Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 444 Press Conference

Two days later, the US DOD's routine press conference was held as scheduled.

Colonel Reid came to his office early this morning. After his secretary brought him coffee, he picked up the speech he had prepared for today and read it over. Then he took out some materials he had prepared last night from his briefcase and began to review them for the third time, making sure that some of the information was firmly remembered in his mind.

The recent hot topics are all related to Afgan and Yilige, and he has done enough homework in these two aspects.

Especially recently, there have been scandals of accidental killing of civilians by US troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. For Reid, although such news is extremely damaging to the image of the US military, it is not the first time he has to deal with it.

After the news came out, the DOD bosses ordered the garrisons in the two regions to immediately send coordinators to contact local interim government officials to work together to deal with the aftermath.

The aftermath is very simple, just one word - money.

Money can help.

Especially for a country like the United States that controls the dollar printing press, it is not a problem at all.

In the current battlefields of Afghanistan and Irigaray, the US military, CIA and other units are all heading there with boxes of US dollars, ready to use money to deal any problems.

What's more, human lives in war-torn areas are worthless, and it is not a big deal to easily save a few lives with tens of thousands of dollars.

He picked up the post-war reports sent by the Afgan and Yiligo garrisons, read them carefully again, memorized the contents, smiled confidently, and picked up the coffee cup on the table.

"Lani."

He called his secretary.

"Where's the list of reporters for today's press conference? Why don't I see it?"

Lanny, the plump secretary, said, "It's on your desk. Can't you see it?"

"No...did you leave it on my desk?"

Colonel Reid had received the list yesterday, but it was not accurate because the list sent this morning was the final list. Some reporters may have urgent matters and need to be replaced or not come, so they will be re-reported this morning.

Lanny walked to the colonel's desk, twisting her basketball-round butt. She glanced at the table and reached out to take Colonel Reid's briefcase away.

Sure enough, a list was hidden under the briefcase.

"Oh, God!"

Colonel Reid patted his forehead, made an apologetic expression, and apologized to Lanny: "Look at me, I was so busy that I didn't even see it was right in front of me."

"It's okay, I'll go out first, Colonel." Lanny didn't care. After getting Colonel Reid's consent, she turned around and left.

Colonel Ryder picked up the list and read it down line by line.

Suddenly, he was attracted by a name.

"Thomas Fell? Damn...why is he here?"

Ryder thought about it, picked up the phone and called Lanny again.

"Lani, why is Phil on the list?"

Lanny pushed her glasses up, looked at the list, and explained, "He called this morning and said he wanted to replace the candidate, and he nominated Feier."

“But he’s the editor-in-chief!”

Colonel Ryder was a little excited.

He didn't want to deal with Fair.

This guy has a very poisonous mouth.

I've dealt with this guy before, and was embarrassed by his life-threatening questions.

"Have you ever seen an editor-in-chief acting as a reporter asking questions?"

After saying that, he quickly flipped open another document and asked as he turned it over, "What did he ask today?"

Lanny reminded him, "Colonel, you know that question outlines are of little use."

Reid finally found the outline of questions.

After taking a look, I found that Fair's question was nothing new. It was just some news about the Afghan battlefield.

But Lanny's reminder is not without reason.

Although most reporters attending the press conference will submit a rough outline of questions, some of them often do not follow the rules and will jump out of the pre-set framework and ask some unexpected questions.

This type of reporter is the most annoying, but we cannot publicly drive them away.

Once this kind of problem occurs, it will test the spokesperson's ability to respond on the spot.

"You go out first."

Colonel Reid was a little uneasy, always feeling that this Fair would cause trouble.

In fact, an hour later, Colonel Ryder's fears were confirmed.

During the question-and-answer session at the press conference, he was always wary of Fair.

The latter kept his head down, writing and drawing on a small notebook, until halfway through the question-and-answer session, when he suddenly raised his hand.

Colonel Ryder deliberately ignored it and chose another reporter to ask questions.

A minute later, after the questions were over, Fair raised his hand again.

Colonel Ryder continued his selective blindness and singled out another reporter.

Then, Fair raised his hand again...

Ryder ignored it... and raised his hand again.

By two-thirds of the time the question-and-answer session was over, the number of people raising their hands had gradually decreased.

This time, Fair suddenly shouted, "Colonel Ryder, I raised my hand six times. How many more times do you want me to raise it? I haven't asked a single question today."

All the reporters in the audience looked at Fair.

Everyone knows Fair's fame.

Thank you for your respect.

And he is always known for asking sharp questions.

Many reporters were waiting with a smile on their faces, hoping to see the good show.

One reporter who had raised his hand even put it down and said to Fair, "Fair, you go first."

Such humility made it impossible for Colonel Reid standing on the stage to be selectively blind. With so many cameras and video cameras filming, only Fair was left raising his hand. If he didn't answer, he didn't know what he would be written about in tonight's TV programs and newspapers.

"All right……"

He picked up the mineral water on the table and took a sip to relieve his dry throat.

"Fell, you ask."

A smile appeared on Fell's face, and he asked with a look of triumph, "Colonel, there's recent news that our military and the Colombian military are planning to launch a joint operation against the ELN, an armed group in Colombia, right?"

Ryder breathed a sigh of relief.

This question is not that difficult.

"Uh... We've been cooperating with Colombia for the past two years to help them eliminate drug trafficking gangs within the country. I think we announced this at our press conference a year ago..."

"No, no, no, Colonel, you're wrong." Fair interrupted Colonel Reid.

Colonel Reid was surprised and said, "I'm not mistaken."

Fair said firmly, "No, you're mistaken. As far as I know, the ELN doesn't traffic drugs. They're just left-wing militias. You just said that your cooperation with Colombia is to combat drug crime, but the ELN doesn't traffic drugs. So, does this count as interference in another country, NZ?"

Ryder's forehead was covered in sweat, and he cursed inwardly, "FUCK! I knew this bastard was no good. Sure enough, he had dug a trap for me!"

But outwardly, he maintained a smile and said, "What I'm talking about is our cooperation with the Colombian army to combat drugs. As for combating the ELN, I haven't received any information on that so far."

Fair pressed the issue bluntly, "Does that mean you, the DOD, don't have such a plan at all?"

This time, Colonel Ryder's back was sweating.

This is a gift!
It really is a life-threatening question!
It's no use trying to change the subject or talking about other things.

Fair is very experienced and insists that the key point is that ELN is not a drug trafficking armed force, and keeps pressing for the answer to whether this action has taken place.

In fact, Reid knew about this action.

But that was a secret operation, not open to the public, and has been kept secret.

damn it!
How did Fair know?
"Fell, I don't know where you got this information. Sometimes you should pay attention to the reliability of your sources."

Colonel Reid decided to send out a test, turning defense into offense, and lure Fair into revealing his source.

Who is the source of information is very critical.

It involves the issue of insider information.

This is also a fatal question for Fair.

The press conference suddenly fell silent.

Because Fair's question just now was so fascinating.

Everyone was eager to know the answer, and everyone was wondering whether this operation had actually taken place and where did Fair get the information?
Reid seemed to have regained the lead at this point.

He was very proud and just wanted to see how Fair would answer.

Do you dare to disclose the source of information?

Fair stared at Reid on the stage.

Reid put his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and stared at Fair in the audience.

His posture is slightly aggressive, but also a gesture of dominance.

After nearly twenty seconds of silence, Fair suddenly closed his notebook, put away his pen, and said as if nothing had happened, "I also heard about it online, you know, in some military chat room..."

"Hehehe!"

Low laughter broke out in the press conference hall.

Everyone suddenly became happy, and the originally tense atmosphere relaxed.

Colonel Reid smiled triumphantly on the stage. "Fell, I never thought a professional journalist like you would rely on information obtained in an online chat room to question me in such a formal setting. I'm sorry, but I really can't give you any answers."

He looked around at everyone in the conference room.

"That's all for today's press conference. Have a nice weekend, everyone. See you next week."

After saying this, he picked up the information and turned to leave, walking without caring about anyone.

　Asking for a monthly ticket! ! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)