The West Wing s05e21 Episode Script
Gaza
Previously on The West Wing: - I just wanna grow in my job.
- Why do you say that? I have one career.
I want it to matter.
You're not going to Gaza.
You're not attending talks with Israelis and Palestinians who don't work for their governments.
- We'll see.
You want me to go to the Middle East with a whistle teach congressmen to make lanyards? I need you to go so we can stay out of trouble.
It's the best we can do in that region.
I think we should be more engaged over there, not less.
- Thank you.
I appreciate it.
- Thank you.
What's this? Your diplomatic passport.
You're going on a CODEL to the Middle East.
No presidential handholding.
See what's going on, brief me and Toby.
Four days, I'm still not adjusted.
- Those briefings would put you out.
- Good idea.
Get somebody to hit me with one.
- They're a displaced population.
- Displaced? Palestinians moved 15 miles.
Did you ever move? They're still refugees.
You know, after 50 years, one option might be to get over it.
- It feels hotter today.
Is that possible? - Enjoy your break? - Wasn't what you think.
- Let's go, folks.
We're moving out.
Black cars.
Good choice for this climate.
Everybody's this angry now, what must it have been like before air conditioning? Yeah.
Travel, learn about new cultures, make new friends.
What do photographers say in the digital age now that the "come and see my darkroom" line has gone the way of the dodo? They offer their high-speed Inter Ladies and gentlemen, the duty-free cart will be coming through the cabin shortly.
Please refer to the catalog in the seat pocket in front of you for any items you may wish to purchase.
- The in-flight service - Heard from Donna? I get these daily, interminable e-mails that I have no time to read.
She doesn't seem to have mastered pith.
Donna's style is more along the lines of les mots mo'.
- You hear from Andy? - Concision's not her problem.
Every day, the same three little words: "See your children.
" Before e-mail, it was a lot harder for your ex to hock you from 6000 miles away.
Are the kids with Andy's mom? The very definition of an approach-avoidance situation.
- Say you're from Minnesota.
- I am.
- No, we're pretending.
- We're not, actually.
- And you'd like prescription drugs.
- What do I have? It could be clouding my judgment.
- You're no fun.
- I'm having fun.
Minnesota set up a website linked to Canadian pharmacies for the importation of cheap drugs, in violation of federal law.
I'm getting calls wondering why the administration's not enforcing this ban.
Curiosity as to what other statutes the White House is planning to ignore.
Shouldn't somebody applaud our affirmation for states' rights? - Is that what we're doing? - Not really.
We need a policy.
Hoping no one noticed has run its course.
I'll get into it after I check on how the Timberwolves and Twins fared.
- Bit's over.
- Okay.
- Leo.
Got a minute? - Just.
The vice president attended that fundraiser last night.
- He did well.
- Keep the amazement out of your voice.
- I was trying to pay you a compliment.
- Thanks.
- He got questioned about this trip.
- It's a CODEL.
Has nothing to do with administration policy.
They want to know if we're contemplating active reengagement in the peace process.
It's a tar baby.
Sisyphus.
Hijacks your entire agenda.
Lands everyone back right where they started, only angrier, if that's possible.
Josh.
Arrived, Gaza.
Couldn 't even unpack.
Still no comprehension of the money.
Probably criminally under or over tipping the entire Palestinian service sector.
Will either be run out on a rail or given a parade upon leaving.
We were whisked down to a meeting with the Fatah leaders.
If that sounds fascinating then you've gotten more out of the description than the experience.
Turns out Palestinian politicians are just as coma-inducing as our domestic variety.
These incursions are designed as provocations.
Tanks roll in.
This naturally excites resistance which then is used as a pretext for armed assault.
You'd agree that Israel doesn't set out to target innocents.
No.
I do not agree.
As opposed to Palestinian suicide bombers on buses, in pizza parlors.
Same old story, same old song and dance, eh? You don't expect to meet many Aerosmith fans in Gaza.
Colin Harrison.
Photojournalist.
The cameras were a big hint.
Four hundred Fatah members resigned in protest over alleged financial abuses and corruption among your leadership.
- This is not what we must discuss.
Sixty percent of Gaza live below the poverty line.
Gaza is an open-air Palestinian prison.
You'll never understand anything about Gaza by listening to politicians.
Or with you distracting me.
Fair enough.
Hey, I'll let you listen in peace if you meet me in the bar when this ends.
- I don't know how long this is gonna - I'll wait.
- Hi.
- Hi.
What would you like? Juice, please.
Thank you.
Among the tribulations of life in Gaza, the inability to get a proper pint.
What's your pleasure when you're not being subjugated by fundamentalists? Rusty nail.
Old-fashioned girl.
- Alluring.
- My dad's drink.
- Still enchanted? - Less.
So, is this your routine? Scout the new arrivals, make for the nearest blond? Well, not always blond.
What's wrong with attending conferences? You're fact-finding.
Why is that? I mean, there's more to understand in Gaza than facts.
Cheers.
To an old-fashioned girl.
What? I'm sorry.
That was just really cheesy.
Hate to see you blow the whole dashing foreign-correspondent thing.
Thanks very much.
- So show me.
- What? The real Gaza.
- See.
What I was hoping - I know what you were hoping.
So when do we start? When you get out of the hotel and into the streets what hits you about Gaza isn 't the overcrowding and poverty.
You've been briefed about that.
What strikes you is something else.
Idleness.
The sense of a people waiting, but with no expectation.
It's hard to convey.
Ashraf.
Colin.
I'd like you to meet someone.
- Ashraf Monsour, this is Donna Moss.
- Hi.
Miss Moss is with the American government delegation.
She'd She'd like to understand Gaza better.
I am not unemployed.
I'm electrician.
Ashraf works in construction in Israel.
I am not unemployed.
- I don't - The Israelis closed the checkpoints after a suicide bombing.
- Last week.
- Right.
- I can't work to feed my family.
- He says I should become one of them.
- What's it say? "The glory of eternity for our martyrs.
" The Palestinian Authority pays 2000 U.
S.
dollars to the families of "martyrs.
" Plus 150 a month until the last child leaves home.
I wish to work.
These martyrs These martyrs take food out of my children's mouths.
When it's open, 19,000 Palestinians a day pass through the Erez checkpoint to work jobs in Israel.
Fact.
More later.
We're not cutting cotton subsidies.
We went through a whole trade thing.
I'm not reopening that exploding can of worms.
- Since when is this under the NSC? - Since heroin traffic spiked in Europe.
I'm about to come down with globalization headache number five.
When farmers can't afford to grow cotton can't compete with cheap U.
S.
textiles from subsidized crops they plant something else.
- Poppies.
- Fields.
Like someone colorized Nebraska.
Well, maybe we should subsidize poppies.
Hang on.
What's up? Explosion in Gaza.
The CODEL.
Some fatalities.
- Donna? - It just happened.
That's all I know.
- An apparent car bomb has exploded.
- MSNBC's got it! I'm holding.
I've been holding.
Carol.
- I keep getting cut off.
- Try his cell phone.
- I'm trying.
- Not the switchboard.
I'm calling his cell phone in Gaza directly.
- And getting cut off.
- Do we know anything? We're trying cell phones, but we can't get through.
- They're probably busy.
- They could answer their phone.
Or not.
- Donna? Andy? - We don't know.
- Carol? - No one's getting through.
Hello? Andy.
How are? How are you? Are you? Are you okay? She's all right.
She was in the other car, and she's all right.
You're all right.
- My God, I see her! - Where? On the right On the cell phone.
Right there.
We can see you.
You're on TV.
On the On the monitor.
How's Donna? Two congressmen confirmed dead.
Korb and DeSantos.
- What about Donna? - What about Donna? She was in the car that Andy saw people put in ambulances.
That's all she knows.
Yeah.
I'm just I'm just glad that you're okay.
I mean Just come home, will you? Just Get the hell out of there and come home.
Mr.
President.
Three dead so far, sir.
Congressmen DeSantos and Korb.
- Oh, God.
- And we just got word.
Admiral Fitzwallace.
There are others injured.
They've been taken to area hospitals.
Sir, I'll get the phone numbers of the congressmen's families.
I asked Fitz to go.
Getting in and out of the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom requires a military escort.
Five hundred mortar shells have landed there in the last three years.
During our pre-dinner break, I met an Israeli settler family.
Two days before, a mortar round had exploded in their kitchen.
It came through the roof.
One half-hour later, my wife would have been giving breakfast to our children.
Four others have fallen around the house.
When the Palestinians get a hit, they secure the launchers.
And that way, they can make sure to repeat the strike.
- You must live in constant fear.
- Our soldiers will find the mortar.
You replace the tile roof with concrete, and pray.
In Israel, there's talk of giving up these settlements.
God wants us in this place.
It is our divine moral obligation to be here.
If we give in to the Arabs, they'll take more and more and We'll all end up in Tel Aviv.
And then they'll take that.
All of this It doesn't make you wanna leave? This is the most safe environment.
In Jerusalem, when you see an Arab, you don't know.
Here, if you see one, you know he's dangerous, and you shoot him.
Please excuse us.
Moss.
Moss.
Donatella Moss.
Tall, blond.
Do you have any idea of her condition, where she was taken? I understand.
Is there anyone there who? This is Josh Lyman, calling from the White House.
The White House.
Yes.
Where the president lives.
I'm looking for information about one of the bombing victims, Donatella Moss.
Are you kidding? You know the term "decent interval"? Go away.
Magley from the DNC wants to talk about who to run for the two vacant House seats.
- You're joking.
They're still picking up pieces over there he's talking about DeSantos' poachable district.
- What's he calling you for? - Thought Josh'd be upset about Donna.
I guess he figured since my ex-wife was only almost blown up that I'd only be almost upset! - I'm getting calls from AIPAC.
- Every 10 minutes.
Them and every pro-lsraeli lobby.
Half trying not to sound happy, the rest trying to avoid saying, "I told you so.
" The president's giving an address? - Tonight.
- The vice president would like to see an advance copy.
To check spelling, correct errors, noted grammarian that he is? You're worried about the politics.
You're as bad as that clown from the DNC.
It's a major address about a tragedy.
He has an interest in the content.
Yes.
There's interest in the political ramifications.
- That's what we all do.
- Some of us are trying to govern.
A heads-up.
It's not so much to ask.
I'm polishing, right up till air.
I'm glad Andy's okay.
I wonder who they would have called, had she been killed.
Yeah.
Everyone.
- What do we know? - Roadside bomb, detonated by cell phone.
They knew they were targeting Americans.
The black Suburbans are well-known.
Up to now, that's been advantageous.
U.
S.
officials have long been off-limits to Palestinian terror attacks.
- That seems to have changed.
- What's striking is no claim of responsibility.
They usually can't take credit fast enough.
Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad.
All announced they had nothing to do with this.
They don't wanna wake up to a cruise missile for breakfast.
- What are we doing? - State is in touch with Palestine.
The president meant things that aren't a waste of our time.
FBI investigative team is en route.
Langley's coordinating with Mossad and Israeli military in gathering information.
And compiling a list of possible targets for retaliation.
Are there any? We can't go flatten some refugee camp.
That's what we're trying to determine.
Mr.
President, the Palestinian chairman's on the phone.
I'll bet he is.
- In here.
- Yes, sir.
- You're on with the chairman, sir.
- Chairman Farad.
Mr.
President, I wish to convey my most profound dismay and sincerest sympathies over this inc - Murder, Mr.
Chairman.
- Yes.
Terrible.
A criminal act.
The assassination of U.
S.
government personnel.
An act of war, some would say.
The Palestinian Authority condemns this attack in the strongest terms.
- All Palestinians condemn - Not the perpetrators, Mr.
Chairman.
They'll be hunted down and made to suffer the maximum punishment.
Swift and harsh.
Do you know who they are? Criminals.
Traitors.
Mr.
President, you must believe no organized group would do this.
All understand to target Americans would be catastrophic to the Palestinian cause.
In this, Mr.
Chairman, they are entirely correct.
Thank you for the call.
Again, Mr.
President, my heartfelt condolences on this most barbaric act.
Condolences? See what he says about it in Arabic for domestic consumption.
He knows who did it.
- I'm sure that's what the Israelis will say.
- They've lived 30 years with this guy.
The chairman's control is less than absolute.
Hamas has a strong power base there.
Sir? I would like to observe a moment of silence in commemoration of those dedicated individuals who gave their lives in the service of their country this day.
General.
Prepare contingency plans for retaliatory military action against Palestinian terror targets.
Including the chairman's headquarters.
- Leo.
You wanted to see me? - Yeah.
Listen.
With Nancy McNally out of the country, you're gonna have to be our go-to I was gonna say "guy.
" The problem with English.
"Guy" is wrong, "gal" is patronizing, and "person" sounds arch.
- "Go-to guy" is fine.
- Good, because you're it.
Which is a lot to throw at you weeks into the job.
I want you to know you have my and the president's full support.
- I appreciate your confidence.
- We need you to coordinate intelligence.
Especially CIA and FBI.
You may have heard.
They have trouble playing nicely together.
- Boys will be boys.
- Don't be afraid to knock heads together.
We don't want turf wars slowing down intel.
I'll keep on them.
- You run into resistance, let me know.
- I hope that won't be necessary.
Another thing.
The president's not crazy about the DCI.
It's chemical.
It just rubs him the wrong way.
- Okay.
- This isn't gossip.
It's guidance.
If the CIA's got something the director's not the most effective vessel for communicating it.
I'll underline anything I think is significant.
We just need you to be all over this.
State, Defense.
You're the White House point person.
I won't let you down.
Oh, and on that whole language score.
I was in the military.
I manned battleships, was one of the boys.
Occasionally was exhorted to drop my You know, and grab my socks.
- I've made my peace with the colloquial.
- Okay.
Just between us girls.
Thanks, Leo.
Still just the three confirmed.
It was not a suicide attack.
I've already No claims of Hey! Is this working for you? Now, if you'll ask your questions one at a time, like every other time, maybe you'll come away with something to write and maybe I'll still be speaking to you when I climb down.
- Katie.
- Is the administration considering military action in response to the attack? The immediate focus is on gathering information on who might have been responsible.
Will the U.
S.
ask the Israelis to carry out any military retaliation? We're strongly urging both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to refrain from doing anything to inflame tensions at this time.
Will the administration actively seek the removal of Palestinian Chairman Farad and press for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza? If you're asking if today's events will impact U.
S.
policy, it's safe to assume that question will generate serious discussion in the coming days, weeks and months.
Gordon.
Do you have a comment on today's FDA warning on safety violations at Canadian Internet pharmacies? - What? - I haven 't been able to get exact information, but they have gotten her stabilized which sounds encouraging.
I'm sorry I don't have more, but I didn't want you and Mr.
Moss to have to wait any longer.
The thoughts and prayers of a grateful nation are with you and your family at this time.
Not at all, Mrs.
Korb.
Goodbye.
Charlie, when your mother was killed, you got one of these calls? Yes, sir.
Her captain.
Did it make you feel any better? Not really, sir.
Nothing makes you feel better.
But it did make me feel proud.
How's Donna? - Potential bleeding issues.
- Dire issues? Significant's the word they used, but dire is good.
- How's Donna? - Some issues.
- Life-threatening? - Significant.
- Hey.
Donna okay? - Some issues.
- I'm not sure what they are.
- You know what? - Maybe we'll do this all at once.
- Josh.
- Hi, Kate.
- Any news on Donna? - Some issues.
- Potentially significant.
With bleeding.
- Anyway, there's been major blood loss.
- Poor kid.
What's gonna be our response? - What do you think? - Regime change.
Take out the chairman.
Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
- Abba Eban's line.
- The guy in Tel Aviv's no picnic.
State's convinced nothing can happen till these two guys are gone.
- Israel's not the problem.
- The walls.
- Israel didn't just blow Americans up.
- I'm not saying there's equivalence.
Israelis don't talk about driving Palestinians into the sea.
- Some do.
- Come on.
- Never heard of "Greater Israel"? - Not from anyone serious.
People say nothing can happen until these guys are gone because they both may be stuck in old attitudes or assumptions.
There was a time when all Arabs wanted to drive Jews into the sea.
- But some argue that time's passed.
- Listen to Arab broadcasts.
Rabble-rousing to distract.
I'm not sure any credible Arab leader expects Israel's demise.
- Even the chairman.
- Don't bet on it.
- There's a view - Don't say, "some argue" and "there's a view.
" Can we restrict it to your view? Okay.
Palestinians are no longer fighting to destroy the Jewish state.
They're fighting for a state of their own.
A struggle against an occupying force.
And revolutionaries will outlast and out-die occupiers every time.
I don't know if that's more simplistic or naive.
It's tribal.
It can't be solved.
It's Hatfield and McCoy and there is no end.
- She's so young.
- Yeah.
Suicide bombers often leave these videotapes behind.
What's she saying? "It was always my wish to turn my body into deadly shrapnel to knock on the door of heaven with the skulls of Zionists.
God gave me two children who I love so" She had children? Oh, yeah.
One and 3.
Her husband had no idea she was planning to do it.
Here.
Families of suicide bombers get showered with gifts.
It's customary at the funeral to hand out sweets.
It's unimaginable.
Well, you don't have to imagine it, do you? It's real.
- We have to retaliate.
- Responding militarily makes us a combatant.
When they attack your people, they've made that choice for you.
Or we use this as an opportunity.
Employ the moral authority to reengage in pressing both sides for peace.
We need to kill them! We need to find them and to kill them.
We kill them.
Then we find out who sent them and we kill them too.
Kill the people who did it, planned it.
Kill everyone who was happy about it.
Yes, sir.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
You can go in.
Josh.
An opportunity? Where's Donna now? She's being medevaced to Ramstein then transferred to Landstuhl for treatment.
- An operation? - I don't know.
- We've got excellent people in Germany.
- Yeah.
If there's someplace you'd rather be, everyone would understand.
I'm fine.
Thanks.
Sorry.
Border tour went on forever.
It's all right.
- You still got time? - Ten minutes.
All right.
Hey, Yossi! Donna Moss, she's with the Americans.
My friend Yossi.
- He's a very wicked man, you know? - Heartbreaker.
- My hero, actually.
- Oh, I'm sure.
- So how old are you? - I'm 22.
You like the army? It's an Israeli's most sacred duty.
Nothing I will ever do is more important.
- Plus, girls like the uniform.
- The uniform? They like me.
Colin says you have strong feelings about serving here.
Is no good.
Gaza.
- No good, how? - Well, 7500 Israeli settlers surrounded by 1.
3 million Palestinians, who do not wish them here and we're in the middle.
That's difficult.
Once, we're sent to dismantle an illegal settlement.
The settlers punch and kick us.
A woman bit my arm so hard, she drew blood.
My own people.
Yossi spent some time guarding the settlement in Kfar Darom.
I've been there.
It's It's dangerous.
I lost comrades.
For a soldier, this is expected.
But two were women.
Girls, 19.
Killed in their barracks.
- I'm sorry.
- Tell her what happened then.
Go on, man.
You can tell her.
After the deaths of the girl soldiers, some in my unit they'd call on loudspeaker in Arabic.
Taunting, calling them names.
Filthy names.
And young Palestinians would come out from hiding, boys with rocks.
And And they'd shoot them, with live bullets.
- You - I do not shoot children.
Donna, I serve with them.
They're not evil.
But when people who are not monsters do this, it's the situation.
The circumstances are to blame.
I have to go.
- Thanks for speaking with me.
- Enjoy your visit.
I better not come and join your friends.
Bye.
You know, after 50 years, one option might be to get over it.
It feels hotter today.
Is that possible? Enjoy your break? It wasn't what you think.
At this time, all electric devices must be turned off and stowed in preparation for our landing in Frankfurt.
Ten-hut.
- What's the latest? - The FBI team lands in five hours.
- You've spoken to Nancy? - Dr.
McNally's left Caracas.
- She'll hit Tel Aviv, Cairo, Amman.
- Tell her to be careful.
- What's the situation on the ground? - Chairman's not letting the grass grow.
Palestinian Authority police made a night raid into the Jabaliya refugee camp.
There was an exchange of gunfire.
Six suspects were taken into custody.
- Are they the right people? - Israelis say no.
- Did they wanna think about it? - They say these guys are dissidents from Fatah.
The chairman just Settling old scores.
- He did take action.
- We awarding A's for effort now? Effort's what he's accused of never making.
What more do we know? The planning, the execution, the size of the bomb all appear too sophisticated to be some guys just freelancing.
Hamas and Hezbollah have used roadside bombs like this against IDF tanks.
Maybe that's what this was intended for.
Because Chevy Suburbans are often confused with Israeli tanks.
Military options? As you noted earlier, sir, fixed targets are hard to come by.
Half the time, the Israelis aren't sure what to hit.
So let me sum up.
We don't know who did this or even if they meant to.
Don't know how we'd hit them if we did find out.
Don't know who these guys were that the chairman arrested.
Is there anything, anything at all, that we are certain of? Other than three U.
S.
officials were brutally murdered? We know that at the blast site groups of young Palestinians stoned Western reporters shouting, "God is great.
" Hi, I'm Josh Lyman from the White House Iooking for Donatella Moss' room.
- Mr.
Lyman? - Yeah.
Colonel Leahy.
I operated on Miss Moss.
For what, exactly? I'm a little behind the curve.
She had a multiple compound fracture of the femur and a pneumothorax.
- Sorry, I - Collapsed lung, broken thighbone.
- Collapsed lung.
That's no biggie? - We suctioned the air from the cavity.
- Really? That sounds No biggie.
Lung should re-expand within 48 to 72 hours.
And a broken leg? Compound fracture is one where the bone protrudes through the skin.
- This was a multiple, so that meant - Yeah.
Got it.
- You all right? - I get a little queasy.
Plus the, you know, jet lag.
In any event, the main fracture repairs went well.
We inserted a rod through the bone.
Okay.
You wanna sit? I'm I'm fine.
So she's gonna be okay? At the moment, I'm more worried about you.
I'm good.
I'm good.
Well, we'll wanna perform some Doppler studies, ensure no clots have formed.
Recovery from the pneumothorax may take several weeks.
The fractures, months, with physical therapy.
Great.
I mean, not great, but Considering.
You can see her.
If you'd like.
Sir.
Kate Harper.
- Mr.
President.
- I wanna thank you for your efforts.
Hell of an orientation.
No thanks necessary, sir.
I understand you knew Admiral Fitzwallace.
Today notwithstanding reliable intelligence does occasionally come my way.
The admiral was one of my mentors after Annapolis.
I had a mild tendency toward insubordination.
Which he helped you correct? Which he enjoyed when not directed at him.
I have a similar taste.
- I'll bear that in mind.
- Sir.
- Sorry? - I'll bear that in mind, sir.
- Oh.
No.
I - I'm just jerking your chain.
Charlie.
- Yes.
- Secret Service at the car? - Yes, sir.
- Thank you.
Walk with me.
The Mideast reminds me of that joke about the optimist and the pessimist.
The pessimist says, "It can't get any worse.
" The optimist says, "Oh, yes, it can.
" It can get easy to forget there's a silenced majority who just wanna live.
You spend all your energy dealing with what's drowning them out.
- The invective and bomb blasts.
- Isn't our moral responsibility to them? - It's quicksand.
An ego trip.
- Sir? Chasing that Nobel Peace Prize right down the same sinkhole.
Well, after 50 years of strife and futility, there's no dishonor in failure.
The only dishonor might be not to try.
Come take a ride.
Gail.
Mr.
President.
Please.
Come in.
I wish I could express the depth of my sorrow for your loss.
I'm so sorry, Mrs.
Fitzwallace.
A sailor's wife doesn't live with fear the way a soldier's does.
An admiral's wife, that much less.
You don't spend a career preparing for this.
It seemed like a blessing until today.
The people responsible will be found and brought to justice.
Don't promise that.
I know the world.
What else? The funerals.
- I know.
- The FBI's gonna need time with the remains.
- Yeah.
- You should go home.
- Me? Yeah.
Okay.
Thanks.
Israeli gunships just fired missiles into an apartment house in Gaza City.
They were targeting a Hamas leader.
Twelve killed, including four children.
No word on whether the Hamas leader is among the dead.
- Why do you say that? I have one career.
I want it to matter.
You're not going to Gaza.
You're not attending talks with Israelis and Palestinians who don't work for their governments.
- We'll see.
You want me to go to the Middle East with a whistle teach congressmen to make lanyards? I need you to go so we can stay out of trouble.
It's the best we can do in that region.
I think we should be more engaged over there, not less.
- Thank you.
I appreciate it.
- Thank you.
What's this? Your diplomatic passport.
You're going on a CODEL to the Middle East.
No presidential handholding.
See what's going on, brief me and Toby.
Four days, I'm still not adjusted.
- Those briefings would put you out.
- Good idea.
Get somebody to hit me with one.
- They're a displaced population.
- Displaced? Palestinians moved 15 miles.
Did you ever move? They're still refugees.
You know, after 50 years, one option might be to get over it.
- It feels hotter today.
Is that possible? - Enjoy your break? - Wasn't what you think.
- Let's go, folks.
We're moving out.
Black cars.
Good choice for this climate.
Everybody's this angry now, what must it have been like before air conditioning? Yeah.
Travel, learn about new cultures, make new friends.
What do photographers say in the digital age now that the "come and see my darkroom" line has gone the way of the dodo? They offer their high-speed Inter Ladies and gentlemen, the duty-free cart will be coming through the cabin shortly.
Please refer to the catalog in the seat pocket in front of you for any items you may wish to purchase.
- The in-flight service - Heard from Donna? I get these daily, interminable e-mails that I have no time to read.
She doesn't seem to have mastered pith.
Donna's style is more along the lines of les mots mo'.
- You hear from Andy? - Concision's not her problem.
Every day, the same three little words: "See your children.
" Before e-mail, it was a lot harder for your ex to hock you from 6000 miles away.
Are the kids with Andy's mom? The very definition of an approach-avoidance situation.
- Say you're from Minnesota.
- I am.
- No, we're pretending.
- We're not, actually.
- And you'd like prescription drugs.
- What do I have? It could be clouding my judgment.
- You're no fun.
- I'm having fun.
Minnesota set up a website linked to Canadian pharmacies for the importation of cheap drugs, in violation of federal law.
I'm getting calls wondering why the administration's not enforcing this ban.
Curiosity as to what other statutes the White House is planning to ignore.
Shouldn't somebody applaud our affirmation for states' rights? - Is that what we're doing? - Not really.
We need a policy.
Hoping no one noticed has run its course.
I'll get into it after I check on how the Timberwolves and Twins fared.
- Bit's over.
- Okay.
- Leo.
Got a minute? - Just.
The vice president attended that fundraiser last night.
- He did well.
- Keep the amazement out of your voice.
- I was trying to pay you a compliment.
- Thanks.
- He got questioned about this trip.
- It's a CODEL.
Has nothing to do with administration policy.
They want to know if we're contemplating active reengagement in the peace process.
It's a tar baby.
Sisyphus.
Hijacks your entire agenda.
Lands everyone back right where they started, only angrier, if that's possible.
Josh.
Arrived, Gaza.
Couldn 't even unpack.
Still no comprehension of the money.
Probably criminally under or over tipping the entire Palestinian service sector.
Will either be run out on a rail or given a parade upon leaving.
We were whisked down to a meeting with the Fatah leaders.
If that sounds fascinating then you've gotten more out of the description than the experience.
Turns out Palestinian politicians are just as coma-inducing as our domestic variety.
These incursions are designed as provocations.
Tanks roll in.
This naturally excites resistance which then is used as a pretext for armed assault.
You'd agree that Israel doesn't set out to target innocents.
No.
I do not agree.
As opposed to Palestinian suicide bombers on buses, in pizza parlors.
Same old story, same old song and dance, eh? You don't expect to meet many Aerosmith fans in Gaza.
Colin Harrison.
Photojournalist.
The cameras were a big hint.
Four hundred Fatah members resigned in protest over alleged financial abuses and corruption among your leadership.
- This is not what we must discuss.
Sixty percent of Gaza live below the poverty line.
Gaza is an open-air Palestinian prison.
You'll never understand anything about Gaza by listening to politicians.
Or with you distracting me.
Fair enough.
Hey, I'll let you listen in peace if you meet me in the bar when this ends.
- I don't know how long this is gonna - I'll wait.
- Hi.
- Hi.
What would you like? Juice, please.
Thank you.
Among the tribulations of life in Gaza, the inability to get a proper pint.
What's your pleasure when you're not being subjugated by fundamentalists? Rusty nail.
Old-fashioned girl.
- Alluring.
- My dad's drink.
- Still enchanted? - Less.
So, is this your routine? Scout the new arrivals, make for the nearest blond? Well, not always blond.
What's wrong with attending conferences? You're fact-finding.
Why is that? I mean, there's more to understand in Gaza than facts.
Cheers.
To an old-fashioned girl.
What? I'm sorry.
That was just really cheesy.
Hate to see you blow the whole dashing foreign-correspondent thing.
Thanks very much.
- So show me.
- What? The real Gaza.
- See.
What I was hoping - I know what you were hoping.
So when do we start? When you get out of the hotel and into the streets what hits you about Gaza isn 't the overcrowding and poverty.
You've been briefed about that.
What strikes you is something else.
Idleness.
The sense of a people waiting, but with no expectation.
It's hard to convey.
Ashraf.
Colin.
I'd like you to meet someone.
- Ashraf Monsour, this is Donna Moss.
- Hi.
Miss Moss is with the American government delegation.
She'd She'd like to understand Gaza better.
I am not unemployed.
I'm electrician.
Ashraf works in construction in Israel.
I am not unemployed.
- I don't - The Israelis closed the checkpoints after a suicide bombing.
- Last week.
- Right.
- I can't work to feed my family.
- He says I should become one of them.
- What's it say? "The glory of eternity for our martyrs.
" The Palestinian Authority pays 2000 U.
S.
dollars to the families of "martyrs.
" Plus 150 a month until the last child leaves home.
I wish to work.
These martyrs These martyrs take food out of my children's mouths.
When it's open, 19,000 Palestinians a day pass through the Erez checkpoint to work jobs in Israel.
Fact.
More later.
We're not cutting cotton subsidies.
We went through a whole trade thing.
I'm not reopening that exploding can of worms.
- Since when is this under the NSC? - Since heroin traffic spiked in Europe.
I'm about to come down with globalization headache number five.
When farmers can't afford to grow cotton can't compete with cheap U.
S.
textiles from subsidized crops they plant something else.
- Poppies.
- Fields.
Like someone colorized Nebraska.
Well, maybe we should subsidize poppies.
Hang on.
What's up? Explosion in Gaza.
The CODEL.
Some fatalities.
- Donna? - It just happened.
That's all I know.
- An apparent car bomb has exploded.
- MSNBC's got it! I'm holding.
I've been holding.
Carol.
- I keep getting cut off.
- Try his cell phone.
- I'm trying.
- Not the switchboard.
I'm calling his cell phone in Gaza directly.
- And getting cut off.
- Do we know anything? We're trying cell phones, but we can't get through.
- They're probably busy.
- They could answer their phone.
Or not.
- Donna? Andy? - We don't know.
- Carol? - No one's getting through.
Hello? Andy.
How are? How are you? Are you? Are you okay? She's all right.
She was in the other car, and she's all right.
You're all right.
- My God, I see her! - Where? On the right On the cell phone.
Right there.
We can see you.
You're on TV.
On the On the monitor.
How's Donna? Two congressmen confirmed dead.
Korb and DeSantos.
- What about Donna? - What about Donna? She was in the car that Andy saw people put in ambulances.
That's all she knows.
Yeah.
I'm just I'm just glad that you're okay.
I mean Just come home, will you? Just Get the hell out of there and come home.
Mr.
President.
Three dead so far, sir.
Congressmen DeSantos and Korb.
- Oh, God.
- And we just got word.
Admiral Fitzwallace.
There are others injured.
They've been taken to area hospitals.
Sir, I'll get the phone numbers of the congressmen's families.
I asked Fitz to go.
Getting in and out of the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom requires a military escort.
Five hundred mortar shells have landed there in the last three years.
During our pre-dinner break, I met an Israeli settler family.
Two days before, a mortar round had exploded in their kitchen.
It came through the roof.
One half-hour later, my wife would have been giving breakfast to our children.
Four others have fallen around the house.
When the Palestinians get a hit, they secure the launchers.
And that way, they can make sure to repeat the strike.
- You must live in constant fear.
- Our soldiers will find the mortar.
You replace the tile roof with concrete, and pray.
In Israel, there's talk of giving up these settlements.
God wants us in this place.
It is our divine moral obligation to be here.
If we give in to the Arabs, they'll take more and more and We'll all end up in Tel Aviv.
And then they'll take that.
All of this It doesn't make you wanna leave? This is the most safe environment.
In Jerusalem, when you see an Arab, you don't know.
Here, if you see one, you know he's dangerous, and you shoot him.
Please excuse us.
Moss.
Moss.
Donatella Moss.
Tall, blond.
Do you have any idea of her condition, where she was taken? I understand.
Is there anyone there who? This is Josh Lyman, calling from the White House.
The White House.
Yes.
Where the president lives.
I'm looking for information about one of the bombing victims, Donatella Moss.
Are you kidding? You know the term "decent interval"? Go away.
Magley from the DNC wants to talk about who to run for the two vacant House seats.
- You're joking.
They're still picking up pieces over there he's talking about DeSantos' poachable district.
- What's he calling you for? - Thought Josh'd be upset about Donna.
I guess he figured since my ex-wife was only almost blown up that I'd only be almost upset! - I'm getting calls from AIPAC.
- Every 10 minutes.
Them and every pro-lsraeli lobby.
Half trying not to sound happy, the rest trying to avoid saying, "I told you so.
" The president's giving an address? - Tonight.
- The vice president would like to see an advance copy.
To check spelling, correct errors, noted grammarian that he is? You're worried about the politics.
You're as bad as that clown from the DNC.
It's a major address about a tragedy.
He has an interest in the content.
Yes.
There's interest in the political ramifications.
- That's what we all do.
- Some of us are trying to govern.
A heads-up.
It's not so much to ask.
I'm polishing, right up till air.
I'm glad Andy's okay.
I wonder who they would have called, had she been killed.
Yeah.
Everyone.
- What do we know? - Roadside bomb, detonated by cell phone.
They knew they were targeting Americans.
The black Suburbans are well-known.
Up to now, that's been advantageous.
U.
S.
officials have long been off-limits to Palestinian terror attacks.
- That seems to have changed.
- What's striking is no claim of responsibility.
They usually can't take credit fast enough.
Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad.
All announced they had nothing to do with this.
They don't wanna wake up to a cruise missile for breakfast.
- What are we doing? - State is in touch with Palestine.
The president meant things that aren't a waste of our time.
FBI investigative team is en route.
Langley's coordinating with Mossad and Israeli military in gathering information.
And compiling a list of possible targets for retaliation.
Are there any? We can't go flatten some refugee camp.
That's what we're trying to determine.
Mr.
President, the Palestinian chairman's on the phone.
I'll bet he is.
- In here.
- Yes, sir.
- You're on with the chairman, sir.
- Chairman Farad.
Mr.
President, I wish to convey my most profound dismay and sincerest sympathies over this inc - Murder, Mr.
Chairman.
- Yes.
Terrible.
A criminal act.
The assassination of U.
S.
government personnel.
An act of war, some would say.
The Palestinian Authority condemns this attack in the strongest terms.
- All Palestinians condemn - Not the perpetrators, Mr.
Chairman.
They'll be hunted down and made to suffer the maximum punishment.
Swift and harsh.
Do you know who they are? Criminals.
Traitors.
Mr.
President, you must believe no organized group would do this.
All understand to target Americans would be catastrophic to the Palestinian cause.
In this, Mr.
Chairman, they are entirely correct.
Thank you for the call.
Again, Mr.
President, my heartfelt condolences on this most barbaric act.
Condolences? See what he says about it in Arabic for domestic consumption.
He knows who did it.
- I'm sure that's what the Israelis will say.
- They've lived 30 years with this guy.
The chairman's control is less than absolute.
Hamas has a strong power base there.
Sir? I would like to observe a moment of silence in commemoration of those dedicated individuals who gave their lives in the service of their country this day.
General.
Prepare contingency plans for retaliatory military action against Palestinian terror targets.
Including the chairman's headquarters.
- Leo.
You wanted to see me? - Yeah.
Listen.
With Nancy McNally out of the country, you're gonna have to be our go-to I was gonna say "guy.
" The problem with English.
"Guy" is wrong, "gal" is patronizing, and "person" sounds arch.
- "Go-to guy" is fine.
- Good, because you're it.
Which is a lot to throw at you weeks into the job.
I want you to know you have my and the president's full support.
- I appreciate your confidence.
- We need you to coordinate intelligence.
Especially CIA and FBI.
You may have heard.
They have trouble playing nicely together.
- Boys will be boys.
- Don't be afraid to knock heads together.
We don't want turf wars slowing down intel.
I'll keep on them.
- You run into resistance, let me know.
- I hope that won't be necessary.
Another thing.
The president's not crazy about the DCI.
It's chemical.
It just rubs him the wrong way.
- Okay.
- This isn't gossip.
It's guidance.
If the CIA's got something the director's not the most effective vessel for communicating it.
I'll underline anything I think is significant.
We just need you to be all over this.
State, Defense.
You're the White House point person.
I won't let you down.
Oh, and on that whole language score.
I was in the military.
I manned battleships, was one of the boys.
Occasionally was exhorted to drop my You know, and grab my socks.
- I've made my peace with the colloquial.
- Okay.
Just between us girls.
Thanks, Leo.
Still just the three confirmed.
It was not a suicide attack.
I've already No claims of Hey! Is this working for you? Now, if you'll ask your questions one at a time, like every other time, maybe you'll come away with something to write and maybe I'll still be speaking to you when I climb down.
- Katie.
- Is the administration considering military action in response to the attack? The immediate focus is on gathering information on who might have been responsible.
Will the U.
S.
ask the Israelis to carry out any military retaliation? We're strongly urging both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to refrain from doing anything to inflame tensions at this time.
Will the administration actively seek the removal of Palestinian Chairman Farad and press for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza? If you're asking if today's events will impact U.
S.
policy, it's safe to assume that question will generate serious discussion in the coming days, weeks and months.
Gordon.
Do you have a comment on today's FDA warning on safety violations at Canadian Internet pharmacies? - What? - I haven 't been able to get exact information, but they have gotten her stabilized which sounds encouraging.
I'm sorry I don't have more, but I didn't want you and Mr.
Moss to have to wait any longer.
The thoughts and prayers of a grateful nation are with you and your family at this time.
Not at all, Mrs.
Korb.
Goodbye.
Charlie, when your mother was killed, you got one of these calls? Yes, sir.
Her captain.
Did it make you feel any better? Not really, sir.
Nothing makes you feel better.
But it did make me feel proud.
How's Donna? - Potential bleeding issues.
- Dire issues? Significant's the word they used, but dire is good.
- How's Donna? - Some issues.
- Life-threatening? - Significant.
- Hey.
Donna okay? - Some issues.
- I'm not sure what they are.
- You know what? - Maybe we'll do this all at once.
- Josh.
- Hi, Kate.
- Any news on Donna? - Some issues.
- Potentially significant.
With bleeding.
- Anyway, there's been major blood loss.
- Poor kid.
What's gonna be our response? - What do you think? - Regime change.
Take out the chairman.
Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
- Abba Eban's line.
- The guy in Tel Aviv's no picnic.
State's convinced nothing can happen till these two guys are gone.
- Israel's not the problem.
- The walls.
- Israel didn't just blow Americans up.
- I'm not saying there's equivalence.
Israelis don't talk about driving Palestinians into the sea.
- Some do.
- Come on.
- Never heard of "Greater Israel"? - Not from anyone serious.
People say nothing can happen until these guys are gone because they both may be stuck in old attitudes or assumptions.
There was a time when all Arabs wanted to drive Jews into the sea.
- But some argue that time's passed.
- Listen to Arab broadcasts.
Rabble-rousing to distract.
I'm not sure any credible Arab leader expects Israel's demise.
- Even the chairman.
- Don't bet on it.
- There's a view - Don't say, "some argue" and "there's a view.
" Can we restrict it to your view? Okay.
Palestinians are no longer fighting to destroy the Jewish state.
They're fighting for a state of their own.
A struggle against an occupying force.
And revolutionaries will outlast and out-die occupiers every time.
I don't know if that's more simplistic or naive.
It's tribal.
It can't be solved.
It's Hatfield and McCoy and there is no end.
- She's so young.
- Yeah.
Suicide bombers often leave these videotapes behind.
What's she saying? "It was always my wish to turn my body into deadly shrapnel to knock on the door of heaven with the skulls of Zionists.
God gave me two children who I love so" She had children? Oh, yeah.
One and 3.
Her husband had no idea she was planning to do it.
Here.
Families of suicide bombers get showered with gifts.
It's customary at the funeral to hand out sweets.
It's unimaginable.
Well, you don't have to imagine it, do you? It's real.
- We have to retaliate.
- Responding militarily makes us a combatant.
When they attack your people, they've made that choice for you.
Or we use this as an opportunity.
Employ the moral authority to reengage in pressing both sides for peace.
We need to kill them! We need to find them and to kill them.
We kill them.
Then we find out who sent them and we kill them too.
Kill the people who did it, planned it.
Kill everyone who was happy about it.
Yes, sir.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
You can go in.
Josh.
An opportunity? Where's Donna now? She's being medevaced to Ramstein then transferred to Landstuhl for treatment.
- An operation? - I don't know.
- We've got excellent people in Germany.
- Yeah.
If there's someplace you'd rather be, everyone would understand.
I'm fine.
Thanks.
Sorry.
Border tour went on forever.
It's all right.
- You still got time? - Ten minutes.
All right.
Hey, Yossi! Donna Moss, she's with the Americans.
My friend Yossi.
- He's a very wicked man, you know? - Heartbreaker.
- My hero, actually.
- Oh, I'm sure.
- So how old are you? - I'm 22.
You like the army? It's an Israeli's most sacred duty.
Nothing I will ever do is more important.
- Plus, girls like the uniform.
- The uniform? They like me.
Colin says you have strong feelings about serving here.
Is no good.
Gaza.
- No good, how? - Well, 7500 Israeli settlers surrounded by 1.
3 million Palestinians, who do not wish them here and we're in the middle.
That's difficult.
Once, we're sent to dismantle an illegal settlement.
The settlers punch and kick us.
A woman bit my arm so hard, she drew blood.
My own people.
Yossi spent some time guarding the settlement in Kfar Darom.
I've been there.
It's It's dangerous.
I lost comrades.
For a soldier, this is expected.
But two were women.
Girls, 19.
Killed in their barracks.
- I'm sorry.
- Tell her what happened then.
Go on, man.
You can tell her.
After the deaths of the girl soldiers, some in my unit they'd call on loudspeaker in Arabic.
Taunting, calling them names.
Filthy names.
And young Palestinians would come out from hiding, boys with rocks.
And And they'd shoot them, with live bullets.
- You - I do not shoot children.
Donna, I serve with them.
They're not evil.
But when people who are not monsters do this, it's the situation.
The circumstances are to blame.
I have to go.
- Thanks for speaking with me.
- Enjoy your visit.
I better not come and join your friends.
Bye.
You know, after 50 years, one option might be to get over it.
It feels hotter today.
Is that possible? Enjoy your break? It wasn't what you think.
At this time, all electric devices must be turned off and stowed in preparation for our landing in Frankfurt.
Ten-hut.
- What's the latest? - The FBI team lands in five hours.
- You've spoken to Nancy? - Dr.
McNally's left Caracas.
- She'll hit Tel Aviv, Cairo, Amman.
- Tell her to be careful.
- What's the situation on the ground? - Chairman's not letting the grass grow.
Palestinian Authority police made a night raid into the Jabaliya refugee camp.
There was an exchange of gunfire.
Six suspects were taken into custody.
- Are they the right people? - Israelis say no.
- Did they wanna think about it? - They say these guys are dissidents from Fatah.
The chairman just Settling old scores.
- He did take action.
- We awarding A's for effort now? Effort's what he's accused of never making.
What more do we know? The planning, the execution, the size of the bomb all appear too sophisticated to be some guys just freelancing.
Hamas and Hezbollah have used roadside bombs like this against IDF tanks.
Maybe that's what this was intended for.
Because Chevy Suburbans are often confused with Israeli tanks.
Military options? As you noted earlier, sir, fixed targets are hard to come by.
Half the time, the Israelis aren't sure what to hit.
So let me sum up.
We don't know who did this or even if they meant to.
Don't know how we'd hit them if we did find out.
Don't know who these guys were that the chairman arrested.
Is there anything, anything at all, that we are certain of? Other than three U.
S.
officials were brutally murdered? We know that at the blast site groups of young Palestinians stoned Western reporters shouting, "God is great.
" Hi, I'm Josh Lyman from the White House Iooking for Donatella Moss' room.
- Mr.
Lyman? - Yeah.
Colonel Leahy.
I operated on Miss Moss.
For what, exactly? I'm a little behind the curve.
She had a multiple compound fracture of the femur and a pneumothorax.
- Sorry, I - Collapsed lung, broken thighbone.
- Collapsed lung.
That's no biggie? - We suctioned the air from the cavity.
- Really? That sounds No biggie.
Lung should re-expand within 48 to 72 hours.
And a broken leg? Compound fracture is one where the bone protrudes through the skin.
- This was a multiple, so that meant - Yeah.
Got it.
- You all right? - I get a little queasy.
Plus the, you know, jet lag.
In any event, the main fracture repairs went well.
We inserted a rod through the bone.
Okay.
You wanna sit? I'm I'm fine.
So she's gonna be okay? At the moment, I'm more worried about you.
I'm good.
I'm good.
Well, we'll wanna perform some Doppler studies, ensure no clots have formed.
Recovery from the pneumothorax may take several weeks.
The fractures, months, with physical therapy.
Great.
I mean, not great, but Considering.
You can see her.
If you'd like.
Sir.
Kate Harper.
- Mr.
President.
- I wanna thank you for your efforts.
Hell of an orientation.
No thanks necessary, sir.
I understand you knew Admiral Fitzwallace.
Today notwithstanding reliable intelligence does occasionally come my way.
The admiral was one of my mentors after Annapolis.
I had a mild tendency toward insubordination.
Which he helped you correct? Which he enjoyed when not directed at him.
I have a similar taste.
- I'll bear that in mind.
- Sir.
- Sorry? - I'll bear that in mind, sir.
- Oh.
No.
I - I'm just jerking your chain.
Charlie.
- Yes.
- Secret Service at the car? - Yes, sir.
- Thank you.
Walk with me.
The Mideast reminds me of that joke about the optimist and the pessimist.
The pessimist says, "It can't get any worse.
" The optimist says, "Oh, yes, it can.
" It can get easy to forget there's a silenced majority who just wanna live.
You spend all your energy dealing with what's drowning them out.
- The invective and bomb blasts.
- Isn't our moral responsibility to them? - It's quicksand.
An ego trip.
- Sir? Chasing that Nobel Peace Prize right down the same sinkhole.
Well, after 50 years of strife and futility, there's no dishonor in failure.
The only dishonor might be not to try.
Come take a ride.
Gail.
Mr.
President.
Please.
Come in.
I wish I could express the depth of my sorrow for your loss.
I'm so sorry, Mrs.
Fitzwallace.
A sailor's wife doesn't live with fear the way a soldier's does.
An admiral's wife, that much less.
You don't spend a career preparing for this.
It seemed like a blessing until today.
The people responsible will be found and brought to justice.
Don't promise that.
I know the world.
What else? The funerals.
- I know.
- The FBI's gonna need time with the remains.
- Yeah.
- You should go home.
- Me? Yeah.
Okay.
Thanks.
Israeli gunships just fired missiles into an apartment house in Gaza City.
They were targeting a Hamas leader.
Twelve killed, including four children.
No word on whether the Hamas leader is among the dead.