W. Page #7

south, and north somewhat.

- Well, let's find them, Rummy.

- Indeed.

We know this guy Saddam's

hiding stuff.

We know the U.N.'s

one big international mosh pit.

We got a lot of maybes, probablys

and buts from George...

...which John Q. Public

ain't gonna buy.

We can present better,

but we don't have nukes.

What we have is a slam-dunk

on the others.

Slam-dunk?

What have you been drinking,

Brother George?

What you need

is to bring in some lawyers...

...who can argue cases

with juries to help.

These snapshots

and Iraqi gobbledygook...

...on tape is just another

bunch of bullshit.

Sir, you know,

whatever we come up with...

...the United Nations is gonna want

more time and another resolution.

The old Europe.

Your father went to the U.N.,

Mr. President...

...and it took him six months, as I

remember, but he got his resolution.

And he got Congress too.

My gosh, Colin, you're the finest

military man in this room...

...we all know that.

But don't you think the Gulf War

days are long gone?

Do we really need six months

and half a million men...

...to knock off a tin-pot dictator

with a ragtag army?

You're right, Don,

I am a military man.

And you

more than anyone in this room...

...learned the lessons of Vietnam.

Now, I think we're all adults

in this room...

...and we recognize that 9l11,

no matter how horrific it was...

...and it was...

...was also an opportunity this time

for us to get it right.

Drain the swamp.

Sweep up all the bad guys

in one big move.

Things related and not.

Otherwise, sir, they will be back.

I thought we just did that

in Afghanistan.

We keep the focus

on sweeping up Bin Laden.

Goodness gracious, if you want

to call Afghanistan a war, Colin.

You know there were no real targets

to bomb there.

- It was an exercise.

- In any case...

...if we don't act,

all of us will be out of here in 2004.

And that's the bottom line.

So this is all about politics, Karl?

I'm confused

as to what you're doing in this room.

Okay, let's stay on message here.

Look, Genius Boy is just here

to listen, not talk.

You see, sir...

...what I'm pressing for here...

...is why?

Why are we doing this?

Why Iraq?

- Why now?

- We discussed that already, Colin.

We had America

protected September 11 th.

That is, if people had been

doing their jobs right.

But we blew it.

And now instead of taking down

these 10,000 al Qaeda lunatics...

...in the mountains

with special operations...

...we're way outside of the box

on this thing.

Why aren't we trusting the system?

Why have we veered off

to this place...

...where we accept without debate

that a preemptive strike on Iraq...

...can defeat terrorism

better than police action...

...or intel agencies

that share information?

I just don't get it, Mr. President,

I don't. Because I am a soldier.

And I'd be mighty sure before

I put young American lives at risk.

- Here we are...

- Okay, Secretary Powell, come on.

Let me finish.

Here we are...

...changing the whole way

we do business...

...in response to a small but dedicated

enemy hiding out in caves and jungles.

- Are we losing our perspective here?

- We changed our perspective.

The Trade Center was bombed in '93.

We had a huge attack

on Oklahoma in '95.

And those who did it

are in jail or dead.

Big difference.

Oklahoma terrorists

didn't have anthrax or nukes.

Colin...

...I swear, you're beginning

to sound like Neville Chamberlain.

Oh, don't patronize me,

Mr. Five Deferments.

You save that for speeches

to veterans. Neville Chamberlain.

You think, really...

You think,

with all your diplomatic bullshit...

...that you can appease Islamic

fascists, who are as nuts as Hitler.

You wanna know what I see,

Mr. President?

I see a world

where in about 25 years...

...America's reserves are gone.

Done.

Demand is up...

...30, 40 percent.

And we have two oceans

blocking us from the world reserves.

You think we're gonna

have allies then?

We're at 5 percent

of the world's population.

We use 25 percent of its energy.

You think Russia and China

are gonna help us out...

...when they need

those resources themselves?

Eighty percent of the world's

future energy reserves...

...are right here in Eurasia,

where the prize ultimately lies.

Oil, gas, water.

Iraq alone,

...60 of 80 oil fields

are still undeveloped.

And probably another 100 billion

gallons in their western desert.

- They are floating in a sea of oil.

- We have bases...

...in more than 120 countries

all over the world.

If we include Iraq,

look what happens.

We are at the fertile

choke point of civilization.

The Tigris-Euphrates,

the biblical cradle.

We drain this swamp, like Don says.

We rebuild it.

We develop its resources

to the maximum.

They own it, we run it.

Pipelines, sea lanes, their resources

finance the reconstruction.

A nexus of power that won't be broken

in our lifetime.

If we stick to the plan.

So, what is our real exit strategy

on Iraq, Dick?

There is no exit.

We stay.

Spoken like a true oilman.

You were part of the plan, Colin,

back in the '90s.

You backed our dominance in

weaponry, space, cyber, electronic.

You agreed

that we would never allow...

...another military-economic rival

to emerge against us again.

- I don't understand...

- Turning weapons loose...

...on terrorists is like trying to hit

an ant with an elephant gun.

We invoke preemption...

Preventive war, you call it.

The right to use nukes

whenever we see fit.

- and I guarantee you, Paul,

we will be in a forever war everywhere.

Three, four wars at a time.

That's not new world order,

that's a world gone mad.

There's got to be some

global cooperation here.

No one's against cooperation,

Colin, you know that.

- As long as we're calling the shots.

- Which gets us back to reality.

Lest we forget...

...where do you see

a lack of American presence?

Right in the heart of it all.

What's missing?

Iran.

The mother lode.

Third largest oil reserve in the world.

Forty percent of the world's oil...

...goes right through here,

the Strait of Hormuz.

Control Iran, control Eurasia,

control the world.

Empire.

Real empire.

Nobody will f*** with us again.

It's big, Vice.

You know, big thoughts.

But you go out here and you

scare people when you talk like that.

The working Joe's

not thinking about oil.

We're talking 9l11 terrorists...

...WMDs.

We're talking

freedom and democracy.

We're talking Axis of Evil.

Sir...

...you have the touch, not I.

You know,

when I was coming up...

...it was a dangerous world.

But we knew exactly

who the "they" were.

We knew it was us versus them,

and it was clear who "them" was.

Today...

...we're not so sure who the "they" are,

but we know they're there.

Now, I'm not gonna

negotiate with myself.

I'm a gut player, always have been.

And I am just so bone-tired

of this Saddam.

He's always

misunderestimated me.

I don't want our soldiers

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