“Objection,” Ben said. “The witness is, at best, expressing an opinion. Not stating facts.”

Cartwright nodded. “The court would appreciate it if the witness would limit his testimony to what he has actually seen and heard.”

Ruiz nodded obediently. “Yes, your honor.”

Swinburne resumed. “Can you tell us the first time you recall the president addressing the subject of Kuraq or Colonel Zuko?”

“Of course. I’m sure you recall that just a few days after the president took office, an unidentified terrorist bombed our marine headquarters in Lebanon. No one took credit in the immediate aftermath, and we were scrambling to determine what had happened. We were getting intelligence reports from all over the world, most of them contradictory and inconclusive. But when it came time for the first briefing and planning session, the first day after the incident, the president sat down and immediately said, ‘Tell me what Zuko has to do with this.’”

“What did that question suggest to you?”

“What it suggested was that the president had already determined that Zuko was responsible or, worse, that he wanted to pin it on Zuko regardless of what really happened. I found that appalling. We were trying to find out what happened, but the president didn’t seem to care. He just wanted Zuko’s head. As you know, in the weeks that followed, his rhetoric against Kuraq only increased. First he applied the most extreme economic sanctions. Insisted upon a total embargo of the country, which resulted in short- and long-term shortages of food and medicine within the country. Soon thereafter we were sending troops and positioning them just outside Kuraq’s borders.”

“Excuse me,” Swinburne said, “but weren’t those troops sent in response to the Kuraqi occupation of the Benzai Strip?”

“That was the official explanation. Whether you want to believe it or not is another matter.”

“Is there any reason to doubt it?”

“As I already mentioned, the president seemed strangely preoccupied with Zuko and his country. And there was nothing new about their claim to the Benzai Strip.”

“Moving in troops was new, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. But Zuko’s explanation was that he needed to seize their food and medicine stockpiles to help his own people, which is understandable under the circumstances. Outside aid was still reaching Benzai, but not Kuraq.”

“What about the alleged genocide?”

“I would put a heavy emphasis on the word alleged. A few people were killed during the struggles relating to the initial occupation, but we haven’t confirmed any deaths since. We hear rumors of Zuko’s genocidal plans-but so far there has been no known attempt to actually start a massacre. That’s why the president has been unable to get support for a UN resolution against Kuraq.”

“They haven’t found any evidence of genocide, either?”

“No. In the eyes of too many around the world, this looks like another excuse for American imperialism. We come up with excuses for every invasion we’ve made into the Middle East, but in the eyes of many, those excuses are just that-rationalizations for doing what we want to do, even if it amounts to little more in reality than a war of aggression or a flat-out theft of natural and economic resources.”

Swinburne stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Is there any reason the president would be so obsessed with Kuraq?”

“Objection,” Ben said. He suspected this one was not going to do much good, but at the very least it would interrupt the flow of this damaging assault on the president’s credibility. “Calls for speculation about a third party’s motives.”

“Not really,” Swinburne responded. “The question goes toward the president’s mental state. Shows that he may not be exercising the intellectual prowess we would want from our president. That is very relevant to this proceeding.”

“No,” Ben insisted. “The fact that the president may have a different opinion than the secretary of state does not in any way suggest mental instability. Surely we’re mature enough to be able to differ without labeling opposing viewpoints as crazy.”

“I understand what you’re saying,” Admiral Cartwright said. “But I think this is relevant. I’m going to allow it. I will caution the witness to avoid speculation, however.”

Ben frowned. This was not going to be helpful. He felt certain Ruiz could accomplish his goals without violating the judge’s rule against speculation-at least not too obviously.

“I think President Kyler blames Zuko for taking away his honeymoon. You know, the first one hundred days or so of a new presidency when the press and the public are still excited and his approval ratings are high and a president can typically start instituting a good deal of his campaign agenda. The bombing so preoccupied political thought that Kyler didn’t get that grace period. But why he assumes that Zuko was responsible and has obsessed on him so, I just couldn’t tell you. It doesn’t seem rational to me.”

“Objection,” Ben said, rising.

“I’m sorry,” Ruiz said quickly. “I don’t mean to testify about the president’s mental state.”

Ben found this apology profoundly unconvincing.

“I’m just trying to understand why I and many others at State were mystified,” Ruiz continued. “It didn’t make any sense. There are worse dictators in the world, and bigger threats to the security of our nation. North Korea. Pakistan. Just to name two.”

“Maybe he’s just being careful,” Swinburne suggested. “Is there any downside to being careful?”

“In this case, yes. Kyler has committed so many of our resources to this region that, in the event that a real threat developed, we would be hard-pressed to mount an effective response quickly. Furthermore, it’s extremely damaging to world opinion about the United States. I just don’t think the rest of the world is going to tolerate another Middle Eastern invasion by American forces. At least not unless we have positive proof that they were behind the bombing. Or that people are being slaughtered in Benzai. And at present we don’t.”

“Have you seen any further evidence that the president is obsessed with some kind of personal revenge against Zuko?”

“Objection, leading.” Ben hated to make so many objections. He knew that excessive objections irritated the jury, who usually would like to hear the answer to any question interesting enough to draw an objection. He could only imagine the effect on a group of cabinet members, people used to getting their information in succinct briefings, and in this case, people who could see the deadline till the next missile launch approaching all too quickly.

Cartwright tilted his head to one side. “Well… it was a leading question, Mr. Swinburne. Do you understand what we mean by that term?”

“I think I’ve got the general idea, judge. I’ll try again.” Swinburne cleared his throat. “Have you observed any indications of what might be the basis for the president’s preoccupation with Kuraq?”

“I think he wants revenge,” Ruiz said.

Ben rolled his eyes. Swinburne had used the inappropriate leading question to tell Ruiz how he wanted him to answer. If he needed cash after his vice presidency, he could have a fine career as a prosecutor.

“Why would he want revenge?”

“The attack could have come during the previous administration. Whoever was behind the attack seems to have purposely waited until Kyler was in office before they made the strike. But there seems to be more to it than even that.”

“How do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain. It’s almost as if there were… some sort of grudge match between Kyler and Zuko. As if the president has personal reasons for wanting to put him down. I’m sorry I can’t explain it any better. But it really does seem to have a personal aspect to it.”

“And how is that not speculation?” Ben said, rising.

“The man’s doing the best he can on short notice,” Cartwright said curtly. “It’s not as if they’ve had time to rehearse their testimony.”