The Parnell Affair (36 page)

Finally, the President mentioned Afghanistan—to say America's mission there was to liberate, secure, rebuild, and educate—but then leaped Iran and Iraq and landed his speech in Israel, where he reiterated his frequent calls for a secure Israel and a democratic Palestine.

“He's jumping all over the place,” Tobias said.  “He's usually more focused than this.”

“And he's rushing,” Sally said.  “All of ten seconds on Afghanistan?”

President Howland took a breath and caught his audience with a thoughtful stare before continuing.  Terrorism, he intoned as his next topic.  He mentioned without specifying names that terrorist leaders had been captured or “dealt with.”  But the House and Senate knew whom he meant and gave a roaring applause.  “We have the terrorists on the run!” he cried over their clapping, which inspired only more.

“He's focusing on terrorism,” Sally said hopefully, finding Tobias's hand with hers.  “Maybe he won't mention Iraq at all.”

President Howland gave the credit of their success in part to working with other countries.  And then he made an odd non sequitur comment about anti-ballistic missile defense.  The crowd didn't seem to follow and wanted to hear more, but the President's face showed no signs of having gaffed.  From there, he called upon the government and the people to remember 9/11.  “Remember, my friends, where it began on that frightful day,” he said, “from the Twin Towers to the peaceful fields of Pennsylvania to the Pentagon, fortress of our defense.

“For today, our greatest danger lies with outlaw regimes,” he continued, “that seek to possess nuclear weapons.  If permitted to obtain or develop and build such Weapons of Mass Destruction, these fervent enemies of peace could blackmail, terrorize, and murder on a horrific scale.  And doubt not, my friends, that the ultimate goal of these outlaw regimes is to use their nuclear weapons to arm their terrorist allies.  Faced with such limitless ambitions of murder and hate, we are called again to rise together against the scourge of Hitlerism, totalitarianism, and the radical desire to destroy all who are free.

“We have gone to the UN to demand Iraq surrender its nuclear program and materials.  We have supported the IAEA in its tracking of known nuclear stockpiles.  We have sought and patiently awaited the results of weapons inspectors.  But we will do more than merely follow a procedure.  Yes, my friends, we will achieve our desired result.  Whatever action is required, whatever action is necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American people.

“For we have seen—haven't we?—what complacency and indulgence have wrought in North Korea: a dangerous and malevolent dictator of an outlawed regime there holds the region in fear of nuclear holocaust—because too little was done to prevent his mad ambition to create such horrible weapons!  We must learn from the failures with North Korea and not allow a greater threat to arise in Iraq.

“There a brutal dictator, who has murdered thousands of his own people with Weapons of Mass Destruction, a remorseless despot with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth, must not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the United States.  Saddam agreed, after his failed bid to conquer the Middle East starting with Kuwait, to abandon his nuclear program and dismantle its apparatus.  Over the next twelve long years he systematically violated that agreement.

“The United Nations gave Saddam his final warning three months ago.  Inspectors were sent yet again.  But after exhaustive searches and investigations no evidence was found of the destruction of Saddam's nuclear program.  And yet, Iraqi defectors and IAEA reports from throughout the '90s attest to its existence.

“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

“Intelligence suggests he attempted to purchase special aluminum tubing used in uranium enrichment.

“There is only one conclusion that we can draw from this evidence, my friends.  The dictator of Iraq is not disarming, not cooperating with inspectors or allowing free discourse with his scientists.  With Weapons of Mass Destruction, Saddam could resume his ambition of conquering the Middle East.  Before 9/11, people thought this monstrous despot could be contained; we now see how foolish was that hope.  Imagine now those nineteen hijackers armed with Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons.  It would take only a single crate slipped into our country to bring a day of horror more terrible than we have ever known.

“And so I say to you tonight, we must not wait for the enemy to attack us again.  We must not lie prostrate before the threat of nuclear holocaust.  A clear and present danger exists to the security of our country and it is the right of every sovereign nation to defend itself from mortal threats,” the President cried over the deafening response.  Some members of Congress were on their feet as the call for Preemptive War was carried round the chamber on the shoulders of Applause.

Not far from the those chambers, someone else was on her feet.

“What the fuck was that!” Sally shouted, finally propelled out of her shock and out of her seat.

“The Brit government?” Tobias said, looking at his notepad.  “That merely describes how the forged Niger documents entered the US—brought by the UK foreign Secretary, which we already knew—it doesn't mitigate the fact that they're forged.”

“This is total madness,” she said, pacing in front of the television, hand to her forehead.  “How can he cite the Niger documents as a reason to go to war after we've proven they were forged?”

Tobias looked over his head and then around the room, indicating the possibility of listening devices.  It wouldn't be wise to admit her involvement in “his” story.  Without a word, Sally sprang for the door, snatched her coat from the stand, and stormed out, with Tobias a step behind, throwing the remote on the couch and locking the door.

Pounding down the stairs, Sally got a hold of herself.  She waited in the foyer for Tobias to catch up before they left and walked toward the train station.

“Are they insane, is that it?” she asked in a more reserved if no less aggravated voice.  “If he'd gone out there and downplayed the forged Niger documents—or dismissed them entirely!—that would be one thing.  That was what I considered the worst case scenario.  But to stand before the nation and declare a known lie is true and to use that lie as the foundation for a war?”

“What about those aluminum tubes?” Tobias asked, pen and notepad in hand.

“Nonsense,” Sally said wearily.  “I've seen the reports; it's old news.  Wrong kind of aluminum; they can't be used in centrifuges.  They'd burst under the pressure.”

“Right,” Tobias said while scribbling.  “And I've heard you say before that this idea of Saddam being tied to Al Qaeda is bogus.”

“Howland said, 'terrorists,' not Al Qaeda specifically but we know what he means,” she said, eyes straight ahead unseeing.  “And yes, it's nonsense.  Saddam is exactly the sort of Muslim that Al Qaeda hates: he's westernized.  He was educated in the west, was a one-time ally of the US, his orgies and use of alcohol are famous suspicions at this point, and he's a Ba'athist to top it off.  The Ba'athists are socialist, secular, European-influenced, and have Christian participants.  In Iraq, the Sunnis picked up the mantel and it took on a fascist quality, placing a plutocracy above the rest of the nation—and religion.  Not exactly Al Qaeda's cup of tea,” she said, coming out of her inner thoughts and looking at Tobias.  “They've threatened to kill him.  It's as idiotic as suggesting the KKK has joined forces with the Black Panthers to bring down the US government.”

Sally then stopped them in the darkest space between two street lights and checked their surroundings quickly.  “I see it now, this silly syllogism they've created with that speech,” she said.  “They say Saddam has ties to the terrorists and Saddam has nuclear weapons therefore the terrorists could have nuclear weapons.  And thus they justify their war as an attempt to remove the premise that Saddam has nukes—to keep them away from Al Qaeda and out of our cities.”

“And it only takes two bald-faced lies,” Tobias said, folding his notepad and slipping it into his pocket.

“Two lies and an unending mantra of fear,” Sally said.  “On every TV, in every newspaper, in every magazine, for a year and a half now: fear, fear, fear.  Be afraid, be so afraid that even two obvious lies are justification for unprovoked war.”

“Something must have happened,” Tobias said, turning toward the west, toward Capitol Hill, light falling on part of his face.  “Why would Senator Snajder tell me to wait for the State of the Union?  I haven't written anything on the forgeries for two weeks!  Waiting, but why?  He couldn't have anticipated this.  Something must have happened.”

“Going to see him?” Sally asked.

“First thing tomorrow,” Tobias said, taking her hand and walking again.

If the significance of the State of the Union Address was lost on Senator Snajder's secretary and confidential aide, it was not lost on his Chief of Staff—or himself.  Tobias normally never let his temper get the best of him; he saw tantrums and outbursts as self-defeating.  This morning, however, he intended to pry out of Senator Snajder exactly what had changed prior to the State of the Union, and acting as if the Senator had deliberately misled him—after all the years of handling him with kid gloves—might give him the leverage he needed.  It also might end any future cooperation from the Senator's office, but Tobias thought the time had come to cash in on the good rapport he'd built.

The reception secretary had looked up expectantly and smiling as Tobias strode into her office; the harmlessness of his habitual flirting made it all the more pleasurable somehow.  This morning, he wasn't flirtatious.  With a face like thunder, and without a word, he slammed the hall door and proceeded into the anteroom of the Senator's office, where a startled confidential aide paused in his telephone call.  The secretary's cries of “excuse me” and the aide's “what the hell are you doing” brought the Chief of Staff out of his office, heroically shielding the Senator's door with his body.

“Out of my way, Terry!” Tobias shouted at him.  “Your boss has an earful coming.”

“You can't just barge in here, Tobias,” the aide said, holding the phone receiver against his palm in one hand and leaning over his desk to grab at Tobias's sleeve with the other.  “You know better than that: what are you thinking?”

“Get your fucking hands off of me!” Tobias said.

“Oh my,” the secretary gasped.  “Whatever is the matter?”

“Listen, Tobias, I know you're upset and I know why,” Terry, the Senator's Chief of Staff, said, covering the doorknob to his boss's office with both hands.  His face had gone white.

“You get away from there, Terry,” Tobias said.

“Should I call security?” the secretary asked.

“That's not called for,” a voice said from behind the door.  “Terry, let go of the door now.”

The door shook, Terry spun in a circle and then stepped back, opening it.  Senator Snajder looked as if he'd been up all night with a cold.

“I want to talk to you,” Tobias growled.

“I know you do,” Bill Snajder said.  “Come on in.”

“This lot doesn't need to be listening at the door, either!” Tobias shouted, jerking a thumb at the aide.

Senator Snajder's eyes blazed for a moment at being given an order so roughly—and in his own office!—but when the same expression raged over Tobias's face, he remembered its cause and relented.

“Terry, why don't you take everyone down for a cup of coffee,” Bill Snajder said.  “Give me an hour.”

“You've got the Chamber of Commerce in forty minutes, Bill,” Terry ventured to say.  “Should I—”

“Thirty minutes, then,” Bill said.  “Come on, Tobias.  I know you're sore and you've got every right to be.”

Bill stepped back into his office and held the door.  Tobias strode through, took the edge of the door and slammed it out of Bill's hand.

“Two goddamn weeks I've been sitting around not writing a fucking thing on this story because
you
said wait!” Tobias shouted.  “I'd expect that kind of trick from some people, particularly these days, but from you—”

“You don’t' honestly think I mislead you on purpose?” Bill shouted right back.  “Jesus, Tobias, I know you're angry but give me some credit.”

“Credit?” Tobias hollered.  “I gave you two weeks on credit!  Two weeks of the story going cold, two weeks of no follow up, all because you said it would be straightened out in the State of the Union!”

“Look, things changed,” Bill said, gesticulating with the resigned motions of an oncologist.  “When I told you that, it was true—it was!”

“What changed?” Tobias asked.  He wasn't sure how long he could keep up the performance, or how long before it turned against him.  “You had two weeks, you couldn't pick up a phone?”

“Brother, I didn't know until the morning of,” Bill said with a sigh.  “Come off it: you're not this mad.  You're never this mad.  You're sore as hell—and maybe it's a little my fault—but you came here for more than bawling me out,” he said before crossing to his chair and falling into it.  “And my not landing one of these,” he said, brandishing a meaty fist, “on your chin and tossing you to the dogs downstairs should tell you I still hold you in high regard.”

“What changed?” Tobias said, more temperate in tone but no more civil than before.