Bjjonesmylife. Book 2

Wednesday was off and running by 0700. Turkey’s President Cavdet called all upset – and I knew why before I picked up the phone to talk to him.

            ”Your cargo planes picked up the nuclear warheads today but they brought none of the promised new ones,” he said.

            ”Yes that is right. I wanted the old ones removed as soon as possible and there were empty cargo planes returning from Iran that could do that. It will be two to three months before production has assembled and tested the new dial-a- yield bombs. Then they will be shipped and installed on the missiles as we discussed,” I said.

            ”We have none to respond to a Russian or Chinese attack in the meantime,” he said.

            ”Russia is no longer the number one threat that it once was. China, on the other hand, might be a bigger threat but the analysts are not waving any red flags that they are an immediate threat,” I said.

            ”I have twelve heavy carriers and twenty five light carriers now that their troops are ashore. There are also thirty guided missile cruisers, over a hundred destroyers, sixty nuclear submarines at sea with a dozen in the Mediterranean Sea and over two hundred heavy bombers in the area. I have another 500 attack and bomber aircraft in the area as well. I think everyone is going to play nice; anything else would be national suicide,” I said.

            ”I can see your point,” he said.

            ”I am still upset that you are still bombing Iran and have not started peace talks,” he said.

            ”Is that why you have rushed troops, armor and artillery to your border with Iran?’ I asked.

            ”No. I am preparing to repulse the hundreds of thousands of refugees that will come to Turkey on their way to Europe. We simply cannot handle them,” he said.

            ”You can rest easy because I don’t think there will be very many,” I said.

            We talked another thirty minutes before the call ended.

            The generals were waiting at my door with today’s update. ”The forces have captured on the east Semnan, Sari and on the west Amol, Karaj, and Qazvin.”

            ”Tomorrow we take a lot of small towns and then there is the united push into Tehran from all directions,” General Ingram said.

            ”Tonight Air Force planes are going to drop the new Sunlight flares and bomb the few remaining targets. We are also going to drop a couple more MOABs on the IRG Complex and the Parliament building. The plan is to keep everyone awake all night so they will be more inclined to surrender,” he said.

            ”That’s good to hear. As you know, I will be in Atlanta for the convention tomorrow. Keep me informed,” I replied.

            I walked General Ingram through the discussions with Philippine President Ramos. We had a short discussion on possible options and solutions. There was to be a call with Ramos later today.

            The afternoon came and went quickly; it was full of problems. The CIA intercepted a plot to assassinate me and my mates again. It was a splinter group of Iranians that had infiltrated from Canada. They came from the UK to Canada because of lax immigration laws.

            The combined surveillance with the FBI and CIA had identified members of the group and had a location. They were waiting to track the financing for the group. As soon as that was established, they were going to be arrested.

            Robert had sent me the information on the group four weeks ago. The speed was a reflection on how slow the government agencies were.

            It was in the hands of the Secret Service, FBI and federal Marshals to handle it now. Robert and his ever expanding group of spooks were beyond busy on things for JBG and for me at the girls’ direction.

            I closed down the desk early to meet with Adam to finalize the speech for tomorrow night. There had been a change because there was no real progress on the planks today.

            Carl Isham called and asked if I could come an hour earlier to help force a decision on some of the planks. Acceptance of the planks and the first vote for the nominee was at 1900.

            ”Send me the planks before 1300 tomorrow. I will look them over before I get there,” I said.

            Wednesday became Thursday; General Ingram was in at 0800 with the updates.

            ”All the small villages and towns around Tehran have surrendered. Tehran and the Niavaran Palace complex are all that is left,” he said.

            ”Negotiate with those in the Palace complex; it is a world heritage site that deserves to be saved. If no agreement can be reached, do whatever you have to do,” I said.

            ”As for as Tehran, have at it whenever you are ready,” I said.

            I needed to do a day’s worth of work in four hours. The family was coming to make the trip to Atlanta at 1300. Adam was coming with us. I was going to do a run through with the final version of both speeches on the flight to Atlanta.

            The media section was filled to the limit and was not going to get their ten minutes today. The speeches were a priority and then a family discussion with my mates.

            I had the list of planks from Carl Isham. I spent twenty minutes red-lining the ones that were outright stupid and didn’t belong in a paper you were going to use as goals for the party.

            Then I marked through those that I thought would be of little or no interest to voters. Those were the things that were more directed to local elections and should not be an item for a national election.

            Improving our schools was always a topic for both parties and they tried to outdo each other with promises of bigger and grander things. The one problem was the liberal educators always found a way to use the funding for more liberal classes and propaganda shoved down the throats of our children. When more federal funding was directed to the states, they reduced the state funding and used it for other special interest projects.

            There were plenty of things that voters could see and appreciate like a commitment to get more money to improve the roads.

            There were other planks that I red-lined like federal funding for a G6 level of wireless service. I was sure someone connected with the big two communications companies was the reason it got on the list.

            Get the government to pay for research and development, then lobby Congress for free grants for the equipment, then get Congress to force the military to give up some of its dedicated frequencies and finally, handsomely charge the public for access to it.

            When I was finished there were eighty planks that I thought worthwhile for the platform. Carl and the plank committee could argue it out.

            I liked the speeches; the first one was to the delegates at 1800 before the news teams were allowed in and went live at 1900.

            Air Force One landed at Atlanta International at 1500. We were heavily guarded as we left the airport and entered the arena. There were the normal paid protesters.

            Every movement now seemed to have unlimited money to pay protesters and they were not shy about it, by openly advertising on Craigslist, Face Time and local media. The average citizen no longer had real access to influence politicians.

            Protesters paid by big money, special interest groups and favorites of the media carried all the influence that affected most politicians.

            Terrorists, death threats and actual attempts on my life limited my access to the average citizen. The closest they could get was near the stage without being checked out by the agencies.

            When we walked backstage, the first ballot was in progress; they were nearly done. Carl’s assistant Paul Ryder was back stage watching the tally. It was nearly evenly divided among the four candidates. Nothing unexpected there with the first ballot. When it was completed the horse trading would begin.

            ”I have the plank items Carl wanted,” I said.

            ”He will be relieved to look at them after all the bullshit on the floor about them. They postponed the debate on them in order to get the first ballot going on time,” he said.

            I asked the senior Secret Service agent, ‘‘How close a security sweep did today’s group at the convention get on the way in?”

            ”Extremely close,” he replied.

            ”Close enough that with my mates and a couple Secret Service agents we can walk around?” I said.

            ”Maybe six agents and you can do that,” he said and added a wink.

            ”Is the Texas group close to the stage? I would like to talk to GW McClintock for a few minutes,” I said.

            ”Yeah he is here,” he said.

            I placed one of my JBG agents in charge of my portable office and removed a manila file from it.

            My group-mates, Secret Service and I made our way around the end of the stage and walked up behind the Texas delegates and GW. Standing behind him, I handed the file to him.

            When he opened the file he was looking at a wanted poster with his likeness in the middle. Wanted dead or alive by the US Marshall’s office $10000, reward. Cattle rustler, armed and dangerous.

            ”Oh crap, I have been caught and nowhere to run,” he said.

            The delegates and my group had a good laugh at his expense.

            “Have you got a few minutes to talk privately?” I asked.

            “Sure, do you want to do that here? I can scatter the delegates and there is enough noise in here that the conversation would be private,” he said.

            His delegates scattered and we talked surrounded by family, Secret Service and JBG security ten feet away. ”Do you remember our previous conversation in Texas and are you still interested in participating?” I said.

            ”Yes and yes,” he answered.

            ”Here is what I need you to do,” I explained what I had in mind if things went the way we thought.

            I and my group went backstage; I needed to get makeup and wired for sound. I had five minutes to talk privately with my mates before my speech.

            Thirty minutes later I walked out on stage, the teleprompter was in place and the podium ready. The stadium was packed full of delegates.

            I pumped up America, its manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, freedom and independence. I stressed how the eyes of the nation were on us to do the right things, NOW! I talked the full hour before walking behind the curtain.

            The TV cameras and other press were brought in and seated. The next ballot was started for the nation to watch. Behind the stage we talked with Carl as the voting progressed.

            We talked about the short list of items for the plank. He agreed with my list. It was typed up and run through the printers. It would be passed out and voted on after my second speech.

            I took several important phone calls, Tehran had been entered from all sides. I hated the sound of that – it was a recipe for a friendly fire disaster.

            The ballot count complete and it was still a disaster. This could go on all night and still no platform would be agreed on.

            I walked onto the stage for the second speech for the national audience.

            ”Good evening, fellow Americans, ladies, gentlemen, friends, family and those viewing at home. I am honored and humbled to be speaking to you tonight from Atlanta.”

            “Tonight our conservative party will chose our candidate for the presidential election and if successful, to lead our nation for the next four years. It is not an easy decision to arrive at as evidenced by this year’s difficult primary elections.”

            “Millions of votes were cast, but there is no runaway winner. In fact – as we all know – the voting was split four ways. Four different opinions on what it takes to lead our great country. Tonight we must choose one set of ideas and ideals.”

            “Will it be one of these four or will someone step forward with bolder ideas that can unite our party and our nation?”

            “History has proven time and time again that the liberal democrats promise big programs, higher taxes, huge feel good bundles of new regulations over our businesses and lives. The result is always the same; high unemployment, high interest rates that hurt all of us, and higher domestic prices for everything we consume.”

            “History also proves that conservative administrations reduce regulations, increase employment, lower interest rates, increase home ownership and all things that produce a larger, more productive economy.”

            I believe the public wants a conservative driven United States – a better productive economy that creates meaningful jobs with good benefits for everyone that wants one. I believe they want affordable energy so all modes of travel are affordable and have a comfortable environment in our homes.”

            “The liberal socialist democrats want none of the above for you while demanding it for themselves. The promises they give are runaway inflation, high unemployment, higher taxes on everybody and tons of new job killer regulations. No one will escape their tax man or the intrusion into your daily life, regardless of their denial.”

            ”I believe in conservative principles, a conservative government and the right to live my own life. Under the Thomas and then the Jones administration, our economy has grown and continues to grow.”

            ”Gross domestic production is up, factory orders are up, order backlogs are up. Unemployment is the lowest in years for all groups. Inflation is stagnant, home ownership is at record levels. Interest rates are the lowest ever. Energy prices low and stable, creating energy independence for the U.S. and a solid growth economy.”

            ”Our wind and solar energy sector continue to grow at a steady pace. New and safer designs in wind turbines are increasing output from the wind generators. New designs in nuclear power are promising improved safety. These are signs of increased affordable energy production and reducing emissions.”

            ”We haven’t had a terrorist on our soil for three years now by the work of the best domestic anti-terrorist agencies in the world. We are in the final stages of responding to a foreign terrorist attack against our Navy.”

            ”I do not believe the American people want to trade prosperity for a liberal socialist democracy that will bring disastrous results. They want stability in our lives and a future for our children. They deserve the rewards for their own hard work without the government taking away the proceeds for the pipe dreams of others. They want all parties to support our rights and freedoms as written in our Constitution.”

            “I believe it is possible to continue our beliefs and freedoms in America – the great experiment.”

            ”I have traveled the nation in the last few months while fulfilling a commitment that President Thomas made before he passed to support the party. I have heard the calls at every whistle stop-eight more years. America needs and wants eight more years of stability, growth and prosperity. Not the pie in the sky promises of the liberal socialist.”

            ”That decision is yours to make here, now and on November fifth.”

            ”Eight more years, eight more years,” I started the chant as GW walked to the microphone on the floor and the chant grew louder and louder.

            ”Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman,” GW was saying into the microphone.

            Ten minutes later after multiple attempts to quiet the delegates, “The Chair recognizes GW McClintock from the State of Texas.”

            ”Mr. Chairman, the state of Texas wishes to place a new name in contention for the party’s nomination. A war hero who served with distinction and who today still carries shrapnel in her body from the fights.”

            ”A person who built an anti-terrorist organization known the world over. As Vice President she was attacked by terrorists on foreign soil and triumphed against them. She continues to serve the people today as our current President.”

            ”I place the name of Roberta Jones on the ballot for us to consider for President,” GW said.

            ”I second the nomination,” came from Georgia and several other states delegates.

            There was a ten minute break to allow horse trading, if the delegates wanted to.

            During the break it was announced that three of the candidates withdrew their names and pledged their delegates to me. Another ballot was begun and finished quickly with the other candidate only getting the votes from his state.

            ”This convention has nominated Roberta Jones to be our candidate in the Presidential election. Madam President, I hope you wrote another speech,” Chairman Isham said.

            ”I will have to do this one off the cuff,” I said.

            ”I want to thank all the delegates who supported me. I will need your support and help to win this election. There are only ten weeks left and there is a lot of work to do. We need campaign offices in every state. If you can help and can work for the campaign, the chairman’s staff wants to talk to you. They will be here for a while gathering information.”

            The media was crowding the stage, wanting the most sought after interview of the year.

            While I was still speaking on the microphone to the delegates, I was tapped on the shoulder, ”Madam President, I hate to but I was told to interrupt – it’s important,” Lt General Myers said as he handed me a note.

            ”Madam President, the city of Tehran and the nation of Iran have agreed to unconditionally surrender and have signed the documents, today’s date and at 2245.” It was signed by General Ingram.

            I turned back to the microphone holding the note. I rapped on the podium for quiet, ”More good news – just a few minutes ago at 2245 the city of Tehran and the nation of Iran unconditionally surrendered to Marine General Downs and Army General Irons.”

            The cheering lasted minutes, ”Other than a few isolated spots, the ground war and bombing campaign in Iran is over. Now the work to build a true democracy in a hostile area of the world begins,” I said to more cheers from the delegates.

            We stayed two more hours talking to people and making alliances and deals. The fundraisers I had done for the party had raised over a billion dollars. My mates, Jeanna and GW had started a Super Pac; two billion dollars would be deposited in its accounts at Midwest Bank tomorrow with more if necessary. And it would be needed to counter the liberal billionaires.

            I gave the media thirty minutes of my time; one would have thought I had thrown a new born calf to a pack of wolves the way they were fighting each other to ask a question.

            The planning had started three weeks ago; that was why all the questions at different times. All the federal paperwork was sitting on Curtis Warren’s desk to be filed tomorrow as soon as the Federal Elections Commission opened for business.

            There were fifty three packets to be filed in the fifty states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rica and Guam.

            We knew it would be expensive starting at this late date. There were fifteen Senate seats up for grabs. To keep the conservative ones and go after the liberal ones would be even more expensive. But in order to run an administration that could get things done, I would need those seats in my corner.

            Liberal billionaires had bought Senate seats in the last two elections with big money. Their money decided who won the primaries and with big money, they also won the seats in the general elections.

            It was going to take big money to counter them unless Andy and Robert had found effective counter-measures.

            Edit by Alfmeister

            Proof read by Bob W.

Monday morning was a mess – to put it lightly. My phones started ringing even before I had breakfast. Two Senators from the opposite party were at the White House door; they had made appearances on the Sunday talk shows. The show host had played selected clips from the fund raiser.

            They were furious; one, that I was bashing their candidate and two, that I was acting like a candidate and three, that I was fundraising like a candidate without filing the appropriate federal forms with the Federal Election commission. I was not too politely informed that they had filed an official complaint with the Federal Election commission.

            They also informed me that I better not do any more fundraisers until the commission had made a formal decision on their complaint.

            I placed my hand on the Presidential Rule and Guidance book. ”According to this rule book, I am clearly within the guidelines as prescribed for a sitting President to raise funds for other candidates or the party,” I said. Reading those sections may have more value than I thought.

            ”If the commission finds and rules on a technicality that I have done something improper then I shall file the paperwork as a candidate. At that point, I can take the gloves off and really go after your candidate. I have just touched the surface on what a dupe and louse he really is. When I am finished with him I can simply close the application and withdraw from the race,” I said.

            ”Now if you are finished, I have a lot more to do than worrying about your candidate’s diminishing reputation and poll numbers,” I said.

            The kitchen had just brought up a food cart with my breakfast; French toast, two sausage patties, one egg, and toast with coffee and orange juice. The White House doctor had determined I was drinking too much coffee and ordered the kitchen staff to include a twenty ounce glass of fresh squeezed orange juice – not processed – with my breakfast.

            Tomorrow I was to go to Walter Reed Hospital for a complete physical with a blood, urine and stool work-up and a full body scan ‘so the people can be assured I was healthy’ by orders of the doctor.

            What he was really saying; he wanted his name in the media and interviews so he could get more well-to-do clients for his practice after leaving the White House position.

            General Ingram and the rest of the staff came in with the weekend reports as I was eating.

            ”Madam President, ground forces captured the northern sector cities of Mashhad, Neyshabur, and Sabzevar on the east and on the west Sanandaj, Mahabad, Khoy, Ardabil and Tabriz. They captured more secret bunkers and laboratories producing chemical weapons near Tabriz,” General Ingram said.

            ”Turkey is rushing troops and tanks towards the border with Iran,” General Ingram added.

            ”My guess is they are attempting to influence public opinion in Turkey and maybe influence me into accepting the UN peace plan and also looking to pick up some disputed territory,” I said.

            ”If they cross the border, you know what to do with them,” I added.

            ”Yes of course, whatever is prudent and necessary to send them back across the border, body bags optional,” General Ingram replied.

            ”You got it,” I said

            The afternoon was filled congressional issues. Congress was passing a slew of bills. I vetoed the first one. It was to give professional teams – football, baseball and basketball – more tax breaks. The bills would authorize zero interest federal loans to build free stadiums. In my opinion they needed to lose the host of tax breaks they were getting. They were a hundred billion dollar business and they needed to pay taxes like any other business.

            The second one was a bill to shift motor fuel revenue trust funds to the department of education for grants to big city schools. I vetoed that one too. The condition of many of our highways demanded that every penny in the highway trust fund be spent on roads. If they wanted more money for big city schools then raise the revenue by increasing the tax on sports teams that were  only located in big cities to begin with. Problem solved.

            The next bill would allow Canada to sell more beef products in exchange for allowing the US to export more fresh and frozen chicken to Canada. Tit for tat – I could approve that one.

            The next bill was to limit the military recruiting at colleges and high schools. It seems every couple of years the liberals and the anti-war groups try the same kind of law, usually adding it as a rider to some other ‘must have’ bill.

            This was the first time they had garnered enough votes to send up a standalone bill. Another veto and I wanted to know the names of the Senators and Representatives that supported it. They would go to the bottom of the list for campaign help.

            At 1400 a group of Senators was coming in for a signing of a bill to require all electronic toll collection devices to work nationwide. It would eliminate the confusion which ones were good where. It gave the states two years to be in compliance. It was a long time in coming.

            Marcy would be happy, she was always getting fees months after a rental car had been turned in for driving through the tolls without paying. The bill required the states to send out a pay notice in twenty four hours.

            At 1400 it was lights camera action as I signed the toll bill with two dozen pens – as had become customary – with the Senators and Representatives looking on. After the cameras were turned off I invited the Senators to join me for an early supper.

            I was going to need some of those Senators for support in the reconstruction of Iran even though most of the money was going to come from revenue produced by oil sales.

            After the extended early supper, I worked with Adam again on the speeches I was to give on Thursday night.

            Today had been day one of the convention and it had been a disaster that was going to repeat itself on the evening news. There had been little progress on the planks. Instead of starting with the normal three or four dozen there was over five hundred submitted by conservative chapters across the nation.

            The work today was to eliminate the duplicates and combine the remaining ones into a number that could be debated by the plank committee on Tuesday. The plank committee was to have the final ones approved and recommended to the full convention to vote on Tuesday night, the first night of TV coverage.

            Tuesday I was walking in the rear access door to Walter Reed Hospital. A team of doctors and specialist were waiting. They took ten tubes of blood, a bottle of urine and a stool sample from this morning.

            It took an hour to do the full body x-rays. They wanted a full-body MRI but that was delayed until the x-rays confirmed that my body did not contain any shrapnel. An MRI and iron or steel fragments could be a bad thing – a very bad thing.

            The x-rays found six small fragments; two small pieces in my left thigh, one in my abdomen, one in my left breast, one in my upper arm and a small piece in my neck. The specialists at John Hopkins had told me they had removed all of it after the Hamas ambush on the Golan – apparently not.

            There was an hour-long discussion – they wanted to remove them immediately.

            ”No, I’m too busy for it to be done now. If none of them present any life threatening problems, it will just have to wait a few weeks. I have had them for years, a few more weeks won’t make any difference,” I said.

            They postponed the MRI until a later date.

            All the other tests came back perfect. The doctors had nothing to complain about and no need to prescribe any medications.

            A medical update would be released to the media. Even though it should have been a personal issue, the media would never quit hounding the White House. Congress would have an immediate investigation if they thought things were being hidden after President Thomas died of a medical condition.

            I called my mates and informed them of the finds before the medical update was released to the press. I also called Vice President Harrison and filled him in.

            It was Tuesday afternoon before I got the updates from the Generals.

            ”Gorgan, Damghan and Bojnurd on the east have surrendered. On the west Zanjan, Rasht and Qazvin have surrendered. The maximum security prison was also taken. I am sad to have to tell you, all the prisoners there had been executed in their cells before the guards left the prison,” the General said.

            ”The Air Force intercepted the vehicles the guards were making a run in ten miles from Tehran. It was the end of the road for them,” the General said.

            ”A couple or three more days should finish this,” General Ingram volunteered.

            ”Looks like you may be right – then the hard part begins. I may want the assembled fleet to do a swing through the East China Sea. The Philippines are wanting to expand security agreements with us after the fiasco that was created by their last President. ”

            ”The Chinese must be thinking we are so occupied with Iran that no one is watching what they are doing. The Chinese are challenging the Philippine fishing fleet in the disputed islands. The Philippines want to build a base on one of the islands that the world court said was theirs in the disputed area. Chinese gunboats harass them and run them off,” I said.

            ”Ok, we will work out the plan tomorrow. We can shift some of the carriers there,” General Ingram said.

            In the living quarters I watched some of the convention and was embarrassed at the bickering over every item. It was easy to tell which one of the four supported that particular plank suggestion. At this rate we would need a week just for the plank selection.

            Edit by Alfmeister

            Proof read by Bob W.

Morning was tough to get started with all the time zone changes in the last few days, but morning it was. Breakfast was fried ham, eggs, coffee, and biscuits – a lot better than tea and muffins.

            My mates entertained the wives of a group of high level politicians while I was in meetings with the politicians. We had a good meeting while talking about the progress on the agreements and other things of interest.

            A committee had been formed with American businesses in the search for suitable manufacturing that could be put in place for the factories making military equipment. The goal was to increase the manufacture of products for export.

            My secret goal was to reduce our imports from China as much as I could to punish China for the arms sales to Iran. The meetings ran into lunch. Lunch was a private low key affair with me and my mates, Orbatch and his wife along with Anton and his wife.

            After lunch and plenty of private conversation, we went to the Russian air base where the teams were disassembling the final short range nuclear missiles and war heads.

            The final missile fuel tank was mounted on a stand. In front of hundreds of media from Europe and America, President Orbatch and I cut the tank in to with a big band saw.

            We then cut off two, two inch wide sections that were like a giant ring. We presented the rings to each other as souvenirs in front of the media as an end to that series of weapons and the completion to that part of the treaty.

            We each gave a short speech about the cooperation and progress of the agreements. The naysayers that said it couldn’t be done, or the treaty would not be complied with, had lost round one.

            After the press conference, I finally got my promised tour of the Kremlin by Anton and President Orbatch. I was expecting there to be some excuse.

            I was introduced to the Russian Generals who had offices neatly tucked into corners. Doors were opened and no attempts were made to cover the maps on the wall and on tables.

            They were interested in the war plan against Iran – the regional power in the Middle East – was so effective as to neutralize the million man army, how it was put together and created in such a short time.

            ”It’s simple; there was no million man army, it was an elaborate deception. If you repeat a lie long enough and loud enough with enough people wanting to believe and not question, it becomes fact. We have only captured fifty thousand soldiers while capturing two thirds of Iran’s territory,” I said.

            ”In that territory were three quarters of Iran’s military bases including several very large ones. As of yet we have not found that many bodies,” I said.

            I didn’t lie to them; I never expected that many bodies to be found. I doubted anyone was going to dig up all the known bases hit by MOABs and seismic bombs trying to find bodies. At least not anytime soon. I expected the massive depressions where they once were to filled and covered over with concrete, sealing them forever.

            The tour was interesting. I saw a lot of things that were similar to ours and I knew we did all of them better.

            The organization than ran the doomsday clock announced the minute hand had been moved back fifteen minutes for the first time in decades.

            Tonight there was a state dinner for me and my mates. It was the normal political gathering and by now I was used to it. There were plenty of Russian big business leaders there. All of them wanted to be seen with me and talk a few minutes about their business with a new interest in international trade.

            I played the game; I knew how it worked. There would always be international trade. My interest was to change the playbook away from the Chinese dominance in trade with the US.

            It was morning again and we were on our way to St. Petersburg. We toured the Catherine Palace and the reproduced Amber room. It was almost beyond belief, it was that beautiful. If the reproduction was so beautiful and crafted then the original must have been breathtaking.

            The original was disassembled by Nazi soldiers and shipped to Berlin. It has never been found. Another of the great works Hitler and his henchmen had destroyed all over Europe and Asia or looted to never be found.

            Air Force One flew east Friday evening. I pondered changing plans and going to Saudi Arabia then taking a Greyhound flight to the Thomas and to the Boxer to have a face to face talk with war command staff. Unfortunately there wasn’t time; I needed to be back in Washington.

            We had left Moscow’s international airport at 1700; we would first land at Andrews at 0900. Jet lag after this trip was going to be a bitch.

            There was one more fundraiser that had been added to the schedule at the last minute for Saturday night and the convention speech Thursday evening.

            There were things going on with the Philippines that required my involvement, according to Secretary Dean.

            I had enjoyed the whole week with my mates. Even though I had been in many meetings, we still had spent a lot of quality time together.

            I needed to spend a few minutes in the real Oval Office to catch up with the reports for the week.

            The weekend crew for the joint Chiefs brought up the reports from Iran they thought I needed to look at. There was slow progress but still progress. The IRG soldiers were putting up sporadic resistance. The resistance was being handled with plenty of bombs and rockets.

            Another fifty towns surrendered on Thursday and Friday. The noose was closing on Tehran and the other two big cities from all directions.

            While I was doing my updates, Vicky and Ching Lee were checking in with Paul Drake and Andy Reddick. The first six of the least damaged fast ships had been repaired and were back in service. Three of the fast ships were loaded on an ocean-going barge and on their way to Texas to be rebuilt by the builder.

            They were going to be expensive repairs – at least one of the engines in all three ships had been destroyed by 20mm Iranian shells. The engines were over a million each. There was other substantial damage to the ships. Three more ships had sunk in the gulf, specialized recovery ships were looking for them.

            On the other front – Africa – things there were moving forward as Jenny had found three hundred more men for the Cameroon contract. She was still six hundred men short. To temporarily fill the slots former Black Bear employees would be pulled to help them. It was getting harder and harder to fill the vacant positions. In the process we were leaving some areas of JBG security short staffed.

            It would be thirty more days before drilling was to start. As I suspected, money could fill the drilling crews and did. The holdup now was getting enough drill stem for the rig and casing for the well. Everything was to be ready to go within the thirty day wait.

            At 1600 we were back aboard Air Force One, flying to the fundraiser at Santa Fe New Mexico. It was a big stadium and was filled as I glanced around the curtain. I met and mingled with the big donors as always, only this time there were over one hundred that had pledged one million dollars and more.

            There were five that donated ten million and one that donated one hundred million. This had to be the biggest take of any of the fundraisers where I was keynote speaker.

            I spoke for an hour and thirty minutes. I pumped them up from the beginning and kept them that way. I beat up on the liberal candidate like he was a rented mule at a log pulling contest.

            He had left the debate trying to correct the poor showing by appearances – several a day – and cutting me as a nobody, a one shot wonder. Instead he was leaving more openings for me to beat him like a boxer with a bad rotator cuff with an arm that wouldn’t follow the brain commands, always coming up short. The speech that Adam and I wrote was throwing solid rights and body punches.

            Adam had added a few jabs of his own at the liberal candidate by using sly humor – Ronald Reagan style – and I delivered them perfectly. The audience loved it.

            I knew there was media set up in the corner but I didn’t know there was that many. The local media was always there. They needed something to put in the Sunday edition local paper.

            The national media was there this time – all of them. Cameras and boom mikes. The Sunday morning news shows were going to have plenty of material.

            My family joined me on stage for an energetic eight more year chant. We walked off the stage after leading the chant for five minutes.

            We were still pumped up from the adrenaline of the crowd when we reached the White House.

            Sunday was quiet with plenty of family time – at 1700 they left to go home before dark. I was alone until Wednesday evening when they were coming back.

            I went to the Oval Office and looked at some of the backed up paperwork that had been placed on my desk. It took three hours but I cleared the pile, creating a new piles with sticky notes for Connie and Troy to follow up on.

            A shower and I went to bed taking the rules book with me. I finished the chapter on Presidential campaigns before turning out the light.

            Edit by Alfmeister

            Proof read by Bob W.

We made it to London in time to check in at the accommodations supplied by the government for VIPs. It was a Five Star + accommodations. I showered as did the rest of my family and put on a fancy evening gown by a world famous designer.

            My family and I were going to be treated to a state dinner by Prime Minister Attenborough – another strictly political affair. In the UK – as elsewhere – the political standing pecking order determined who was invited.

            You gained supporters in high places for crucial policies by helping them gain influence and power. State dinners and these kinds of events were stepping stones to that power. It was paramount to be seen with the right people and the right places. Top members from the Liberal Party, Conservative Party, Labor Party and several Muslims making their way up the political chain were introduced. One was the mayor of London.

            It was three hours of prime bullshit foreign politicking. I don’t think I had ever had my picture taken with so many fake people. I wasn’t sure if the meal was worth the slime, but the meal was great.

            I was scolded many times for my approach to the Iran war, with the Muslim mayor of London and several others nearly screaming at me. They were forcibly removed by security.

            After a dozen rounds toasted with champagne that was awful by my standards, I was more than ready to go to the guest house. It took another half hour to get to the limos to carry us there.

            My staff who were behind the scenes were waiting with today’s updates – and there were a lot of them, both military and political. We were five time zones closer to Iran, not that that changed anything. A moment in history was the same no matter what time the clock said.

            Dozens of small towns and villages had been captured or surrendered today. At this rate it would take two weeks before the cities would be invaded.

            The most important thing was that our causalities were few and theirs were many. The operational orders for the final stages of the war were the only prisoners they were to take were those who had surrendered. If they resisted and fought, the troops were to use an abundance of overwhelming force to kill them. They would be nothing but trouble in the POW camps.

            I was not going to trade the lives of our soldiers in stupid battlefield tactics with enemy combatants. They could surrender quickly or die.

            The political news was another thing. The BBC, ZNN and the White House press corps had – in one form or another – reported my whole speech. I expected it to cause turmoil in Congress and with the liberal stations.

            While some Congressional members were vocal in opposition, many praised the speed of the offense.

            Herman Payne, my Secretary of Defense, released the numbers that had died since the beginning of the operations. More had died in accidents than due to enemy action but the gap was closing. There had now been twenty rollovers with the new MRAP alone.

            The Navy and Marines had lost twenty pilots and planes due to various causes. There had been two midair collisions involving attack helicopters.

            Secretary Payne stated in the news conference he gave that I was furious about the rollovers with the MRAP and had ordered that a special investigative team investigate them immediately. I had also ordered that both the Marines and Army halt all deliveries of them until the investigation was complete and corrective actions taken if it was an equipment problem.

            ”Oshkosh General Industries – the combined builder of the MRAP – was in deep six trouble as far as the President is concerned,” the SOD said.

            The early reports indicated that multiple torsion bars were breaking under certain conditions causing the rollovers. I wanted the facts. If the torsion bar was the culprit, that meant that the problem was with every unit we owned and with those sold to our allies.

            The US Army and Marines had thousands scattered around the world at various bases. The manufacturer had sold twenty five billion dollars worth of them and billions worth more were on order. Halting deliveries would force them to quickly come up with a corrective actions.

            As it was an all-terrain assault transport vehicle, it was now a limited terrain vehicle. The heavy terrain work would have to be done with helicopters, A10s and foot soldiers, effectively slowing the operations.

            Morning came and I was glad that the White House cooks came along. I didn’t think I could get by on tea and English muffins.

            My mates and I separated shortly before nine. They and Ambassador Davies were off to see the sights. I asked my mates to pick up some souvenirs they thought I would like and some for my two secretaries.

            My meeting with Prime Minister Attenborough started at 0900. I listened while his staff did what my staff did every morning – a security briefing both world and domestic. I listened to a detailed briefing on the Irish Republican Army. It seems they were dissatisfied again and planning disturbances.

            I listened to the British view of world problems and their suggested remedies. It was a totally different view than I had.

            Eventually they came to the Iran war. Their Chief of General Staff was critical of the bombing campaign and said that too many soldiers that could have surrendered and civilians were being killed, causing unnecessary collateral damage.

            ”The Iranian’s have caused collateral damage all over the world for decades and celebrated each one, payback can be hell. Dead soldiers do not come back to fight another day, prisoners of war in that part of the world always do,” I said.

            The conversation came around to the Russian agreement and what the effects would be on the foreign military bases.

            ”If the Russians continue to comply – and all indications are that they will – there will be a realignment of US bases not only domestically but foreign as well. We would strive to keep bomber bases like RAF Fairford. I think what would happen would be to combine bomber and fighter bases, closing the fighter bases.”

”Doing so would show savings to the bean counters yet still keep an effective fighting unit together,” I said.

            ”I do know DOD is doing preliminary work on a base reduction plan for the US that I am sure no one will like. It will be a political football. I don’t expect any final decisions for a couple years,” I said.

            I met my family and together we went to one of those world class five star restaurants for lunch. The Secret Service and M6 provided security. The food was good, but I was smart and didn’t over eat. After lunch I was carried to the Parliament to give an address and my family went on more sightseeing.

            At Parliament I talked for sixty minutes about the long standing cooperation between our two countries and continued cooperation in the future. I ventured into the many possible changes that would come with the future for the twenty first century.

            Those changes reflected my opinion on smaller and smarter armies with newer, more powerful and accurate weapons. Drones, robots, remote controlled bombers and fighter planes would be the norm. Technology will be the driving force in the future. There may well be a war fought with no human soldiers on the front lines, just robots. The human controllers could be thousands of miles away looking at a flat screen.

            I ended the day at the US embassy on MTAC with the generals and admirals. I listened as they told a tale of increasing resistance, none of which was unexpected as the troops closed in on Tehran.

            The result was a new bombing and missile campaign, picking more targets from the restricted list and bombing some of the earlier targets again – based on photos.

            While some were the same targets, by moving the GPS pin a few hundred yards in one direction or the other to expand the blast area would achieve the desired effect.

            Wednesday morning we dressed extra carefully. There was a special dress code we needed to abide by to see King William. The palace was very picky about it after there had been several embarrassing situations happen to the King in his early appearances as king.

            The choreographed event went well and the media on both sides of the Atlantic had plenty of material to talk about. There would be some interesting conversations about my family for a time.

            The King and I had a wonderful conversation in our private talks. He was a graduate of the Royal Air Force College and had spent his time in a helicopter search and rescue unit. We had a good conversation about RAF Fairford, his time in the RAF and my time in the Marines. There was even a short conversation about being CIC of the military that we once served in.

            Two hours later we were on Air Force One headed to Moscow. There was a state dinner for us tonight and meetings started tomorrow with President Orbatch.

            The welcome started at the international airport of Moscow; the streets were filled with well wishers as I rode towards Red Square for the state dinner. They were waving US and Russian flags – one in each hand – and cheering.

            I was riding with President Orbatch in the Russian version of the Beast. It had the big sunroof that we could stand partially out of and wave.

            For the last two miles – by agreement with the Secret Service and the KGB – we stood through the hole in the roof with Secret Service agents and President Orbatch’s personal KGB guard detail walking along side the car and waved to the crowds.

            The White House media, Pravda – the Russian media outlet – along with the BBC and ZNN were following along and ahead of us. The crowds lining the street – both young and old – were enthusiastic.

            At the Kremlin the red carpet was rolled all the way to the car doors where it stopped. Both of us gave a short speech. I did mine twice; once in Russian and then in English.

            I guarded my words carefully to make sure there were no double meanings or openings to false impressions.

            There were a lot more possible worldwide implications than the Russian people. I learned a few days later the Chinese, along with their other objections, were furious! Chinese leaders had been to the Kremlin in the past and never gotten the red carpet treatment that I received.

            There were several other countries getting very interested and others disheartened by improving relations between Russia and the US. Also there were those equally pleased at China’s discomfort.

            Several of those were in the Pacific Island groups with had been bullied for years by China laying claim to wide swaths of the East China Sea. The biggest ones were the Philippines and Viet Nam.

            While I was speaking to the Russian people in front of the Kremlin, the Philippine ambassador to the US was in deep talks with Secretary Dean, trying to set up a face to face meeting with me and Philippine President Ramos as soon as we could meet.

            The State dinner was first class! They even served Angus steaks cooked the way I liked them. Anton even brought a tub of iced Budweiser – my favorite beer- he had remembered from our first meeting in Uganda.

            The meal was great and conversation afterword was informative and left little doubt the Russians were committed to the reduction and limitations we had signed in Washington. My mates and the little ones had a great time. We called it an evening.

            The rooms had been checked by the Secret Service for bugs and cameras several times. They checked them again as we getting things ready for bed. They also left equipment that would automatically ring an alarm if it detected any spy attempts during the night.

            Edit by Alfmeister

            Proof read by Bob W.

            At 0900 I was in the command center with a couple of aides who were going to take notes for the official records.

            ”Good morning Madam President, how are you doing this morning? According to the early morning media the campaign fundraiser rally last night was a gangbuster event,” General Ingram said.

            ”Yes, things went well! They were a good crowd,” I said.

            ”The commanders in the field want to begin working around the edges in the Northern sector. There are hundreds of small towns and villages that they want control of before they take on the remaining big cities.”

            ”Bringing those into the fold will eliminate the cities being able to draw reinforcements from them, cut off communications and possibly lead to a quicker end,” he said.

            ”That sounds like a good idea and there would be a much larger force to put against the cities when we decide to take them. When do you plan for them to start?” I said.

             ”As soon as I dial the phone,” he said.           

            How many prisoners have we captured so far?” I asked.

            ”A little less than fifty thousand,” he answered.

            ”Makes you wonder where the million man army went to,” I said.

            ”The prisoners are all saying the same thing – the troops sent to check known bunkers and bases collaborate that –  tens of thousands died in the deep bunkers that they thought would survive a nuclear blast. Seismic bombs did their job and collapsed the ground and rocks on top of them,” he said.

            ”It would be nice if we had solid evidence. We can get that after the war ends with investigative teams,” I said

            ”That is all I wanted; I’ll go make the calls,” General Ingram said as he closed the line.

            I had to assume – something I never liked doing – that the heavy bombing campaign had indeed killed the majority of the Republican Guard soldiers in the bunkers and other underground facilities.

            We spent the rest of Sunday sorting and packing clothes – the proper clothes in which to meet King William and tour Moscow. Moscow was already having cool fall weather. Air Force One was leaving at 0900 Monday to be on the ground in plenty of time to be able to take in some of the sights before dark. Our ambassador to UK was making the arrangements for the sightseeing trips. 

            Of course there was Presidential business to be done. Air Force One was going to land at the RAF Fairford US Air Force base.

            I was going to give the flight crews a pat on the back for the work they had done and the hours they had put in.

            At 0600 I was reading the daily updates from the CIA and joint chiefs. We were all packed. It was going to take a dozen trips to carry all the bags to Air Force One.

            I had never paid attention to the amount of luggage it took to make a visit abroad until it was stacked in the living room. We were only going to be gone five days; it looked like five months. But then there were going to be twelve of us – six ladies, the four kids and two sitters for the kids.

            Believe it or not the flight left on time. That was one thing about the White House travel office; they planned it close and expected things to be carried out.

            It was a five hour flight and I spent most of my time in the flying Oval Office.

            All of the news crew were allowed ten minutes for an interview. When I was through with them I started with the important things. The updates were on top of the pile. The troops had started, the terrain was difficult and they were meeting some resistance. A10s and helicopters were dealing with the resistance. I expected the final push to get difficult and expected the push into Tehran to be a blood bath.

            Adam sent the outline for Saturday’s fundraiser for me to review. I closed the door and used the practice teleprompter to go through it. I made some changes and additions on the paper copy and called Adam on a video call. When we were finished it looked good enough to satisfy me.

             I asked if he had received the speech I had written for the convention. It was basically an outline as I had started doing for Adam the last dozen or so speeches. Adam spiced them up and made them crowd moving.

            ”Yes I got it, doesn’t look too bad. I will work on it and send you the first draft before the end of the week. It’s a very long speech,” he said.

            ”I have a two hour block of time. I wonder if I don’t need two separate speeches to give? Maybe a break like an intermission between the two,” I said.

            ”A two hour long speech is very unusual. Most people aren’t long winded enough to give it, plus the audience will soon grow tired listening unless you are a comedian and can keep them laughing that long,” Adam said.

            ”I can understand all of that. I might be long winded at times but not that long,” I said.

            ”Adam, take a look, see what you can do with it for me,” I said.

            I went back to the presidential passenger section to be with my family. We talked a while about where they wanted to go sightseeing. There would be several hours each day that I would be in classified meetings. There was no need for them to sit around when there was so much to see.

            Ambassador Bret Davies’ many assistants were going to take my family to the most popular sightseeing while I was tied up with the Prime Minister and other meetings

            The pilot announced the seat belt light was on – we were in the landing pattern for RAF Fairford. A couple of the reasons I chose to land here was not only a short distance from London but the B52 and some B21 bomb groups were temporally stationed here.

            The third bomber squadron, second and fifth bomber wing, 420 air base group, B52s and a few B21s were here.

            The landing and roll out was smooth as usual. We had to sit a few minutes at the end of the runway while they were getting things ready at the big hangar turned into an emergency auditorium.

            We taxied up to the hangar and waited while a portable stairs was placed beside the exit door. It was a freshly rebuilt one with new white paint and red carpet.

            My family and staff went down first then me and the final Secret Service agents. At the bottom I went through the routine – a salute to the two Marines that always stood at the bottom of the stairs. Then there were handshakes and smiles for the camera for the pictures that I was sure would end up in the Air Force Gazette.

            They informed me there was several news groups – including the BBC and ZNN – who were going to air my speech along with the White House press reporters that were with us. That was more coverage than I wanted but I knew Troy was trying.

            ”I wasn’t expecting that but I will make do,” I said.

            My group was taken inside while I waited with the General for my entrance. I followed them in a few moments later and stepped up on the temporary stage for a short speech.

            ”Attention,” was called out and everyone rose to their feet.

            ”Be seated,” I said.

            ”Several emotions come to mind as I stand here. Immense pride is one them. I am looking at the men and ladies of the greatest Air Force in the world, the best trained pilots, flight crews and maintenance mechanics that can be found. I am proud,” I said.

            ”I am told that not one bomber scratched a mission in your time here. Fifty sorties a day, every day for the fifty planes. That is over one thousand missions and not one scratch. It is one more thing to be proud of because it proves the quality of our equipment and the knowledge and ability of the men and ladies responsible for it and fly it,” I said.

            ”That is a lot of MOABs and seismic bombs dropped on the enemy. It’s paying off in the low number of casualties in our ground troops,” I said.

            “Envy. I envy you for being able to carry the war to the enemy first hand. You have no idea how hard it is to have to sit behind the desk and wait for updates. I would be much happier to be flying with you or carrying a rifle with the ground troops,” I said.

            ”I know you are wanting to know how long before you can go home. I don’t know when but soon. I am guessing thirty days. Seventy five percent of our objectives have been accomplished.”

            ”The Iranian Navy and all of it facilities in the Gulf are destroyed, its submarines sunk, in the Caspian Sea bases and ships destroyed,” I said.

            ”Its Air Force and bases destroyed, reinforced hangers are destroyed,” I said.

            ”Their nuclear research centers and many of the scientist dead, the centrifuges and missile manufacturing destroyed,” I said.

            ”Radar sites, anti-aircraft missiles and anti -missile systems – all destroyed,” I said.

            ”The IRG war college, command center, weapons research and development and manufacturing, command and control centers – all destroyed,” I said.

            ”The middle and central regions are under our full control and occupation. Only the northern region is left and the Army and Marines began the assault on that region today with hundreds of A10s and ground support attack helicopters flying over them.”

            ”Those helicopters and A10s are now being flown from former IRG airfields just minutes from the troops. Supplies for the troops are being unloaded from US Air Force C17s and C5s at those airfields. Heavy equipment is being off loaded at former Iranian docks,” I said.

            ”The northern region with it big cities may be more difficult but I have no doubts that the Marines and the Army are up to the task with the help of bombers from here at RAF Fairford,” I said.

            ”I sorry I ran on so long, I know those metal seats quickly get really hard. The news from the front has been too good to not share because you made it happen, thank you for the great work. Thank you for being such an attentive audience,” I said.

            ”General Brighten, do you have anything you can add?” I said.

            ”No Ma-am, you covered everything very well,” he replied.

            I turned to walk to my group and the motorcade.

            Some in the audience yelled ”Eight more years, eight more years.”

            I turned to the audience and gave a thumbs up and fist pump and then walked off the stage.

            Edit by Alfmeister

            Proof read by Bob W.

An hour later I was stepping off Marine One at Morton Field. The press pool had rented all the rooms at the Holiday Inn East. They had rented twenty cars from the MAAR rental counter at Morton. There was now a roped off area for the media to stand in whenever I arrived.

            They were no longer wanting me to get out of sight if they could help it. At least several of them were to follow me around. They even went as far as setting up a system to alert one another by text. It was an unusual agreement among rivals. They staked out Morton, the gym and the house.

            The media had filed several court challenges that my White House was denying reasonable and proper access to the media. There were insufficient news conferences along with insufficient access to the President. The public has a right to know – they argued in court that the freedom of the press trumps all other rights and secrecy needs of the government.

            I was left to move around from the gym to the house by the tunnel and of course, I could be carried out in one of the blacked out Suburban from the parking garage. My mates traveled around in the blacked out Suburban, usually in convoys of thee.

            We went over to the gym via the tunnel. My mates were going to work out with me before we were going to have dinner. Vicky and Marcy were going to do light doctor-approved exercises.

            Ching Lee, Jenny and Lorrie had agreed to a hard work out with me. They jokingly said my ass was getting wide from too much sitting in the padded chair.

            We had originally planned to work out for an hour. The Secret Service agents with us wanted to prove how manly they were. We worked out two hours before they decided they had enough. A hot shower and dry clothes and I still felt good – sore but good.

            We had a nice supper courtesy the Secret Service’s chef. It was easy to see why the agents that were assigned here were gaining weight. After such a workout we elected to eat light.

            My mates wanted to go back over to the offices for a private talk about things they had been working on. There we could shut out the Secret Service agents and not be bothered by others.

            I was educated for two hours on all the things they had been working on, from the Cameroon security agreement that they had signed and progress on the oil deals. The oil deal on Jeanna’s joint venture had one well pumping oil now. Ten more would be pumping before the end of the year.

            The South Africa gold and diamond mines just kept producing record amounts. They were trying their best to keep the amounts from the public eyes. Right now there was a backlog of getting the gold shipped to Morton because all the C5s were busy with military contracts and Iran.

            I suggested that rerouting a couple of the empty C5s to Polokwane on their way home might help. Marcy said it would take three to take care of the backlog.

            Damn, I thought – that was three hundred tons! I wondered how much more the basement second room would hold. It seemed like I had been away for years instead of just a few months. I was worried about that much gold being stored in Africa, considering all the things going on there now.

            Things took a different turn in the conversation – they told me what they had been doing with all the questions and research over the last few weeks. I listened while they talked. My mates brought out all kinds of research and legal documents they had prepared in case they were needed.

            As usual when they wanted to do something, they had supporting information. As usual they were right with their intuition – it was just a matter of timing and commitment to a decision after a few more things. With Iran on all burners, now wasn’t the time and they agreed to putting a temporary hold on the issue.

            We had a great evening making up for the time apart. The time together tonight was only a start; we were spending almost all next week together.

            Saturday morning we went to the gun range and were followed by the media group tagging close behind. First was the handgun range. Even though the Secret Service tried to keep them back, they were crowding while citing the court ordered access. My mates and I blasted their eardrums by running fifty rounds through our Glock.

            Then we moved up to the M16s and fired one hundred rounds each. It didn’t take long before we switched to the three shot burst. James Clown from the gun club came over and brought me one of the new dual drum one hundred round magazines to try out. It was a new and improved design that was touted as being jam proof.

            We had dozens of the older ones that always seen jam up unless you were doing the three shot burst. It was full and all that needed to be done was to snap it in the M16, cycle the action and pull the trigger. At the firing line I flipped the selector to full auto. It ran all one hundred rounds without a jam.

            ”How many did Andy order of these?” I asked.

            ”Vicky ordered two thousand for the security group,” he replied.

            ”You might want to order another thousand after you get them in inventory,” I said.

            ”Did you bring the other item I asked for?” I asked.

            ”Yes, I will drive it over to the rifle range for you. I also brought the shoulder padding and heavy vest you asked for and the mat,” he said.

            I waved the media to follow as my group walked over to the five hundred yard section of the range. I put on the padding, the heavy vest and double hearing protection.

            Then I carried the M82A2 Barrett fifty caliber sniper rifle to the mat. It had the good muzzle brake; it was an impressive looking rifle. I set it up on the tripod, removed the scope covers and inserted the filled ten round clip.

            The media crowded too close for this kind of rifle. They needed pictures of the President face down on the mat with a big gun in her hands to stir up the fringe elements.

             I practiced my breathing control as I lay on the mat and put a round in the chamber. I took a breath as I was getting the cross hairs in the right place, released half of the breath to steady my body movement and pulled the trigger.

            The media left in a hurry; they were not standing behind me for the next two shots. I left the action open as James looked at the target with the spotting scope.

            The three shots were grouped to the right and low of the bullseye. After looking at the scope sighting chart and making a couple adjustments, I fired three more rounds and James checked the target again. The changes were good so I shot the last four rounds and James went to get the target and placed another new one on the stand.

            The last seven rounds were all in the bullseye, I was happy. It had been months since I had shot the Barrett. The recoil was aggressive but manageable. I could have easily fired it without all the extra padding. But the Secret Service insisted – they didn’t want to explain a badly bruised or broken shoulder to their superiors.

            I asked if any in the media wanted to shoot it and had no takers. Several of the agents wanted to shoot it. James came prepared with several loaded clips so it worked out OK.

            I stood with my mates away from the noise along with the JBG part of my security team as the agents had their fun. I knew that the Secret Service agents were specialized in what they did. Some of them never got a chance to shoot a sniper rifle.

            Shooting the Barrett and the 308 sniper rifle was part of the JBG training for our top level agents. Every JBG security site had a designated sniper. The location determined which rifle was assigned there.

            They qualified three times a year with every weapon in our armory. It was another thing that had changed after we hired the Mossad ladies and now we also had twenty former Mossad male officers.

            From there we went to the sporting clay range. Goose season would be here soon enough and a little practice would help. I went through each position twice as did my mates.        

            I wondered if the media was happy following me around now? They had plenty of video to piss off the anti-gun crowd and they were given no ear protection. I wanted it to be realistic as possible for them.

            Air Force One carried me, my family and the White House news group to Detroit for the fund raiser. It was the same as all the rest – meet and greet all the big donors and mingle with the local politicians.

            Pictures were important now. The party had arranged for me to do several endorsements for TV ads and radio commercials. Politicians on my side were more important than ever now with Iran getting so much air time.

            Adam and I had written a barn burner of a speech for this close to the convention. I delivered – pausing at the right times, pounding the podium, raising my hands and voice at the right times. ‘Eight more years’ was shaking the building.

            I went back out for a fifteen minute encore, blasting the opposition party and their liberal insanity. I found out while I was speaking my mates had the chairman in the corner again, hitting him with questions. There was one more fund raiser, next Saturday and then the convention speech the following Thursday. We were home by 0200 Sunday night.

            I read notes during the flight home. There was only one important one that stood out. The Generals wanted a MTAC call at 0900.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

Friday started off with updates from General Ingram – all ground forces were preparing for a push next weekend into the northern region of Iran. There were several very large cities – including Tehran – that could be problematic. Logistics was moving men and equipment closer and building stockpiles of supplies.

            By pushing it off to next weekend the troops would have plenty of time to rest, rearm and rejuvenate. It would give the Generals more time to divide the northern region into sections and quadrants and then assign adequate troops and equipment to take control of the sector – hopefully preventing friendly fire incidents.

            There were two more airports that would be ready to accept the C17 and C5 planes.

            After the General left, the crap hit the fan. Manuel Santos – Secretary General of the UN – called and wanted another video conference. I had Troy set it up for 1100. That would give me time to check in with Victor Mason – our Ambassador – to find out if anything had been going on behind the scenes in New York.

            I found out Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Bahar Farzad had spent the last two weeks wheeling and dealing. I was pissed that Victor didn’t think it important enough to keep me informed. An email or a quick call was all it would have taken.

            At 1100 Secretary Dean of the State Department, General Ingram and my group of advisors were sitting at the fancy meeting table with me at the end with the US flag and the Presidential Flag behind me and off to the side so they would be seen on the video feed from the room.

            At 1115 – fifteen minutes late – Secretary Santos came on the screen.

            ”It’s time you stopped your military action against Iran. You have been bombing 24/7 for three weeks. Hundreds of thousands have been killed according to the information we have.”

            ”I have been working on a solution with member countries in the area. This is what we have come up with,” he said.

            ”UN peace keeping troops from Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkmenistan will take positions between the northern and Central sections of Iran. You will pull your troops back fifty miles to allow them to create a neutral zone. ”

            ”The Iranian Ambassadors from Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Ambassador Farzad will form a new government for Iran that will comply with all UN administrative directives.”

            ”An oversight committee formed from other Muslim countries from the North African and Middle East countries will have veto authority over the new government for five years.”

            ”Once the new government is formed and established according to these terms, you will withdraw all US troops and equipment and remove all Navy and Air Force from the region including the Indian Ocean,” he said.

            ”Same old faces, same old extremist politics, same old government policies and nothing new,” I said.

            ”I told you three weeks ago what had to be done to end the conflict and ground war. It still stands. Unconditional surrender by Iran is the only end to this conflict as you call it that I will accept.”

            ”If you send any UN peace keeping troops to Iran, make no mistake – I will send them home in body bags – all of them, no matter where they come from,” I said.

            ”I cannot make it any clearer than that.”

            ”It amazes me to think you do this without the blessing of the Security Council. Ambassador Mason will veto that proposal and any like it and I know I can count on several more council members to vote the same way,” I added.

            ”You must end this conflict. Think of the humanitarian crisis it is causing. Thousands of people are fleeing and starving,” he said.

            ”I don’t know where this humanitarian crisis is. I have seen no reports of it. Food and water deliveries are continuing at pre-war levels. Medical teams are attending the sick and injured. Utilities are operating in the central and southern regions twenty four hours a day- something that has not happened in a decade,” I said.

            ”I have no reports of any exodus of the population,” I added.

            ”You are being fed a pack of lies and misinformation. Don’t bother me again with this useless bull shit. You have the terms and conditions that I will accept. Good Day,” I said as I cut the feed.

            ”It’s time for lunch! Anyone want to join me?” I asked.

            Troy, Connie and General Ingram were the only ones that accepted. The others quickly scattered.

            As I was eating lunch I was thinking about the UN call. I wondered what the next step would be. If the Iranian Ambassador had gone to all that effort, there was more. Was this just a smoke screen, a diversion?

            “General, please send a memo to all commands for the Iranian operation. Remind them the No – Fly zone over all of Iran is to be strictly enforced including shoot down if necessary,” I said.

            ”Do you think they are going to try something?” General Ingram asked.

            ”I think we may see some shenanigans in the near future,” I said.

            I had barely settled into my chair when State Department Secretary Dean called.

            ”I just finished a call from Turkish President Cevdet. He is upset that you did not further evaluate the peace offer and wishes you to reconsider. He will call you later today,” Secretary Dean said.

            ”Let him call, it won’t do any good, I’m not changing my position. We are too close to ending this on my terms. I’m not changing directions now,” I said.

            We talked a few more minutes before I ended the call. I had more to make that were much more important and plans to solidify for next few days and next week.

            Tuesday my mates were going with me and staff to England. I needed to meet with Prime Minister Attenborough and members of his cabinet and then spend the night. The following day I was to have an audience with King William.

            From there to Moscow on Thursday. Some of the early goals had been met with the Russian agreement. President Orbatch and I were to cut the last fuel tank into pieces, rendering it useless on the last mid range missile that was part of the agreement for the cameras.

            It was one milestone of the many in the agreement. It would be an international media distraction from the war and everything else. Another thing it would do was be another sheep burr in the britches of Secretary General Santos.

            He was still miffed that the agreement was reached without him and his precious UN negotiating team and was still going strong without him.

            My mates and I were going to finally get the guided tour of Red Square in Moscow and on the second day a tour of Catherine Palace in St Petersburg. The infamous Amber room had been reconstructed there. It was to be personally guided by President Orbatch and Anton. We were staying there two nights, leaving on Saturday.

            Turkey’s President Cevdet called a few minutes later. Turkey was still a member of NATO even after many attempts to remove them. They were responsible for a lot of problems in the region.

            They believed that the resurgence and reconstruction of the Ottoman Empire was their destiny. Over the past 20 years they had involved themselves in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Greece and many other places in the region. Usually they were an instigator of political strife.

            We talked about NATO and the possible changes because of the Russia agreement. He wasn’t happy when I told him, ”We are going to collect all the US made nuclear bombs that were on lease to NATO and replace them with upgraded dial-a -yield war heads that would comply with the new agreement.”

            Even though it may have been clouded science I told him, ”The existing warheads were nearing the end of their useful life because of deterioration of the nuclear pellet and insulating plates. The insulating plates could cause an accidental explosion in a severe earthquake. Some were already forty years old,” I said.

            ”Even without the agreement they would have to be replaced within the next twelve months. An accelerated schedule is nearly complete because we have plenty of cargo planes going back to the US while empty,” I said.

            ”Why did you not accept the peace deal offered by the UN? There was a lot of work by Muslim countries familiar with the Iranian needs,” he asked.

            ”I’m winning so I don’t need to. When you are winning, one does not quit and negotiate,” I said.

            ”Surely there has been a heavy cost in soldiers’ lives. The American public has to know the numbers and be screaming,” he said.

            ”There are a lot of dead Iranian troops, very few American troops,” I said.

            ”How can that be? The IRG was one of the better trained and equipped armies in the region,” he said.

            ”I didn’t follow their war games book like they thought we would,” I said.

            ”The war will be over soon; I have enough confidence in that to do a four nation trip next week,” I said.

            ”Why did you destroy all the mosques, learning centers and shrines?” he asked.

            ”We did not destroy all of them. Those that were listed as world heritage sites were spared. Intelligence had undisputed proof that they were being turned into weapons storage. History also indicates that they are routinely used as command and control centers, sniper towers and spotting for mortar fire. I have seen that with my own eyes.”

            ”I learn from the mistakes of the past and chose not to repeat them,” I said.

            ”The Imams would not allow such activity,” he said.

            ”I believe there are several passages in the Koran that say otherwise,” I replied.     

            ”Then there is no chance of you reconsidering the peace plan then,” he said.

            ”No, none at all,” I said.

            I closed out the desk and called it a day. I was going home to be with my mates for the weekend.

            Edit by Alfmeister

            Proof read by Bob W.

I slept soundly; it was 0600 before I went to the kitchen for breakfast and 0700 before I settled in the chair behind the oval desk.

            I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked through the reports from the Joint Chiefs’ night crew. The causality numbers were still low and holding steady. Troops and equipment were assembling to take control of the seven other major cities in central Iran. Helicopters would be making fly-overs today before sunset.

            The week was going away fast; today was Thursday and the schedule was packed. It was seventeen days to the convention – the pressure was being ramped up on all the delegates. I was to speak on Thursday. Apparently they wanted a long speech from me; I had a two hour slot in prime time.

            Troy came in and placed a dozen newspaper clippings on the desk – something that he rarely did. He knew I cared little what all the liberal papers said. The clippings were a collection of the political ads published in papers and magazines around the country from yesterday’s PR shots. A speed read of the clippings left me satisfied that it was the right thing to do.

            Today’s office work needed to end early as well. I had a live interview with the number three network today at 1700 and then an appearance on the worldwide Military News Network at 1745. It would be transmitted to all military bases and ships.

            I was waiting on the Generals for the update. They finally came in, looking reasonably relaxed.

            ”Armor covered by helicopters started into the seven remaining cities in west central Iran at daybreak. There were some holdout sections in each of the cities; we took some serious injuries and lost some equipment,” General Ingram said.

            ”Air strikes were called in and the resisting areas leveled as per your instructions. There were considerable causalities in those areas. After the initial operations the general population quickly displayed white flags and surrendered,” he said.

            ”The troops spent most of the daylight hours collecting weapons and picking up prisoners. Big Red One secured a thousand prisoners. The Eighth Army armored support division collected one hundred truckloads of munitions and weapons turned in by the civilians and the local government. The demolition guys are going to be busy for a while,” Army General Johnson said.

            ”All of central Iran will be secured by Monday and then we can prepare for the invasion of the northern sector. The State Department is asking that we help with general issues with the population before moving on the Northern sector,” General Ingram said.

            ”Assisting the State Department will allow time for more logistics to catch up and the Air Force and Navy planes can continue to work over the North sector.”

            ”There are lots of hidden military equipment and installations there. We found maps and coordinates; the planes can have a field day,” General Ingram said.

            ”Did the State Department get all of the Persian speaking JBG personnel or are there some still available? We could use a few ourselves in all the sectors,” General Johnson said.

            ”I don’t know; let’s call and ask,” I replied. I dialed Jenny’s cell number.

            ”Hi lover, how are you?” I asked.

            ”Horny while waiting for the weekend and you,” she said.

            ”Same here. Sounds good to me. I should have told you that I had you on speaker,” I said.

            ”Oops!”

            ”No harm done, just a little frisky talk among friends and lovers,” I said.

            ”How many Persian speaking security are there left after the State Department request who would want to travel to Iran for a hundred days?” I asked.

            ”The State Department requested five hundred. They are already assigned and on location or should be before the end of the day. There are seven hundred and fifty left according to the computer. You will have to check with Vicky, Ching Lee and Andy to see how many they are comfortable letting go,” Jenny said.

            ”Please add them to the call,” I said.

            ”General Johnson, how many did you want?” I asked.

            ”If the State Department felt they needed five hundred, we could take the same, splitting them between the Army and Marines units,” General Ingram answered.

            Vicky, Ching Lee and Andy came on the line.

            ”We need five hundred more of the Persian speaking security people for Iran. How many can you let go immediately?” I asked.

            ”We can do that many, but no more for a while,” Andy said.

            ”Same contract numbers as the State Department? Twelve hundred and fifty a day per man, plus they reimburse travel expenses and supply food and shelter,” Vickie said.

            ”Fair enough. When will they start arriving in Saudi Arabia?” General Ingram asked.

            ”Some will be there tomorrow. The contracts need to be signed today; they will be faxed within the hour, ” Andy said.

            I quickly ran the numbers in my head. Damn, there is going to be one hell of a Congressional investigation when all this is over! I had no idea how many flight hours was being billed for all the C5s, C130s and 747s for freight and people. That many interpreters would run up big numbers every day for one hundred days.

            Lunch ran over because of interruptions. It was 1330 before I could sit down with the makeup ladies and begin the picture sessions. I left the rule book on the desk again and went about the tasks I needed to do.

            The girls called again with a list of questions. I asked what they were for.

”We are catching up on some corporate paperwork and forms. It seems the more we do, the more we find we have to do,” Jenny said.

            I let it drop and knew there was going to be a lot more paperwork going forward with so many new contracts and expansions.

            At 1700 I was sitting in the green room with camera crew and the reporter from Americas third rated news network. They needed thirty five minutes of film for the hour show. Troy pressured them to make every question newsworthy and worthwhile because there was no time for re-shooting questions and answers.

            It was tight but I walked back to the Oval Office in time. While I was answering questions, the crew from the military network had been setting up their equipment and were ready to go live.

            Tonight’s crew was one each from the Army, Navy and Marines who immediately stood to attention and saluted as I entered. I returned the salute.

            ”At ease, as you were,” I said as I took my assigned place for the camera.

            ”We can certainly understand that you have been very busy the last few weeks. We would like to talk a little about that if we could,” Navy Lt. Fredrick said.

            ”The attack on the USS Hammann stunned America. At first it seemed like there was a lengthily delay in the response but when it came it was a blockbuster. How is the war going?”

            ”It’s going good, far better than expected. The ground troops are now at a place in two weeks where we thought it would take two months to get to,” I said.

            ”With that information, do you anticipate the war will end much sooner than anticipated?” Army Lt. Corby asked.

            ”I hate to jinx the effort, but I think the ground operations and objectives will be over in a month,” I answered.        

”I don’t anticipate leaving office in January and leaving a ground war for the next President to deal with,” I added.

            ”Always before in attacks like this, our allies stand with us in the UN and when military action has to be taken. Have any of our allies offered to help with the military campaign this time around?” Lt. Corby asked.

            ”Yes, several of our allies offered to send troops if I requested them. President Orbatch and I talk frequently and in several of those talks even he has offered to send troops to provide security for the POW camps that are being built,” I answered.

            ”I have not asked any nations for troops for several reasons. Every time you add an additional a member into the mix, you multiply the length of the decision making process many times, especially when there are political limitations involved,” I said.

            ”I had faith that our military could easily handle the challenge that the Iranian military would present. The success of the combined campaign with the Army, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard shows what they can do when you take the blinders off and throw the book of restrictions into the shredder.”

            ”I gave our military several simple orders; win the war with as few American casualties as possible, do it quickly and use every nonnuclear tool in our arsenal. There were no limits on what weapons could be used or where. The only restriction was they were not to bomb any oil facilities, wells and the electrical grid,” I said.

            ”Why did you elect not to destroy the electrical grid?”

            “When the war is over Iran will have to rebuild – electricity is the most important thing to do that, plus it’s the one thing that is the most time consuming to build back. Water, sewage and hospitals all need electricity”

            ”In the planning we tried to look past the fighting and its immediate aftermath and in to the future,” I explained.

            ”If the war was going badly then surely the electrical grid was a target. But the offensive nature of the war was going so good from the first day out that we knew we could save the grid for the rebuilding phase,” I said.

            ”You have ordered a mix of weapons used there – the curious mix was the MOABs and seismic bombs – why?” he asked.

            ”The MOABs were dropped on an installation first to totally destroy the installation and eliminate anyone in shallow bunkers or caves. The seismic bombs were to destroy all personnel bunkers – deep or shallow – and to destroy any provisions or ammo and make it unrecoverable by collapsing any access to the materials,” I said.

            ”Did your years in the Marines helped you in this crisis?” Lt. Fredrick asked.

            ”I understood all the things that could go wrong for the troops in the field and tried my best to avoid them. It was that experience that drove the heavy unrestricted bombing campaign against military targets and other high value targets before there were any troops sent there,” I answered.

            I answered a lot more questions and then there was just general talk about the future of the services as the world marched into the future.

            The hour went fast. They were packing up their equipment when General Ingram made the last pass through with the last update of the day; it was midnight in Iran.

            We had lost six Army soldiers in a rollover of the MRAP replacement. The expensive piece of equipment was not living up to its sale pitch. It was supposed to have independent suspension, self leveling to resist rollovers and computer lockout of the drive system if it entered into a potential rollover. This was the second one in ten days.

            I was not happy about two failures of the system in less than two weeks.

            ”Find out what happened to cause those accidents, is it a failure of the equipment? Are the soldiers exceeding its capabilities – are the computer control programs bad?” I instructed the General.

            We had thousands of those special vehicles but this was the first time they were used in a war-time environment. In the back of my mind I wanted to know if the DOD had been sold a lemon – again.

            The original MRAP was sold as being IED proof- they were not. It wasn’t until the third and forth revisions that they were IED resistant – not proof. An IED hit in the right location and it was an expensive coffin for many soldiers.

            I called it a day, went to the living quarters and then to the fitness center. The two Secret Service agents and my four JBG security that I liked to work out with met me there. We worked out two hours before we found the hot tub. I could use an hour on the massage table at home but that would have to wait.

            Supper was light tonight then I called my mates for an update at home. They were still working on forms and reports asking questions. I spent two hours on the video chat from the kitchen. I was going home again tomorrow night.

            Edit by Alfmeister

            Proof read by Bob W.

Sunday morning was laid back and started slow. There were no changes in the morning update from Saturday night’s update from Iran. But I knew big decisions were on tap on Monday. My family left early Monday morning.

            I had a busy week – it was planned for me. Monday started with the generals, another hundred miles of Iranian territory had been captured over weekend. We were at a dilemma now with the offensive push.

            Hundreds of small towns had surrendered. As soon as tanks and armored troop carriers appeared, someone in the town came out with a white flag of surrender. Usually it was the town’s mayor or some other high ranking politician.

            It was a political as well as a military surrender – the two being closely tied together in Iran. In each case a specialized team came to put all the documents together and explain the terms so there could be no mistakes. The team had someone that could read and speak Persian.

            First they were told that all guns and weapons had to be turned in to the American soldiers. Then there were a lot of general instructions including all women had to have their faces exposed. They could wear a scarf to hold the hair in place but the face had to be visible at all times; no more hiding. There were a dozen more rules that had to be followed.

            Then there was a list of questions. Do you have enough fresh water? What is its source? Is the electric on in the town? If it is off, how long has it been off? Where does the food for the town come from; what is its source? Is there enough food? What do the town’s people do to live and survive? Is there petrol for the automobiles in town and from where was it supplied?

            Did the town have a doctor, health clinic or hospital?

            All these questions determined what had to be done and how soon. Food and water were immediate concerns. Electricity was the next big concern.

            No power plants or electrical sub stations had been targeted by the bombers or Navy planes. Electricity was one of the first things that was needed to return to normalcy.

            The Navy Seabees were ashore as were the construction units for the army. They had groups that could restore electricity – if it were out for minor problems.

            Several big utility contractors from the US were also on the ground. It had been an afterthought as the war and its aftermath were hashed out in meetings. I had ordered that there be military and civilian committees to prepare and plan all the various pieces that were needed after the war ended.

            It was something new that had never been done in advance before. Usually the aftermath resulted in various serious and deadly consequences for both the civilians and military.

            It was always weeks or months after the shooting stopped that actions other than mass incarceration slowly came into play. That failure led to vigilantism, the forming of unwanted and uncontrolled political groups, riots and starvation.

            The Marshall Plan to help Europe recover from WW2 was three years after the end of the war; by then communism had a strong foothold in Europe. I wanted to prevent the next ISIS or Hamas before they gained a foothold in Iran.

            I wanted all of those issues not to be part of the reconstruction process.

            The real problem was the bigger cities! So far troops had not entered them, they were on outskirts waiting for orders. Some had been approached by citizens wanting information.

            Carts and trucks bringing food and supplies were stopped and inspected for weapons. Many were completely unloaded and reloaded before allowing to continue on. Thermal imagining checked floors and other places for hidden weapons.

            We decided that on Tuesday exploratory entry into the cities would begin in earnest by the troops and armor. Attempts would be made to find out who was temporally in charge. There would be plenty of air cover if needed.

            I left it to the generals – for the time being – so that I could address other questions and events coming my way.

            All the major networks were wanting interviews after the debate. Each one was wanting to be the one with a news scoop – any news scoop. They weren’t getting it. Suddenly a lot of Congressional and Senatorial conservatives wanted access for a photo session to help their reelection campaign. It was due to my aggressive response at the debate and the ratings.           

            I knew it was normal and some of them needed all the help they could get. I also was wise enough to know control of the House and Senate was very important. It was an inconvenience but I took the time for the handshake and make believe, working to get the pictures they thought they needed for their campaign.

            The most popular one was them setting across from me at the presidential desk with the presidential flag and the US flag behind us. I took the opportunity to press them to vote in favor of bills I wanted before the session closed for the election break.

            Troy and Connie set up the desk for each photo session saying there had to be some difference for each senator or representative. They had a box of books and folders and papers for props.

The desk was set up with various themes with slight differences. I noticed there was one thing that was always somewhere on my desk in all the photos, a certain book. It some photos it was closed, in others it was open face down, in others it was open face up.

            I spent the afternoon in front of the camera. Makeup touched me and them up time and time again. Every ten minutes there was a new representative and a remake of the desk.            

            My staff was working on campaign stops for me after the convention. Carl Isham was working with them, working out the dates and places. I had to stop and think where all this extra staff came from. I hadn’t expanded any of my presidential staff.

            They were people who had worked for former President Thomas before he died. They were his political staff – a necessity in separating official work from campaign work, which otherwise could lead to conflicts of interest for using official staff for political purposes. It was the kind of thing that congress and negative media loved for grandstanding in front of the camera. Politics complicated everything in Washington.

            I hadn’t needed them before now but they were still on staff. The party and I were paying for them under the advice of Jenny and Curtis Warren. The decision allowed at least some political cover.

            Troy had setup the arrangements with Marcy footing part of the bill. Things that he thought of while I was too busy with the war to be involved in. There were other things going on as well that I would find about much later.

            It was 1800 when we called it quits for today – the PR blitz would resume tomorrow at noon. General Ingram came in with the update from Iran. He wanted to know if there were to be any changes before the armored personnel carriers, tanks and helicopter rolled into four cities tomorrow. It would be midnight here, breaking day there.

            I authorized the process to begin. If they were going to find major resistance and heavy causalities, it would begin tonight.

            He picked up the book, ”Looks like a lot of interesting reading, probably for a lawyer,” he said as he placed it back on the desk.

            I looked at the title, ”Rules and guidelines for Presidential candidates”, printed by the Federal Election Commission. It was the current issue.

No wonder everyone who went through the office today was glancing repeatedly at it – they already knew what it was and had a similar copy of their own to run for Congress. Was someone trying to send me a subtle hint? I had never seen that book before. There was a marker in it so I opened to the page, it was the section for presidential candidates, the requirements for campaigns and responsibility.

            Now I knew there was a conspiracy in my office and security group. I wondered who all was involved in it.

            I worked out in the fitness center with a couple agents close at hand. I was going to do a light workout but with a couple of competitive agents, it turned into almost three hours – the kind I liked. I was hot, sweaty and breathing hard, a worthwhile workout I seldom got here.

            I carried the book and the other reading materials I needed to review before turning in.

            It was a restless night. I woke up more than once wondering how the troops were doing with the assault on the cities. Four cities were to be invaded – for the lack of a better word – at day break, just several hours ago in Iran.

At 0400 I gave up and got up, found the first cup of coffee and then ordered breakfast. I followed that up by going to the Oval Office early.

            If someone wanted to play I could to. I placed the opened book on my desk within reach. I had moved the page marker last night when I read forty pages or so.

            At 0600 the Joint Chiefs night crew sent up the first report of the day. In an hour General Ingram and the day crew would issue a new assessment on the world threats for the day.

            Troops had entered the four cities in central Iran meeting little or no opposition. Esfahan, Najafabad, Yazd and Birjand – all major cities – were now occupied cities.

            That left seven more major cities and two of the most notorious prisons in the world in central Iran for the military to take control of. That control was from 30N to 35N; a swath through central Iran.

            Those seven cities had been and were still being heavily bombed – there were military bases and IRG controlled factories there making missile parts and anti-aircraft guns. There wasn’t much of any of it left but the bombing was destroying civilian moral. White flags were already appearing over many houses and other buildings.

            Those seven cities were for the latest arriving troops to take on. Twenty thousand were coming from South Korea. They were being flown in today, equipment and logistics had arrived on Sunday.

            Other notes followed; the State Department had contracted sale of the first oil. The first super tankers were in the stand by anchorage waiting for the loading terminals to be operating.

            The refineries were operating and the petrol was being delivered to the towns and cities that had surrendered. They weren’t too happy about the price – it was not subsidized by the government any more but there was no longer any rationing.

            The meetings lasted all morning again, before everyone was satisfied with the arrangements. More troops were being rounded up from various bases around the world. We needed more logistics and transportation as bad as we needed more foot soldiers.

            At noon the PR campaign was back on again. I needed to wrap it up earlier tonight. I placed the opened book back on the desk where it stayed the rest of the day.

            At 1700 I ate a light supper, showered and dressed in a long gown before seeing the hair dresser and a makeup trio. I must have been looking old as I now had a trio of makeup ladies attending me.

            A few minutes later wired up, I was sitting on an easy chair in the Oval Office answering questions for the number two news network. I pondered each answer carefully. I intentionally left the book on the desk through the interview.

            Aides and advisers were out of sight of the camera, just in case I needed them or something came up.

            I was glad when it was over and relieved that I had not made any gaffs or mistakes – so were the people that were off camera.

            Champagne was brought out along with a case of cold beer and deep frosted mugs. The beer was for me and the agents that normally were with me. They were as country as I was. The champagne was for those that wanted to look important and have ‘class’.

            I did an MTAC call to my mates and talked for an hour. Everything JBG was growing and busy. Lorrie was trying to get more planes – more C5s  if she could – and more of the 747s for passenger, freighter and water tanker conversion.

            Ching Lee and Vicky were trying to hire hundreds for the Cameroon and Nigeria contracts. Things were happening there faster than we expected. Andy needed men as soon as they could be rushed through the training. As it was some of those assigned to the Mexico security zone were going to be used.

            Complicating things for the security department, the State Department had requested as many Persian speaking people as we could spare to help in Iran. It would be just one more possible conflict of interest in the eyes of some.

            For Marcy, the leasing was growing as were the truck stops. Her accounting section was also growing.

            Jenny’s HR and legal was growing as well. The Horsey Building was all administrative now. I felt left out at times during the conversation. They were asking me questions about some things and I wondered why, not that it was important. They seemed trivial so I didn’t worry about it.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

            We had a great supper together then played with the kids that I missed so much. When the kids finally wore out and went to bed it was my time to make up for lost time with my mates.

            I was up early and went to the fitness center for an hour before the kids and my mates were up. I finished in time to join them for breakfast.

            Then we began getting ready for the trip to Atlanta for the debate. First there was a side trip to Lexington Kentucky for an afternoon rally and speech.

            Andrew and I had written a barn burner of a speech. I had allowed him to leave several topics with an ending that would be open to questions. What is she saying, what is she planning? The timing was right with the debate and then just two weeks to the conservative convention. It was a great crowd – easily motivated and receptive.

            We were there all afternoon before flying on to Atlanta. I needed to spend time with Carl Isham. There were a lot of points he wanted to make me aware of before my possible fiasco on national TV. My words; not his.

            I listened to a group of experts about several topics that may come up before going to the potty and then to makeup. The final step was to be wired up for the sound system.

            The two reporter moderators came back and explained how the debate was supposed to work, according to their plans. The reporters had twenty questions that the media had put together. After that they had questions from the attending audience that they had written on note cards as they came in.

            The place was packed; the liberal candidate was to take the stage during the entrance music that was played at his rallies. It was played by a rock jazz band and was a mix for the younger liberal crowd.

            I waited until his music had stopped. I hadn’t thought about music but Troy, Carl and Marcy had. They stopped me from walking out to podium. The Georgia state University marching band marched in from the rear of the auditorium. They stopped at the stage and while they played Hail to the Chief, Troy motioned me to walk out. When they finished they played Star and Stripes Forever. I walked to the edge of the stage and gave them a thumbs up.

            They played it again as they marched to the back of the stage and left.

            Albert Finney was pissed and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see it. His face was beet red and he had his jaw clenched so tight it was a wonder he didn’t break his teeth.

            I walked to shake his hand halfway in between the two podiums as instructed – instead he turned and walked away. His smooth demeanor was gone and his ass attitude was already showing. I was willing to bet any agreement was gone.

            The moderator Marvin Sinclair ask who wanted to go first.

            ”Let the candidate go first; he has the most to lose or gain,” I said.

            The first question was on Social Security taxes.

            Albert went into a long spiel on why Social Security withholding should be doubled for both the employee and employer, making it twenty five percent.

            The liberal plan was for all the homeless to be able to collect the max social security payment, regardless of age and amount they had contributed to the fund.

            I shot that down easily, ”Employees will not stand for a twelve percent tax for Social Security regardless of your party’s good intentions. Employers would not stand for it either. They will get out of it by reducing the number of employees or simply outsource all manufacturing. Then you end up with fewer employees paying into the fund,” I said.

            ”There is no way that the Social Security fund should be used for that even if it made sense to do it. It should be from general revenue funds,” I added.

            The next question was on income taxes.

            ”I want to raise all tax rates above fifty thousand by twenty percent with all income above a million dollars taxed at eighty percent. In addition to that I want a wealth tax of twenty percent on all individuals with a net worth over a million dollars.”

            ”I want to give all immigrants, the homeless and minorities a ten year minimum income of forty thousand dollars to give them a jump start back into the economy. With the tax increases we can do that and more,” Albert said.

            I countered with ”First off you fail to recognize that all the wealthy can and will leave the country. In the modern economy money and wealth is fluid; in a matter of hours it can be transferred out of the country, then you won’t have anything to tax. Wealth is not anchored down – stocks and bonds can be sold or transferred to holdings out of the country and property can be quickly sold.”

            ”With the tax rates you are proposing, someone working and making fifty thousand dollars is going to have less money than you are giving illegals and the homeless. How do you think that is going to work? Not for long.”

            ”You would also have to change the Constitution to make a wealth tax legal. That takes two third of the states, and sixty six votes in the Senate. That was tried before. Odds of that happening are slim to none,” I said.

            ”If you give them forty thousand a year, there is no incentive to learn or produce anything in that time. At the end of ten years they will be waiting on the next handout, thinking they are entitled and deserving,” I said.

            The next question was on defense spending.

            ”I want to cut the defense department by seventy five percent and use the money for infrastructure and social programs,” Albert said.

            ”With a seventy five percent cut, you won’t have any defense other than a few Cuban style gunboats. Practically all bases will be closed in every state. You don’t understand how our military bases and the military reserves serve the needs our country at home and on the world stage. You certainly don’t understand how many local jobs depend on every military base or how bases respond to the community in emergencies,” I said.

            ”Apparently you have no idea how many companies or how many employees work for us to have the best and most competitive military in the world. You also fail to understand just how much technology makes its way from the military R&D to the consumer market,” I said.

            ”You also have no idea just how big the weapons export business is and that is promoted by having a first rate military using the equipment,” I added.

            ”The airplane, GPS, computers, radar, the ability to put men in space and now on Mars, automotive vehicles, wireless communications, nylon and artificial rubber were all improved by or created with R&D from the military making them reliable,” I said.

            The insanity went on and on; freebies, fully open borders, free medical, free college, free housing, minimum income for anyone – citizen or not. Raise the gas tax to ten dollars a gallon. Eliminate all fossil fuel use in five years and internal combustion vehicles in five years.

            He was copying the liberal California political model – the one I had destroyed by putting the idiots in jail after the state fell apart.

            I cut apart his every answer to the bone as to why it wouldn’t work, why it would destroy various segments of the economy and why unemployment would skyrocket.          

            ”Job training would be offered for the newly unemployed,” he said.

            I countered with, ”Your job training for the unemployed is worthless when there would be no jobs for them.” I went on to explained why seniority and benefits were so important to the average worker and why the labor unions and big business spent decades building on them to retain quality employees.

            ”Just how do you justify throwing millions of employees in their late fifties and early sixties into the unemployment line when they were at the peak of their earning power and benefits? A position they would never regain in their lifetime with any new job,” I asked.

            ”They will start at the bottom of the pay and benefits slope, even if they find a job. All of this for your fantasy pipe dreams. For all of the industries you are wanting to close there will be no new jobs needing their life learned skills. The last ten years is when most employees contribute the most to retirement plans. Those retirements will be gone and their standard of living for the rest of their life will impacted,” I said.

            I gave him no room on the policies he was wanting to implement. He was getting really flustered and was impatient and argumentative by the time we came to the forty five minute break.

            And then came the open mike fiasco for him. He was so mad when he went behind the curtain – to our separate room as I did – he forgot to turn his mike off.

            ”I don’t know who the dumb son of a bitch that talked me into agreeing to this debate with that fucked up bitch was but I’m not going back out there. Tell them I’ve got a headache or sick or something.”

            ”Debating her would be a piece of cake. What a crock of shit that was. You said I overly prepared. If I was overly prepared, what was she? A fucking encyclopedia on steroids?”

            ”The mike – the mike, you still have it on!” one of his aides yelled. “Turn it off.”

            It was too late for that – every word had been blasted into the packed auditorium and on the TV. The anchors were discussing the first part of the debate live. They had plenty to talk about after that.

            There was shouting from the room as I walked back to the podium.

            At the podium I talked with the moderators while we waited. The TV people were counting down time and announced they were live. The liberal candidate had not returned.

            ”If you want to go ahead with the questions we can continue,” I said.

            ”The desk is asking if you would allow us to do just that,” he said.

            ”The war – how is the war with Iran going? There is not a lot of information coming out on the ground war,” he said.

            ”The ground war is going well with real progress every day. Causalities are remarkably low. In fact we have more deaths and injuries from accidents than enemy fire,” I said.

            ”What do you credit the low causalities to?” he asked.

            ”The Navy and Air Force bombing campaign, the selection of targets and good weather. When intelligence locates the enemy, missiles and bombs get there first before ground troops do. The ground forces have the best air support we have ever had for the troops and they are making the best of it,” I said.

            ”Madam President, you have been doing fund raisers for the party even as the Vice President. The crowds have been huge with the response very positive. You seem to enjoy being in front of the people. Have you considered running for the President?” he asked.

            ”To say the thought had not crossed my mind would be a lie. I have enjoyed meeting the people. The crowds and I both seem to feed on the energy created at the rallies. I will campaign for the nominee whoever it may be. I think when the convention is over we will have a candidate all of us can support,” I said.

            ”The network has been running a question at the bottom of the screen while we have been on the air. That question is ‘If she were to run, would you vote for President Jones in the upcoming election?”

            ”Seventy five percent of those that responded voted yes, that is a strong show of support. Another one that might interest you is the odds of you running for President by the Vegas bookies are 7 to 1 in favor. Another one from the bookies is 8 to 1 on you winning the election,” Marvin said.

            ”I think the outcome at the convention will answer all questions,” I said.

A few more words with Marvin and I thanked the crowd for coming and listening to the process. The lights went dim on the stage.

            My mates had Carl Isham cornered by the wall in conversation that went hushed as I walked to them.

            Two hours later we were back at the White House unwinding from the flight. Because I had read updates on the flight we went straight to the living quarters. It had been a good night; they were happy and I was too.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.