"Brown, Dale - Warrior Class" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brown Dale)
"I did not 'skip' the inaugural, Ed. I just chose -not to attend."
"It was political suicide, Mr. President," Kercheval insisted. "It made you look like a laughingstock in front of the entire world!"
"I got my entire Cabinet confirmed in two weeks, and by the end of this month I'll have every federal judge position filled," the President said. "I don't care if the world thought it was crazy, and I don't care about political suicide, because there is virtually no political party behind me."
"But not giving a speech before Congress-"
"Nothing mandates either an inaugural at the Capitol or a speech before Congress," the President reminded him. "The Constitution mandates a swearing-in and an oath of office, which I did. The Constitution mandates an annual report to Congress on the state of the union and my legislative agenda, and that's what I intend to do. I will deliver my budget to Congress at the same time.
"You think it's political suicide-I say that it tells Congress and tells the American people I mean business. Congress knew I was serious about forming and running my government, and they helped me get my Cabinet confirmed in record time. My judges will be sworn in in months, and in some cases years, before the previous administration's were."
Kercheval still looked worried. Thorn stood, clasped him on the shoulder, and said seriously, "It looks suicidal to you, Ed, because you've been stained by Washington politics, which most times bears little resemblance to either the law or the Constitution."
"Sir?" Kercheval asked, letting a bit more anger seep into his voice. "Surely you're not implying ... T'
"I don't know Washington politics," the President went on, ignoring Kercheval's rising anger. "All I know is the Constitution and a little bit of the law. But you know something? That's all I need to know. That's why I know I can choose not
to show up for an inaugural or a State of the Union speech, and have complete confidence that I'm doing the right thing. That kind of confidence rubs off on others. I hope it'll rub off on you." He went back to his desk, sat down, and began to type again on the computer keyboard at his desk. "We meet with
the congressional leadership this morning," he said aloud, without looking again at Kercheval. "First conference call is scheduled for later this afternoon, isn't it, Ed?"
"Yes, sir. The prime ministers of the NATO countries," Kercheval replied, completely taken aback by the President's words. "It'll be a video teleconference from the Cabinet Room at three Pm. Tonight's video teleconference is with the Asian allies, scheduled for eight Pm. Tomorrow will be the second round at ten A.M. with the nonaligned countries of Europe and Central and South America."
"Any advance word?"
"The general assumption is that you're going to announce the removal of peacekeeping forces from Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosovo," Kercheval replied. "That rumor started last week. Already, France and Great Britain have announced their intention to pull out if we pull out. Russia has already hinted they will pull out of Kosovo, but our formal announcement might make them change their mind. Germany will likely stay in both Kosovo and Bosnia."
"Why is that?"
"It's right on Germany's doorstep, and the Balkans have been of great German interest for centuries," Kercheval said. "Unfortunately, most of the historical connections are negative ones, especially the more recent ones. The Third Reich received a lot of support from sympathizers in the Balkans in their quest to wipe out 'unclean' races like Jews and Gypsies. Germany has continued to be a close supporter of Croatiathey fully sponsored Croatia's admittance into the United Nations, long before their break from Yugoslavia, and they have supported Croatia's attempts to get land and citizen's rights from Bosnia. Besides, Germany sees itself as the one and only counterbalance to Russian encroachments in the Balkans. They'll stay."
"Mr. President, this will simply not be taken any other way except as the United States withdrawing from an unwinnable situation in the Balkans," Kercheval said. "It will absolutely throw U.S. foreign policy into chaos!"
"I disagree, Ed-"
"Our allies will see it as nothing but the United States turning tail and running away," Kercheval went on angrily. "We have risked too many lives over there to just turn our backs now!"
"Enough, Mr. Kercheval," the President said. The room was instantly quiet. Everyone in the Oval Office noticed itthat little bit of an edge to the President's voice, the one many people knew was under the surface but had just not been seen before.
The President was an ex-Army Special Forces officer, welltrained in commando tactics and experienced in various methods of killing an enemy, and a man doesn't live that kind of life without certain traits being indelibly ingrained into the psyche. Thorn's political opponents saw this as an opportunity to try to portray the upstart as a potential mad dog and had exposed his military background in grisly, bloodcurdling detail. They had maintained, and the Pentagon finally confirmed, that as an Army Special Forces platoon leader, Thorn led over two dozen search-and-destroy missions in Kuwait, Iraq, and-secretly-into Iran, during Operation Desert Storm. Needless to say, the fact that U.S. forces had been secretly in Iran during the war, with America promising not to threaten Iran as long as it stayed neutral, did not sit well with Iran or with many nations in the Persian Gulf region.
As a first lieutenant, Thomas N. "TNT"'Thorn had commanded a Special Forces platoon tasked with sneaking deep into various enemy-held territories and lazing targets for precision-guided bombing missions. He and his men were authorized to use any and all means necessary to get close enough to a target to shine it with a laser or mark it with a laser fre-
quency generator so that the target could be hit by laser-guided bombs dropped from Army, Air Force, and Navy attack planes or helicopters.
His own accounts and those of his men told the story: he had pulled the trigger of a weapon or withdrawn a blade in combat over a hundred times, and had
confirmed kills on over a hundred men. Most were from relatively short distances, less than fifteen yards, using a silenced pistol. Some were from almost a mile away, where the bullet reaches its target before the sound. A few had been from knife-fighting distance, close enough so Thorn could feel his victim's final gush of breath on his hand as he drove a knife into an unprotected neck or brain stem. This didn't include the countless number of enemy forces killed by the laser-guided bombs he and his team had sent to their targets-the estimated final "head count" was well into triple digits.
But rather than horrifying the voters, as the opposition candidates had hoped, it had drawn attention to him. At first, of course, it had been the spectacle----everyone wanted to see what a real-life assassin looked like. But if they had come to see the monster, they had stayed to hear the message. The message had soon become a campaign, which had become a race, which had become a president. But though most had never seen the monster, they assumed it still existed.
They had caught a glimpse of it just now.
"I'd like to speak with Minister Schramm after the meeting with the congressional leadership, but before the videoconference," the President said, and this time it was an order, not a request or suggestion. "Set it up. Please." At that, the meeting came to an abrupt and very uncomfortable end.
Office of the President, The Kremlin, Russian Federation
The next morning
"It cannot be true," the president said. He took a sip of coffee, then set the cup back on its delicate china saucer and stared off
through the window of his office into the cold rain outside. "It is amazing what a few weeks can do."
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