This 44-part series began running in WCT Nov. 8. Readers can read all the installments to date at www.windycitymediagroup.com .
From the journal of John 'Jack' Quincy Adams, Chief Secret Service Special Agent in Charge, The White House. Code Name: One.
Part 15. Events
Jack Adams, the Secret Service agent charged with assassinating President George W. Bush and being held for psychiatric evaluation, is telling the psychiatrist about one of the 2004 election campaign strategy meetings he attended at RNC headquarters on Capitol Hill. ( Note: Queen Mary=the president's limousine. )
Like a lot of people, my respect for Trailblazer increased after 9/11 when he declared the war on terror. I was, of course, right on board with bombing Iraq. People like Saddam Hussein have to be eliminated. But as the war dragged on, as it became clear that there had been no real planning for what they would do after the invasion, and when it was discovered that there never were any weapons of mass destruction, which they all but knew when they went in, I began to feel differently. I was also growing more concerned about Iran every day. Trailblazer, Rice, and Rummy were talking about stopping Iran from developing their nuclear program, but they knew we were stretched impossibly thin and didn't have the manpower to stop them. The only thing we could do, they said, was nuke them. Something I could not conceive of.
One of the 'means' they used to attain their end of invading Iraq made me uncomfortable and they were relentless in it. They bullied Colin Powell. In the Oval Office, in the Situation Room, at Security Council meetings, even cornering him at state dinners, they ganged up on him until he finally agreed to go to the UN and make the case for invading Iraq.
Is there anything worse than betrayal? Can you imagine betraying a man who dedicates himself to you? Can you imagine what it must be like to find out you were lied to again and again? I kept thinking about what I had heard Jim Jeffords say: I didn't leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left me.
During a meeting between the usual suspects ( Trailblazer, Angler, Card, and Rumsfeld ) Andy Card said he was relieved that Powell was 'finally on board' and Angler responded by saying, 'That's why we chose him: a soldier never abandons his squad.' Then they all laughed. 'For Christ's sake,' Angler said. 'He didn't really think we were going to leave Desert Storm unfinished, did he? What does he think he's going to run that Ford Explorer on—cooking oil?' They had been working on this plan for a long, long time. I was embarrassed at having been so naive.
That was the morning I began admitting to myself that the Republican Party had become something I didn't recognize. It had morphed right in front of me as I listened in and watched these people who were being termed 'neocons' take over my party and push conservatives like me and moderates further and further left. The creepy part was that now they were doing it in the name of 'the Lord.'
Part of the problem was that Trailblazer isn't always quick on the uptake and tends to be a sucker for the old lies. He's a sentimental disaster looking for a place to wave a flag and sing 'Onward Christian Soldiers'. And like most sentimentalists, he really believes it all. Had anyone said that to me the day he took office I would have slugged the guy. But everything changed the afternoon we climbed into the Queen Mary and went up to the Hill—not to the Capitol building, but to Republican National Headquarters—to attend an emergency strategy meeting for the upcoming 2004 presidential election.
Kerry and Edwards were pulling ahead in the polls and the RNC wanted to run some ideas for taking the lead past Trailblazer.
When we walked into the conference room, Angler was already there. He, Dan Keller, and Ed Gallagher were pow-wowing in the corner. I knew this would be a different kind of meeting when we started with a prayer asking God to make sure we held on to the Administrative Branch so President Bush 'can continue to do Your good work and keep the enemy from driving You out of the White House.' That was definitely a first for me—and I was on my fourth administration by then.
More and more now, scenes like this would make me irritated at Quincy and Jackson and Abbie, too. I never would have started picking up on all this if they hadn't always been talking about it, pointing out to me all their damned liberal talking points that I used to be able to ignore. Now, I was seeing them more as facts than rhetoric and I didn't like it. I wanted my blissful ignorance back, the days when I could bury my nose in a pulp novel or a history book or just gaze out the window while my trusted leaders kept us all safe. Those days were over and I partly blamed my family for it. This meeting would go a long way to sealing my fate.
Follow this 44-part serialized book in Windy City Times for the next several months. See www.WindycityMediaGroup.com for past columns.