Backstabbing for Beginners Page #2

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More or less sketchy, crazy,

dangerous and stranger

than I could've ever imagined.

The country lived in a state

of permanent self-occupation.

Our Baghdad office

is going to present a problem.

Okay.

We can't let this director

sabotage the report.

Why... Why would he sabotage

his own report?

She.

So the Security Council

will be forced to lift the sanctions,

and everybody can cash in

on the deals they made with Saddam

back before he rolled into Kuwait

and pissed off the world.

Jesus H. Christ, kid.

Gonna have to f***ing teach you

everything from scratch.

Every six months we have to justify

our continued existence.

Our job right now is to write a report

for the Security Council

emphasizing all the good

in the Oil-for-Food program

whilst minimizing the challenges.

Not to lie.

No, never lie,

but to choose our facts,

our truths, with the utmost care.

Right.

Can I trust you to do that?

Yes. Absolutely.

There she is.

Madame Dupre.

Trying to backstab us.

Christina.

Hassan Ghazarian.

- Hey, Michael Sullivan. Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

Did you get the documents

I sent you?

- I did, I've even printed them up for you.

- Oh, great.

You write well.

Sixty percent of the Iraqi people

are solely dependent

upon our suppliers for survival.

Wheat, grain, milk, medicine,

essential infrastructure.

During the last ten months,

we have decreased malnutrition rate

amongst children in Iraq by 50 percent,

thereby reduced

child mortality significantly.

Okay, thank you very much.

Photographers come through.

We're gonna have a photo opportunity,

with Madame Dupre.

It's hard to overstate

how badly Saddam was abusing his people.

Friends of the regime

could get easy access to the medicine.

Others, less fortunate, were left to die

from even the simplest of diseases.

Wait.

They send bad drugs.

Dump on us

their out-of-date prescriptions.

Thank him for, bringing this to me,

and tell him I'll look into it.

He says there's a black market

with Oil-for-Food pills.

Or this innocent child,

please explain to her

why she cannot have

the stem cell therapy that could cure her.

Why she has to suffer

because the West begrudges Iraq

its dignity.

That I can't explain, no.

She asks why you are crying.

I promise I will do anything I can

to help your child.

It sickens me to have to stand there

and listen to your lies.

It's PR, Christina.

Everyone in the field is working so hard.

Well, my report to the Security Council

is going to tell the truth.

Just so you know.

Your report.

The program is a failure.

- The sanctions aren't working.

- How is the program failing?

Medicine is getting through.

- At what cost?

- People are getting basic staples.

At what cost?

Everybody is grifting the system.

Corruption grows like a cancer.

It'll never be perfect,

and surely it's better than doing nothing.

Michael, what's the delay?

Sorry,

there's a small security issue.

We'll be on our way in a few moments.

I know what you're doing.

You want me to sign off

on your moral relativism

so you can throw me under the bus

when it all unravels.

You are mistaken,

I'm just trying to feed a country.

Enough spin, Costa, enough!

The facts will speak for themselves.

My report to the Security Council

is going to tell the truth.

Baghdad is the center

of the universe now, kid.

And this, Al Rasheed, is ground zero.

Boiler room of diplomacy.

Pasha!

Nice to see you again.

Mr. Mohammed, my assistant.

Michael Sullivan.

Count your fingers

after you shake hands with this one.

All major intelligence agencies

are here,

and all rooms are bugged.

Everyone trying to barter in their secrets

and their services.

Information is everything.

The currency, the power.

Look. Listen. Learn.

Everyone

has their own agenda?

Baby Bush thinks Saddam

disrespected his papa.

American neocons?

They're convinced democracy

will bloom here like a f***ing flower...

good luck with that.

Putin wants Bush to fail,

China wants the new markets,

half of Europe couldn't care less

whether Saddam gasses civilians

or builds a bomb.

Big Oil... simply wants an end

to the sanctions

so it can suck at the Iraqi teat.

So, about what the doctor told me today.

The grifted medicine, missing supplies.

I smell a setup.

It didn't really feel like a setup.

More nonsense from Madame.

She's not just ineffective,

she's actively inventing proof

of the program's failings.

If we don't do something,

this report's gonna be a disaster.

- Don't you get the final say?

- Sadly, no.

UN protocol requires the regional director

sign off on the report.

And what's our agenda?

Our agenda?

That little girl.

At the hospital.

God help anyone who gets in our way.

Yeah.

I had a son once.

Died... of the flu, just a baby.

Can you believe that?

And my wife...

we couldn't make another.

Sorry.

Thirty years ago.

How did you put it?

I had my cry.

Flu.

You tired?

No.

Youth. F***.

You know, for someone who speaks

for other people for a living,

you don't talk much.

I couldn't help but notice

you were not surprised

when the doctor spoke

of black market medicine.

No, I wasn't.

Will you tell your boss?

Yeah. We already know

there's some corruption in the program.

Outside Baghdad it's much worse.

Rations diverted, power cut off.

Extortion, bribes.

I'll, make sure Pasha knows that, too.

You have something you want to ask me?

Is it about Madame?

That your boss wants you to find

the secret button

he can push to bend her to his will?

I can tell you.

It does not exist.

I'm just trying to do my job.

But... your predecessor, Abhek,

his car accident was not an accident.

That's a pretty big accusation to make.

Why are you telling me this?

He was murdered

because of something he uncovered.

Something in Oil-for-Food?

I don't know.

Maybe.

He was fearful of someone

inside United Nations.

A facilitator of corruption.

You need to be very, very careful.

Good evening.

Please.

The Mukhabarat, you see, were concerned

to inspect your sleeping chamber

for the existence

of any surveillance device.

This as a courtesy,

for your security, of course.

Why don't you start

by telling me who you are?

Are you enjoying your visit

to Mesopotamia, Mr. Sullivan?

First one, if I'm not mistaken, yes?

Such a difficult, stressful time

for everyone here.

The Great Satan

keeps threatening to bomb the city.

Meanwhile, the sanctions cut deep.

- Baghdad puts...

- Why don't you get to the point?

You will find on the bureau behind me

an envelope containing a small honorarium.

We greatly admire the work

you are doing for the Iraqi...

It's late.

I'd like you to leave, please.

No disrespect was meant by it.

Don't forget your envelope.

Can't blame them for trying,

it's nothing.

You handled it perfectly.

Yeah.

What about what the interpreter said

about Abhek?

I don't believe it.

Perhaps she's a spy for Saddam

sent to rattle us.

You look like sh*t, kid.

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