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Event: The Purge, 2002
Qilai! Qilai!
A history of Modern China (and the World)
Event: The Purge - 2002
A history of Modern China (and the World)
Event: The Purge - 2002
The United States had just experienced the worst disaster in her modern history -- more people had died in the April 2002 attacks than in any other time in modern American history, except perhaps the Civil War. All over the nation, cities were racked with grief as bodybags and collateral damaged costed the cities and states millions of dollars. Many national icons had been eviscerated by the terrorist attacks on Washington D.C, and for days, many people were too afraid to leave their homes.
Herbert Bush was, as a result, not a happy man. Foist into the office of President of the United States entirely by the acts of madmen, he had to get grip fast. In media, he was often one of America's "kind fellows", a passionate Speaker of the House who often looked for bipartisan solutions, and was a close ally to the White House, and to the moderate Republicans, including Secretary McCain.
While Bush's presidential aspirations had been sunk in 2000 with the re-election of John Conyers and Bernard Sanders, they suddenly came alive again as the new Head of State in a time of struggle.
One of the first things Bush did upon taking the office, was sit down with the remainder of the Cabinet that had survived the attack. Secretary of State Arthur A. Hartman had died of acute radiation poisoning, but the remainder had managed to weather the conflict out. President Bush held his first Cabinet meeting inside Camp David's compound, and as well, summoned the CIA, FBI, and NSA directors, their deputies, and any proxy heads within those departments. He also brought in the FAA as well.
From documents taken that day, as well as testimony given by Secretary of Defence John McCain, the President went off on a tangent, angrily teeing off on all of the Secretaries for gross incompetence and failure to deal with the situation before it got to this point; particularly, laying into the CIA and FBI directors, going so far as to call them stupid.
By the end of the meeting, President Bush had fired most of the cabinet members responsible for the matters at hand -- he had retained McCain after McCain made it clear the United States armed forces had no way of telling of an impending terrorist attack of this scale except through minor whispers -- the FBI, CIA, NSA directors had all been sacked, as had the National Security Advisor.
Bush began to draw up a reshuffle of the cabinet in response. McCain was of a different political party than Bush, but Bush had agreed with Conyers' choice -- McCain was a sound man, and a perfect fit for the DoD. Bush decided that a good choice for the office of Secretary of State to replace Hartman, would be Colin Powell. Colin Powell was another Republican in the cabinet, but Bush reasoned that in these trying times of vast political struggle, it was better to have a man with military experience in the State seat, and that politics didn't matter when it was the nation's security and safety in mind. The establishment of two high-profile Republicans in the Cabinet stirred up a measure of concern in the DNC, who wondered if Bush was as fealty-stricken to his party as he seemed, but Bush shut down the DNC arguments, pulling the "bipartisan cooperation" card once more.
His father, the former CIA director under Presidents Sanford and Haig, was contacted for advice on appointments for national intelligence. Bush's father, a high profile political figure, became even more public after he reamed out America's intelligence agencies for their failure, and called for serious changes.
Dubbed, The Purge, a large number of people inside the intelligence agencies of the United States were effectively handed their walking papers and let go, and the U.S. began to undertake a massive reform of their intelligence operations, perhaps to avoid another issue like this from happening again.
Herbert Bush was, as a result, not a happy man. Foist into the office of President of the United States entirely by the acts of madmen, he had to get grip fast. In media, he was often one of America's "kind fellows", a passionate Speaker of the House who often looked for bipartisan solutions, and was a close ally to the White House, and to the moderate Republicans, including Secretary McCain.
While Bush's presidential aspirations had been sunk in 2000 with the re-election of John Conyers and Bernard Sanders, they suddenly came alive again as the new Head of State in a time of struggle.
One of the first things Bush did upon taking the office, was sit down with the remainder of the Cabinet that had survived the attack. Secretary of State Arthur A. Hartman had died of acute radiation poisoning, but the remainder had managed to weather the conflict out. President Bush held his first Cabinet meeting inside Camp David's compound, and as well, summoned the CIA, FBI, and NSA directors, their deputies, and any proxy heads within those departments. He also brought in the FAA as well.
From documents taken that day, as well as testimony given by Secretary of Defence John McCain, the President went off on a tangent, angrily teeing off on all of the Secretaries for gross incompetence and failure to deal with the situation before it got to this point; particularly, laying into the CIA and FBI directors, going so far as to call them stupid.
By the end of the meeting, President Bush had fired most of the cabinet members responsible for the matters at hand -- he had retained McCain after McCain made it clear the United States armed forces had no way of telling of an impending terrorist attack of this scale except through minor whispers -- the FBI, CIA, NSA directors had all been sacked, as had the National Security Advisor.
Bush began to draw up a reshuffle of the cabinet in response. McCain was of a different political party than Bush, but Bush had agreed with Conyers' choice -- McCain was a sound man, and a perfect fit for the DoD. Bush decided that a good choice for the office of Secretary of State to replace Hartman, would be Colin Powell. Colin Powell was another Republican in the cabinet, but Bush reasoned that in these trying times of vast political struggle, it was better to have a man with military experience in the State seat, and that politics didn't matter when it was the nation's security and safety in mind. The establishment of two high-profile Republicans in the Cabinet stirred up a measure of concern in the DNC, who wondered if Bush was as fealty-stricken to his party as he seemed, but Bush shut down the DNC arguments, pulling the "bipartisan cooperation" card once more.
His father, the former CIA director under Presidents Sanford and Haig, was contacted for advice on appointments for national intelligence. Bush's father, a high profile political figure, became even more public after he reamed out America's intelligence agencies for their failure, and called for serious changes.
Dubbed, The Purge, a large number of people inside the intelligence agencies of the United States were effectively handed their walking papers and let go, and the U.S. began to undertake a massive reform of their intelligence operations, perhaps to avoid another issue like this from happening again.
- Asami
- Word Count: 670