[War] US: Yeah, and?

[John Penta]

"Yeah, and?"
Pres. John Williams
USA
===============
<Washington>

   Well, the Chinese had temporarily seemed to gain a march.

   The Gang of Eight was meeting again, in 30 minutes. But before
that, Williams was in his private office in the Residence, looking at
a different wall. One that had two pictures on it, now.

   The feelings in his head were familiar. Guilt, An aching sadness. A
self-doubt he tried not to show.

   A knock on the door.

   "Enter," Williams called brusquely.

   Secretary Abbot walked in...joined by Senator Obama? Curious.

   "Come to ask for my resignation?" Williams asked. "My
responsibility, Hong's right there."

   "No. Your pistol, Ioannes." Abbot replied. "Now."

   "What pistol? You think the Secret Service would let me have one?"

   "The one you keep in your desk with the other locked stuff."

    "I'm not going to use it, dammit."

    "I'm not taking the chsnce, adelphos. Your sidearm. Weapon to me,
ammunition to the Senator. You'll unload and clear it in front of us."

    "Will I ever get it back?"

     "Maybe. Ioannes, the black dog is bitin' hard right now, eh?"

     "Eh."

      "As I suspected."

      With that, Williams opened the first drawer to the right, first
from the top, with a key from around his right wrist, under his shirt
cuff. Drawer opened, out came a pistol, a , and an extra clip of
ammunition, which was handed to Senator Obama. The pistol was pointed
downwards, unloaded with a finger press, the ammunition handed to
Obama, and the empty chamber cleared with another motion. Then, the
gun was handed, grip-first, to Abbot, who placed it all in a case.

      "For the record, Mr. President, the Democratic party will not
accept your resignation,so don't offer it." Obama noted. "We approved
it too, remember."

      "Nor will your cabinet," Abbot added. "I know you feel guilty.
Just like how we both did after ops that went bad. But you aren't the
type to give up." Pause. "If you haven't, now would -"

      "Be a good time for him to take his meds? Yeah, I grabbed em
from Kay," Obama noted.

      "When the fuck did you find out, and from who?" Williams asked
suspiciously.

      "It's not hard to guess. Though, John...You should tell the
country, sometime." That from Kay, who walked through the door and
hugged her husband. "Not now, but sometime."

      "Why, so they and the world think me as incompetent as I feel,
probably am?"

      "No, because you talking about it would make it okay to talk
about, to get treatment for," noted John McCain, newly the Senate
Republican leader after Ted Stevens resigned to face corruption
charges in Alaska.

      "Enough about me. No more fucking Emo," Williams noted gruffly.
"Kay, if you'll leave us so the Covert Ops Committee can meet?"

      "Go to hell, John." Kay could be direct sometimes. Why he loved
her. Even when she made his life painful, he adored her honesty with
him. They'd broken up 3 times while they were dating, but had gotten
back together every time. "Not today."

       Glances showed....nobody else disagreed with her.

       As Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the group, including Hillary
Clinton as Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, gathered, Williams poured coffee for everyone. "So.
Options?"

       "Unless you want to start World War 3, a breakout isn't one of
them," Abbot noted.

       "There may be merit to admitting it. Aggressively," Obama replied.

       "And nuke our image internationally?" Williams replied.

       "They tortured our guys," McCain noted. "You can tell - they
were subtle, but you can tell by the pics."

        "They'll deny, deny, deny on that," Pelosi responded.

        "Just like Hanoi did," McCain replied. "The families?"

        "Notified as soon as we suspected capture," replied DNI Nick
Manfredi. "They're vehemently *against* negotiations, surprisingly."

        "Thought: Admit it, very matter-of-factly. Yes, we did. Just
like the Chinese supplied Vietnam, we intend to bleed them dry,"
Secstate Chris Hill offered.

         "And spark World War 3," Williams replied.

         "No, Eeyore. Not if we spin it right."

         "We've seen how bad I am at that, right?"

         "Only in your head. I'll do the spinning with assistance from
Congress."

          "Give us our people, alive, or face a trade embargo. We can
source from other Asian countries. India can pick up the slack," Nancy
Pelosi suggested.

          "I'll head to Asia, try to convince others to join in,"
noted John McCain.

          "I'll handle Europe," Clinton offered.

          "I'll handle Eastern Europe," Abbot noted.

          "I'll take Latin America," noted Nancy Pelosi.

          "I'll do Africa," offered Chris Hill.

          "No trade in PRC goods, no sales to the PRC, no shipping on
PRC ships or aircraft," Pelosi offered. "We'll let Commerce decide
where they're most vulnerable."

          "Oh, also. Taiwan gets another billion in arms sales
authorized, cash and carry basis," suggested Hillary Clinton.

          "And we'll have Congressional support for all that?" Williams asked.

           "Yeah. You agree to meet with Pastor Wilson?" asked Pelosi.

            "I already invited him for the 6th." Williams replied.

            "Then, deal. Anybody who speaks against it will run
against the party."

             "Both parties," clarified McCain.

             "Ladies and gentlemen, a toast? To our captured
comrades." Williams decided.

             "Our captured comrades."
----
Actions:
1. US Response: Yup, we did it. Just like you supplied the Viet Cong.
2. Leaders as above to travel the world to get support for trade
embargo vs PRC, until they withdraw from North Korea and return our
guys - ALIVE!
3. Taiwan, you had an arms request? Well, you got the money, we got
the gunny. Cash and carry, please. All checks payable to the US
Treasury, certified checks only.
4. John McCain to remind the world of the possibility of torture by the PRC.
5. What specifically gets embargoed to be decided by Commerce Dept.
6. Explain to the American people: There are some things more
important than low prices. Principles and our people are among them.
It'll not be fun, but this is what is sometimes required.