The President of the United States was holding an emergency conference in the White House, not in the War Room, but in the Oval Office, and the significance of that was not lost on Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Reese and the other Joint Chiefs of Staff. The President wanted a political assessment of the situation, and he was sure — not only from the CIA’s reports from agents in Beijing, but from his own gut feeling as a politician going into an election year — that Chairman Li Peng was calling a similar meeting in the Zhongnanhai Compound on Changan Avenue before he would give his request to the delegates in the Great Hall of the People.
The President and chairman both knew that the military conflict at Disney Hill on the Chinese-Vietnamese border, and at Dien Bien Phu near the Laotian border, were chess pieces in a game of political will, ostensibly between China and the U.N., but in reality between China and the United States of America.
The President told the assembled Chiefs of Staff and adviser Ellman that his position was very much like Truman’s situation in the Korean War. There, it had been Pork Chop Hill over which the U.S.-led U.N. force and China had to battle it out while both sides were negotiating at Panmunjon.
“As far as I’m concerned,” the President announced, “once the Chinese agree to withdraw all their forces to their side of the Vietnamese-Chinese border, it’s over. The whole reason this started is because they thought they could invade other people’s territory and claim it as their own. But-” He raised a hand to stifle any immediate objection. “—I realize that Dien Bien Phu is another matter. The Chinese are farther away from their border there.”
“Yes,” the Army Chief of Staff said. “And they’ve chosen Dien Bien Phu on purpose because it was there that France— the West — was defeated.”
“Humiliated,” Ellman said.
“Yes,” the Army Chief of Staff agreed. “That’s a better word for it.”
“Just as we were humiliated,” Admiral Reese said, “in Saigon in ‘seventy-five. Two things Americans remember vividly: where they were when JFK was shot, and the photo of the last helicopter on the roof of the American embassy — panic-stricken people trying to get the last ride out of town and people being pushed off.” He paused, sure that he had everyone’s attention. “Mr. President, if we allow that to happen again — if we just pull out — nobody in Asia will trust us ever again. I know a lot of our ‘Nam veterans feel like that.”
“Ironic, isn’t it,” the President said, “that we’re discussing how best to make our point in Vietnam that we’ll stand up to bullies — the very country we fought?”
“History’s full of irony, Mr. President. We once fought the British, and now they’re at our side at Dien Bien Phu.”
The President nodded, picked up the silver letter opener, and began tapping on the desk blotter. “Well, now that Jorgensen has got us in Dien Bien Phu, how does he propose to get us out?”
The Army Chief of Staff spoke. “Matter of fact, sir, you might recall it wasn’t General Jorgensen’s idea. It was Douglas Freeman who got us in there with rumors about U.S. MIA sightings — although to tell you the truth, I think he was probably looking for a way to protect his left flank. The Dien Bien Phu valley is a good staging area for the Chinese.”
“And it’s surrounded by mountains,” Admiral Reese put in.
The President put down the letter opener. “Can’t we just pull the USVUN Special Forces out of there?”
“Not now,” Ellman said. “Number one, the U.S. public have expectations of possible MIA discoveries. Second, and most importantly from the political angle, Dien Bien Phu is crucial. Whether we like it or not, it’s become a litmus test. The world media is fixated on both Disney and Dien Bien Phu. But thanks to press creeps like that Frenchman LaSalle, the whole world is seeing Dien Bien Phu in particular as a test of U.S. will. Third, SATINT shows us that the PLA must have been building up supplies there for at least a month. We all thought it started with the PLA paratroop drop, but they were probably among the last Chinese to enter the area. They’re all around us.”
The President sat bolt upright. “Are you telling me we’ve been set up there?”
“Yes,” Ellman said. “Started with some cock-and-bull story about one of our officials in Ho Chi Minh City—” Ellman realized it was difficult for the President to recognize Ho Chi Minh City as anything but old Saigon. “Anyway, Jorgensen’s HQ apparently got some story from Freeman about MIAs in the area — one or a hundred, I don’t know. I would’ve thought most of them would be dead by now.”
CIA chief Noyer interjected. He didn’t like Ellman’s tone when the aide talked about “some cock-and-bull story.” Noyer had had a friend who’d gone missing. Only people who had lost someone could understand. “Far as I know, Mr. Ellman, it was no ‘cock-and-bull story,’ as you, I think, ineptly put it. One of our people, a Major—” Noyer couldn’t recall the man’s name now. “—Barker? Baker? But anyway, he’d followed what he believed was a genuine lead up to Dalat.”
“Where’s that?” the President asked.
“In the central highlands.”
The President nodded, not much the wiser. “Well, it doesn’t matter now whether he was set up with a false lead to get us involved in a vulnerable area or not. The fact is, now we’ve got ninety Special Forces with the enemy ringed all about them. The question is, what is it going to take to help them out?”
“To win,” Admiral Reese said, “Douglas Freeman has to resupply his Special Forces trapped in there and drive the PLA out from around them. There can’t be any half measures here, Mr. President, or we’ll have nothing at the bargaining table. We’re barely hanging on to Disney Hill. They’re both Freeman’s call.”
“Think he can do it, gentlemen?”
There was silence in the room.