12 ST. CHARLES STREET
MAYFAIR, LONDON
JANUARY 15, 2012
1100 HOURS LONDON TIME
Lady Catherine tapped her pen several times against her teacup to interrupt the heated debate.
"Gentlemen, in less than ten hours we have a team entering Pakistan. We have not identified the second target so I would suggest we reverse our methods. Instead of trying to define the target, let us ask the question that has been haunting us from the very start. Who benefits if there is no peace? Who benefits if there is continual combat?"
Robert Boehm stood up and used the back of his chair to stretch his cramped leg muscles. "Sorry, I took the red eye over. We all know that our governments don't stand to benefit if these wars continue. President Obama has been trying to get us out of Afghanistan since last August. The problem is that we don't have a stable government in Afghanistan."
Francois Balzac shook his head in frustration as he interrupted. "Not all governments have to be based on the American model or the British model or the French model! We are equally guilty of the sins of bad government and fiscal irresponsibility. Merde, I would even accuse all our governments of being as corrupt as the Afghanistan government. The only difference is that we paper over our sins with laws and proclaim that we are chaste and pure."
"What do you mean?" Robert Boehm demanded. "My government may be inefficient, but it is definitely not corrupt!"
"Robert," Francois drawled as he pronounced his friend's name with the French inflection that he knew infuriated him. "Your government passes laws which obfuscate any logical, legal arguments. For example, if you bomb the Louvre Museum in an act of war, the Laws of War requires you, the aggressor, to rebuild it back to the original standard. Do you not agree?"
"Of course I agree, Francois. Make your point!"
"So you blow up most of Iraq with your Shock and Awe campaign. Everyone knows you have to rebuild some of it. We all knew you could never rebuild all of it. You ship $23 billion of the Iraqi funds you seized for reconstruction. It disappears." The French general grins and spread his hands expansively. "Three hundred and sixty tons of American one-hundred-dollar bills! Who benefits from the rebuilding? Only American firms." He paused. "If I was the CEO of Bechtel or the infamous Halliburton, would I not love war? I get to rebuild with American taxpayer's money and we all know that the work was substandard and mismanaged. You Americans built sewage plants in small Iraqi villages for which most American, British or French towns would kill for. Your construction industry is the beneficiary that is protected by a legal framework. Hell, Bechtel is run by all of your old President Reagan's cronies." Francois shrugged. "We won't talk about the rest out of respect for you, Robert."
"I take umbrage to that statement!"
"Mon ami, do not take umbrage. Just deny the facts, if I am incorrect. Your construction and defense industries are doing a booming business. The other people who benefit are your government appointees and think tanks. Your taxpayers pay and these people reap the benefits. I don't think your country gains anything from this, but people like Perle, Wolfowitz, Galbraith and the rest of them make fortunes which they could not have made without your war fighting capabilities."
Robert shook his head. "I can't argue with those names, but I can see where you are heading. Your next shot is at Halliburton and Vice President Cheney. Well let me counter that. How many Europeans benefit from the license fees for all those weapons and munitions the American Army uses?"
Francois grinned. "We all make money, but the British and Germans make the most from your country because you don't know how to make small arms for your infantry." He held his hands up. "Except perhaps for your M-16, but the real profit is in building BIG weapon systems." He grinned as he held his hands apart in a gesture. "The Germans, British and Italians like building infantry weapons."
YOU ARE READING
The Shaddad Conspiracy
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