Chapter 47

47
THE WHITE HOUSE

All the usual suspects were waiting in the Oval Office when Robert Haskill arrived. He clutched the note Tom Hanneman had written in the palm of his hand. It wouldn't do for any of these men to see his side of the briefing. Robert Haskill had the firm conviction that the most important part of being President was acting Presidential.

"Okay everybody. Tell me how your going to restore order in the country."

"Mr. President, as you know the situation has deteriorated since Tuesday, especially on the west coast." Admiral Peale began.

"Mr. President the damned problem here is that the Neo-Apostolics are trying to destroy any vestige of civilized religion in the country. That son-of-a-bitch is the Anti-Christ, and we have no business as a Christian nation sitting on the fence with this thing." blurted out General Forda, the Army Chief of Staff. "I've gone to church since I was a boy. How can we expect people to just sit there while the foundation of a great Christian nation gets wrecked?"

Admiral Peale started to try to calm things down, but Mr. Moyen, the Secretary of Defense, interjected "I don't know what you're planning you spiritual Neanderthal, but I'm one man who will not abandon the Savior who has returned to redeem the world! You can go to hell, and believe me, you're making good headway to getting there right now!"

The General boomed, "Don't you judge me you little piss ant coward! I fought to make this country what it is and..."

The President, in a historic departure from his normal demeanor, yelled "Stop it! Now I can see what's going on here! You brass heavy bastards are pulling a Baltimore on me. You take orders from me Godammit, and any man here who hesitates to follows those orders will be running a base post office in Fairbanks by tomorrow morning. Is that clear? Last count I saw there's a line of Generals waiting for those chairs, so just try me one time."

President Haskill had a certain air of panic in his voice. The prospects of the nation's highest military officers polarized like the rag tag mobs of Fundies and Neo-Apostolics in the streets was terrifying. Terrifying, that was, with respect to his chances for reelection. If large units of the military polarized, under polarized command or by themselves, there would be no possible way to put together a win against the Democrats.

"I can either trust you men to follow civilian command authority or replace you with Generals who will. If a single unit of the United States military enters partisan combat in the street of any city I swear, so help me God, I'll declare martial law and execute the whole lot of you. Is that clear?" Haskill emoted with more drama than substance.

"After this meeting I have no confidence in force readiness. I don't know if I can count on any force in any branch of the services. You will each initiate an immediate readiness report for me no later than tomorrow. You will each provide me with a RG-3 depth readiness report two weeks from today."

"I want a task force to stop the godamned riots and restore order to the country! Who can I trust to do that for me? Is anyone here confident of his troop readiness?"

General Veemer, USMC Chief of Staff stared directly into President Haskill's eyes. "You can trust my Marines to serve their Commander in Chief and their country, Mr. President. We always have and we always will."

Almost wincing, President Haskill shot back, "What are your personal feelings about the man in Brazil, General Veemer?"

"While I'm in this uniform, I don't have any personal feelings, Sir. And I can mobilize a Marine Division by tomorrow morning with a General on top and a private on the bottom who won't have any feelings either, Sir." After the bickering among the rest of the Generals, General Veemer emphasized the "Sir".

"Don't mobilize until we have a chance to plan this out. But you can start 'hardening' those troops by indoctrinating them on the importance of staying neutral." The President began to feel as if he was regaining control. "The rest of you, I want you to gradually begin to limit the amount of news about this reaching your men. Put your bases on low alert status."

General Veemer added quickly "Mr. President, I suggest that you order all forces to isolate the elements of all branches whose loyalties have been affected by this and transfer them overseas. The units in Europe and Asia have had less exposure to the conflict. Injecting them into stateside bases may help diffuse things a little."

"I'm afraid to think of how that would come out if all these officers had to work together to do it." moaned the President. "But it's a good idea. If I need troops to settle this thing, and I am still convinced I can avoid that, I want troops who will follow their orders not their religious ideals. That is it for this meeting. General Veemer, I want to see you in the morning. Meantime, I'm going to try to do something on my own."