Rudy Perpich’s War
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The Vice President had gotten used to waiting. As Biden’s pointman, his role was to primarily push Joe’s agenda, his own be damned. Washington was no longer new to him, and he had settled in his role. Shaking hands and posing for pictures the President did not want to take was a fair trade off for having the sort of input he had in domestic affairs over the past two years. But today was not about domestic affairs, at least domestic American affairs at any rate. Mr. Vice President, the President will see you now. Finally, the doors to what is the sacred inner circle of American politics swung open. The manila folder was beginning to burn a hole in his hand. His staff waited outside. I’d ask what this is about, Rudy, but I think I already know. We’ve talked about this before.
Of course he did. Yugoslavia. Everyone had their baggage, but who would have guessed when he had been picked in ’89 that this is would be it. ’89… seemed so long ago.
Of course you know, Joe. They’re killing my people. Our people Joe – they’re Catholics, you know. Croatia. Perpich didn’t even think of Yugoslavia as a single entity anymore. Already in his head they were separate – Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and of course, land of his fathers, Croatia. Literally. His father, Anton was from a town just outside of Senj, but that was nearly a century ago. Senj itself was literally prehistoric. It had existed before the written record. Anton, now 91, was dying of heartache at what was beginning to happen in the old country. Rudy was tired of the excuses. They killed Tudjman, and now they’re rolling in the tanks! This isn’t a civil war; it’ll be a massacre, genocide! Vukovar fell and they sent them to camps. It’s happening again, on our watch. What the fuck happened to ‘Never Again’?
Any sense of charm or levity left the room. The most powerful man in the world was staring down his chosen successor, whom he was supposed to trust if the unthinkable happened. But it’s my name that’ll be in the history books. What am I supposed to do? Do we intervene? If we bomb Milosevic, for what? And what about Gorbachev? We’ve put in countless hours with the Soviets. Acting out like this would send them running, prove the hardliners right. And NATO? Who would back us? Thatcher!? Bullshit. Europe is turning a blind-eye and it is in their backyard. We can’t get involved. I get the briefings same as you, Rudy.
But I don’t need them translated. There was another heavy pause before the President responded. You said they’re sending them to camps?
Milosevic. He’s sending planning it himself. The Vice President threw the manila folder onto the Resolute desk. The President read the transcripts inside. Where did you get this? The briefings said the crimes so far had just been outlaw bands, nothing orchestrated.
I went to the source. Admiral Howe is just sitting there in Naples, intercepting these communications every day. The Serbs are the JNA now. They have a monopoly of force and they are using it. Now, Joe, I know we can’t send in the Marines. So send me instead. We have to try something. Let me try and talk to them, to Milosevic, to anybody. We have to try before it’s too late. As my father would say, ‘Pomozi si sam pa će ti i Bog pomoći. First help yourself and then God will help you.’
The two men talked about what to do next late into the night.
