BooksBarbecue
Back Balance of Power
Chapters (53)
  1. BALANCE OF POWER
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. About The Creators
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY

"Bob Herbert said he's working to confirm that," the President said. " The problem is, even if we found out that part of the government was involved in a conspiracy, the rest of the lawfully elected government may not be around to hear our complaint. Now the policy of the United States, and of this Administration, has always been not to interfere in the internal affairs of a nation. The exceptions, like Panama, like Grenada, involved issues of national security. The problem here, and what General VanZandt is especially concerned about, is that Spain is a NATO ally. The outcome of the current strife will probably cause a reshaping of the government-but we can't afford to have a tyrant running the nation. We left Franco alone because he didn't have designs on other nations."

"That's only because he saw from the sidelines what we did to Mussolini and Hitler," Burkow pointed out.

"Whatever the reasons, he stayed put," the President said. "That may not be the case here. General VanZandt?"

The tall, distinguished African-American officer opened a folder in front of him. "I have here a printout on the man's career. He signed up with the army thirty-two years ago and worked his way through the ranks. He was on the right side-or rather the left side-of the right-wing coup which attempted to overthrow the king in 1981. He was wounded in action and received a medal for bravery. After that he rose quickly. Interestingly, he never opposed NATO but he didn't participate in joint maneuvers. In letters to superior officers he advocated a strong national defense which didn't rely on outside help-"interference," he called it. He did, however, spend a lot of time entertaining and being entertained by Soviet troops during the 1980's. CIA intelligence puts him in Afghanistan in 1982 as an observer."

"No doubt he was observing how to oppress people," Carol Lanning suggested.

"It's very possible," VanZandt replied. "During this time Amadori was also heavily involved in Spanish military intelligence and appears to have used his trips abroad to establish contacts there. His name came up in at least two CIA debriefings of captured Soviet spies."

"In what context?" Hood asked.

VanZandt looked down at the printout. "In one case as a man whom the spy had seen at a meeting with a Soviet officer-Amadori was wearing his nameplate-and in the second case as someone to whom intelligence was to be reported in a matter involving a West German businessman who was trying to buy a Spanish newspaper."