NEWSWORTHY PART 2

NEWSWORTHY PART 2

I honestly didn’t have a lot of information, but I now had more than the rest of the press had, and that would make my boss happy. The congressmen told me that he was innocent of all allegations and that he felt certain the truth would come out at the trial. I pushed for more information and he cited national security interests as the reason he could not answer. He did make a point of saying that he would not allow his, or anyone else’s best interest, to supersede the best interest of our country.

The very next morning, I bought a dozen copies of our paper, my very first article appeared on page 3. I was very complimentary to LaBell and related the information he gave me in a positive way. I tried to call his office, to get a follow up on the article, but they did not return my call.

Several weeks went by and the case wore on. The press, for the most part, had moved on to more current and pressing issues, as they are prone to do. The new headlines included: an affair by a Governor, the continued decline in the economy, and the steady march to war between the U.S. and Iran. The Iranians were posturing for war, and would not back down. The Pentagon was careful to make its case to the American people that the Iranians were ready to use weapons of mass destruction against Israel. U.S. troops were being rushed to the region and war seemed inevitable.

Not to re-live past successes, but my mind kept going back to the events leading up to my big interview. It was like someone threw a light switch. The congressmen was enjoying unprecedented popularity and good press. He had been regularly doing all the top Sunday morning news shows, and was being scouted by several presidential hopefuls as a V.P. pick again at the next election. Most notably, he had just that week returned from an important trip to the middle east.

My journalists instincts were still being developed, but something inside of me, decided to follow a hunch. That afternoon I left a message at the congressmen’s Washington office that I had information regarding his recent trip and that I planned to publish that info. I would give him 24 hours to meet with me again to discuss his side of the story.

Within hours the same black limo was waiting for me down by the front doors of our offices. This time the Congressmen was alone and seemed much less composed, in fact, he was sweating profusely. He told me about his trip to the middle east, where he met with Irainian leaders. They made it clear that they would back down on there demands and move their troops off the border, but they did not want to look weak in the eyes of their neighbors and the world.

He told me that upon returning to the United States he met privately with the president and relayed their message. The president told him that he had already authorized an attack and was not about to change his plans. Besides the presidents poll ratings had been going down and he felt the people wanted him to stand tall. The congressmen told me that he spent over an hour trying to dissuade the president, to no avail. In fact, he was told that if he mentioned anything about his trip, the president would accuse him of breaching national security and turn the justice department pitbulls loose on him.

The country was heading to war and thousands on both sided would die. It was a war that could be easily avoided. The congressmen was torn between his duty to the president and what he knew was the right thing to do. We talked for about 45 minutes before the limo abruptly stopped again and left me off on the other side of the city. I was concerned about the congressmen’s state of mind, but I had my story.

The next morning’s edition proudly displayed my first cover story. “President Marches U.S. to Avoidable War”. Of course, the story caused an avalanche of press and investigations. In the following days, the U.S. posture on the war reversed itself, and the country returned from the brink of war. The pressure and embarrassment caused the president to resign and sadly, my friend the congressmen shot himself, shortly thereafter.

That one article, now a faded memory on my wall, started my career as a newsmen, averted a war, unseated a president, and lead to the untimely death of a very good man.

P.I.B