The Siege of Jadotville Page #4

have now become aggressors.

Or, should I say, peace enforcers.

Desmond!

The international community

needs to realize

that this type of imperialist intervention

is nothing new.

But we, Katanga...

Sir.

I want a private meeting with Tshombe.

Somewhere neutral.

Just the two of us.

They're coming! Get ready for it!

Into your trenches!

Pick your targets!

Get ready!

Cover up and pick a target!

Stand to!

Cooley, you are snatching the trigger!

Slow down!

Breathe, squeeze, kill!

Breathe again!

Good man, Cooley! Keep it up!

Over here!

Sniper!

- Boss?

- Can you hit the schoolhouse?

Yeah.

Bren in a single shot.

I need the Bren!

Go on!

The man in the white suit.

Do you have his heart?

Yeah, boss.

Take it.

Do you think he was important?

If he was... we won't

have to wait too long to find out.

Hey!

Retreat! Retreat!

Pick your targets!

Cease fire!

Hold your fire!

Cease fire!

Cease fire!

Cease fire!

Cease fire!

We've got to clear

that whole area.

Cover me.

Commandant Quinlan.

You're a good drinker,

but not such a good soldier.

And I believe I can be of help to you.

That's nice of you.

How do you aim to do that?

By making you see sense.

You do realize that you are outnumbered

by a factor of 20?

I see a lot of dead men here.

None of them are mine.

Yet you must see

that your position is untenable.

The only way to survive this

is to let the politicians sort it out.

We were attacked without provocation.

We responded.

We will continue to respond

if you continue to attack.

I'm afraid I have orders to follow.

I require your surrender.

You're not formally recognized

to accept surrenders.

But I am.

I'll accept yours.

That's not an option.

Nevertheless,

we would like a cease fire...

to send in ambulances

and remove the dead and wounded.

Tell your men we have a cease fire.

Use that flag as a range marker.

Joyce, get the Vickers ready.

Set up a position in the chapel.

Yes, sir.

Murphy!

Hold your fire.

Boss! Boss!

It's a trap!

Move!

Open fire!

Get the mortars ready!

Donnelly!

Take those f***ers out!

I'm on it!

Get down!

Incoming!

Sergeant!

Sergeant!

Cover fire!

Hegarty, get in the trench!

Come here! Come here!

Come on.

Grab hold of my belt and don't let go.

I can't see! I can't see!

I'm blind! They hit my head!

You're fine. You're fine.

We're going for the trench, all right?

Don't drop me.

Yeah, boy. F***, okay, come on.

We have to move.

Go!

Go! Go! Go!

X-ray four.

Two thousand two hundred yards.

Fire one!

Dud. Timer blew.

Bag it.

Fire two!

Right in the red ring!

That's their mortars going off.

Pick your targets!

Retreat!

Cease fire!

Cease fire!

You acquitted yourself well out there.

What?

Nothing.

It was something.

I felt scared.

- It's only natural.

- No, that's not it.

I was scared.

But then... I liked it.

The killing.

It's what you're trained to do.

You didn't like it.

Each man reacts differently

to killing another man.

None of us have done this before.

Talk to me in a few days.

Oh, you think we'll last that long?

How many dead at Radio Katanga?

Thirty, sir.

This will negate a vast reserve

of goodwill towards the organization

and show that we cannot behave any better

than any single country.

Sir, these things happen in war.

Not in my war.

What was O'Brien's role in all of this?

He's a smart man, sir,

but he's an academic

who thinks that everything stands still

while he thinks about what to do.

We are a new thing.

Sometimes new things stumble.

But we pick ourselves up...

instead of pretending

that we didn't fall.

So we're going to say that,

in our first military intervention,

we got it all wrong?

We acknowledge the action...

but we distance ourselves.

It's our plan, our forces.

How do we distance ourselves?

By applying blame.

Dr O'Brien.

General Tshombe.

I would say, "Welcome to my country.

Make yourself at home,"

but it appears you already have.

Well, there are those

who might say you're a little premature

in taking command of who you welcome.

Would you rather my predecessor

was still in charge?

The only people he welcomed

were the communists.

Or perhaps

you would rather we send all our cobalt,

copper and uranium to the USSR?

Of course not, General.

It's just you haven't been elected

to the office you claim to hold.

I am merely saying that Katanga,

my province,

is no longer part of the Congo...

and I am its president.

Yes, well, that's a little like Texas

saying it's no longer part of the USA,

that its oil

gives it the power to do that.

Factually, that would be correct.

They were part of Mexico.

America land-grabbed Texas.

Sir, I would like to see

an end to the conflict

between the United Nations

and those loyal to you in Katanga.

Then recognize Katanga's

legitimate government and president

in a United Nations resolution.

That's... simply not being realistic.

Do you think we did not hear the rumors

about the Radio Katanga massacre?

Rumors? Well...

- They're inaccurate.

- I don't think so.

I think the United Nations,

this paragon of virtue and fairness...

executed my loyalists.

Hm?

Sir, I'm sure we can find a way

to draw ourselves back from the brink.

Then recognize Katanga's

legitimate government and president

in a United Nations resolution.

That's simply not going to happen.

Then enough of this, Dr O'Brien.

The United Nations went from peacekeeping

to peace enforcement.

And your mission has failed.

Did you forget about your fellow Irishmen

left out in the field?

What do you mean?

Because I didn't.

I didn't forget about them at all.

My boys are giving everything they've got,

but there's just not enough of us.

I give you my word, you'll have

reinforcements with you tomorrow.

We'll hold out

until our last bullet's spent.

We could do with that whiskey.

They're going after the ammo hut!

Go, move!

Get this out of here! Go!

- Go!

- Run!

Grab this one.

That will be blowing up all night.

We'd better get our reinforcements

tomorrow.

We'd f***ing better.

Mr Secretary General,

in view of your failure

to prevent civil war in the Congo,

President Kennedy

has personally told me to insist

that the United States play a larger part

in your mishandled military adventure.

Please tell President Kennedy

that I appreciate the offer.

You are aware

that if you had responded sooner

to Prime Minister Lumumba's

request for UN intervention,

we would not be where we are today.

We might well have arrived here

by other means.

Has General Tshombe

even accepted a cease fire yet?

He has not. That's my first priority.

Thank you, gentlemen.

- Sir?

- Call Tshombe directly.

Tell him that the Secretary General

of the United Nations

is flying to meet with him in the Congo.

See if that gets his attention.

Would you like to say a few words?

They poisoned the water.

Take what you can from the barrels.

It's all we have. Do it now.

- Cooley, get more buckets.

- Yes, sir.

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