Jack Ryan 7 - The Sum of All Fears Read Online Free Page B

even help. At worst, he'll stand by the sidelines and bitch that he's not in the game. But tell me, how do you plan to settle things down?”
    “Put a little pressure on
    
    
     Israel
    
    
    ,” van Damm replied simply.
    “That's dumb for two reasons. It's wrong to pressure Israel until their security concerns are alleviated, and their security concerns will not be alleviated until some of the fundamental issues are settled first.”
    “Like . . . ?”
    “Like what is this conflict all about.” The one thing that everyone overlooks.
    “It's religious, but the damned fools believe in the same things!” van Damm growled. “Hell, I read the Koran last month, and it's the same as what I learned in Sunday school.”
    That's true,“ Ryan agreed, ”but so what? Catholics and Protestants both believe that Christ is the son of God, but that hasn't stopped
    
    
     Northern Ireland
    
    
     from blowing up. Safest place in the world to be Jewish. The friggin' Christians are so busy killing one another off that they don't have time to be anti-Semitic. Look, Arnie, however slight the religious differences in either place may appear to us, to them they appear big enough to kill over. That's as big as they need to be, pal."
    “True, I guess,” the Chief of Staff agreed reluctantly. He thought for a moment. “
    
    
     Jerusalem
    
    
    , you mean?”
    “Bingo.” Ryan finished off his Coke and crushed the can before flipping it into van Damm's trash can for two. “The city is sacred to three religions—think of them as three tribes—but it physically belongs to only one of them. That one is at war with one of the others. The volatile nature of the region militates towards putting some armed troops in the place, but whose? Remember, some Islamic crazies shot up
    
    
     Mecca
    
    
     not that long ago. Now, if you put an Arab security force in
    
    
     Jerusalem
    
    
    , you create a security threat to
    
    
     Israel
    
    
    . If things stay as they are, with only an Israeli force, you offend the Arabs. Oh, and forget the UN.
    
    
     Israel
    
    
     won't like it because the Jews haven't made out all that well in the place. The Arabs won't like it because there's too many Christians. And we won't like it because the UN doesn't like us all that much. The only available international body is distrusted by everyone. Impasse.”
    “The President really wants to move on this,” the Chief of Staff pointed out. We have to do something to make it look like we're DOING SOMETHING.
    “Well, next time he sees the Pope, maybe he can ask for high-level intercession.” Jack's irreverent grin froze momentarily. Van Damm thought he was cautioning himself against speaking badly of the President, whom he disliked. But then Ryan's face went blank. Arnie didn't know Jack well enough to recognize the look. “Wait a minute . . .”
    The Chief of Staff chuckled. It wouldn't hurt for the President to see the Pope. It always looked good with the voters, and after that the President would have a well-covered dinner with B'nai B'rith to show that he liked all religions. In fact, as van Damm knew, the President went to church only for show now that his children were grown. That was one amusing aspect of life. The
    
     Soviet Union
    
     was turning back to religion in its search for societal values, but the American political left had turned away long ago and had no inclination to turn back, lest it should find the same values that the Russians were searching for. Van Damm had started off as a left-wing believer, but twenty-five years of hands-on experience in government had cured him of that. Now he distrusted ideologues of both wings with equal fervor. He was the sort to look for solutions whose only attraction was that they might actually work. His reverie on politics took him away from the discussion of the moment.
    “You thinking about something, Jack?” Alden asked.
    “You know, we're all 'people of the book,' aren't we?” Ryan asked, seeing the outline