by Allan Topol
At Frankfort Airport, she called Moshe from a public phone. “Dubai worked out the way we had hoped,” she said. “I took a lot of good pictures.”
“Where are you off to now?”
“We’re headed back home, to the good old USA.”
“I’ll bet you can’t wait to get there.”
“You can say that again.”
“How’s Carl?”
“You know the professor. He’s always eager to get to the next thing.”
Chapter 15
“Play that damn tape one more time,” Margaret Joyner said to Sagit and David in a voice trembling with anger. “I want to hear the entire forty-five minutes that General Chambers was with Colonel Khalid.”
The three of them were alone in Joyner’s office at CIA headquarters in Langley.
As the tape started to play a second time, Margaret leaned back in her burgundy leather high-backed chair, with her glasses up on her head and her eyes closed, listening carefully to each word and intonation. Her hands were joined together, with her fingers interlocking, and pulled up under her chin. Deep creases lined her forehead. She was stunned by the tape. How could Chambers do this? she thought. The answer came to her in an instant. Because he was an arrogant egomaniac who thought he knew more than anybody else in Washington—a self-anointed demigod who was divinely designated to make national security decisions. She was trying to piece together Chambers’ motivation for backing Khalid. Did he believe that military rule in Saudi Arabia would be preferable for the United States to a fundamentalist regime, allied to Iran, which was the other alternative as the House of Saud crumbled? Or was he worried about the possibility of the United States becoming bogged down in a protracted land war in the Middle East, as it had in Vietnam? Regardless of his motives, this was still wrong. He was usurping the power of the President, and he should be discharged from the military.
When the tape was finished, she took off her glasses and fiddled with them. Sagit and David sat silently, letting her think, waiting for the verdict.
Finally, she said, “Well, you answered the two questions that I asked. The Saudi ringleader is Colonel Khalid. And Madame Blanc’s not worried about the possibility of American intervention on the side of the king because Khalid’s assured her that he’s gained the support of General Chambers. So I guess you’ve carried out your end of the bargain. You’re entitled to immunity from prosecution.”
While relieved to hear her words, David had no intention of stopping. “But this is only the beginning;” he said. “How do we proceed now against Chambers?”
“We don’t do anything,” Joyner said curtly. “I’m going to install you two in a little country inn, the Hilltop, about half an hour from here in the Virginia countryside. We sometimes use it as a safe house. The question is what do I do now, and right now I’m not sure.” She tossed her glasses on the desk. “This is so damned explosive,” she continued. “If I go to the President first, he’ll ask me if I’ve played the tape for General Chambers, and what does the good General have to say about it? And if I go to Chambers first, he’ll scream bloody murder and go on the attack.”
“But what can Chambers possibly do?” David asked. “I’d give anything to be there when that pompous jerk hears the tape. The evidence is so clear and convincing. It nails him to the wall.”
The CIA Director gave a short, nervous laugh. “You of all people shouldn’t underestimate General Chambers. Besides, he hates you so much that he’ll do anything to destroy you.”
“And I feel the same way about him.” David’s tone was hostile and belligerent. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s payback time, and I’ll shout for joy when the President strips those medals off his jacket and tosses him out of the military.”
Joyner was irritated. “You two boys can play your games of macho revenge if you want to, but I won’t let President Waltham or our government get caught up in the cross fire. We’ve got an important question to face right now: do we go to the Saudi king and tell him about Colonel Khalid?”
“You can’t do that.” David protested. “You’d be signing Khalid’s death warrant.”
Joyner brushed a few strands of gray hair out of her eyes. “Of course, you don’t want us to tell the Saudi king about Khalid. You want Khalid and his military buddies to succeed. That’s where you were five years ago.”
“Khalid’s a good man. Saudi Arabia would be a lot better with him in charge, rather than the corrupt and repressive House of Saud.”
“At least you’re consistent.”
“Really, Margaret.” David said, raising his voice, while he leaned across the desk, close to her. “Khalid’s the only chance for that country, which means he’s the only chance for assuring the continued flow of Saudi oil to the United States in the long run.”
“Don’t you shout at me.”
David pulled back. “Sorry. I got a little carried away.”
Furious, she stared at him. “No offense, Mr. Nielsen, but you forfeited your right to participate in the American government’s decision on this issue, when you decided to turn tail and run five years ago. Now that the exile’s returned, he doesn’t get to pick up where he left off.”
“I had no choice,” he replied sharply.
Sagit squirmed in her chair, unhappy that the discussion with Joyner had taken this confrontational tone, but not knowing what to do about it.
Joyner was ready with a harsh retort to David. “I know that’s what you thought at the time, but have you ever considered that you may have been wrong?”
“Hindsight’s always twenty-twenty. I would still have done it the same way, but I’m not the issue now, General Chambers is.”
Sagit saw her opportunity, “Yes, unfortunately, General Chambers is the issue,” she interjected.
“I’m afraid you’re right, Sagit,” Joyner responded in a softer voice. Then she chuckled sardonically. “Here’s the irony, Greg.”
“David, please. I’ve gotten used to it.”
“Here’s the irony. You agree with what General Chambers is trying to do, namely keep the U.S. on the sidelines and let Khalid bring down the House of Saud.”
“Yes.”
“At the same time, you want to destroy Chambers to get even with him for what he did to you five years ago. You’re walking quite an intellectual tightrope there.”
“I realize that, but he hung himself. He’s crossed the line. He’s usurped the power of the President. When I used to live here, that violated something called the Constitution. I presume it still does. I just think President Waltham should be the one to make the decision of what action the United States takes in response to Khalid’s coup.”
She pointed to the bruises on David’s face that were now healing. “What happened to you?” she asked.
“Someone tried to kill me in Paris. A couple of Iranians. For the help I gave the Shah at the end, they put me near the top of their hit list. Even higher than Salmon Rushdie.”
“Who tipped off Tehran about you?”
“That’s what I want to know. At the time, I included you on my list of possibilities, Margaret.”
Sagit cringed at his words. Not too tactful, David, she thought.
“Are you crazy? “the CIA director fired back.
“Why not? I was a renegade agent. The Paris attack happened right after Sagit came to Washington.”
Outraged, Joyner shot to her feet. Her face was bright red. She raised her right arm, poised to throw him out of the office. “The hot desert sun must have fried your brain. You sound like a paranoid fool. I wouldn’t have been fighting for your immunity at the same time I was arranging for your execution.”
“Forgive me. I shouldn’t have said that.” He thought about his conversation with Victor Foch at the French café after the attack. “It’s just that everybody seems to have a good excuse, but sooner or later, I’m going to find out who did it.”
Joyner glanced out of the window, trying to make up her mind how to proceed.
&
nbsp; They watched her in silence. Finally, she turned back to her desk and gathered up the notes she had made this morning, into a neat pile.
Sagit asked: “Well, Margaret, what did you decide? Whom do you go to first, President Waltham, or General Chambers?”
“Neither. First I go to the techies downstairs. I want a written statement from a sound expert that it’s really General Chambers’ voice on that tape.”
Sagit looked horrified. “You don’t think that I—”
“No, of course not, but at least I want to take that argument away from General Chambers. After that, my next stop will be the Oval Office. The boss was anxious to get his tax cut bill through the Congress before they recess for the election, but it’s not going to happen. So he’s cranky and unpredictable these days. I don’t want to risk Chambers getting in there before I do.”
Joyner buzzed her secretary and told her to arrange transportation for Sagit and David to Hilltop. Then she turned back to her visitors.
“One question that’s going to come up is how you two happened to get this tape of General Chambers’ conversation.”
Sagit looked at David, who responded without hesitating. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”
Joyner was astounded. “C’mon. You’ve got to do better than that.”
“I’m sorry, Margaret. The tape will have to speak for itself.”
“That won’t make my job any easier.” She paused. “We can start that way for now, but don’t be surprised if I come back to you on this point.”
* * *
“I can’t believe Brad would do this,” an incredulous President Waltham said to Joyner.
They were alone in the Oval Office. On the other side of the thick bulletproof windows, half a dozen gardeners in gray overalls raked leaves.
“There’s got to be a mistake. Are you sure the tape’s accurate?”
“I ran it through the Agency’s voice lab before coming over, and I personally spoke to Yoshi Ueno, our top sound expert. She says that it’s clearly General Chambers’ voice. That’s good enough for me.”
Waltham’s face showed the anguish of betrayal. “But if it’s accurate,” the President said, “then that means Brad thinks he’s the President of the United States, because he sure as hell never talked to me about any of this. Right?”
“I think that’s a reasonable conclusion.”
“Do you remember anybody electing my supposed friend, General Chambers, to be President of the United States?” he asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Not that I recall.”
He waved his hands in disgust. “Christ, this whole thing makes me madder’n hell. I should fire the bastard like Truman did with MacArthur. What do you think?”
Instead of waiting for her answer, he hit the intercom and picked up the phone, “Kathy, get the attorney general on the horn.”
Seconds later, Ed Simpson was on the phone.
“I’ve got an emergency that needs your immediate attention,” the President said. “Drop whatever you’re doing and get over here right now.”
“I’m on my way, Harry.”
* * *
Joyner sketched in the background for a flabbergasted attorney general. Then she played the tape again. As she listened to it for what was now the fourth time, Joyner practically had Chambers’ words memorized.
When it was finished, the President turned to Simpson and said, “That fucker Chambers is out of line. Plain and simple. And as commander-in-chief, I should fire him ASAP. Don’t you agree, Ed?”
The attorney general glanced at Joyner, paused to straighten the blue polka-dot bow tie that he was wearing with matching suspenders, and looked over at the President. “I’ll reserve my judgment until I hear what General Chambers has to say.”
The president snorted. “Typical waffling lawyer answer.”
“No, I’m serious, Harry. I know that wasn’t the answer you were looking for, but I told you when I took this job that I wouldn’t be a yes man. I wouldn’t be one of those attorney generals who is in the president’s pocket. I’d give you my honest independent judgment on legal issues. It hasn’t been easy. But I think I’ve done it, and you’ve been the better for it.”
“All right, Mr. Integrity. Since we know from the CIA sound people that it’s General Chambers’ voice, you tell me what Chambers could possibly say that would justify his words on the tape.”
Simpson shrugged. “I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that I learned long ago, as both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer, never to reach a conclusion about guilt until the accused gets his chance to respond.”
The President scowled. “I guess that’s what I deserve for taking you off the bench and making you AG.”
“No, I’m serious, Harry. Personally, I’ve never been fond of General Chambers. He’s slick and manipulative with the press and with other top officials in the government.”
“With me, too?”
Simpson gulped hard. “Well, let’s just say he’s worked mightily to ingratiate himself with you. So I’ve got no brief for Chambers, but he’s still entitled to his day in court…so to speak.”
“Okay, Ed, I want you to undertake an investigation. You be the judge, but for God’s sake, conduct your inquiry with speed, in real time. Not lawyers time. I’m talking hours, not days and weeks. This thing’s unfolding too fast. If this tape’s accurate, we’re talking about a coup in ten days in the world’s richest source of oil. And make sure it stays out of the press.”
* * *
Following the President’s order, the AG moved on the inquiry that afternoon. He summoned General Chambers to his office on the fifth floor of Main Justice—the gray stone structure that occupies a whole block between ninth and tenth on Pennsylvania Avenue. With Chambers and Joyner seated on opposite sides of a rectangular conference table, and Simpson at one end, he directed his secretary to play the tape. Being an experienced trial lawyer, he kept his eyes trained on the general as the tape played. Chambers looked down at the table, listening with a cold, detached expression, stroking his jaw and shaking his head.
When it was over, Chambers shot to his feet in righteous indignation. ‘Who made this goddamned slanderous phony tape?” he shouted.
Simpson replied, “There’s no need to raise your voice like that.” Then he turned to Joyner.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” she replied.
“But Greg Nielsen delivered it to you. Didn’t he?”
“That’s correct.”
Chambers charged around the room with his hands behind his back and a surly expression on his face. “The bastard’s trying to ruin me. He’s still carryin’ on our battle from five years ago. Where the hell is he? I want him to explain how he got that fuckin’ tape.”
Simpson interjected. “You can sit down and lower your voice, General Chambers.”
“I’m sorry, Ed,” Chambers said, sounding abashed. Then he continued in a soft pleasant voice, trying to persuade the attorney general that he was the reasonable one in this imbroglio. “This whole thing’s so outrageous. I lost it for a minute.” Watching the general return to his chair, Simpson was beginning to doubt the accuracy of the tape. Could Chambers be that good an actor?
“Now, tell me, General Chambers, what difference does it make how Nielsen got the tape?”
“All the difference in the world, Ed.” His voice was smooth and self-confident. He was ready for a man-to-man chat with Simpson, whom he was now looking at exclusively, as if they were a couple of good old boys getting together in the locker room after a round of golf. “Because the whole thing’s a damned lie, mister. The tape’s a fabrication. A creation of modern technology.”
“Do you deny that you participated in the conversation with Colonel Khalid, portrayed on this tape”
“Of course I deny it. I had a meeting on September 24th with Colonel Khalid in Riyadh. That much is true. But we discussed expanded cooperation between the Saudi and American air forces,
and that was all. This tape’s a phony. I’ll tell you what happened very candidly. Nielsen must have had somebody bug my meeting with Khalid and then take a tape of that meeting, put it together with recorded public speeches of mine, and use sophisticated sound equipment to make up this phony tape.” He paused and looked pointedly at Joyner. “Since he pulled crap like this, he’s obviously not carryin’ out his end of the bargain we made. In my opinion, he just blew the deal for the immunity we gave him. He should go straight to jail to await trial for what he did to me and the Americans who died at Dhahran five years ago. And if you hand me a Bible, I’ll swear to every word I just told you.”
“How about a polygraph?” Joyner asked.
Without hesitating, Chambers replied. “Absolutely.”
The AG weighed Chambers words and then turned to Joyner: “Could Nielsen have prepared a phony tape the way General Chambers just said?”
“I don’t know for sure. I’ll have to ask our sound people.”
“But what do you think? Is it possible?”
Chambers was nodding his head.
The AG added, “Talk to the your technical people in Langley this afternoon, Margaret. Ask them whether it would be possible to prepare this tape using an individual’s recorded statements. General Chambers, you can do the same with DIA. Then both of you meet me back here tomorrow morning at ten.” Simpson paused. “General Chambers, I’ll listen to anything else you have tomorrow morning as well. After that, I’ll file my report with the President. I’m doing this according to the book.”
Chambers looked pleased to hear that. In a relaxed, complimentary voice, he replied, “I don’t doubt that, Ed. You’ve always played fair, and I appreciate that.”
* * *
It was the height of the afternoon rush hour when General Chambers’ limousine pulled away from the entrance to the Department of Justice on Pennsylvania Avenue and began the slow trek back toward the Pentagon. The Fourteenth Street Bridge resembled a parking lot, and the black Lincoln Town Car inched along in traffic. In the backseat, the general was on the car phone with Major Corbin, the head of internal security at American military command headquarters in Saudi Arabia, whom he had just woken out of a sound sleep.