Read Eyes of the Hammer (The Green Berets) for Free Online Page A

American forces."
    Hanks decided to let Strom know where he stood on the concept. "It's a good idea. It helps them out by reducing the power of the drug cartel. It helps us out by allowing us to strike right at the source."
    Strom's mind was working in overdrive. "With all due respect, sir, I think there might be a problem. How do we know what the Colombians will target for us?"
    "Because, like I said, we'll check the information they give us with imagery, which we'll provide to the people doing the mission. Also, the president directed the secretary of defense to have his people verify the target before destroying it."
    "Verify? That means they're going to have to put people on the ground. I thought the original concept was to do this covertly." Strom considered the situation. "That means they won't be able to just run in and bomb like we did in Libya. And once DOD puts people on the ground they run the risk of compromise. There are a lot of angles to this that need to be considered before rushing into it."
    Hanks shook his head. "Secretary of Defense Terrance raised those objections this morning and the president has already considered them. This is past the debating stage and has reached the action level. That's the main reason I'm telling you all this. You're going to be my case officer for this operation. The Department of Defense will have overall control, but we're going to be relaying the intelligence from Bogota and providing any other kind of intelligence support the DOD people ask for."
    "Sir, when did you say we'd get the first location?"
    "Within two days Jameson should be getting some information. I've already personally alerted him to be prepared. He'll set up the meet with the contact. From here on out you handle Jameson."
    Hanks waited a minute while Strom made a few notes in his file folder. He was interested to see what Strom's reactions were to the whole thing. "Well, Strom, what do you think? If we can hit some of the processing labs in Colombia, what effect will that have?"
    Hanks watched as Strom composed his answer. As always the man had his facts. "Sir, eighty percent of the cocaine that comes into this country goes through those labs. However, there are a lot of variables here. It depends on how many and how large the labs are that we hit. The last intelligence estimate I saw from the DEA was that four to six major labs operating down there process approximately eighty-five percent of the cocaine coming out of Colombia that goes to the United States. The other fifteen percent comes out of the numerous smaller labs operated by free-lancers. Each of the three main drug families operates one or two major processing labs. Hitting a major lab, especially if they catch it with a good stockpile, will severely hurt that faction of the drug cartel. Taking down a couple will reduce the flow of cocaine by a considerable degree, at least temporarily."
    Strom's mind was already two steps ahead. "We have to consider the aftereffect. What are the other dealers going to think after one or two labs get blown away? I'm sure the Colombian government will deny everything. If they've kept this tight enough in their government they just might get away with the denial."
    Hanks interjected. "Their ambassador said this came direct from President Alegre to him personally. No one else is in on it."
    "If that's the case," responded Strom, "then the drug dealers will probably believe them. The cartel has bribed so many people in the government and military that they'll know their own government didn't do it. What then? They'll eventually figure out we're doing it. But initially they'll probably think it was one of their own. They have some pretty fierce intrafighting going on all the time between rival groups."
    Strom started warming to the idea as he realized it was a good chance to make a name for himself. "We could probably take down a few of the factories before they even begin to suspect it was us. Even destroying just one