Clear and present danger - Tom Clancy [256]
"I can remember when it was in far worse shape, Governor," Jack said, grateful for having been let off the hook.
"So why not ease back, cut arms, like I propose?"
"I think it's too soon for that."
"I don't."
"Then we disagree, Governor."
"What is going on in South America?"
"I don't know."
"Does that mean that you do not know what we are doing, or that you do not know if we are doing anything, or that you do know and have been ordered not to discuss it?"
He sure talks like a lawyer. "As I told Ms. Elliot last night, I have no knowledge on that subject. That is the truth. I have already indicated areas in which I do have knowledge which I am not allowed to discuss."
"I find that very strange, given your position."
"I was in Europe for a NATO intelligence meeting when all this started, and I'm a European and Soviet specialist."
"What do you think we ought to do about the killing of Director Jacobs?"
"In the abstract, we should react forcefully to the murder of any of our citizens, even more so in a case like this. But I'm Intelligence, not Operations."
"Including cold-blooded murder?" Fowler pressed.
"If the government decides that killing people is the correct course of action in the pursuit of our national interests, then such killing falls outside the legal definition of murder, doesn't it?"
"That's an interesting position. Go on."
"Because of the way our government works, such decisions have to be made… have to reflect the way the American people want things to be, or would want them to be, if they had the knowledge available to the people who make the decisions. That's why we have congressional oversight of covert operations, both to ensure that the operations are appropriate, and to depoliticize them."
"So you're saying that that sort of decision depends upon reasonable men making a reasoned decision - to commit murder."
"That's overly simplified, but, yes."
"I disagree. The American people support capital punishment; that's wrong, too. We demean ourselves and we betray the ideals of our country when we do things like that. What do you think of that?"
"I think you are wrong, Governor, but I don't make government policy. I provide information to those who do."
Bob Fowler's voice changed to something Jack had not yet heard this morning. "Just so we know where we stand. You've lived up to your billing, Dr. Ryan. You are indeed honest, but despite your youth I think that your views reflect times past. People like you do make government policy, by casting your analysis in directions of your own choosing - hold it!" Fowler held up his hand. "I'm not questioning your integrity. I do not doubt that you do the best job you can, but to tell me that people like you do not make government policy is arrant nonsense."
Ryan flushed red at that, feeling it, trying to control it, but failing miserably. Fowler wasn't questioning Jack's integrity, just the second-brightest star in his personal constellation, his intelligence. He wanted to snarl back what he thought, but couldn't.
"Now you're going to tell me that if I knew what you knew, I'd think differently, right?" Fowler asked.
"No, sir. I don't use that argument. It sounds and smells like bullshit. Either you believe me or you do not. All I can do is persuade, not convince. Maybe I am wrong sometimes," Jack allowed as he cooled off. "All I can do is give you the best I have. May I pass along a lesson, too, sir?"
"Go on."
"The world is not always what we wish it to be, but wishes don't change it."
Fowler was amused. "So I should listen to you even when you're wrong? What if I know you're wrong?"
A marvelous philosophical discussion might have followed, but Ryan knew when he was beaten. He'd just wasted ninety minutes. Perhaps one final try.
"Governor, there are tigers in the world. Once I saw my daughter lying near death in a hospital because somebody who hated me tried to kill her. I