Chapter 619 Two Choices

The Bosphorus Bridge was bombed! This news reached the White House almost immediately.

When Reagan heard the news, he felt his arms trembling uncontrollably, and he couldn't even hold the cigar in his hand.

The Eurasian Bridge! This bridge is a passage connecting Europe and Asia, and it is also a necessary passage for mobilizing troops and logistics from Europe to support the troops entering Iraq! This bridge played an indispensable role in the rapid appearance of our troops in northern Iraq!

And now, this bridge has been bombed! Relying on ferry transportation, the efficiency will be greatly reduced! And the troops on the front line will move slowly due to lack of supplies!

Although Reagan had never commanded an army, he knew what this meant and that the situation he was facing would become even more critical!

"This is a complete act of war!" Defense Minister Weinberger said, "The Soviets actually dared to use cruise missiles to attack a bridge in neutral Turkey! This is declaring war on Turkey and NATO as a whole!"

This is of course an act of war! If a meteorite had fallen from the sky and broken the bridge, Turkey would have just swallowed it with gritted teeth. But what about now? It was completely an attack by the Soviets! This is just like the island nation's undeclared war attack on Pearl Harbor!

This method is extremely bad and has exceeded the limits of our tolerance. If we do not support Turkey behind the scenes, then the value of the United States' existence will be gone!

Dark clouds covered the White House and the entire world. Everyone present felt the seriousness of the situation. Is this the beginning of World War III?

"Bang." At this moment, the door of the Oval Table Conference Room was opened, and Secretary of State George hurried in: "I have sent the strongest diplomatic note to the Soviet Union."

"What do the Soviets say?" Reagan asked. The Soviets' attitude was of great importance. If the Soviets took a tough stance and claimed that Turkey deserved the bombing, then war would be coming! If the Soviets said that it was an accidental firing during an exercise, it meant that the Soviets did not want to cause a stalemate and there was still room for easing the situation. If...

"The Soviets were very angry and said we were slandering them. They said they had never thought of attacking the bridge." George said angrily, "This is simply a lie! If it wasn't the cruise missiles launched by the Soviets, who else could have done it?"

Although it was dark when the bridge was blown up, and although the missile was flying at a very low altitude, and although the radar along the coast did not detect it, even if you use your butt to think, you can know that it was a cruise missile launched by the Soviets that blew up the bridge! And now, the Soviets actually refuse to admit it!

"The Soviets said that if they wanted to blow up the bridge, they could have used their naval guns to bombard it when their fleet passed by during the day. Since they didn't attack the bridge during the day, it would be even more impossible for them to do so at night. They want us to produce evidence, otherwise they will go to the United Nations to sue us for slander. They said that the bridge was a shoddy project and that it broke because of the overload caused by the passage of heavy troops," George continued.

CIA Director William's eyebrows suddenly moved. The Soviets' attempt to cover up the truth clearly showed that they did not want to break off relations.

During the day, Turkey blocked the Soviet fleet. The Russian bear, which never wants to suffer losses, must teach Turkey a lesson. In order to protect Turkey, the United States also made efforts to deploy more air defense missile units and air force fighters. However, no one expected that the Soviets' revenge would be to blow up the bridge.

Killing two birds with one stone, in addition to retaliating against Turkey, it also cut off its own transportation line, making it much more difficult for the Soviets to transport supplies to the front line battlefield. At the same time, the Soviets fired this cruise missile to vent their anger, and they did not want to further intensify the conflict.

What else could they do? Would they really start a third world war? The Soviet Union certainly didn't want to see this, so their statement was so intriguing.

The United States cannot fight World War III now! Because Europe is now empty! The main force has come to the Middle East to fight, and the troops on the European front are stretched thin. If a world war really breaks out at this time, it will definitely not be able to stop the Soviets' rolling armored torrent!

You know, while we mobilized so many troops, the Soviet troops in Eastern Europe did not move at all and were always fully equipped! The West won by the quality of its equipment, but now it seems that the Soviet ground forces are superior to ours in both quantity and quality!

If a war really breaks out, it will be disadvantageous to the United States. The United States may have to abandon the whole of Europe and only keep Britain at most!

However, if we agree with the Soviets' statement, then we have to swallow our anger? Won't the Soviets become even more arrogant in the future?

As a meticulous intelligence officer, William quickly analyzed the connections among them. Those present were all veteran politicians, and while cursing, they quickly figured out the reasons for all this.

The United States seems to have only two options: reveal the Soviet lies, salvage the fragments of the Soviet cruise missile, prove that it was the Soviets who did it, and give Turkey justice. The result of this is likely to be the beginning of a war.

Or they could agree with the Soviet Union's statement, sacrifice Turkey's interests, and conclude that the bridge's collapse was not caused by a Soviet missile attack, but by the bridge's own defects. The result would be that the United States would completely lose its dignity!

How to choose is a difficult problem!

When William looked up, he saw Reagan still smoking his cigar, looking at the leaves and birds outside the window, without saying a word.

Although Reagan was an actor, he was determined. It was not easy for him to step up to the presidency through elections. How should he deal with this problem? And now, facing the mess in the Middle East battlefield, how should he end it?

"Oh no, oh no!" At this moment, Baker, the White House Chief of Staff, ran in in a panic. He was always calm and composed, but now his face was pale.

"What's wrong?" Bush, who had been silent all the time, asked. He also knew that he was facing a difficult problem that was almost unsolvable. This was already the most troublesome thing. Could there be any worse news than this?

"Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, has been captured by the Iraqi army! The Saudi royal family, the Saudi royal family..."

"What happened to the House of Saud?" Reagan asked.