condolences to Hood on the death of Martha Mackall. The President commented on the loss of a young and talented diplomat, and said that he had already assigned someone the job of organizing a quiet memorial tribute to her. Hood thanked him. President Lawrence was very good and also very sincere when it came to human touches like that.
Then he turned abruptly to the business at hand. The President was also very good when it came to shifting gears.
“I just got off the phone with the Vice-President and with the Spanish ambassador, Senor Garcia Abril,” the President said. He took a sip of the black coffee. “As some of you know, the situation in Spain is very confused from a military standpoint. The police have been putting down some riots while ignoring others. Carol, you want to quickly address that?”
Lanning nodded. She consulted her notes. “The police and the army have been ignoring riots by Castilians against other groups,” she said. “Churches all across the nation are being forced to cope with literally thousands of people coming to them for sanctuary.”
“Are they providing it?” Burkow asked.
“They were,” she replied, rifling through her papers, “until the crowds became too great in some locations — like Parroquia Maria Reina in Barcelona and Iglesia del Senor in Seville. Now they’ve literally locked the doors and are refusing to admit anyone else. In a few cases the local police have been called in to remove people from churches — a move, I should add, which is being privatelydenounced by the Vatican although they’re going to urge ‘restraint and compassion’ in a public statement later today.”
“Thank you,” the President said. “There seem to be three entirely separate factions running Spain at the moment. According to Ambassador Abril — who has always been very frank with me — the representatives in parliament are working their districts very hard, asking them to stay out of the fighting and to continue doing their jobs. They’re promising the people anything in exchange for their support after the crisis. They’re hoping to come out of this with blocs of voters to use as leverage in forming a new government.”
“You mean, forming a new government within the present system?” Lanning asked. “Or are they talking about creating a new government with a different system?”
“I’m getting to that,” the President said. “The prime minister has virtually no support — in the parliament or among the people. He’s expected to resign within a day or two. Abril says that the king, who is at his residence in Barcelona, will be able to count on the support of the church and most of the population apart from the Castilians.”
“Which is somewhat less than a majority,” Burkow pointed out.
“About forty-five percent of the people,” the President said. “Which puts the king in a very shaky position. We’re told that his palace in Madrid is thick with soldiers, though no one’s sure whether the troops are there to protect the place or to keep him from coming back.”
“Or both,” Lanning remarked. “Just like the Winter Palace when Czar Nicholas was forced to abdicate.”
“Quite possibly,” the President said. “But it gets worse. Paul — Bob Herbert and Mike Rodgers have sent over the latest data on the military. You want to address that?”
Hood folded his hands on the table. “There’s a general who appears to be running this show — Rafael Amadori. According to our intelligence, he orchestrated the destruction of the yacht in the Bay of Biscay, which killed several leading businessmen who were also planning to bring down the government. He also appears to have been responsible for the death of Deputy Serrador. That’s the man who my political chief Martha Mackall was on her way to see when she was killed this morning.” Hood’s voice dropped along with his eyes. “We have reason to believe that Serrador set her up with the help of the party on the yacht.”
“Bob Herbert said he’s working to confirm that,” the President said. “The problem is, even if we found out that part of the government was involved in a conspiracy, the rest of the lawfully elected government may not be around to hear our complaint. Now the policy of the United States, and of this Administration, has always been not to interfere in the internal affairs of a nation. The exceptions, like Panama, like Grenada, involved issues of national security. The problem here, and what General VanZandt is especially concerned about, is that Spain is a NATO ally. The outcome of the current strife will probably cause a reshaping of the government — but we can’t afford to have a tyrant running the nation. We left Franco alone because he didn’t have designs on other nations.”
“That’s only because he saw from the sidelines what we did to Mussolini and Hitler,” Burkow pointed out.
“Whatever the reasons, he stayed put,” the President said. “That may not be the case here. General VanZandt?”
The tall, distinguished African-American officer opened a folder in front of him. “I have here a printout on the man’s career. He signed up with the army thirty-two years ago and worked his way through the ranks. He was on the right side — or rather the left side — of the right-wing coup which attempted to overthrow the king in 1981. He was wounded in action and received a medal for bravery. After that he rose quickly. Interestingly, he never opposed NATO but he didn’t participate in joint maneuvers. In letters to superior officers he advocated a strong national defense which didn’t rely on outside help—“interference,” he called it. He did, however, spend a lot of time entertaining and being entertained by Soviet troops during the 1980s. CIA intelligence puts him in Afghanistan in 1982 as an observer.”
“No doubt he was observing how to oppress people,” Carol Lanning suggested.
“It’s very possible,” VanZandt replied. “During this time Amadori was also heavily involved in Spanish military intelligence and appears to have used his trips abroad to establish contacts there. His name came up in at least two CIA debriefings of captured Soviet spies.”
“In what context?” Hood asked.
VanZandt looked down at the printout. “In one case as a man whom the spy had seen at a meeting with a Soviet officer — Amadori was wearing his nameplate — and in the second case as someone to whom intelligence was to be reported in a matter involving a West German businessman who was trying to buy a Spanish newspaper.”
“So,” the President said, “what we’re dealing with here is someone who’s familiar with a failed coup in his own country and with antirebel tactics in other nations. He also has a lifetime of contacts, intelligence gathering capability, and virtual control of the Spanish military. Ambassador Abril fears, and not without some justification, that both Portugal and France are at risk. Running Spain as a military state, Amadori would be ideally positioned to undermine both governments over time and move troops in.”
“Over NATO’s dead body,” VanZandt said.
“You forget, General,” the President replied. “Amadori appears to have engineered this takeover as a progovernment action. He allowed a conspiracy to get going and then crushed it. It’s a brilliant strategy: let an enemy show itself then crush it. And while you’re crushing it, make the government look corrupt and crush them too.”
“Whether he runs France or Portugal personally or puts in a puppet regime,” Lanning said thoughtfully, “he still calls the shots.”
“Exactly,” said the President. “What came out of my conversation with Abril and the Vice-President is that there’s going to be a new government in Spain. There’s no dispute about that. But we also agreed that whoever comes to power in Spain, it mustn’t be Amadori. So the first question is, do we have the time and sufficient manpower to turn anyone there against him? And if not, is there any way that we can get to him ourselves?”
VanZandt shook his head and sat back. “This is a rotten business, Mr. President,” he said. “A dirty, rotten business.”
“I think so too, General,” the President replied. He sounded surprisingly contrite. “But unless anyone’s got any ideas, I don’t see any way around it.”
“How about waiting?” CIA Director Fox asked. “This Amadori may self-destruct. Or the people may not buy him.”
“Every indication is that he’s getting stronger by the hour,” said the President. “It may be by default: he’s killing the opposition. Am I wrong about that, Paul?”
Hood shook his head. “One of my people was there when he executed factory workers who may—
“When did this happen?” Lanning asked, openly horrified.
“Within the hour,” Hood told her.
