chapter 58
AFTER Secretary England had walked out of the committee room, several members called for a fifteen-minute recess so they could read General Garrison's statement. Lonsdale made no attempt to defeat the motion, for the simple reason that she needed to regroup and figure out how she would proceed. She went back to her office in Dirksen and huddled with Wassen and a few other senior staffers. They were all of the opinion that she needed to table the Leland issue for now and let the air force finish their investigation.
As no one had yet read General Garrison's statement, one of the committee staffers eagerly did so while the debate about what to do roared around her. When she was finished she offered her boss the hope she was looking for. Nowhere in Garrison's statement was there any mention of how Rapp had abused and mistreated the prisoners. Unlike Leland's statement, which went into specific detail about Rapp's abuses. Wassen was skeptical of this, raising the point that Leland's entire statement was now cast in doubt because his commanding officer had all but called him a liar.
Lonsdale, though, needed something. She wasn't going to call the whole thing into recess after just having been embarrassed by England. She wanted her pound of flesh from Rapp, and she was going to get it. Lonsdale announced that she would hit him hard on his abuse of the prisoners and directed the group to hastily assemble a list of questions while she went back and got things started. There would be a good five to ten minutes of motions and procedural nonsense before they got back to questioning Rapp.
On the way back to the committee room, Lonsdale asked, "What's wrong? You were awfully quiet back there."
Wassen looked down at the ground and said, "I've been with you long enough to know when I'll be wasting my breath."
"You don't agree with me?"
"There are plenty of times I don't agree with you."
"But you usually speak your mind."
"I have made myself very clear on this matter, and I think Secretary England framed the issue rather nicely."
"Secretary England is a capitalist windbag," Lonsdale said, while flashing a passing senator a fake smile.
"Have you ever stepped back far enough to really look at what's going on here?"
Lonsdale didn't answer immediately. "Of course. I do it all the time."
"Bullshit," Wassen said flatly. "All of you politicians are like parents. You adopt an issue and it's like it's your child. You lose all objectivity."
"That's not true."
"It's absolutely true, and the secretary of defense just proved it."
"How?" Lonsdale asked.
"When he reminded us that Rapp is on our side."
"I'm not so sure about that," Lonsdale said dismissively.
"God," Wassen groaned, "you are impossible sometimes. You think the terrorists are on our side?"
"Don't be silly."
"Then tell me... just whose side is Rapp on? Based on his record I think he's pretty firmly in the let's-kill-all-the-bastards camp."
"Then you tell me, Ralph," Lonsdale said in an irritated voice, "just who in the hell is on the side of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?"
"History is your Achilles' heel, Barbara. I don't think you want to go there with me."
"Just what in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lonsdale asked as the committee room came into view down the hall on their left.
"Those two documents are bathed in blood. They did not spring forth from the pen of men like Jefferson and survive on high-minded ideals alone. They have been bathed in blood over the years."
"You are so damn dramatic sometimes."
"And you are as pig-headed as ever."
Lonsdale stopped and grabbed Wassen by the arm. "So you think this is a mistake?"
"Barbara, you just got your pretty little ass kicked by the secretary of defense in your own backyard. That's not supposed to happen."
"What would you have had me do?" she hissed at him.
"Maybe nothing." He shrugged, "I warned you from the outset not to rush into this."
"Well, I disagree. We are a nation of laws. We can't have animals like Rapp running around doing whatever the hell they want."
"That's a lovely platitude. Would you prefer the terrorists run around and do whatever they like?"
"You are so damn infuriating sometimes."
Wassen looked over the top of her head and said, "This is why I kept my mouth shut. You don't want to hear what I have to say."
"Not on this issue. That's for sure." Lonsdale turned and entered the committee room. A few of her colleagues wanted a word with her, but she brushed them off and took her seat. After a quick look up and down the bench she gaveled them back into session.