This wasn't Conner's first interview, and it certainly won't be his last. This was the second time he ran to become the leader of the nation. In his first attempt he was about as noticeable as a single gnat in a swarm of horseflies. In his second time around, he fared no better. He didn't want to succumb to the media friendly tactics that most candidates subjugate themselves to in order to get votes. He wanted people to look at his policies and realize that he was the most well prepared, and in reality, the most sane person on the ticket for the Republican Party.

But today he had a need for the media. He needed them to showcase his stance on various issues to the greater American public. He was a guest for the taping of the short program, Race for the Presidency. Each week they talked about polling stats as if they were odds in a horse race. 'Last week Harry Sayder was at 40 points, but now with Caroline Feral gaining speed, Harry is at 38 and Caroline at 32.' You'd think this was a pregame for a sporting event rather than preparation for an election.

A woman was dabbing Conner's nose with powder while his advisor and campaign manager, Jonathan Davis, was running through talking points with him. John was a slim man who never left his house without a suit and a briefcase or bag of some sort. His watch was digital, not analog, for quick access to the time, rather than fooling around counting spaces. His cell phone vibrated constantly, almost like the pulsation of a heart. Each beat was a notification on social media, an email, or a message keeping him up-to-date with world issues, competitors' rhetoric, and any allegations made against Conner. He'd later incorporate talking points to counter these allegations, or address the breaking news.

"A recent drone strike in Yemen took out three high ranking members of the Kabish just hours ago. The president calls it a success, yet an untold amount of innocent casualties accompanied this success. Do you find a mission that takes the lives of innocent people a success?"

The day John goes easy on me is the day I'll get elected, Conner jokingly presumed. He could imagine his rival Republican candidate, Mr. Sayder, answering the same question by saying, "As long as we get the baddies, I'd considered it a successful mission."

Conner laughed at the thought and ran his hand through his straight gray hair. Starting his campaign as a dark blond, patches of white were now noticeable around the edges of his hair. He has been meaning to either commit fully to white or fully gray, but John advised against it. "It'll make you like your opponents, anchored to a single party and its frame of thinking. You are a conservative who isn't afraid to dance amongst liberals when you know they have something intelligent to say." It was true; bi-partisan agreements were as rare as stars colliding. Each side of the aisle was stubborn and stuck to their party ideals. Yet Conner felt that his side could share more of the blame. He felt he was the only Republican who was willing to step out of the party's skin and look to the world for answers.

That was why Conner tried to distance himself from the Republican Party. Sure he was running as as a member of one, but that was only because the party proclaimed itself to be conservative. The way Conner looked at it, the Republicans pick and choose when to be conservative—that was... when it suits them best. Conner was a true conservative—a man who fought for small government across the board, not just on regulation, but on NSA spying, social security, military spending, etc.

Conner's thoughts about military spending brought him back to John's question. "I find the mission to be a success in some ways and a failure in others. True we knocked out some of the Kabish's top players, but to do so at the expense of innocent civilians is un-American. I don't know the number of civilians that were harmed in the mission, but the death of one innocent life is a horrible tragedy that must be avoided."

John countered, "But when a nation is at war with its enemy, civilian causalities are to be expected."

"Ah, but that's the key: war. A war only occurs when Congress passes a declaration of war, which to my knowledge has not been passed—and I should know, I work in the House of Representatives."

"So are you arguing that we shouldn't use drone strikes to cripple key cells within the Kabish's network?"

"I'm arguing that we should think before we act. All missions are to account for civilian casualties before undergoing commitment. The least amount of civilian causalities are to be incurred when proceeding with such missions in foreign nations—nations whom I may say find us intruding on their grounds."

"But they are harboring terrorists—and we don't want another 9/11 happening now do we?"

Conner was angry now. That word: 9/11—it hung above people like a sword above their necks. It infused fear into the nation and caused people to act irrationally. Americans don't act well under fear. They subjugate minorities and kill whomever they think was associated with the fear. But you can't kill fear—you must control it. Fear is not bad—it's a tool that one can use to make accurate decisions. Constantly running up military spending will bankrupt our nation—our empire. We will go the way of the Romans if we keep this up.

Conner decided to calm down and focus on the question. "Our own nation harbors terrorists too, yet we don't send drones to Chicago or New York or LA. Depending on your definition of a terrorist, which most people concede to be a person who wishes to harm civilians, then the gang members who patrol the streets of these cities are also terrorists. They kidnap locals, assassinate rival leaders, and many civilians get caught in the crossfire. It is so bad that even the police in Chicago are afraid to enter gang-controlled neighborhoods for fear that they are knocking on death's door. So the question I pose to you is: why is it okay to bomb another nation's civilians instead of our own? Here, I'll answer it for you; it's not okay in any sense. Article Four of the Geneva Convention holds foreign civilians as protected persons. It is our job to make sure that they don't suffer the consequences because of the cowards who hide amongst them."

John added, "But the terrorists don't adhere to the Geneva Convention's rules. So is it justifiable to break the Convention's rules if our enemy break them?"

"What separates us from the terrorists is our ability to control and check ourselves. If we stoop down to their level of animality, then we are no different from them. If we blow up innocent civilians, we might as well be labeled terrorists too."

John broke character and slide his finger across his throat. "I would avoid that last line. People tend to be allergic to the hard truth—especially one as complex as that."

Conner rebutted as if he was still in the middle of a real debate. "What's so complex about it? If we attack a nation's civilians we are international terrorists."

"So you're arguing Hitler was an international terrorist?"

"Why not?" Conner asked. "He infiltrated another nation, assassinated leaders, killed and coerced civilians, and influenced a nation's governmental policy through intimidation."

"Be that as it may," John leveled his hands as if to reestablish control, "we are not Hitler."

"Surely not, but we are on the path of what the FBI defines international terrorism. We attempt to instill democracy in nations where it doesn't seem to work, we kill civilians with our drone strikes, whether intended to or not, and we've sent men in to assassinate political leaders. May I need remind you of what happened in Syria in 2020?" [1]

John was going to say something but Conner cut him off. "It was like the Cuban Missile Crisis all over again—U.S. and Russia nearly on the brink of war; this time all because of a single bullet to a leader's head. Isn't it alarming that the death of one man can set in course the death of millions of others with the snap of a finger—or should I say a neck?"

"Syria was it's own thing. Their president gassed civilians and tested chemical weapons on children. If a bullet was what was needed to end that, then so be it—and let me remind you that we were at war."

"That's the key—we were at war. We legally declared war on a nation and its government. When at war the conscience is sedated to murder, even on the highest scale. But right now, we are not at war in Yemen. We are in a conflict with the Kabish. How can a nation declare war with a group of people that has no defined boundary? It's very difficult."

John sighed hoping to just get a single point through his boss's head. "Still, avoid calling the U.S. terrorists if you want to be elected. Painting the U.S. as the bad guy will get you into more trouble than for what it's worth."

At that the producer for Race for the Presidency walked in and informed, "60 seconds Mr. Knox."

John turned to Conner as the woman applying powder and hair products on Conner withdrew from her duties. He pointed a finger at him and reminded him, "Remember, we're not terrorists. Now go get 'em."

Footnote:

[1] After the death Bashar al-Yishad in 2019, which helped fuel a struggle that led to the United States being directly involved in the Syrian conflict come early 2020, a new leader was put into power with the help of the Russians. The man, Khisla al-Ferad, seemed to arise from out of nowhere to become president, and he made Assad look like a saint. In a deep covert operation in late 2020, the United States managed to track down Ferad to his headquarters and assassinate him. See FOS for more details.