Backstabbing for Beginners Page #3

---

F***, eat something.

I'm sorry.

Excuse me.

I'd been warned,

but I was still shocked

by the criticism from UN staff

against the sanctions.

Pasha was right,

every department had an agenda.

They were working at cross-purposes,

and they played

right into Madame Dupre's hands.

Shut up!

You sound like Saddam's puppets,

all of you.

Do I need to point out

the serious f***ing consequences

to the Iraqi people,

if we fail to continue...

- You violated...

- Are you f***ing kidding me?

It's not our place to question

the decisions of the Security Council.

We implement them.

Absent of all politics.

And yes,

it's a hard f***ing job sometimes.

But if you can't do it,

I suggest you turn in

your f***ing credentials and go home.

I knew from my research

that our biggest worry was Kurdistan.

As long as Saddam was in power

it was gonna take all

of Pasha's considerable diplomatic skills

to keep the Kurds

from undermining the report.

The rations, when they come,

are always half what was promised.

The North is a protectorate,

so unfortunately...

They had been hurt harder

under the sanctions than any other region,

and while Oil-for-Food

was providing some relief,

it had helped sustain

the very regime that oppressed them.

The Kurds have plenty of money

to buy their own food,

- from that black market oil!

- Minister, if you would allow me...

The Kurdish conflict with Iraq

goes back nearly a century.

Saddam Hussein took it

to a whole new level.

Forced displacement,

mass detention and torture.

And then, when that didn't work,

he resorted to land mines

and cluster bombs,

sarin gas and nerve agents,

killing tens of thousands

and crippling tens of thousands more.

A reign of terror

that included the worst single act

of chemical genocide ever committed

against a civilian population.

Kurds are dying for simply being Kurdish.

And in a shuttle diplomacy

between two sworn enemies,

I watched Pasha work his magic.

...about how

the most beloved food to Allah,

is that which is touched by many hands.

- F***! This is all I need.

- The Kurdish minister's right, though.

From what I've been told,

they're getting completely screwed.

I know he's right.

It's in the f***ing field reports

but we have to keep a lid on it.

The choice can't be

to feed everyone or feed no one.

It has to be to feed as many as possible.

I have to go back

to New York tomorrow.

I need you to stay focused.

Of course.

Here's your travel itinerary.

You are connecting through Kuwait,

you land in JFK at 5:00 p. m.

Dupre is going to freeze you out

of the final report.

Her opus indictment of Oil-for-Food.

Okay, then why am I staying here, then?

In a few days,

you'll receive some photographs.

You'll want Hassan to see them

because you won't understand

what they could mean.

Your task is to make sure

he shows them to Dupre

by insisting he shouldn't.

- You're asking me if I'll...

- A trap, yes.

She'll fall into it,

and we'll be rid of her.

Kid, it's diplomacy.

It sometimes requires removing obstacles

that stand in the way

of a successful outcome.

Can I trust you again with this one?

I mean, how big of a lie

am I gonna be telling?

Not lie.

Just the opportunity

to draw a wrong conclusion.

Morning.

Just so you know, Madame says

you won't be reading the report

until it's finished

and she signed off on it.

Well, Pasha said he wants me to help.

People in hell want ice water.

We're just pawns in a bigger game,

you and me.

Sorry, Michael.

Hassan.

At least you can help me arrange

an interpreter for a field trip.

I want to open one of these

boxes and check the expiration date.

He says he's the company representative.

Tell him I want to open

one of these boxes.

These pills expired in 1999.

Sick people will get sicker or die

because of these.

Every box needs to be checked,

the out of date medicine

needs to be destroyed,

and the manufacturer will have

to replace it at their own expense.

I should warn you,

everyone here thinks I'm your prostitute.

Well, I guess we should

split the check, then.

You can't really just have a date

with an unchaperoned woman in Iraq.

There are rituals and traditions.

Do you wanna call it off, then?

Did you tell your boss

what I said about Ahbek?

Yeah, I did. He,...

he thinks you might be a government spy.

So are you? A spy?

Is that a serious question?

That's a pretty evasive answer.

No.

Now it's my turn to ask you.

Okay.

What are you doing here?

Well, I'm doing a status report

for the Oil-for-Food program

and then I'm gonna...

I mean today, with the spoiled medicine.

What you did had nothing to do

with writing your report.

You took action.

It was risky and... rather brave.

Was that just to impress me?

I'm not here to just be a functionary.

I took this job for a reason,

because I want to help people...

and I want to make a difference.

Make a difference?

Exactly.

I'll drink to that.

Cheers.

They're not gonna bomb Baghdad,

not without getting

the UN staffers out first.

- Mr. Sullivan?

- Yeah?

- This has come for you.

- Thanks.

Lil, I gotta go. Who sent this?

It was left on the night desk, sir.

Are those Oil-for-Food trucks?

Yeah,

but I don't know the source of them.

If they're real,

they are proof that we're being gamed

by Saddam's regime.

Yeah, if.

I still don't think we should trust them.

Using our trucks to deliver weapons,

I mean, what the f***?

I'm just gonna pack 'em up

into a courier pouch,

- see what Pasha thinks...

- No, no, no.

- Let me show Christina first.

- No, no, no chance.

It's okay. What do you call it?

"Chain of command. "

Okay.

Hi.

Hey.

I need to show you something.

Okay.

They are friends.

Okay.

So, this place isn't here, officially.

These are the graves

of Kurdish civilians that...

Saddam Hussein one day decided

no longer needed to live.

Gas, sarin, tabun, VX.

The smell of sweet apples.

He doesn't care

about your sanctions or resolutions.

He's the Angel of Death. Azrael.

You're Kurdish.

My parents were intellectuals,

active in PUK.

Killed in Halabja.

I'm sorry.

Nobody in Baghdad

knows I'm Kurdish, Michael.

If Saddam's police find out,

they will disappear me.

My friends, they helped Ahbek uncover

a criminal conspiracy

Saddam is using to skim billions

of dollars from Oil-for-Food.

Ahbek claimed there is a whole system

of corruption

that reaches to the highest levels

of the same Western government

that supports sanctions.

Okay, how did Ahbek know this?

There is a rumor, of a list.

A list that contains names of people

and organizations all over the world

who are all getting paid off by Saddam

to keep this system running.

And Ahbek had seen it.

- Did you bring it?

- Yes.

May have had it

on his computer.

You sure nobody saw you?

The office was empty,

everyone had gone home.

Ahbek, what's going on with you?

I'm going north across the border.

It's not safe for me here.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes