Chapter 75 -- VNGVNNCYPVRAZGZBKEVX
"Mr. President," Ishmael said, "Let me describe the situation in which you now find
yourself. Discard any illusions you may have about ending this in a manner
favorable to yourselves. Even it that should eventually happen, none you you,
not a one of you, will leave this room alive. Take a few moments to consider
that."
The group sat silently, Anthony watching them carefully. Once or twice it
seemed that one or another was about to speak, but nothing was said. Ishmael
then continued.
"First, there is your personal situation. This area is occupied by our forces.
The members of your security force that survived the assault are in our
custody and will remain there until their disposition is convenient. How
soon that happens depends on you. As I said, you will not leave here until a
resolution is accomplished, and if that cannot be done, you will not leave
here at all.
"Now, the situation outside. As we speak, your already hopeless situation
continues to worsen. We have temporarily curtailed, but not ceased, our
attacks. They will continue until we have an agreement. Further, our operations
account for less than half of the attacks that have occurred. The majority
are being carried out by other organizations. Deliberately encouraged by us
to be sure, in many cases, but not under our control.
"The destruction in the metropolitan areas continues. The damage
to transportation, communications, and energy distribution infrastructure will take months,
perhaps years, to repair even if there is no further damage. And believe me,
as if your lives depend on it - and they do - it will continue.
"In fact, it is possible that what we have started can not be stopped. That
is a possibility we are prepared for. If you act now, however, the situation
may be salvageable. Now, Mr. President, what do you have to say?."
Anthony, in a position to watch the president without having to move his head,
watched him. The others were less subtle, turning to him, almost as if in
supplication. They who had hours earlier been telling him what to say and how
to say it. For a few moments it seemed as if he would not, or could not speak.
Finally he did.
"You cannot succeed with this insane scheme," he said at last. "You cannot
overcome the entire armed forces. You cannot hide, once we are able to hunt
you down and bring you to justice. You should use this opportunity to end
this without adding to your crimes. Possibly some measure of leniency might
be extended to those who surrender now. If not, you can expect no mercy when
you are brought to account."
Ishmael laughed. It was a genuine laugh, not for effect but as if at an amusing
joke. Anthony thought it was not a pleasant sound, almost if Ishmael wished
his offer would be refused. He wondered what the capabilities of the PLA were -
if Ishmael's assertion that they had not yet exerted themselves was true they might
could be considerable. Not that they had tanks and aircraft, or even
divisions of troops. But they didn't need them. Guerilla warfare, against an
enemy constantly replenished with supplies and new troops, was not winnable.
He had spent time in Afghanistan, and studied the lessons of Vietnam.
"Mr. President," Ishmael said, "and believe me I use your title only for
convenience, as my contempt for you and the people at this table is boundless,
with the possible exception of the general here. Do any of your people have
any military experience?"
They looked around at each other.
"I do," Jordan said.
"Only one," Ishmael said. "Not a career man, I suppose."
"No," Jordan replied.
"An ancient historian, who knew a thing or two about war," Ishmael said, "said
that a nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its
warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.
Do you know who that was?"
"No".
"I suspect the general knows," Ishmael said.
"Thucydides", said Anthony. "A Greek historian, about two thousand years ago."
"And as true today as it was then," Ishmael said. "At least the military men
are still properly educated. Or were until recent years. Mr. President, your
fighting is being done by fools now, and cowards. Not that it matters. As I
said, your situation is hopeless. If you don't believe me, ask the one man
here who knows. Give him leave to tell you the unvarnished truth."
The president looked helplessly at Anthony.
"Go ahead," he said.
"Mr. President," Anthony began, stopped. Would anything he said make an
impression on these people? Would he have to play the card he hoped could
remain hidden. The fact that Ishmael hadn't mentioned it indicated he was
willing to leave it unseen if possible.
"Mr. President, I believe that what Mr.... Ishmael, has told us is true. At
the very least his people are prepared to eliminate us, leaving the country in
a crisis of unimaginable proportions, even worse than the condition it is
already in. We are already seeing as yet uncounted deaths in the cities,
where violence, starvation, and by now probably disease will make them
uninhabitable. At that point we face the prospect of hundreds of thousands,
perhaps millions, of people leaving those areas into the surrounding suburbs
and rural areas.
"And that situation cannot be remedied, we can not even begin to do so,
without a halt to hostilities. And Mr. Ishmael tells us he can not guarantee
being able to bring them to a complete halt. If they are escalated, I don't
know. Quite frankly sir, I do not wish to contemplate it."
The room was silent. Ishmael leaned back, inscrutable, the dark glasses
hiding any indications of his emotions. His eyes could be closed for all they
knew. Obviously the others were waiting for the president, who seemed for the
first time to appreciate his situation. He at least had the good sense not to
look around at his advisers. They had gotten him into this situation and they
would be unable to offer a way out. He knew he had to say something, but what.
He believed Ishmael's words.
At last Ishmael spoke, giving him at least a temporary reprieve.
"Mr. President," he said, "you and your associates find yourselves now, at the
end of generations of calculated destruction of the great republic that was
founded over two hundred and forty years ago. Founded by men of such
intellect and character as you and your generation can not even comprehend,
much less aspire to. You are the last pitiful remnants of a once great people
who squandered their heritage, generation after generation, never believing it
could fail.
"Now here you are, with little left to salvage. And even if you could
comprehend what you have done, it matters not to you. With your delusions of
grandeur and omnipotence you have destroyed almost all that is good in what
the founders and generations of our ancestors left for us.
"And until now, none of this mattered, even if you understood it. You are
such people of whom it has been said that will burn their own nation to the
ground if only they can rule the ashes. We will leave you with ashes, if that
is what you truly wish. But you will not be here to see it."
Ishmael paused, sitting as still as before, not as if waiting for a reply but
as if looking at some distasteful object and considering how to dispose of it
with the least inconvenience to himself. Anthony, in a position to
easily see the faces of most of the group, found himself regarding them with
even more contempt than he ever had before.
Defeated, even if they did not know it yet, they could as well have been any
group of people in a bus station or a grocery store - there was nothing
remotely distinctive about them. He realized that that was indeed what they
were, ordinary people who, mostly through chicanery and occasional luck, had
climbed to positions of power they could never have achieved through honest
industry.
He remembered something he had read, he couldn't remember where, about
someone who had attended the Nuremberg trials. Asked what she
thought of the defendants, she described them as 'just some old men whose clothes
didn't fit'. He had the feeling he was seeing something like that now. He had that
feeling now.
Finally Ishmael spoke again.
"Mr. President, you and I will now confer privately." He turned to the
two men who had accompanied him. "Call in a guard to watch these," he said.
One of them stepped outside and a few minutes later came back inside with a
small squad, nine more men. Also black-clad, they also wore sidearms - a
large pistol on in a belt holster on each side. They took up positions
between the door and the other occupants.
"See that they are secure and comfortable," Ishmael said. "If they need to use
the various facilities, follow the usual procedures."
"Mr. President," he said, "my personnel have the situation under control here,
those wounded have been removed and turned over to the army unit guarding this
place. The others are securely confined to await their eventual release. How
eventual that is depends largely on you."
He turned to the two men who had accompanied him.
"Bring the president and come with me."