‘The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,’” Bai recited. “Are you familiar?”
“Sun Tzu, the Art of War, yeah.” Elliot still frowned. “Still doesn’t explain why they’re attacking Syria.”
“Syria is their ally, but the United States is their enemy. The world has learned that Americans today do not have what it takes to fight a sustained, bloody, and intensive war. You may blunder into Iraq and Afghanistan, Somalia, and even Vietnam, but in each conflict, you drained your country of money and resources. You gave lives to a mercurial cause. Your people turned against you and demanded an end, but not before you had nearly destroyed your economy. What were you left with when all was said and done? The Taliban are back in Afghanistan. The Islamic State rose in Iraq. Somalia is the same place it was when American soldiers were dragged through the streets.”
“Your point?”
“What better way to take America down from the inside than to drag her into a never-ending war and embroil her in conflict after conflict in some of the most difficult places in the world? It is to some countries’ advantage that America stay locked in wars they will never win, depleting their economies and their morale. North Korea is simply providing America with a new target, and, importantly, a target that isn’tthem.”
Kline’s voice played in his head, exhausted warnings that the US was on the verge of invading Syria. That the president couldn’t risk even the chance of Syria developing an offensive biological weapon with the Ebola virus. That they had to seriously consider a first strike on Damascus, no matter the cost, to save American lives.
“Frame Syria, that’s what you’re saying? It’s a false flag operation: North Korea sets up Syria to take the fall for their actions. It was North Korea who traded with Idrissa and the ADF for the Ebola virus, and they infected Syrian diplomats to shift the blame. Then we attack Syria over their supposed biological weapons program and kick start another war in the Middle East. That’s their plan.” Elliot paced, limping. “Do they really think we’d put more American boots on the ground, inthispolitical age? What if we don’t invade? The president is talking about bombing Damascus, not deploying troops.”
“Are you forgetting about Majambu? You may not invade Syria after bombing Damascus, but you will invade the Congo after a devastating nuclear attack on a US target is committed by a member of an Islamic State-aligned group with a territorial foothold in the Congo. ‘We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism’. Isn’t that your country’s policy?”
“You’re talking about a two-front war.”
“Like Iraq and Afghanistan. America is determined to root out extremists and deny terrorists any territory of their own. Your policy can be turned against you. In days, the world will wake up to Syria and the Congo working in alliance to bring the world’s most deadly virus to life as a weapon and who together can deploy a nuclear device against an American target. Will America let that go?”
“Never. We would never let a nuclear attack go unpunished.”
“And would you truly not invade Syria if a nuclear device had all the components of a Syrian bomb? If the signature was Syrian?”
Elliot shook his head. “But it’s not Syrian. It’s North Korean.”
“And who built Syria’s program?”
Elliot closed his eyes. He inhaled, his lungs still burning from the fire and the blast. “The device will look like it’s Syrian because North Korea helped build their weapons program. They know everything they need to frame them.”
Bai nodded, once.
“What kind of nuclear device are we talking about? What are the North Koreans putting out in the world?”
“At our last intelligence assessment, North Korea had converted several of their nuclear cruise missile warheads into tactical nuclear devices, no larger than a duffel bag, with between a one kiloton and three kiloton yield. It wasn’t difficult for them. They had the bombs already. When their problems with their cruise missiles failing to survive reentry to the atmosphere proved insurmountable to overcome, they simply shifted focus. Instead of large, go small. We cautioned them against selling these weapons on the black market. Once one bomb goes off…”
Elliot kept pacing, his hands on his hips, digesting Bai’s information. North Korea, not Syria, behind everything. Ebola for nukes. Framing Syria—poisoning Syria—and trying to drag the US into a two-front war. Distracted by Syria and the Congo, what would North Korea do?
He was lost in his thoughts when Bai spoke again. “Are you familiar with China’s investment in Africa, specifically in the Congo?”
“You’ve opened more than fifty mines,” Ikolo said. “But they are badly run. They pollute the air and water and you work the people to death.”
“We have spent billions in this country to establish those mines and build an infrastructure to support our operations. We operate in every province in the Congo. We are building roads and employing thousands of Congolese people. We are everywhere.”
“You aretakingeverything,” Ikolo corrected. “And you leave us with nothing.”
“We are building when others have abandoned you. The West has turned its back on Africa. Africa is nothing to the West. But we are here.”
“And you arm rebel groups to keep the wars going, turning my people against each other to protect your mines and your money.” Ikolo’s voice rose, anger pouring from him.
“Our politics in the Congo are complex, but you are correct in one point: we have extracted millions of tons of minerals from the Congo. For the billions of dollars we have put into this country, we have earned that investment back almost a hundredfold. Any war here would be devastating for our exports.”
