The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

forget the UN. Israel won't like it because the Jews haven't made out all that
well in the place. The Arabs won't like it because there's too many Christians.
And we won't like it because the UN doesn't like us all that much. The only
available international body is distrusted by everyone. Impasse.'
'The President really wants to move on this,' the Chief of Staff pointed out. We
have to do something to make it look like we're DOING SOMETHING.
'Well, next time he sees the Pope, maybe he can ask for high-level
intercession.' Jack's irreverent grin froze momentarily. Van Damm thought he was
cautioning himself against speaking badly of the President, whom he disliked.
But then Ryan's face went blank. Arnie didn't know Jack well enough to recognize
the look. 'Wait a minute . . . ?'
The Chief of Staff chuckled. It wouldn't hurt for the President to see the Pope.
It always looked good with the voters, and after that the President would have a
well-covered dinner with B'nai B'rith to show that he liked all religions. In
fact, as van Damm knew, the President only went to church for show now that his
children were grown. That was one amusing aspect of life. The Soviet Union was
turning back to religion in its search for societal values, but the American
political left had turned away long ago and had no inclination to turn back,
lest it should find the same values that the Russians were searching for. Van
Damm had started off as a left-wing believer, but twenty-five years of hands-on
experience in government had cured him of that. Now he distrusted ideologues of
both wings with equal fervor. He was the sort to look for solutions whose only
attraction was that they might actually work. His reverie on politics took him
away from the discussion of the moment.
'You thinking about something, Jack?' Alden asked.
'You know, we're all "people of the book," aren't we?' Ryan asked, seeing the
outline of a new thought in the fog.
'So?'
'And the Vatican is a real country, with real diplomatic status, but no armed
forces . . . they're Swiss . . . and Switzerland is neutral, not even a member
of the UN. The Arabs do their banking and carousing there . . . gee, I wonder if
he'd go for it . . . ?' Ryan's face went blank again, and van Damm saw Jack's
eye center as the lightbulb flashed on. It was always exciting to watch an idea
being born, but less so when you didn't know what it was.
'Go for what? Who go for what?' the Chief of Staff asked with some annoyance.
Alden just waited.
Ryan told them.
'I mean, a large part of this whole mess is over the Holy Places, isn't it? I
could talk to some of my people at Langley. We have a really good – '
Van Damm leaned back in his chair. 'What sort of contacts do you have? You mean
talking to the Nuncio?'
Ryan shook his head. 'The Nuncio is a good old guy, Cardinal Giancatti, but he's
just here for show. You've been here long enough to know that, Arnie. You want
to talk to folks who know stuff, you go to Father Riley at Georgetown. He taught
me when I got my doctorate at G-Town. We're pretty tight. He's got a pipeline
into The General.'
'Who's that?'