"Brown, Dale - Warrior Class" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brown Dale)

said. "Unilaterally breaching a contract carries consequenceslegal action, loss of prestige, loss of credit, loss of mutual cooperation, loss of trust. Maybe even more dire consequences."
"So I'm stuck with agreements and commitments I never negotiated, I don't understand, and no one in Washington can explain."
"With all due respect, Mr. President, your job, and ours, is to make yourself familiar with all those treaties and agreements," Kercheval insisted. "That's why wd have a govemment and a bureaucracy-to help keep track of all there is to know about government. Simply implementing your program isn't the proper way to do it. The best way is to renegotiate the treaties and agreements you find objectionable. You don't just knock over the first domino in the row, because then they'll all fall over, one by one, and you may not be able to stop it once it starts. You take your time and remove one domino at a time, or you stack them differently, or you reinforce them so when another hits it, from any direction, it will still stand."
"You forgot the other way, Ed: you get up off your chair, away from the table, and stay home," the President said. "Then none of the other kids on the block will want to come
over to your house and play," Kercheval suggested, reluctantly playing along with the awkward simile.
"I think they will," the President said. "Because when some other bully comes along and knocks down those dominos, and they're not strong enough to stop it from happening, they'll come back to us."
"So you want to play foreign policy blackmail with the rest of the world, sir?" Kercheval asked. "My way or the highway? That doesn't sound like responsible government to me, sir. With all due respect." It was obvious Kercheval accorded very little respect at all when he said, "With all due respect."
"Responsible government starts with someone taking the
responsibility, and that's what I'm going to do," the President said. "I made a promise to the American people to protect and defend the Constitution.
I know exactly what that means."
"Mr. President, I don't question your motives or your sincerity, or else I never would have agreed to serve on your Cabinet," Kercheval said. "I'm just trying to advise you on what's in store for you and this government if you go ahead with this plan. A lot of nations, institutions, and individuals around the world owe their way of life-perhaps even their very life-to the perception of the peace, strength, and security of the United States of America. What you are proposing might erase a lot of that. That could cause a ripple effect that will wash over the entire world."
"I'm well aware of that, Ed-"
"I don't think you are, Mr. President," Kercheval interjected.
The others in the Oval Office turned and looked at Kercheval with shock, then at the President. Even Kercheval expected an explosion. Although Thomas N. Thorn's public persona was one of quiet, peaceful, dignified ease with the world, they all knew that the President had once been a trained professional killer-some powerful emotions bubbled just below the surface.
"Edward, the United States has been obsessed with dealing with these little rogue nation bruslifires, ever since the Persian Gulf War," the President said. "Somalia, Haiti, Iraq twice, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Korea-we seem to have peacekeeping forces in every corner of the planet. Then, when a major confrontation such as China flares up, we don't have the resources to pull together to counter them. We have to rely on unconventional forces to do something that our regular forces should do, and I'm not comfortable with that.
"The way I see it, the problem is twofold: our forces are too big and unwieldy to respond quickly enough, and we're spending too much time, resources, and attention on these little regional brushfires. Not one peacekeeping operation we've undertaken, with the possible exception of Haiti, has been successful. We've wasted billions of dollars and a lot of intemational. prestige on operations that have not advanced American








peace and security one bit. I'm tired of it, I think our military is tired of it, and the American people are tired of it."
"These 'brushfires,' as you call them, could cause a much wider conflict, sir," Kercheval maintained. "There was never any doubt about Iraq-they threatened the West's primary oil supply. Other regions, such as the Balkans, are not as 6lear, but just as important. Ethnic violence in the Balkans has directly caused one world war and indirectly caused another. By intervening in these small conflicts, we've prevented them from escalating into much more serious, continentwide wars."
"I wasn't convinced during the campaign, and I'm not convinced now," the President said. "We were assured by the previous administration that intervening in Bosnia and Kosovo was in our national interest. Now I've received all the data that the previous commanders-in-chief received, and I don't see it. Either I'm not as smart as they were and I'm missing something, or there is nothing there that threatens our peace and security. Which is it, Edward?"
"I think it's important to look beyond the present and look to the geopolitics of the region, sir," Kercheval said by way of response. "Russia is cracking down on dissenters within its own borders. It wants to reestablish ties with Serbia and is threatening any Eastern European nation that wants to join the European Union or NATO. That's enough provocation for me, Mr. President. That is very evident to me. Can I explain it any better?"
The last sentence caught everyone's attention in the room, including the President's. Instead of taking a return shot, however, the President nodded, politely terminating the discussion. "I appreciate your candor, Ed," the President said, without a trace of malice-it sounded as if he really meant it, the Secretary of State thought. He turned to Douglas Morgan, the Director of Central Intelligence. "Doug? Comments?"
"How will this affect ongoing intelligence operations?" Morgan asked. "We have several dozen fully authorized and active field operations in progress, especially in the Balkans, Middle East, and Asia. You're not going just to pull the plug on them, are you, sir?"
"Of course not," the President replied. "In fact, I see no
reason to change any aspect of intelligence operations. I think it's just as important to maintain a strong and active intelligence and counterintelligence operation, perhaps even more so if my plan is fully implemented."

"Perhaps because the world will see this plan as something like cowardice and think that every American governmental function will implode as well?" Kercheval intedected.
If the Secretary of State meant to stir up another argument with the President, it didn't work. Thorn simply looked at Kercheval, nodded, and said with a smile, "Something like that, Ed, something like that." To the others in the room, he offered, "Anything else?" When no one said anything, Thorn turned directly to Kercheval, hands outspread, eyes riveted on him as if saying, "C'mon, Ed, if you want another shot at me, go ahead and take it."
Kercheval shook his head. That was all he could do. He had voiced his objections for weeks, had had all the input he was allowed and more, and now even challenged the President's veracity. The man was obviously determined to do it.
"We're going to implement the plan immediately, then," the President said resolutely.' Goff and Venti's faces looked grim. Thorn added, "Let's get it started, Bob." He reached over, opened the folder before him, and signed the cover sheet of the executive order. "There you go, gentlemen. Let's do it."
Goff picked up the document and looked at it as if it were a copy of a death certificate. "I'm sure this is the most historic document I'll ever hold in my hand." He looked at Thorn with a mixture of awe and shock. "We'll put it in motion right away, Mr. President. I have my first closed-door congressional hearing scheduled for next week, but when word leaks out about this, I'm sure that'll be pushed up, more hearings will undoubtedly be scheduled, and some may even want to go unclassified. I'll be sure to have th6 White House and Pentagon counsels set up the ground rules."
"Good luck, Bob. I'll be watching."
"Are you going to mention it in the State of the Union address?"
"I do not intend to make a State of the Union address," Thorn said.








"What?" the others exclaimed, almost in unison.