In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

{22] IN SEARCH OF ENt: MIES
awake for a while; after all, we were meeting to plan a major escalation
of a war. I finished my presentation and sat down.
Potts turned to Mulcahy and spoke pleasantly. "Well, Ed, what
did Kissinger say?"
Mulcahy tamped his pipe and sucked on it for a few moments,
apparently having trouble fram_ing an answer. Potts watched him
quietly.
Finally Mulcahy spoke, "He didn't exactly say anything."
" Did he read the paper?"
uoh, yes. I took it to him myself just a few minutes before he left
for Peking. l insisted he read it."
"You mean he didn' t make any comment? He just read it and took
off?" Potts looked baffied, exasperated.
Mulcahy nodded ruefully. "He read it. Then he grunted and
walked out of his office."
"Grunted?"
"Yeah, like, unnph!" Mulcahy grunted.
"He's going to be gone ten days!" Potts scowled. "What are we
supposed to do in Angola in the meantime? We have to make some
decisions today!"
Mulcahy shrugged ·helplessly. They looked at each other.
"Well, was it a positive grunt or a negative grunt?" Potts asked.
Mulcahy studied for a moment, considering. "It was just a grunt.
Like, unnph. I mean it didn't go up or down.·"
This group of somber men were supervising the country's only
current war. They were gathered today to discuss steps that could
affect world peace. No one was smiling.
Mulcahy grunted again, emphasizing a flat sound. Down the table
someone else tried it, experimenting with the sound of a positive
grunt, then a negative one, his voice rising, then falling. Others
attempted it while Potts and Mulcahy watched.
"Well," Potts said. "Do we proceed with the advisors?"
Mulcahy scowled and puffed on his pipe, uncomfortable in his
position as Kissinger's surrogate.
" We better not," he said finally, "Kissinger just decided not to
send Americans into the Sinai . . . "
Everyone nodded in agreement. Inaction was safe, and easier to
correct.
The meeting proceeded and I watched, taking notes and ponder-