I spent the rest of the trip back wondering about just how much the Times had gotten, and who had given it to them. This story had been buried for almost 19 years. I had rarely pushed the Bronze Star, and never, ever, told how I had earned it. I simply fell back on the Top Secret aspect and told people that I had sworn an oath and simply never budged from that point. From everything I had learned over the years, the Army had sunk this in the deepest vault they could find; it had not been the U.S. Army's finest hour. Aside from the brass, though, who knew about it?
There were probably about a thousand soldiers and officers from the battalion task force who knew something about the mission, but while they would certainly talk about it to each other, they probably wouldn't have said anything to a reporter, and wouldn't have known anything damaging. The ones who knew the really dirty details probably numbered only a few dozen, and they would have been ordered to keep their mouths shut. The MPs and Provost Marshall's staff had no reason to talk; they had moved on with their lives now and didn't need their hometown newspapers writing stories about how they had arrested and beaten an injured officer. The various officers who had been cashiered didn't need it either.
Politically, there had been about a half dozen of us in 1992 who knew about it, when this came up during the days leading up to the confirmation hearings for Hawkins. Nothing had been said at the time, and Hawkins had left Washington and announced that health concerns were keeping him from further public service. I had never heard about this from anybody in the days afterwards, but I figured it had to originate there. It hadn't been forgotten or kept quiet. Somebody had told Bill Clinton. Now it was payback time!
I couldn't do anything more until we landed, and we just didn't have enough information from the one report. We would get into D.C. early afternoon, and be able to get a copy of the Times, and probably be able to watch the news. After that I would be able to meet with Governor Bush and figure out what was going to happen. This was a perfect example of a VP being more trouble than he's worth. In some countries the job is an appointed position. It certainly made me wonder about our political system.
We landed at National in the late afternoon and managed to grab a copy of the New York Times as we headed on through the terminal. So far they were the only ones on this, but that would change by tomorrow. This was bound to be the big topic on tonight's evening news, along with the very predictable response. "Governor Bush has full confidence in Congressman Buckman and eagerly anticipates being able to discuss this with him." He just as eagerly was sharpening a machete, the better to hack me into small pieces with. The standard response in this would be to have me 'voluntarily' drop from the ticket, so that I could 'concentrate my energies on fighting the lies and falsehoods.' Don't let the door hit you on the way out, by the way.
I read the article twice on the way to the hotel. The article in the Times gave more information than the AP piece. They were reporting that during an international exercise in Honduras, my unit was dropped incorrectly into neighboring Nicaragua. Despite orders to turn ourselves in to the Nicaraguan authorities, I had disobeyed those orders and captured a Nicaraguan airstrip. Then, as the helicopters were arriving to rescue my men and to arrest me, I summarily executed my prisoners and threatened to do the same to my soldiers if they said anything about what I had just done. Afterwards, back in Honduras, I was arrested and charged with mutiny, disobedience to orders, and murder, but was released rather than have the truth come out at trial, for national security reasons.
There was just enough truth to what was being reported that somebody must have leaked some sort of official documentation to them. They had all sorts of dates and places down accurately. The only other specifics were from the account given by 'an unnamed source intimately involved in the cover-up.' That was the damning part. So far it was almost all smoke and almost no fire, but that was going to change rapidly. Now that it was out in the open, other people would talk. Everybody who had been anywhere near Tegucigalpa that fall was going to find a microphone stuck in his face, and somebody was bound to talk.
Once we got to the hotel, a Secret Service agent was waiting for me and escorted me directly to the Governor's suite. Unsurprisingly, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove were waiting for me as well. Nobody was smiling. "Well, I guess I know why we're all here.", I told them, waving the newspaper.
"I sure hope that's not an attempt to be funny, Carl.", replied George. He motioned us to some armchairs and we all sat down.
"Not hardly."
"Is it true?", he asked, cutting to the chase.
"Not particularly, but there is just enough truth there to make it a problem.", I answered.
"Don't get cute, Buckman!", snapped Cheney. "We asked you about this during the vetting process and you lied to us!"
"The hell I did, Dick! I told you that it was classified and I couldn't talk about it. Not talking about it is a long way from lying, and don't forget it!"
"Screw you, Buckman. I knew you would be a problem."
George decided to calm things down, and said, "Forget the Top Secret stuff. That's all behind us now. It's all going to come out. You need to tell us what happened. All of it."
I nodded. "Fair enough. Somebody decided to leak classified files, so that pretty much let's me off the hook anyway." I spent the next fifteen minutes telling the others what had happened and another ten pointing out the differences between what happened and what the Times was reporting. I did not admit to killing any prisoners, but simply reiterated my old line about releasing them.
"It doesn't matter. They got their hands on something. By the end of the week they will have people swearing that you butchered these people with your bare hands.", said Rove.
"Karl, you haven't got a clue what you're talking about. Out of all of us who made that drop, only one person made a complaint and he made it all up. He never witnessed a damn thing. He lied then, and if he's behind it now, he's still lying.", I told him.
"So what? Pack your bags and go home. You're off the ticket immediately.", he told me.
Dick Cheney looked over at the Governor. "Well, we'll have to do now what we should have done two months ago. Tomorrow you'll announce that this asshole is dropping out and you're naming me to take his place. Let's hope we can rebuild things after this disaster!"
"You know, Dick, for a guy with six deferments, you're pretty damn mouthy when talking to somebody who, quote, solves his problems with ruthless violence, unquote." That last part I read out of the article. "If I am guilty of any of this, then I've already killed five men, so what's one more?"
His eyes opened wide at that, as did Rove's. I ignored them and said, "Now, you two can go. I need to talk to the Governor about this."
"Carl, I don't see the point in protracting this.", commented George Bush.
I turned my gaze on him. "Oh, I disagree. I'd like to discuss commitment with you, George. You know, the difference between commitment and involvement. Man to man." I turned back to the other two. "You two are excused."
They stared at me, and then stared at Bush when he said, "Why don't you two go out for a bit and have a drink? We'll be done in a few minutes."