Foreign Enemies and Traitors (106 page)

                “ ‘Give me the power to create a nation’s money, and I care not who makes its laws’.” 

“I know the quote,” said Tambor.  “Supposedly, the first Rothschild said that three hundred years ago.  But whether he said it or not, it’s still true.  The power really is in the purse strings.  Once we control the world’s purse strings, once we can create the world’s money and decide where it will go, we’ll control the world.  But this time, we’ll use that power to enforce equality and social justice, instead of just to enrich the bankers.”

“The Kosimos people might have something to say about that, since they’re bankrolling your campaign.”

“I’m not naïve,” said Tambor.  “I understand that we’ll need their expertise at the new global bank.  But this time we’ll control them, not the other way around.  There will be enough new money sticking to their fingers for them to be more than satisfied.”

“Many have tried to control the bankers, down through the ages…”

“This time we will.  I understand the mistakes that were made in the past, in walking that fine line.  We’ll use their greed, but we’ll control them.”  There was a pause while Tambor took a long drag on his cigarette, looking rather smugly across the table toward his unseen host.

“I just can’t believe it,” said Robert, his voice becoming emotional.  “You’ve actually brought me hope, hope that real change is coming.  For the first time in…in many years, I actually have hope that we’ll finally be able to bring communism—”

“Yes, yes, but I won’t use that word,” Tambor said abruptly.  “Never.  Not even socialism. They’re trigger words, hot buttons.  They’re too difficult for Americans.  I’m going to call it ‘the movement for social democracy.’  Or social justice.  That’ll be easier to sell to the American people.”

“Well, whatever you call it, it’s the same thing.”

“Of course.”  Tambor sighed.  “I only wish that Peter Kosimos would have lived long enough to see our dream come true…but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.  Like Moses, he saw the panorama of global justice on the far horizon, but he just didn’t make the final mile.”

“You know,” said Robert, “
I
introduced you to Peter Kosimos.”

“What?  No, I don’t think that’s correct.  I met him at an international students’ forum at the U.N., more than twenty-five years ago.  I remember it quite clearly.”

“Yes, a students’ forum.  And who do you think arranged it?  I made sure you were on that panel representing Columbia, and I made sure that Kosimos took note of you.  I arranged it all.”

“You did?”

“I did.  How many undergraduates do you imagine get to meet someone like Peter Kosimos, one on one?  Lucky star or not, those kinds of connections don’t ‘just happen.’  No, I spotted your face in the crowd, Jamal.  I knew you were a diamond in the rough from the first class you attended.  You were always my bright shining star, my hope for the future, the one who could change the world.  And I opened some of the first doors for you, on that long hallway of opening doors that you have been walking through your entire life.  Many others along your path have been opening those doors in front of you, preparing your way, for the last twenty-five years.  Now it’s the Kosimos Foundation’s turn to open the last doors, the doors to the White House.  Trust me, Jamal, none of this
just happened
.”

Tambor’s brow was furrowed, his eyes narrowed in deep thought.  He took a quick puff on his cigarette and stabbed it out in his ashtray.  “Well, thank you then, I guess.”

“No, none of those opening doors just happened, Jamal.  Those gears inside of gears that you mentioned, they don’t simply line up by accident.  None of this just happens.  And not only on our side, oh no!  I mean, do you still believe that Peter Kosimos died in a car accident in Colorado?  Many people think that he was killed by our enemies in New Mexico, and the ‘accident’ in Colorado was staged to cover it up.”

“Oh, come on, Robert!  That video was faked, that airplane video.  Everybody knows it was faked.  That whole thing with the lake and the model airplane.  CBA News did an exposé on it.  They proved that cheesy video was made on a computer.  It was done with a video game, on a computer.  Peter Kosimos died in a car wreck in Colorado.”

“Are you sure?”

“Robert, I might be stoned, but now you’re starting to sound like one of those paranoid conspiracy nuts.”  Both men laughed again, Tambor becoming almost hysterical, unable to stop himself from giggling, then leaning forward and coughing hard.

****

Jenny was in the female enlisted soldiers’ tent
when Zack ran up to its flap doors and yelled, “Come on, come on, it’s happening!  You were on TV!  Boone’s pictures were already on—everything is on TV right now!”

                Hope had her own crib, improvised from a cot, using the posts that fit into the corners to hold up mosquito nets.  Jenny reached in and scooped up the infant, wrapped her in a blanket, and hurried outside after Zack.  It was a cold and clear day, and she was wearing jeans and her thick green wool military sweater.

                “It’s on in the Casualty Receiving tent, it’s on right now,” he said as they ran the few hundred yards past the other tents of the mobile field hospital.  Zack and Jenny had been informally attached to the medical company.  The general himself had given the orders yesterday, before his headquarters had been moved.  The military presence all around Corinth was growing by the hour, with helicopters buzzing overhead and long truck convoys on all of the roads.  General Mirabeau himself had told them, “Jenny McClure, your job is to take care of that baby.  Zack’s job is to listen to Sergeant Amory and help them to set up the field hospital, and look after Jenny.  And Sergeant Amory, your mission is to look after all three of them.  Am I clear on that?”  He had given these commands in front of his chief staff officer and his command sergeant major, so they had the force of law from that moment on.

                Casualty Receiving was inside an enormous modern military tent.  Zack and Jenny rushed inside; it was already packed with medical staff in their ACU uniforms.  They were all watching a small television mounted up near the top of a pole.  As newcomers entered the tent with questions and conversations under way, they were immediately shushed to silence by all of the viewers already staring up at the television.

                Sergeant Amory spotted Jenny and Zack, and moved through the crowd to welcome them.  He placed his hand on her shoulder, then gently caressed Hope’s wispy baby hair and said, “Did Zack tell you?  You were just on TV.”

                She looked into his face and nodded yes.

                “You were great, Jenny, you were just great.  You and Hope.” 

                Jenny placed her hand over his, tears streaming down her face.  She had no words.

                ****

On television, Jamal Tambor lit a new cigarette
and took a long pull.
 
“I know, Robert, I know.  America as it exists today will always be the greatest barrier to global social progress.  That’s why the Kosimos Foundation has been working so hard for the North American Union.  Full global integration can’t happen until after America is permanently and legally woven into the North American Union.  That’s the first step.  You can’t eat an apple in one bite.  We can’t get to global government in one jump.  Like they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.  American sovereignty has to be carefully and methodically diluted, diminished, and then finally eliminated.” 

                Tambor shook his head and scowled.  “And our military, oh my God!  It’s just hopeless.  It’s practically all right-wing religious fanatics.  The way it exists today, it’ll always pose a threat to world peace.  But if I’m elected, I’ll clip their wings.  If their funding is cut off, they’ll wither and die on the vine.  The fanciest high-tech jet bombers and submarines
won’t last for long with no money to maintain them.  If the fall of the Soviet Union can teach us anything, it’s how rapidly a modern military will decay and become useless once its budget is cut to the bone.  And if the economy collapses, well, that will achieve the same purpose, if nothing else.”

                The unseen Robert said, “The greatest danger to social progress will always come from the military.  Remember the lesson of Chile, and Salvador Allende.  Beware the military.”

                “Of course,” agreed Tambor.  “That’s why the military has to be fully integrated into the U.N.’s peacekeeping structure, step by step.  Then what remains of the American military has to be chopped into a thousand pieces and put under U.N. control.  Only then will the world be safe from the American military.  Only then will our military stop being a tool of capitalist oppresssion and imperialism.”

                “But Jamal, the American officer corps is just riddled with the worst of the worst fascists and reactionaries.  I’ve seen polls; something like eighty percent of them describe themselves as cultural conservatives.  The officer corps has to be torn out by the roots and replaced with a new generation of leadership.  But that won’t be easy.  The problem with the military is that it’s like a goddamn religious cult—but instead of the cross, they worship the Constitution.”

                “It’s the oath they take,” said Tambor.  “I’ve given this a great deal of study.  The military is all about following orders, and defending the Constitution is the very first order they take, on day one.  They even raise their right hands and swear to God to defend it.  They’re like lemmings, they’re like robots.  They don’t think, they just follow orders.”

                “And all for a two-hundred-year-old piece of paper, written by slave-owning white racists.  It’s just amazing.  They worship that goddamn piece of paper.”

                “That’s right,” agreed Tambor.  “The military is a cult, and they worship that piece of paper.  But I’ve got a solution.  I’ve cracked the code.  I’ve figured it out.”

                “What’s that?”

                “We have to give them a
new
piece of paper to worship.  A
new
constitution.”

                “Easier said than done, my friend.”

                “Maybe, and maybe not,” said Tambor.  “If the economy gets much worse, people will become desperate.  They’ll be demanding new solutions, even radical solutions.  That’s when we’ll be able to build a new grass roots movement to demand an Article Five constitutional convention.  Actually…it’s already under way.  And trust me, when you have the Kosimos Foundation’s money behind you, you can build some incredible grass roots!  If we have a convention, we can finally fix the Constitution.  We can get rid of those right-wing anachronisms that have been holding us back for so long.”

                “Like that goddamned Second Amendment,” Robert growled.  “As long as America is an armed camp, we can never advance to the next level of social progress.  As long as the diehard reactionaries are armed to the teeth, they’ll always present a fatal danger to our side.”

                “Exactly.  So we need to create a new constitution, one that enshrines the principles of social justice and equality, but with the…
mistakes
removed.  Mistakes like the Second Amendment, and the Tenth.  Then those little Nazis in the military will still have their piece of paper to worship, and we can get on with building our new social order.  And once we purge the old military dinosaurs, the new officers can be selected for their dedication to the principles of social justice.  It might take a few years, but we can transform the military from a force of oppression into a force that serves the cause of justice.  Global social justice.  Our hope for the future can be achieved—but it all depends on calling a new constitutional convention.  That’s the key.”

                “We just need to give those little Eichmanns in the military a new constitution to worship,” said Robert.

                “That’s it.  Then a whole new generation of military robots will worship the new constitution, just as the old generation worships the old constitution today.  After all, it’s just a piece of paper.  Those fools only want to follow orders, and to be led.  Thinking hurts their heads.  If we give them a new constitution, we can lead them anywhere we want.  And once we control the minds of the military, the revolution can never be turned back.  But it all depends on writing a new constitution, and to do that, we need a constitutional convention.  And with the Kosimos Foundation backing a convention behind the scenes, it can happen.  It
will
happen.  Trust me: it
will
happen.”

                There was a pause before Robert spoke again, his voice lower and almost cracking.  “Jamal…I bow before you.  The student has surpassed the teacher.  You’re brilliant.  Absolutely, diabolically brilliant.”

                “Thank you.  I learned from the best.  Gramsci, Guevara, Alinsky, Kosimos…and you.”

                ****

Across America and around the world,
hundreds of
millions of people were watching Jamal Tambor’s innermost secrets and true beliefs.  In just a few select locations, another video broadcast was being watched with even more careful attention.  The “Marine-cam” video feed from the Laurel Lodge conference room was being watched at Camp David’s own security center, in Quantico, Virginia, at Marine Corps Headquarters, and at several locations within the Pentagon.  Somebody at one of those places figured out that the Emergency Broadcast System had been hijacked.  This person either knew or surmised that it was being sent from Site R at Raven Rock Mountain, the military’s Alternate Joint Communications Center.  No
one would ever discover who among the dozens of officers and NCOs watching the live “Marine-cam” video from the conference room took the next step and surreptitiously redirected it back to Site R. 

                ****

Even with the knife against his throat,
the president finally called out, “Cut off the TV!  That’s nothing but lies and propaganda!”