Drone (37 page)

But the invasion never happened.

Ali would have to unleash his forces now if there was any hope of provoking a full-on American military assault into Mexico, and he had just the plan to do it.

43

Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

Myers had called for an emergency session of Congress to codify into law what she had already initiated on behalf of American national security and sovereignty through a series of executive orders.

She got only half of what she’d hoped for.

Senator Diele had, indeed, called for an emergency session, but only of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which he chaired. It took several days for the vacationing senators and their staffs to return to the sweltering humidity of Washington, D.C., and for Diele to assemble and summon his witness list.

As both president pro tempore
of that august body and as chairman of the committee, Diele had the authority to call his committee into emergency session, as Myers had publicly requested be done. That was a mistake, in Diele’s opinion, one of several she had recently made. It was the mistake that would lead to her impeachment if he had anything to do with it.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the vice president was the president of the Senate, but in practical terms this was a largely ceremonial function. Vice President Greyhill, in theory, could have called the Senate into session as well, but Diele and Greyhill had decided in private that it would be best if Greyhill kept his cards close to his vest for now. Diele had already been an outspoken critic of Myers and it might prove useful
if Greyhill feigned allegiance to Myers on the off-hand chance she decided to pull him back into her inner circle. More important, once Myers was thrown out of office, the mantle of the presidency would fall upon Greyhill’s shoulders. He would lose legitimacy in the eyes of the American people if he was seen as having a hand in Myers’s downfall, which would be viewed for the naked power grab it obviously was. No, it was far better for Greyhill to keep his hands off of the whole affair until Diele handed him the office. That’s when Greyhill could afford to be demonstrably appreciative of Diele’s efforts.

The first day of the committee hearings featured a parade of witnesses selected by Diele. Members of his own party protested; several of them supported at least part of Myers’s agenda and wanted to help buttress her position, but Diele would have none of it. Even a few of the principled Democrats, some of whom also supported some of Myers’s positions, balked at Diele’s heavy-handedness. But Diele assured them that the administration and its supporters would have every opportunity to present their case. Diele wanted to be first out of the box because he knew the American people had very short attention spans and it was best to be the first shiny object in their ADD-riven fields of view.

A predictable collection of academics, civil libertarians, think-tank denizens, and Latino community organizers presented their arguments. Their positions varied from the idea that Myers was, at best, misguided and, at worst, guilty of international criminal and human rights violations. Savvy witnesses who dropped the best lines got the most play in the twenty-four-hour news cycle. Some of these included:

Politicians want a costless war. Generals want a riskless war. Drones satisfy both and the collateral damage will be peace.

Violating Mexican sovereignty in defense of our own is an act of criminal irony.

President Myers has proven that taking humans out of war to reduce the cost of war only makes war more likely.

Drug consumption is an American problem. Killing Mexicans can’t be the solution.

If this president is so concerned about the drug war, maybe she should start by investigating the CIA’s long career as the biggest drug pusher in Latin America.

One word, ladies and gentlemen: Skynet.

But if there was one aria that Diele’s opera sang over and over, it was the War Powers Resolution. By not submitting herself to its requirements—basically, getting permission from Congress to attack other countries—she was destroying democracy and inviting tyranny both in the United States and around the world. She was violating the Constitution that she had sworn to uphold and defend. No one used the actual phrase but “an impeachable offense” hung in the air like a fart in church.

—

True to his word, Diele did permit administration supporters to testify. Attorney General Lancet was the last to testify, and the only cabinet member to do so. As such, she spoke for the president.

Diele fired the first salvo.

“How does this administration legally justify an attack on another sovereign state without congressional approval, as specified by War Powers, let alone without a formal declaration of war? This is, after all, a war, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is, Mr. Chairman. And the president has asked Congress to commit wholeheartedly to fighting and winning it.”

“Then why didn’t the president come to us beforehand? If she truly considers it a war and was always planning on seeking our approval, then she knowingly began a war without a declaration of war. Her very actions testify against her as having violated the law.”

“A couple of points, Senator. First of all, this administration did not
attack the Mexican government or its national institutions so we are not waging war against a sovereign state, any more than President Obama waged a war against Pakistan when he sent SEAL Team Six in to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.”

“So you’re suggesting that American drones aren’t operating in Mexican sovereign airspace?” Diele fired back.

“Of course they are. But they’re targeting individuals within Mexico, not the Mexican military or government, just as American helicopters ferried troops to OBL’s compound.”

“Osama bin Laden was a sworn enemy of the United States and was recognized as such by the AUMF. President Obama had the legal right to carry out that action. This cuts to the very heart of the matter, Ms. Lancet.”

“I agree. The al-Qaeda terrorists have been a threat to the United States, but far more Americans have been killed, directly and indirectly, by the Mexican drug cartels than by al-Qaeda. That makes the drug lords a bigger threat, in our opinion, a threat this Congress has failed to adequately recognize, let alone address.”

“Then why didn’t President Myers come to us and request an Authorization to Use Military Force in this case?”

“Why should she? AUMF is derivative of WPR and, as we’ve stated, we don’t believe that WPR applies. Which leads to my second point. President Myers believed this nation faced an imminent security threat from the cartels and their affiliates, and deemed immediate action necessary, as is her prerogative as commander in chief. The purpose of WPR is to prevent the United States from entering into another decade-long debacle like Vietnam. But the president has no intention of waging an extended conflict against the narcoterrorists. It’s a limited, well-defined action. So once again, the WPR doesn’t apply.

“Third, the WPR only requires the president to
report
to Congress the deployment of U.S. forces abroad within forty-eight hours, not request
permission to deploy those forces. For the record, no U.S. military personnel have been dispatched to Mexico, only unmanned drone systems, so by definition, the WPR once again does not apply.”

“You’re splitting hairs on that one,” Diele insisted. “American drones are being flown by American personnel, even if they are located in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.”

“We’re both lawyers, Senator. Splitting hairs is what we do best.”

A laugh rolled through the gallery. Diele lightly tapped his gavel.

“But the most important point is this. President Myers did not seek the advice and consent of Congress prior to this action because she believes Congress is increasingly irrelevant to any of the solutions this nation needs, including the present crisis. In fact, Congress is the cause of many of the crises we face.”

The gallery exploded with cheers and applause, and a scattering of boos. Some senators threw up their hands in disgust; others applauded. A few grabbed their microphones and began shouting at one another. Diele gaveled the room into silence under penalty of expulsion.

“For the record, Ms. Lancet, you are aware of the doctrine of the separation of powers? The three separate and distinct branches of government? It comes from that pesky little document known as the Constitution of the United States.”

“I am indeed, sir. So is the president. Her desire is that the Senate and the House live up to the responsibilities of their respective institutions. Case in point. President Obama launched over three hundred drone strikes against Pakistan in his first term in office—also a sovereign, independent nation like Mexico—and not a single congressional vote was ever taken on any one of those strikes. In fact, since the first known drone strike in 2004, at least forty-seven hundred people have been killed.”

“Those drone strikes were conducted under the AUMF,” Diele insisted.

“But there was no AUMF for Libya when President Obama committed American drones to combat in Libya—another sovereign nation, by
the way—for the purpose of helping to topple the existing government, which, ironically, was an American ally in the fight against al-Qaeda. The Libyan action was not an act of self-defense, no American lives were at risk, no treaty commitments to an ally were invoked. More to the point, no congressional approval was apparently needed, nor was congressional interest aroused in the slightest. By your definition, President Obama invaded a sovereign state and did it without a declaration of war, which, under the separation of powers doctrine, is your assigned constitutional responsibility.”

Myers’s supporters on the committee applauded, as did a number of people in the gallery. Diele gaveled them quiet. Lancet continued.

“The United States has not declared a war since 1941, but the litany of conflicts we’ve been in—‘wars’ by any other name that involve the loss of American lives—is incredible: the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the first and second Gulf wars are just the big ones. There were twice as many covert operations that were no less acts of war, including a dozen coups d’état in Asia and Latin America during the hottest years of the cold war. So the president’s question for you, Senator, is why has Congress been so interested in fighting wars over the past seven decades but not in declaring them?”

“The president should be worried about fulfilling the legal responsibilities of her office, not lecturing us on how to conduct our affairs.”

“Her legal responsibility is to protect and defend the nation. This nation has suffered grievously for a lack of leadership, particularly from Congress. She hasn’t tried to avoid the Constitution, Senator, she’s trying to invoke it. You know the numbers as well as anyone: drugs have killed far more Americans than any foreign enemy from any war we’ve ever fought. And what have you done about it?”

Diele banged his gavel.

“You will show respect to this committee or you will be held in contempt.”

“Mr. Chairman, you first came to Washington over thirty years ago.
What was the national debt when you arrived? What was our balance of trade? What was the annual budget deficit? What was the price of the average home? How much did it cost to educate a child? How much was a gallon of gas? Please name for us, for the record, one significant social problem this Congress has not exacerbated, let alone resolved.”

Diele banged the gavel again and again as the gallery howled with delight.

“I am going to hold you in contempt, Attorney General Lancet, if you don’t control your tongue.”

“As every public opinion poll has demonstrated for the last twenty years, sir, the American people already hold Congress in contempt. For the sake of the Republic, and for the legitimacy of this institution, it’s time for you to help us fight and win this horrific war being waged against our cities, our culture, our children. Help us—or get out of the damn way.”

Lancet grabbed her satchel and stormed past the cheering gallery that stood and clapped for her defiant performance as she marched toward the exit.

Diele banged his gavel in vain, trying to call the hearing back to order. When his colleagues began to rise and quit the room, he banged the gavel again and announced the hearing dismissed until further notice, but the damage had already been done.

The television cameras caught everything, just as Diele had hoped. He just hadn’t planned on getting his ass handed to him by a Junior Leaguer like Lancet.

Fortunately for Diele, there was one man who had watched the entire scene with a great deal of interest. Ambassador Britnev had the weapon Diele needed to bring Myers down, and he was sure that the broken old man he saw on his television screen would be desperate enough to use it.

44

Yucatán Peninsula, near Peto, Mexico

Victor Bravo complained that he hadn’t had a beer in a week.

He and his men had been hiding from the American satellites swinging overhead in an abandoned mission compound and he couldn’t exactly run down to the local
mercado
and restock the refrigerator.

Eleazar Medina took Victor’s thirst as a sign from God.

Raised in a devoutly evangelical home in rural Guatemala, Eleazar was one of fourteen children of a lay Foursquare Gospel minister in a remote village in the north. All of the Medina children had been forced to memorize whole books of the Bible, but 2 Samuel was a favorite of Eleazar’s because it was the passage of the Old Testament from whence he had gotten his name. “Eleazar, son of Dodo” was one of David’s “mighty men of valor,” and little Eleazar’s skinny brown chest puffed out three sizes larger every time he recited it boastfully to his childhood friends.