Chapter 171

An hour later Tammy was finished with the project. The first draft was just like I wanted. I had her transfer the drawing to the bottom of the letter I was returning to the General.

I called Ambassador Al Farsi to come pick my reply tomorrow morning - July first. The Ambassador was out of town and would not be able to pick it up until the afternoon of the following day - July second. It would take at least a day or more to get to the General.

If Ambassador Al Farsi handled it personally, he would have to take a flight to Europe - most likely through Germany - then a flight to Pakistan. The letter would then be taken by a VIP to Tehran to be hand delivered to the General on the afternoon of July the third or the morning of the fourth.

There was all kinds of planning for events for the Fourth of July. The Jones always had a big family cookout. It was going to be a noon-time cookout this year. I was going home Friday night to help set everything up and try to help with some of the cooking. At least that was my plan.

Then we were coming back to Washington for the big fireworks display at the mall. It was customary that the President be in attendance to give a patriotic speech to kick off the celebration. My family and I were going to watch the fireworks from the White House.

Frank brought in new satellite photos of the day from the Middle East and from Africa. We spent an hour going over them with a magnifying glass. Africa was still the same. My guess had been correct - it was a fake message - a security check for General Bashir’s communications.

The Middle East pictures were a different story. Iran was still building up troop vehicles and munitions at its forward camps. There was still no information on the target or targets.

Thursday night I was going to break the routine. I was going to sit for an hour in the Roosevelt room doing a live news interview. It was ZNN’s Washington Thursday evening political wrap up.

It was a politics only current events news show. Senators and representatives were always trying to pull strings to be a guest on the show, especially as elections came closer. They were one of the many political news shows.

ZNN’s was the most level headed out there. They were far more respectful of their guest than many of the liberal political shows. Melinda had been trying for months to get me on one of their shows. I finally agreed.

For an hour I answered rapid fire questions. They covered most everything that had happened politically for the last six months. There were extensive questions about the California, Oregon, Washington and New York homeless problems and the resulting actions I had taken.

The last twenty minutes were on Nigeria and Russia agreements. The reporter and I discussed the merits of the agreement and the long term ramifications. I glossed over areas where I still had concerns.

I did a video call to the girls and listened to JJ and RJ as they told me about their garden before going to bed. The girls and I talked an hour; it was in this conversation that I learned that Mom and Lisa were doing most of the cooking tomorrow for Saturday. I would be able sample some of the foods tomorrow night for supper.

I went back to the Oval Office. While there I read over some bills that had been sent to my desk to sign into law. As with everything, there were notes stuck to them with various opinions from different advisors.

Legal always had pages attached with how the law would affect the courts, the general public and - if they thought the law would be pass muster - with the courts.

The White House budget office broke down the numbers as to how much it would cost the treasury or if it would enhance revenue. Money was always an issue.

Then there was the political opinion on how the general public would react. Most of the time I didn’t even bother reading that one. I was more interested in the merits of the law. Was it necessary, would it make lives better or was the bill just a smoke screen for some special interest group?

Two of them I signed into law, two others I vetoed. They needed some corrections and improvements. As always, whenever I vetoed a bill I wrote my objections and sent it back to the Senate and a copy to the House.

I slept soundly even though I wished one of my mates could be with me.

Friday I was up early - I was sitting in the dining room waiting for my breakfast at 0530. As I waited I read more updates.

Today I was somewhat surprised that the CIA had included in their file several pages of top secret documents from the German prime minister, his cabinet and their top military officials regarding the Russian agreement.

They were anticipating - and correctly so I might add - that the US was going to cut military aid to Europe. They were discussing ways to counter our planned cuts and ways to convince me and the next US president to increase our in Europe spending so - of all things - they could cut their defense spending and shift it to desperate social programs.

The Pentagon was already working on a plan to cut European military aid by twenty five percent. My plan was to do it by a gradual monthly drawn down of troops first and at the same time stop sending replacement military hardware there. All of this was dependent on Russia honoring the new agreements.