CHAPTER EIGHT – SPREADING THE NET
There was the usual gang of newsmen, mostly photographers and TV cameramen, on the White House lawn when Minton and Carlucci got back. Minton always suspected that they hung around for the same reason they attended air shows - in case there was an accident. But the helicopter landed safely, and the President and his Chief of Staff hurried towards the building’s entrance, with a cheery wave, and yes, thank you, we had a good day and enjoyed the fishing.
As they reached the President’s office, Laura Billings greeted them.
“Yes, thank you. We had a good day, and enjoyed the fishing. Is the Secretary of State around?”
“He’s in his office, waiting for you. I gather you passed word that you wanted to see him as soon as you got back.”
“Quite right, Laura, but there really was no need for you to come in as well. It is Sunday after all.”
“It’s no problem,” replied his Executive Secretary. “I’ll get Mr Bragan for you if you’re ready.”
“I’m here already,” said Bragan, striding into the office. “I heard the chopper.”
“And before you ask,” said Minton, “we had a good day and enjoyed the fishing! Come in, and we’ll tell you all about it.”
“Not all about the fishing, I hope. OK if Greg joins us?” asked Bragan, as his Chief of Staff arrived.
“Sure. Come in. We’ll have some coffee, please Laura,” said Minton, turning to shut the door.
“So what happened?” asked Greg.
“One of the Marines landed a skipjack, and the Prime Minister a lovely bass, which we had for lunch,” grinned Colin Carlucci.
“And the United States,” added the President, sinking into his swivel chair behind the historic ‘Resolute’ desk, “caught its fifty first State.”
“You obviously had more than striped bass for lunch,” said the Secretary of State. “Will you two please stop arsing around and tell us what Prime Minister Weaver wanted to talk about in such a god-damned hurry.”
The President stopped grinning.
“I’ve told you already,” he said. “I knew you wouldn’t believe it - I hardly believe it myself - but we have been offered a fifty first State. Weaver has a plan to rid Northern Ireland of terrorism, and believes that unification with the south would then be possible, under our governance rather than the UK’s.”
“I’ll be damned!” exclaimed Bragan. “Was he really serious?”
“Not ‘was’, ‘is’. Very serious indeed.” replied the President.
Sam knocked, and came in with the coffee and his usual grin.
“You’re here, too!”
“Yessir, Mr President, sir! We all thought someth’n was up when we got your message, an’ I just knew you all would be needin’ coffee, so here I am.”
“Sam, I think we all need something stronger to go with this, too,” said Carlucci. “Any Bourbon about?”
“Sure thing, Mr Carlucci, sir. I guess Miss Laura will have some tucked away someplace. I’ll git her to bring it in.”
When they were settled and the door firmly shut again, Bragan turned to the President.
“Perhaps you’d better start at the beginning, Bill,” he said. “If Weaver has some plan to shuffle off his problems on us, then I want to know what we get out of it, too.”
“There’s plenty in it for us, Miles,” replied Minton. “If I hadn’t thought that, I wouldn’t have bothered you this evening. I know what your schedule looks like, but I think we need to start moving, and move fast.”
“Incidentally,” broke in Carlucci, “we were right to be so security conscious about this, and not to start putting memos about. We still need to keep all this off paper, and away from others, at least until us four have talked more and decided what, if anything, to do. Do you agree Mr President?”
“Absolutely.” replied Minton. “There must be no record of this meeting, and you must keep the tape of that phone call secure, too, Miles. Weaver and Algar did all their briefing without any notes whatsoever - and briefed exceptionally well, too, as you might expect. I hope I can recall everything they said - if I skip anything, Colin, fill the gap, please.”
Carlucci nodded.
“I’ll start where Weaver started, with the anti-terrorist part of the operation, then move on to the politics of it all.”
President Bill Minton outlined as best he could the scenario that had been sketched out by Prime Minister Weaver, while his Chief of Staff, Colin Carlucci, filled in the detail when prompted.
“We covered the fight against terrorism during the afternoon yesterday - was it really only yesterday - and slept on that before moving on to the political dimension today,” concluded Minton.
“Not that anyone, on either side, slept much,” said Carlucci. “There was too much to think about, not helped by the Prime Minister’s tantalising clue of what was in his mind, when he dubbed the political solution ‘the Hawaii formula’. We simply couldn’t work out the connection.”
“Off hand, neither can I, except that Hawaii was the last State to join the Union,” said Bragan.
“And that’s exactly the link,” said Minton, “but of course at the time we had no idea what was coming later.”
“There seems to me,” continued Minton, “to be considerable benefit in the US getting to grips with the IRA and other terror gangs in Northern Ireland. You know, Miles, that for a long time now I’ve wanted to get our war against international terrorism away from the Islamic world. I had thought that Spain might welcome our involvement with their fight against ETA and the Basque separatists, but they are by no means ‘international’. And we could hardly suggest interfering in the UK’s internal affairs, in spite of all the Irish/American support for what they see as an Irish liberation movement. But now we are actually being asked to help out, and at a time when the IRA really has started to get too big for its boots, what with their involvement in Columbia and McFosters’ trip to Cuba and all.”
“And it doesn’t seem,” interjected Carlucci, “that we shall actually be asked to do much of the dirty work, either. The UK seems happy to tackle that head on, with only limited practical help.”
“A change of direction now sure would be useful for us,” agreed Bragan. “It would help to make life a bit easier for me in trying to broker a deal in the Middle East.”
“Life gets even easier,” said Minton. “Just wait till you hear about the political proposals.”
“Shoot!” said Bragan. “Just what is all this about a fifty first State?”
“It means exactly that, if everything works out as Weaver suggests and predicts,” said Minton. “His theory is that because the UK is a major part of the problem, it can’t also be part of the solution. Nothing they’ve ever tried before has worked, and now everyone has had enough. Action, and no more talking, seems to be the theme, with a third party, which both sides can trust and work with, stepping in as the catalyst for peace and political stability. That’s us.”
The President lent forward.
“First of all,” he said, indicating the first finger of his left hand, “we get rid of the terrorist gangs in the north. That includes their arms, their top people, and their money.”
“Is that all”, said Bragan.
“Listen. This gets better,” continued the President, pointing to his second raised finger. “While that is being done, we convince the Republic that they should give up their sovereignty in the interests of a lasting peace, increased prosperity, a unified Ireland, and life under the Stars and Stripes. Third, we form a special, joint committee of our top constitutional brains to work out the political timetable - a draft State constitution, legislative structure, level of representation in Congress - all that, and a timetable for consultations, referenda, elections, and so on. Weaver thinks this could all be based on the sort of procedure used to gain Statehood for Hawaii in 1959, but much, much quicker.”
“So the UK shuffles off one of its longest standing and most intractable problems on us, does i
t?” asked Greg Harvey. “Just like that? Does Mr Weaver think we’re as mad as he obviously is?”
“He’s not as mad as he might sound,” responded Carlucci. “If he can, as he claims he can, bring a semblance of peace to Northern Ireland, then there’s all to play for. But peace without a lasting political solution is useless, and there’s no way the UK can engineer that. They never have been able to, and they never will. It simply has to be a third party.”
“So I ask again,” quizzed Bragan, “what’s in it for us?”
“How about this for a ball game, then?” countered the President. “We gain a fifty first state, on the very edge of Europe, which is already a member of the EU. Weaver reckons that membership will stand, not least because of the huge economic and trade advantages which will flow to Europe and its newer, poorer member states. If it’s good for them, it’s good for us, too. We establish a firmer foothold and greater political influence in Europe, and NATO, apart from the economic benefits. And here’s the crunch. We return their homeland to some fifty million Irish/Americans, Miles, and the third largest ethnic community in the States. I’m one of them. Just think what that does for votes.”
“I think I’m beginning to see things your way, Bill,” said Bragan.
“They would vote for us for ever!” exclaimed Minton. “And that means that we can take a little less notice of the Jewish votes and the Muslim votes.”
“And I can really get stuck in to the Middle East,” said the Secretary of State.
“Exactly.” said the President. “Exactly so.”
There was a pause.
“How very neat.” said Bragan eventually, with a grin. “How very, very neat.”
“And how very, very risky,” said Carlucci.
“Surely to God the Irish will never take any notice of such a British proposal as this, will they?” asked Harvey. “They’re not that stupid!”
“If we take this forward,” said the President, “it won’t be a British proposal. It will be ours, for that very reason.”
“Ouch!” exclaimed Bragan.
“Think about it, Miles,” said Minton. “Only we could convince the South to give up their sovereignty, and it will probably cost us to do it, too. But they will have a price - you and I both know that there’s a pretty high degree of corruption at every level of society in the Republic, although it’s not as obvious to outsiders as it is in many other countries. But public undertakings of massive inward investment and so on will do the trick, I’m sure. The Brits have the big problem, and that’s convincing the Unionists in the North. But Weaver reckons even that can be achieved, if we play the constitutional cards right - things like dual citizenship, representation in both the UK Parliament and in Congress, that sort of thing.”
“It all begins to look feasible, suddenly, and not so mad after all,” said Bragan. “The more I think about it, the more I see that there is, after all, plenty in it for the States, and plenty in it for the UK as well.”
“Certainly, they get rid of a problem that’s been round their necks for centuries,” said Carlucci, “and Weaver reckons that none of the costs relating to direct rule, the security situation and so on will fall on us. Without terrorism, the costs to the British exchequer, and therefore to us, will disappear.”
“Furthermore,” concluded Minton, “this country will gain enormously increased power and influence because of our diplomacy in proposing and concluding a resolution to such an age-old international problem.”
“It’s a daring and audacious plan,” said Bragan, “and I raise my hat to Prime Minister Weaver for having the balls to think it through and put it to us as he has. And it could just work, to the advantage of both our countries.”
“And to Ireland,” said Harvey, “if they can be persuaded.”
“So far, Mr President, I’m inclined to say that we should run with this one, and I sense that you are of the same mind.” said Bragan. “But I’d like to hear more about how they propose to defeat the terror gangs in the north, and what our role is likely to be in that.”
“Colin, you start, while I organise more coffee,” said the President. “And help yourselves to another shot of Bourbon, if you like. This could be a long night.”
It was.