Dream of a Falling Eagle

'You're an atheist, aren't you?'

'My mother taught me never to discuss sex, religion, or politics in polite company. Let's just say that if I had my way, every single so-called 'house of worship' on the planet would be outfitted with a sign warning that 'the creationist and exclusionary fantasies for sale in this establishment are hazardous to your health and the health of others.''

'So you don't love God. How can you live without God?'

'How can you live with God? I'll admit it can sometimes be a bitch taking responsibility for your own actions, and holding other people accountable for theirs, but I still don't understand how you can live with the chauvinistic, ill-tempered, stand-up comedian so many humans call God. It truly is a mystery to me. If I did believe in this deity, I'd be a guerrilla fighter looking for a suitable replacement. I mean, your guy is worse than useless; he's arbitrary.'

'And you have no love for this country?'

'I don't believe countries should be loved or hated; they should constantly be improved by the people who live within their borders, and especially by their leaders. People like you. You asked me if I loved this geographical entity called the United States. I'll ask you if you really think you're improving it by all the divisive things you say and do. If I'm even half right, if much of what comes out of your mouth is posturing and tap dancing to stay in office collecting a government paycheck and accumulating ever greater power, is that patriotism?'

To my surprise, he did not reply. To my even greater surprise, I found myself giving him points for the honesty of his silence. To my utter astonishment, in that moment I felt a kind of bonding with the man, if not much affection.

'I believe the United States to be the most diverse and complex society on earth, Mr. Speaker,' I continued quietly. 'Anybody who tries to wrap his mind around the whole thing just gets brain sprain. Nobody should say they understand this country.'

'I say I understand this country, Frederickson. And I do love this country with all my heart. There's something wrong with a man who doesn't love his country.'

'Yeah, but people like you would feel exactly the same way about Russia if that's where you'd been born; that's religion, not rationality. I find the United States to be a relatively safe, comfortable, and pleasurable place in which to live and go about my business. This society allows me to create my own country, if you will, and I'm grateful for that. I want to keep it that way, for myself and for others. But sometimes you have to snip out a few tumors if you want to keep a body healthy.'

'We need the CIA, Frederickson. Who's going to protect you- protect all of us-when the KGB is in ascendancy again?'

'Hopefully, a responsible and professional intelligence service that isn't run like an old boys' social club and that doesn't spend decades seriously exaggerating the strength of the enemy in order to feather their nest and fill their rice bowl. That's what the CIA has done.'

'The world is still a very dangerous place, Frederickson.'

'Made more dangerous by those Ops lads in Langley. This country spends upwards of forty-eight billion dollars a year on its intel- '

'Where did you get that number? It's classified.'

'Spare me. The key word in Central Intelligence Agency is central. The director is supposed to coordinate the activities of the dozen other intelligence agencies, from the military to the State Department. That's a good idea. But the CIA doesn't want to supervise and coordinate the show; they insist on being the show. You've got lunatics in Ops over there. I know that because I've also been hunted, shot at, and tortured by the CIA. The KGB is the Russians' problem; the CIA is ours. I'm just trying to do my part to solve that problem.'

'You grossly exaggerate the allegedly illegal or harmful acts of the CIA. You have a personal agenda.'

'You bet I do. If you ever have a couple of days to spare and are interested in really being briefed on some of the stunts those Ops people have pulled, I'll be happy to oblige you.'

'You're wasting your time, you know,' Kranes said tersely. 'Nothing is going to happen to the CIA. There's almost certain to be a change of administrations in the next election, and the new president isn't likely to act on a single one of any of the recommendations you people make.'

'I suspect you're at least half right. But the report will be out there, and don't be so sure nothing is going to happen. If the report is sound, and it will be, and the CIA's misbehavior has been egregious, which it has been, doing nothing in order to preserve the status quo will be an embarrassment to you and your party, not to the commission. I'm not talking romantic Cold War cloak-and-dagger skulduggery here, Kranes; this is about serious criminal activity.'

'Diversion of funds from arms sales? Old news. Most of the country applauds what the CIA did in that situation. The goal was righteous.'

'Yeah, well, let's see how hard people clap when they find out that the company has been systematically funneling bundles of money into the coffers of right-wing PACs in this country. It may be common knowledge that they try to rig elections in other countries, but I think not a few people are going to be surprised to find out that they try to do the same thing right here on American soil. As a matter of fact, three-quarters of a million dollars that flowed to your very own Get-Back organization was given to you by the CIA.'

'That's a lie!' Kranes snapped, leaping to his feet. 'Are you accusing me of-'

'Sit down and relax, Mr. Speaker. I'm not accusing you of anything. Neither you nor any of your money managers knew where the money really came from. Then again, you often go out of your way not to look too closely at some of your financial benefactors, but that's a different discussion. The three-quarter mil was carefully laundered-just not carefully enough. The CIA doesn't go around writing 'CIA' on its checks. Does the name Pluto Products ring a bell? They contributed the money. But that company doesn't make any products, Plutonic or otherwise. It's a CIA front, a shell that formally had headquarters in Haiti. That one we can prove. You see, the lads and lassies of Langley make every effort to use and manipulate certain politicians in this country the same as you use and manipulate people. There's a certain irony in that, don't you think?'

Kranes, red-faced, didn't sit, and he didn't relax. Instead he balled up his fists and leaned forward on his desk. 'I've never taken any money from the CIA! It would be illegal for them to even offer it!'

'There you go.'

'I still say it's a lie!'

'You'll be a better judge of that when the report is released. You can examine the data for yourself. Then we'll see if you're still so anxious to keep things just the way they are.'

'You're not this country, Frederickson! I'm this country!'

'You're probably right, and so what? What does that have to do with the need to abolish, or at least drastically reorganize, the CIA? They're certainly not the country either.'

'You're working for a bunch of disloyal and discredited ultra-liberal social engineers who still want to tear down this country and its institutions even after the American people have booted them out of office!'

'My, my. I do seem to have touched a nerve. You know, there's something missing in you people. I'm not sure what it is. It's not enough to call you mean-spirited, or hypocritical, or manipulative, or demagogic. It's more than that. First you ride to power by fanning hatred of the poor, blacks, immigrants, and just about everybody else who isn't white and middle-class. Then you work to actually throw all those people overboard. And now, here you are slobbering over the poor old CIA. What the hell's the matter with you?'

Kranes took a series of deep breaths, then slowly sat back down in his chair. 'Our business is finished, Dr. Frederickson,' he said evenly. 'I expect you to keep your part of the bargain, which means I don't expect to hear from you or Thomas Dickens again. Now get out of my office.'

I got out, called a taxi to take me to the airport. I was sorry I had wasted my time arguing politics with William P. Kranes, but I wasn't sorry I had flown down to Huntsville, and I wasn't sorry Garth and I had taken on the plagiarism case of Moby Dickens. I had Garth to thank for that. In fact, I felt good-better than at any time since Garth and I had received our invitation and marching orders from the head of the commission and we had plunged headlong into the assignment. The fact of the matter was that I had considerably more affection for the United States of America than I ever would have let on to William P. Kranes, for I believed he cheapened the currency of patriotism. I found America a truly remarkable nation, if for nothing else than its resiliency and the fact that it could survive leaders like Kranes. And I knew I was guilty of more than a little hypocrisy myself, and was not immune