Читать книгу So Blue They're Red - Roy Court - Страница 9

In less than 72 hours after the disastrous year of 2020 began, World War III was close. The United States killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike. America killed Soleimani due to him supposedly being an “imminent threat.” Afterward, paranoia had spread about World War III and drafting being implemented into the war. However, nothing ever happened. This event was maybe a foreshadow of chaos, however, there has been an actual event that could have led to the next world war. Especially during the Cold war. Major political events and tensions between the USSR and the USA could have brought World War III and as technology advances the more dangerous the wars will become. However, theories on what is going on in Iran is spiking. A plan in Iran recently took off and blew up shortly afterward. All 176 people, dead. The majority, Ukrainians. A man on the ground managed to film it all. The US press was starting to speculate if an Iranian missile hit it. The US and Ukraine were speculating together. They were beginning to think that those Ukrainians and Americans were murdered. Before investigators could arrive, it was cleared. It was announced that the plane was “unintentionally” shot down. President Hassan Rouhani, president of Iran said: “It’s an unforgivable mistake.” However, they previously denied it. Months later, a new threat has arisen, China. In the 1940s after WWII Germany was split between England, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Winston Churchill and the United States overall began to see the Soviet Union as the enemy. Thus “Operation Unthinkable” would deal with them. Operation Unthinkable would be a surprise attack on Soviet Troops stationed in Berlin. The British Chief of Staff committee later was militarily impractical. If Operation Unthinkable was to happen World War III would happen. Operation Dropshot would be devised by the United States in the 1950s. Operation Dropshot was the contingency plan against the Soviet Union. It would counter a Soviet western takeover of Europe. Operation Dropshot would use 300 nuclear bombs. 29,000 high-explosive bombs would be used as well. It would use this high firepower on 200 targets in the Soviet Union. Most of which would have some military or economic importance. After its declassification, the book “Dropshot: The American Plan for WWIII against Russia in 1957" was published. Exercise Strike Back also in 1957 was a major naval exercise if the Soviet Union was to attack N.A.T.O. The exercise consisted of a supposed 200 warships, 650 aircraft, and 75,000 personnel from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Netherlands, and Canada. If war was to break out the Navy would devastate the Soviet Union. Exercise Reforger was a N.A.T.O. exercise to deploy troops in Germany in the event of a Soviet invasion. It was the plan to strengthen the N.A.T.O. presence in the event of a Soviet invasion. N.A.T.O. forces were to hold the line against the invading Soviets. Seven Days to the Rhine was a Warsaw pact military simulation that assumed that N.A.T.O. would launch a nuclear attack on the Vistula which the Soviets calculated 2 million Polish casualties. The Soviet response would affect West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Invading Soviet troops would stop at River Rhine on the seventh day. Exercise Able Archer was a N.A.T.O. yearly exercise. Able Archer was a simulation that simulated the event in which relations between the Soviet Union and the USA. It would introduce coded communication, radio silence, and participation from ruling figures in government thus would happen under Ronald Reagan’s presidency. However, an operation even more famous was the Strategic Defense Initiative. Otherwise known as “Star Wars” SDI was a Nuclear missile being launched from space. Another part of this was developing a shield around the United States. President Reagan put $200 billion on the project. Nuclear sharing was a major part of the Cold War. Originally a N.A.T.O. idea it soon was adopted by the Soviet Union. Nuclear sharing was the main problem during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nuclear sharing was sending missiles to allied countries near the Soviet Union or near the United States. An example being nuclear missiles set up in Turkey near the Soviet Union. The Korean war was also seen as the beginning of World War III. After major fighting in the Korean peninsula, it was thought that the USSR, China, and the United States would have a major war. Bill Downs said “To my mind, the answer is: Yes, Korea is the beginning of World War III. The brilliant landings at Inchon and the cooperative efforts of the American armed forces with the United Nations Allies have won us a victory in Korea. But this is only the first battle in a major international struggle which now is engulfing the Far East and the entire world.” During Kennedy’s presidency, there were major events that could have led to World War III. The Berlin crisis was one of them. The USSR declared that all Western forces in West Berlin be removed. Thus, Soviet and American tanks were standing off a Checkpoint Charlie, on the other sides. On October 28th it ended peacefully. However, if one of those tanks were to fire, World War III most likely would have begun between the Soviet Union and America. The other major incident under Kennedy was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Submarine B-59 though war broke out, two of the keys were turned however Vasily Arkhipov refused to turn his key saving millions of lives and prevented the Third World War. In the Soviet Union. The Sino-Soviet border disputes. The Sino-split was the souring of relations with China and the Soviet Union. This was because of their different interpretations of the Marxist theory. These two countries could have gone to war after Domansky Island was attacked. War was close but it ended in a ceasefire. The Yom Kippur War, the war on Israel, which was supported by the Soviet Union, could have led to World War III. America and the Soviet Union were ready to fire on each other as tensions rose. The United States sided with Israel, and the Soviet Union, the Arabs. It calculated the likeness of a Soviet attack at 40%. The pentagon rose to Defcon three from Defcon four. However, tensions eased shortly after by UNSC 339. In 1979 a United States NORAD computer detected a full-scale Nuclear attack by the Soviet Union, however, it was soon discovered that it was due to a computer test that made the display show the “attack.” Four years later a soviet system detected LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles heading to the Soviet Union. However, Stanislav Petrov realized the system malfunctioned and prevented a counterstrike. Even after the Cold War “ended” there were still many events. A Norwegian Rocket launch was mistaken by the Russians as an American nuclear missile launch. The Black Brant XII research rocket was the actual rocket launched. The Russians mistook it for a Trident SLBM missile. All of these events could have led to World War III however all miraculously were avoided. Nuclear Briefcase is also known as “Chitseget” almost launched nukes in the United States. Luckily World War III is still a hypothetical thought today. However, tensions with Iran have existed long before and not only in the United States. The siege of the Iranian Embassy in London occurred in 1980 when six armed terrorists took embassy staff hostage. The siege would last six days and would be turned into a movie called, “6 days.” Four terrorists using Iraqi passports rented a flat in London. They were drunk and always with prostitutes, afterward the housekeeper kicked them out. These terrorists were Oan, Shakir Abdullah Radhil, Shakir Sultan, and Makki Hanoun Ali, who were all planning to take over the Iranian Embassy. They were all members of the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan who were protesting for an independent Arab state in the Iranian province of Khūzestān or Arabistan. They were inspired by the Iran Hostage Crisis in which Americans were held hostage in an American Embassy. These terrorists took the embassy hostage after overpowering a police officer named Trevor Lock who was not able to call for help. He had been searched, however, the terrorists failed to find the revolver Lock had, Lock, refused to remove his coat because it would, “keep his image of an officer.” Officers had arrived, however, they quickly retreated due to a terrorist threatening to open fire. Police soon contacted the terrorists, and a negotiator as well as a psychiatrist were on the other line. The demands included 91 prisoners released from Khūzestān, and if the demand were not met, he threatened to blow up the embassy. Frieda Mozaffarian, a hostage was released after she was feeling ill. Men planning to assault the building were armed with Browning Hi-Powers, Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns, and tear gas. After Oan Ali Muhammed, a terrorist inside the embassy called a BBC journalist, the phone lines in the embassy were disabled, soon after Chris Cramer was also released as he was seriously ill. Sim Harris, Cramer’s colleague had negotiated with the police for a doctor but was refused; he was told to pressure Oan to release Cramer, and as mentioned, Cramer was eventually released. Oan demanded a telex on day two, which was a similar machine to a phone network. Oan threatened to kill Abdul Fazi Ezzati, another hostage inside and demanded to speak to a BBC member who knew Sim Harris, Tony Crabb, Harris’s boss. Sim Harris was trying to obtain a visa to visit Iran, after his demand, Oan demanded again for safe passage out of the United Kingdom. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had told the embassies of Qatar, Algeria, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria if they were willing to negotiate with the terrorists, Jordan denied. The police located an embassy worker, who had given them information vital to Operation Nimrod. He told them that the front door was reinforced and that the windows on the bottom floor were hardened, and thus, the plan to break down the front door and windows on the bottom floor was abandoned. On day three, Oan was furious at the lack of British response, he once again contacted authorities and accused them of lying to him. He again demanded to talk to an Arab ambassador, the negotiator on the line told him that Foreign offices were still trying to persuade ambassadors; however, they knew peace was not an option in this situation, it was at this peiod Oan began to get ill, he then told police that they “spiked his food.” Which was almost done however, doctors found it “impractical.” Brigadier Peter de la Billièr, Director of the SAS, Lieutenant-Colonel Rose, Commander of the 22 SAS, and Major Hector Gullan, were all SAS officers who were going to lead the assault, they all spent the night of day four editing their plan. On day five, Oan woke Officer Lock telling him there was an intruder, this was dismissed after Lock investigated. Oan also investigates, finding a bulge in the wall, this was due to the removal of bricks on the other side of the Ethiopian embassy. They removed bricks to weaken the wall, in turn allowing the team to break through the wall. Lock dismissed this as well, thinking the police would not storm the building; however, Oan was still suspicious. Oan later told police he would kill a hostage if he was not to speak to an Arab ambassador in 45 minutes. Exactly 45 minutes later, Abbas Lanasavi would be killed, three shots rang out as described by people near by. Lanasavi insisted earlier that “If any was going to be killed, he wanted it to be him,” after his body was recovered, Operation Nimrod was going to be put into action the next day. The two SAS teams, Red and Blue were ordered to complete their assault, Red team abseiled from the roof; another team lowered a stun grenade from the skylight, disastrously while being lowered a staff sergeant got tangled on the rope, a nearby soldier came to assist, and one other soldier accidentally broke a window with his foot notifying Oan, who was on the ground floor, and quickly decided to investigate the noise. The SAS men were unable to use their explosives as they did not want to kill or injure the tangled staff sergeant; however, they were able to smash themselves in. Afire soon began, and the staff sergeant’s leg was being burned, however, the second wave of abseilers cut him down, the sergeant shortly grouped with his men. The blue team had just set off explosives.Sim Harris was on the run, walked on the ledge of the building, as soldiers entered the building. The assault was a live broadcast, showing the front of the embassy, and thus, Sim Harris’s escape became a very famous image. Lock tackled Oan to prevent him from killing any SAS, Oan was shot dead when the SAS entered that room. The armed terrorists soon killed Ali Akbar Samadzadeh and had injured two other hostages, an SAS officer spotted him, pushed him down the stairs where other SAS men shot him dead. Hostages were soon evacuated, and one of the terrorists hid among them. They were all taken to the back garden to be identified, luckily Sim Harris had recognized the last terrorist who was arrested. Police Constable Trevor Lock was considered a hero and was given the George Medal for his heroic actions, the staff sergeant injured after he was burned recovered at St. Stephen's Hospital. Fowzi Nejad was the identified terrorist and was supposedly planned to be shot; however, this was avoided as the siege was live, Nejed was deported and soon returned; however, was not given political asylum.