Peacerunner by Penn Rhodeen

Author:Penn Rhodeen
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Published: 2015-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

Keep in mind, the world was focused on Bosnia and I had tried to get the allies early in ‘93 to agree to have NATO take action there. Warren Christopher got stiffed everywhere, including in the UK, but we still knew that the UK was the most likely country to come on quickly along with the Dutch. I’d wanted to go into Bosnia earlier, but I knew I couldn’t do it without the Europeans because of just the geography—they had to live with the aftermath, not me. So I was in no great hurry to destroy our relationship with Britain, but I just thought, if this works . . .

Nancy said they’ll get used to it, and even though they’ll never admit it, they’ll think it was the right thing to do—and if it doesn’t work, then we’ll be back with them.

Soderberg confirms her analysis: “I never bought the argument the State Department made that they wouldn’t continue to cooperate with us on Bosnia. They weren’t doing it as a favor—it was in their interest to do it.”

At that moment things couldn’t have looked better for the Adams visa. But the drama never seemed to let up. At the last minute, a potentially fatal obstacle emerged: a strange and highly suspect story from San Diego. The report was that fake bombs had been placed in British businesses, and that the real thing would be next if Adams didn’t get the visa. The “South California IRA,” which no one had ever heard of, took credit. Investigators later found blue training grenades at a pub, a British curio shop, and the federal courthouse, but the name, the place, and the exquisite timing of the threat gave plenty of reason to be skeptical about it. Many suspected that the whole thing was a trick—by the British?—to block the Adams visa. But there was no time to get to the bottom of it. If Clinton was going to grant the visa, he would have to authorize it on Sunday morning in order for Adams to have time to collect it at the embassy in Dublin on Monday and get to the United States in time to attend the conference Tuesday morning.

All of this meant that the fake California bombs had to be treated like a real threat. The White House needed Gerry Adams to denounce the whole thing, publicly and in writing. The task of getting that statement, still with no guarantee that the visa would be granted, fell to Soderberg, who decided it was time to talk to Niall O’Dowd directly. Before this, all of their contact had been through intermediaries, principally Kennedy staffers, in order to keep the man who seemed to have so many friends close to the IRA at a safe remove from the White House. But now Soderberg needed to reach Adams immediately, and O’Dowd was the one who could get her to him.

O’Dowd’s heart sank when he learned of this new obstacle and what he had to do.

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