Chapter 341 The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish.

An Rushong took the file bag and first glanced at General Thurman next to him. Then he picked up the file bag, opened the seal, took out all the thick stack of documents in it, and looked through them one by one.

The documents in the bag were very thick, and obviously not a simple news release. An Rusong simply flipped through them and found that among the thick pile of documents, only the top one was a real news release, and the rest were various photos and documents. He didn’t have time to look through those documents, so he just took a simple look at the photos.

There are about thirty photos, some of which are of opened packages. Judging from the stamps on the outer seals of these packages, they are obviously special military mail packages of the US military. The only difference is that the items filled in these packages are bags of white powder. Although the photos do not indicate what the white powder is, just looking at it makes people feel that it is not a good thing.

Other photos involved a large number of American soldiers in uniform, who were either holding syringes and injecting something into their arms, or gathered together to happily smoke “self-rolled cigarettes”, and some were a few people gathered in front of a pile of wrinkled US dollars and counting the bills. In these photos, An Rusong saw people like Gracie and Wilder.

Just as An Rusong was flipping through a photo of Wilder himself, Leonard stood up from the opposite side. He leaned over and took a photo from the one An Rusong had just put down. He lowered his head to look at the people in the photo and said with a serious expression, “Chairman An, just like the photos you see now, the people involved in each photo are using the military mail system supported by the taxpayers’ money of the United States of America to traffic drugs and seek personal gain. These guys are all termites in the armed forces of the United States of America. They are not only stealing the citizens’ taxes, but also eroding the US military. At the same time, they are also destroying the country’s reputation and the image of American soldiers. Therefore, we must bring these guys to justice, or at least remove them from the military.”

There was no expression on An Rushong’s face, he continued to stare at the photo in his hand.

Of course, he would not believe what Leonard said. This guy might really want to bring the people in the photo to justice, but if he said that his most direct purpose was to save the national reputation of the United States and the image of American soldiers, An Rusong would never believe it. What’s more, what national reputation does the United States have? Does the image of American soldiers really exist in reality except in Hollywood movies?
To put it bluntly, what these guys are doing is nothing more than a power struggle within the Pentagon. The slogans Leonard shouted are nothing more than their rhetoric of occupying the moral high ground. An Rusong is sure that once General Thurman is really appointed as the commander-in-chief of the US forces in South Korea, and he has a firm control over the situation of the US forces in South Korea, then the next thing he has to do is to calm down the storm caused by the drug trafficking of the US troops in South Korea. As for whether those US soldiers who act recklessly will really be punished, it is not within his scope of concern.

“This guy,” Leonard certainly didn’t know what An Rushong was thinking. He put the photo in his hand on the table, turned it half a circle so that the photo was facing An Rushong, then he poked the photo with his index finger and said.

An Rushong put down the photo in his hand and took a look at the photo that the other party was holding under his finger.

There are two people in the photo, Wilder and Gracie, and Leonard’s finger is on Wilder’s chest.

“I have to admit, President An, he is a ruthless character,” Leonard continued. “You should have a look at his resume. He has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a true professional soldier with blood on his hands. He is ruthless and decisive. So, once he feels that you are a threat to his safety, he will not hesitate to attack you. And now, your existence has obviously posed a threat to him. There is no doubt that even though you are still at peace now, I can tell you for sure that once the current situation comes, he will definitely attack you.”

After a pause, he emphasized his tone and said, “He is a person who will not allow anyone who can threaten him to exist. So, President An, if you want to get rid of this trouble, the best way is to take the initiative and get rid of him first.”

An Rusong met Leonard’s gaze for a few seconds, then looked at General Thurman next to him and said, “Do I just need to send out this press release?”

As he spoke, he picked up the press release again and shook it gently in his hand.

“That’s right,” Leonard answered in the affirmative without hesitation, and then he added, “Of course, after this, you may need to bear a certain amount of pressure. This pressure will come from the US Forces Korea Command and, of course, perhaps from senior government officials in your country. All you need to do is stick to your position.”

At this point, he turned his head to look at General Thurman, then turned his gaze to An Rusong’s face and said with a smile: “In fact, in our opinion, withstanding the pressure is much more difficult than simply exposing this news.”

“Colonel, according to what you said, the risk I need to take seems a bit high,” An Rusong said after a moment’s hesitation. Before this, Leonard had told him that General Thurman had been appointed by Washington and would become the next commander of the US Forces Korea. However, according to the information An Rusong had received and the information revealed in Leonard’s previous words, the relevant appointment from Washington had obviously not been issued yet. In other words, it was still uncertain whether General Thurman could really take over as the commander of the US Forces Korea.

Why did Leonard or Thurman want to expose the drug trafficking scandal of the US military in South Korea? An Rusong felt that this might not only be related to the major adjustments to the US military system in South Korea after Thurman actually took office, but also to whether he could come to Seoul to take office.

If An Rusong’s speculation is accurate, then cooperating with Leonard and others is indeed a very risky thing. After all, his choice is equivalent to betting on Thurman in advance, and he has also clearly disclosed his position to everyone.

In the future, if Thurman can successfully take office and truly become the commander of the US forces in South Korea, then everything will be fine. But if the opposite is true and he ultimately fails, what should An Rushong do?
“People on Wall Street have a saying that the higher the risk, the higher the return, right?” Leonard said with a smile. Then, he pushed the photo on the table towards An Rusong and added, “What’s more, President An, the risk you are facing now is also not small, isn’t it?”

An Rusong smiled. To him, Wilder and his men were indeed a threat, but the threat they could really bring to him was not that great. As long as he could strengthen his own security, those guys would be helpless against him. After all, he was a public figure, not an ordinary citizen. Even if Wilder and his men were arrogant, they would not dare to go too far.

However, Leonard was right in saying that “the higher the risk, the greater the reward”. What future can a person who dares not move forward in the face of opportunities, who is cautious and timid, have? Of course, the most important thing is that as a reborn person, An Rusong vaguely remembers that in his previous life, James Thurman was indeed the commander of the US military in South Korea, and his term of office seemed to be after 08.

With such a prerequisite, what else does An Rusong have to worry about? The reason why he acted so hesitant in front of Leonard was nothing more than acting. He had to let the other party understand that he took a big risk in this matter and paid a huge price. The other party had to remember how difficult it was for him.

Facing Leonard’s gaze, An Rusong smiled. He pursed his lips, reached out to take the photo on the table, brought it to his eyes and looked at it carefully, then shook his head and smiled, “Colonel.”

Throwing the photo casually back on the table, he continued, “These guys are just minor issues. We don’t need to spend too much energy on them. Let’s talk about the more important things.”

“Oh?” Leonard looked at General Thurman again, then slowly sat back in his chair.

“I mean, when should this press release be released?” An Rusong said calmly. “You have to know that the Internet is different from traditional paper media. If you want a press release to be popular enough and attract enough attention, it will take some time to operate, so…”

“We need it as soon as possible,” General Thurman said before he could finish. This guy could speak Korean, but his pronunciation was a bit garbled. Perhaps he knew that his Korean pronunciation was not standard, so after saying the first sentence, he immediately switched to English, “It’s best to hype this news by the end of this month.”

An Rushong raised his eyebrows. He was actually a little confused about the other party’s request, because the new US presidential election will be held in November this year, and the candidate for the commander of US forces in South Korea should be nominated by the US president and appointed after approval by the Senate.

The current President of the United States is George W. Bush, who has been re-elected for two terms, which means that his term will definitely end by the end of this year.

(End of this chapter)