By the next morning it was being reported, both in the PDB and on the news, that the Marines had secured most of the foreign embassies and had evacuated hundreds of people to the ships at sea. The video footage was disturbing, especially over breakfast, with a number of shots of dead bodies lying in the street, a few craters, and smoking burned-out vehicles and storefronts. In addition to embassy personnel, there were reports of a convent rescued, as well as several Red Cross groups, and also some French journalists. I commented to Marilyn that the Frogs would undoubtedly find a way to blame this whole mess on us. She stuck her tongue out at me, since I frequently tease her on her family's heritage.
I made a similar comment to Ari Fleischer at the morning staff meeting. He was undoubtedly going to be getting questions at the morning press conference, and I knew the Pentagon would be having a big press conference as well. That was why I had dragged him into the Monday morning NSC meeting. This was the first heavy use of troops I had ordered since the Afghan/Al Qaeda attacks in 2001.
Ari disagreed with me. "I've had Will and a few of the other staff members monitoring some of the European feeds, the BBC, the French networks, German, and so forth. We aren't coming off badly. Ambassador Myrick's decision to send rescue parties after everyone paid off. There are several reports that American Marines ended up in firefights with rebel groups while evacuating locations with various noncombatants in tow. A Belgian broadcast team, in fact, was with a clinic operated by some French doctors and nurses, and actually has footage of some Marines rescuing them and getting them to safety. It won't play badly, Mister President."
"Really? Good! I am going to want to decorate those men when they get home. Anybody who did well over there should be decorated. It's important to recognize them, and not just for the sake of good publicity.", I replied. "Get in touch with the State Department, too. That Ambassador of theirs, Myrick, he seems to know what he's doing. He and his people need to be recognized as well, whether by State or by me."
"Good publicity doesn't hurt. I'll talk to the Pentagon later, State, too, and follow up."
Things remained relatively quiet for the rest of the day. Mid-afternoon I received a heads-up from Colin Powell, and then took a call from President Chirac of France, thanking me for saving his citizens. I also took calls from a couple of other ambassadors, and was assured that their bosses would be calling in the next day or so.
That evening Monrovia made the top of the news again, and by now there was more video available. Tom Brokaw introduced the show, and then promptly turned it over to a report by a correspondent from ITN. It wasn't anything I hadn't already heard, but I suppose it sounded more official in a British accent. Watching with me were Marilyn and the girls, home from college for the summer. They had survived their freshman year, and the University of Maryland had survived them.
The next segment was introduced as 'disturbing and graphic, and might not be suitable for all viewers, which simply guaranteed that everybody would want to watch it. It was introduced as footage of the American Marines rescuing a team of French nurses from a clinic being overrun by rebels. It had been gathered by a Belgian video team which had been with the French clinic when it was rescued. The video was very jerky, and quickly edited for television, and the voiceover started out in French, before being muted with an English accent translation overlaid on it.
"Holy crap!", exclaimed Holly.
"No shit!", added Molly.
"Language!", chided their mother.
It was riveting footage. There were a few jerky seconds of the camera running along down a street accompanied by women and children of several races and heavily armored Marines, who would occasionally turn and fire backwards behind them. It was explained that they were escaping from a clinic being overrun, and heading towards a central collection point with more Marines. The camera rounded a corner to where a couple of Marines were setting up what I recognized was a temporary local strong point. They were laying down covering fire from behind a small concrete wall and directing people behind the wall. As more of the Marines herded their charges behind the wall, they were adding their fire to the mix. Once the cameraman got behind the wall, the video footage settled down and was able to focus on the scene.
The problem came with the last group of Marines and refugees. Two large Marines were bringing up the rear, laying down fire behind them wildly while herding their charges, a blonde woman and two children. Both Marines, filthy and sweaty, were limping and obviously wounded but they continued performing their duty. Suddenly an explosion in the middle of the street forced this little group to the opposite side of the street from the others, ducking down behind a broken down car. One of the Marines hiding by the car fired downrange, and then handed his rifle to the other Marine, grabbed the two children, and picked them up. He ran wildly across the street towards the strongpoint, and it was obvious that he was hurt and bleeding. He staggered once but kept going, and got to the wall and tossed the kids over. Then he turned back and ran back towards the car.
At this point, one of the other Marines jumped over the wall to join him. He only made it halfway across the street before collapsing, at which point the first Marine turned and grabbed him by the back of his protective vest and dragged him back over to the others. The announcer said that he told everybody to stay where they were, and that nobody else needed to die but him. He ran back to the car, picked the woman up and began running back towards the strongpoint as the last Marine was laying down covering fire. The running Marine was immediately fired on again, and an explosion like an RPG round hitting the ground just missed him.
This crazy bastard dumped the blonde off and then ran back into the hail of bullets a third time and ran back to the other Marine. They both fired some more, and then stood to run back. The second Marine was hit, and the first Marine grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. He wasn't moving fast, but he was moving, and he got about halfway when another explosion behind him knocked them both to the ground. Still, the Marine managed to get back up and finish carrying his partner to safety before collapsing. The scene ended at that point, with the voiceover explaining they were rescued by more Marines. I had a very bad feeling that I was going to be calling a mother very soon to thank her for her son's ultimate sacrifice.
At the end of the broadcast, I went into my study and called the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Jim Jones. "General, I just wanted to tell you that I was watching the evening news and saw some footage of some of your boys. I don't know if you've seen it, but it was quite amazing."
"Thank you, Mister President. Yes, I have seen some of the footage, sir. These kids are really great kids."
"How bad are the casualties, General? From what I saw, I can't believe that there aren't some serious casualties."
"Actually they are very light. We have no KIAs, at least not yet, and only a few wounded."
"I find that very hard to believe after what I just saw."
"Understood, Mister President. I will speak to you about this soon."
"Thank you, General. I will let you go. I appreciate what they did, so let them know.", I told him.
Afterwards I went back to the living room, and told Marilyn that I had thanked the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and told him that the Marines were almost as tough as paratroopers. She laughed loudly at me and told me she'd tell Charlie about that when he got home.
Wednesday morning, the 8:00 staff meeting was interrupted. There was a knock on the door and a secretary tuck her head in. "Mister President, the Commandant of the Marine Corps is here and would like a few minutes with you."