War Machine Page #7

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It's good to see you,

Mr. President.

All right, see you soon.

- Mr. President.

- It's great to see you, General.

I'm sorry,

but we're running behind schedule.

I was looking forward to getting

some face time with you,

but I gotta get this baby in the air.

So... all right.

Smile for the cameras, Glen.

All right.

Take care.

- Pat.

- Mr. President.

- Let's get going.

- Yes, sir.

All right, Magnus, talk to you soon. Okay?

You could argue

that the main reason

certain generals like war so much is...

well, because it's only in war

that they feel truly relevant.

It's only in war that they feel close

to the center of power.

Only in war do they feel

the warm glow of other people's attention.

Good evening, sir.

The attention of people like me.

Okay, you know what?

You both look beautiful.

Really.

Uh, sir, before you get dragged

into the hubbub there,

I want to introduce you

to Sean Cullen here.

Sean's the writer from Rolling Stone.

He's been doing that profile piece on you.

He's gonna be tagging along

for a couple days.

Thanks for having me, sir.

It's a real privilege.

- Rolling Stone?

- Yes, sir.

Just make sure I'm on the cover.

Well, it's between you and Lady Gaga, sir.

Well, put me in a heart-shaped

bathtub with her.

Rose petals. Happy to share.

Glen, stop joking.

I'm deadly serious, son.

Put me on the cover.

Okay, here we are.

There's the boss. There's Mrs. Boss.

Oh, there's me. There's you.

Where's me?

I guess you're on a different table.

Better keep looking.

- You serious?

- Hmm.

- Sorry.

- Yes?

Excuse me.

I think you are sitting in my seat, sir.

Oh.

Oh, hey, there. I'm sorry.

Pleased to meet you.

Dear.

Thank you. Hi.

General. Tom Howard, sir.

I'm the United States defense attach

here in Paris.

Pleased to meet you.

This is my wife, Jeanie.

Pleased to meet you, Jeanie.

Are you enjoying your time here in Paris?

Oh, yes, very much. It's lovely.

Isn't it? Have you managed to see

any museums or exhibitions?

- Have you done the Louvre?

- Oh, um,

I... I think we're gonna be too busy

to see the Louvre.

But I've been wandering around by myself

while Glen's at meetings, and...

oh, my, it's... it's lovely.

General, I thought it went very well

at the cole Militaire today.

I didn't get the opportunity

to introduce myself there.

But, uh, there were some

very interesting people there today.

If you'd like, I'd be very happy

to give you a rundown of the who's who

if you get a little window

in your schedule while-

I appreciate that.

My schedule's very tight.

Of course. Totally understood.

General, I could introduce you to some

people here tonight if you'd prefer.

No, I... I think my team and I

have a grip on the who's who. Thank you.

- Cory, where's Badi?

- Hmm?

Uh, I don't know, boss.

He was here a minute ago.

I thought he was supposed to be

sitting beside you and Jeanie.

General, I thought it best if you and I

took this opportunity to talk, so...

so I switched places

with your colleague over there, I...

Like you said, your schedule's very tight.

What'd you say your name was?

Tom Howard, sir.

What do you think this dinner is for,

Tom Howard?

General, this dinner

is to honor you, sir.

Wrong. This dinner is for Afghanistan.

We are here tonight

because we're at war in Afghanistan.

And you got the goddamn gall

to kick the only Afghan in the room

- off my goddamn table?

- I'm sorry-

Let me tell you what I want you to do,

Tom Howard.

I want you to go sit your ass down

wherever the f*** your ass was officially

designated to sit,

and I want you to tell Badi

to bring his ass back over here!

How's that sound, Tom Howard?

I'm sorry, sir.

Ma'am.

I apologize for my language.

- Everything's okay, honey.

- Uh, boss?

I'm pretty sure the Afghan ambassador here

is from Afghanistan.

General.

Sir.

Swell.

I don't want for this dinner

to be awkward for you, General,

so I will tell you now

that we intend to give you

our portion of the troops

that you request.

I don't think the Germans will be so easy.

I think that they are feeling

inclined to withdraw altogether.

And, uh, I should add that

I would hate for you to think

that France is easy.

This must be a final moment, no?

We cannot stay in Afghanistan forever.

No, we can't.

That's why I'm gonna win it.

Thank you.

That was strange.

Writing a biography, is that something...

you might be open to? Or...

For sure, yeah.

Something I'm absolutely open to...

It's such a fascinating

subject matter.

No offense, book could kinda write itself.

We may have a problem

getting to Berlin tomorrow.

This volcano in Iceland. It's, uh...

canceling all flights

because of the ash cloud.

- Dude, we got our own plane.

- Guess this cloud's huge.

Nothing's taking off in Europe.

They're grounding all air traffic.

We got tonight free, right?

Then what's the plan? We're drinking.

Tell me we're f***ing drinking.

Today is Jeanie and my's

30th wedding anniversary, so, uh...

I'm taking her to dinner.

Just the two of you?

Yes.

It doesn't matter, honey. I've had fun.

- Good. Good.

- Mmm.

We'll come back again

when everything's normal

and we can do it together.

- Sure.

- Mmm-hmm.

We're together.

Yeah.

- This is so special.

- Hmm.

Hmm.

You know, the other day

I was, uh, calculating the...

I was working out that we've spent less

than 30 days a year together

for the last eight years.

And...

...I was just thinking

that it's really interesting,

the way things happen.

Well, if we hadn't gone to war...

if September 11th hadn't happened...

if America hadn't been attacked

and we hadn't gone to war,

I'd probably be barbecuing something

in our backyard right now.

- Mmm.

- But 9/11 did happen, didn't it? Hmm?

Yes. Yes, I know. I know.

I know, and I am... I'm sorry.

- I didn't say that to make you feel bad.

- Why are you thinking about it?

No, I'm not... I'm not...

I'm not thinking about it, I promise.

Yes, you are. You're calculating days.

You just told me, one day

you sat yourself down with a calendar

and you calculated days.

Yes, I know. I know.

But I just did that because...

I did it because

I was proud of you, honey.

I'm proud of me, too. You know?

Yeah, I'm proud of me, too.

Do you know?

Oh, honey.

No, honey, look at me.

Everything's gonna be okay.

I know.

Yes, every... Everything...

Everything's okay.

Yeah.

Obama's not a leader.

He's an orator.

He hammered the whole world on,

"Yes, we can. Yes, we can. "

Really, it's "No, we can't. "

Yeah.

We can't do Iraq.

He's loud and clear now

that we can't do Afghanistan.

We can't do Gitmo.

Where the f*** else

we gonna put all these motherfuckers?

- That's a great orator. Right there.

- Hmm.

He's sold us on, like, a double negative.

Yes, we can not do things.

You know? Or is that a double negative?

Not really, but I know what you mean.

Yo, look who it is!

Hey.

- Hi.

- Hello, Mrs. Boss.

Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!

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