Fair Game

& Steve Norbert: This is coming from across the river. Down the line D.F.U.
    Jack McAllister: D.F.U?
    Valerie Plame: Don’t Fuck Up.


& Joe Wilson (aka Sean Penn): Hey. Nice place you got here. Cosy. You work in the basement?
    Valerie: Actually. I work in Georgetown for Brewster Jennings. We’re a small firm of Venture Capitalists.
    Joe: That must be interesting work.
    Valerie: It pays the rent.


& Paul, Analyst: With intelligence, nothing’s 100 percent.
    Scooter Libby, the Chief of Staff to The Vice President: So, what? Are you.. Ninety nine percent sure? Ninety eight?
    Paul: You can’t put an exact figure. You can’t be that precise.
    Libby: But if you had to say, could you say you’re ninety seven percent sure? Is there a three percent chance you’ve got this wrong? Or four? Or five? Still pretty good odds. You like those odds Paul? You willing to put your name to that. Are you ready to make that call?
    Paul: Actually, I don’t make the call, Sir...
    Libby: Yes you do, Paul. Each time you interpret a piece of data. Each time you choose a ’maybe’ over a ’perhaps’ you make a call. A decision. And right now you’re making lots of little decisions adding up to a big decision. But what if there’s a one percent chance you’re wrong?.. Can you say for sure you’ll take that chance and state, as a fact, that this equipment is not intended for a nuclear weapons program?.. Do you know... what one percent of the population of this country is? It’s three million, two hundred and forty thousand souls.
    Paul: Sir. We’re not machines. We look at the evidence, we game it out. And believe it or not, not everyone agrees all the time. It’s a process.
    Libby: It’s a process. Yes. And not everyone agrees...
    Paul: Exactly.
    Libby: Who doesn’t agree?


& Dr. Zahraa: If the Mukhbarat find any of this they will do things to me you cannot imagine. Tell me what you need to know. I will memorize it.
    Jordan Instructor: Ma’am, we have 50 very specific questions, some extremely technical.
    Dr. Zahraa: You have 206 different bones in your body. Do you want their names in English, Latin or Arabic?


& Valerie: If anyone stops you... If anyone asks you anything, stay calm.. You’re just visiting your brother. Keep it simple.
    Dr. Zahraa: How do you do it? Lie to someone to their face? Huh?
    Valerie: You have to know, know why you’re lying. And never forget the truth.

---

& Valerie: Bill! Wait up.
    Bill Johnson: Every Team is combing the desert looking for WMD. I can’t...
    Valerie: All I need’s a couple units to bring these men and their families into Camp Lima and on an air transport into Annandale.
    Johnson: Say we extract these guys. Bring ’em home. Put ’em on CNN. What are they going to tell us that the White House wants to hear? “Thank you oh and by the way there was no nuclear program. There’s no WMD. PS you all knew that”? Think about it, you want me to go to the DCI, ask him to sign off on his own funeral?
    Valerie: Bill, I gave my word.
    Johnson: That’s not my problem. I got bigger problems. It’s like, if there was a baby on the ledge up on Seventh, no-one would get up and save it in case the White House wanted it there.


& Joe: Is the President be referring to another African country... and not Niger?
    Pete: I’ve seen the INR. It’s Niger. He’s referring specifically to Yellowcake from Niger. Why?
    Joe: I’m the ’source’. I went to Niger, It’s wrong. It’s not true.
    Pete: I see... What exactly are you proposing to do?
    Joe: I don’t know what I am gonna do.
    Pete: You want my advice? Do nothing. You already did your job. You did your best. You came home. End of story.
    Joe: We were talking about Niger, Pete. Yellowcake from Niger.
    Pete: Look. I don’t have to go all the way to Africa to know something’s messed up here. Three months and what have we found? No centrifuges. No Yellowcake. No bio. No WMDs. You think something’s up here. Join the line stretches all the way from State to the Pentagon and back.
    Joe: So why has no one’s stepped forward?
    Pete: Why you think, Joe? We went to war. Listen. As your friend, now. Just. Be smart. You have a wife and a family.
    Joe: We are talking about President. Of the United States. The White House.
    Pete: Now go take a long look in the mirror and say that again.


& Libby: This has become a trust issue for the President. We can’t get behind this. We need to change the story.
    Karl Rove: Who is Joe Wilson?


& Valerie: If this is a knife fight, Sir... but right now, we’re fighting it alone.
    Jim Pavitt: Joe Wilson versus the White House. Huh? Well, all I can say is good luck. But as a friend, I feel I should tell you that those men... Those few men in that building over there, are the most powerful men in the history of the world. How much of a stretch do you think it would be for them to take on Joe Wilson? Joe’s out there on his own, Valerie. But I know we can trust you. Speak to your husband.


& Joe: Andy Karl told the Financial Times that they’re rolling the earth movers over Joe Wilson. Quote. Earth Movers. Well I’m sorry but they don’t get me without a fight. Not without one hell of a fight.
    Valerie: It’s the White House, Joe. You seriously think you can pick a fight with the White House and win? They’ll bury us.
    Joe: They’ll bury us if we don’t. If I’m the White House, and I shout a million times louder than you, does that make me right? They lied Valerie. They lied. And that’s the truth.


& Valerie: When we were at the “Farm”, training to be field officers, they picked four or five of us and told us we’d stood out. We were bound, hooded and thrown in separate cells. They’d deprive us of slept. They beat us. All you had to do was give up the name of one of the others. Just one name. They push you until they find it. Till they find the point at which you break. And one by one, everybody broke. Except me. And that made me feel special. You can’t break me. I don’t have a breaking point.


& Valerie: Are you ready to fight?


& Joe: How did the question move from “Why are we going to war?” to “Who is that man’s wife?”? I asked the first question. But somebody else asked the second. It worked. Because we still don’t know the truth.
    The offense wasn’t committed against me. It was not committed against my wife... It was committed against you. All of you. If that makes you angry or feel misrepresented, do something about it.
    When Benjamin Franklin left the Independence Hall just after the second drafting, he was approached by a women on the street. The woman said: “Mr.Franklin, what manner of government have you bequeathed us?” And Franklin said “A Republic, madam. If you can keep it.”
    The responsibility of a country is not in the hands of a privileged few. We are strong and we are free from tyranny only as long as each one of us remember, his or her duty as a citizen. Whether it’s a pothole at the end of your street or a lie in the State of the Union Address. Speak up. Ask those questions. Demand that truth. Democracy is not a free ride...


On Imdb.