All language subtitles for The West Wing (1999) - S05E13 - The Warfare of Genghis Khan (1080p AMZN WEB-DL x265 ImE)_track3_[eng]

Previously on The West Wing...

Ben again on five.
Is he really
a park ranger?

Don't talk to him.

Put him on hold, and find me
if he calls again.

If?

JOSH:
Russell comes out of the gate

as a seltzer-bottle-
squirting partisan,

the happy warrior, the
guy who puts the fun back
in Democratic politics.

RUSSELL:
The Speaker is trying

to propagate a tax bill.

We start allowing that,
we're never

going to get budgets passed.

WILL:
You guys are asking me

to groom
a backwater Congressman.

I can't do that.
We didn't ask you

to groom Russell
for a Presidential run.

He asked you.

He was chosen
by the President...
He was chosen

by the Republicans!

( phone rings )

( ringing continues )

( ringing continues, sighing)

Yes?

Please.

Yeah, Leo.

PRESIDENT:
Good morning.

ALL:
Good morning, sir.

Or whatever
3:00 a.m. is.

Please.

Let's have a look.

Where?

HUTCHINSON:
Over the north central
Indian Ocean, sir.

Not near anything.

Are you sure?

It's the telltale
double flash.

ALEXANDER:
All atmospheric
detonations

produce that unique
signature, sir--

an initial one-millisecond
flash-- the fireball--

which is then overtaken
and obscured by the
expanding shock front.

So, it couldn't be
anything else?

No.

And no false alarms have ever
been ascribed to the NDS.

Other sensors?

HUTCHINSON:
Still being analyzed.

But both the X ray
and the EMP detectors

show readings consistent
to atmospheric detonations.

Who else knows?

Sir?

Who else in the world?

ALEXANDER:
The Russians
and the Chinese

have satellite
detection capability
for an atmospheric NUDET.

HUTCHINSON:
Nuclear detonation, sir.

MCNALLY:
Sir, no test was scheduled
or has been reported

by the other six declared
nuclear powers.

Yeah.

There is a new
member of the club.

This is from
the Secret Service
command post.

If it's too hot, they
wrestle it to the ground.

The CIA Director called.
He's been held...

SLIGER:
I'm here!

Sorry.

Construction on Lee.
They do it at night.

LEO:
Avoid snarling traffic.

That's the theory.

We just started.

Thanks, Charlie.

We've talked to the
Russians and Chinese?

SLATTERY:
They agree about
keeping this quiet.

Whoever this was,
they knew we'd pick it up.

Likely suspects?
North Koreans
or Iran.

Yeah.
SLIGER:
They've both been

heading down this road.

We just didn't know
either'd gotten this far.

We were pretty sure
about North Korea.

Well, "sure" is a word we don't
throw around at Langley.

LEO:
There've been
strong indications

the North has nuclear weapons.

What about Iran?

Well, the intel
is sketchy.
We know

they've been
working on it.

SLIGER:
There's that
other word-- "know".

What we know and are
sure of is this happened.

We're going to need
to focus less on
semantic distinctions

and more on how this caught
us so completely by surprise.

We need to make contact.
The Chinese for North Korea?

Iran?

Usually, the Italians
or the Swiss.

No good. We don't want them
in the loop.

PRESIDENT:
The Russians, then.

We can assume Moscow's not crazy
about the idea

of another nuclear state
in their neighborhood.

Sir, what if this wasn't
a state?

LEO:
A terror group?

HUTCHINSON:
No terrorists have
the capability

for a test on this scale.

Their nuclear event will be

a suitcase bomb detonated
in Manhattan.

Or Pennsylvania Avenue.
Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.
Thanks, Mr.
President.

Thank you, sir.

( sighs )

Little rough
with the Director?

I'll send him
a lollipop.

You want your Intelligence head
focused and at his best.

Guy couldn't find a
clearer route in at
4:00 in the morning.

I'm not over-brimming

with confidence.

This is the nightmare.

Yeah.

I thought when
the Soviet Union fell,

we could actually
have disarmament.

You go from trying to get rid
of these weapons altogether

to holding your breath one
doesn't go off on your watch.

Strike another
goal off the list.

We find out who this was,
then what?

We'll have to do something.

I want a Defense briefing
on contingency plans.

We act,
we'll need
a statement.

Toby.
Sooner is better.

Okay.

Oh, God.
What?

The vice president.

Yeah. I'll brief him.

( sighing ):
Apologize.

Tell him...

I don't know
what the hell
to tell him.

Hey.
Morning.

So, this meeting's
a breakfast.

Okay.
So, you have to eat
something.

I already ate.

Or else it's rude.
I'm not hungry.

Or else it's rude.
!
( sighs )

This order, as
soon as I get back.

Why am I even meeting
with some geeks from NASA?

I'm sure they're not geeks.

I'm sure they're
not all geeks,

and it's to discuss
administration space priorities.

Do we even have any
space priorities?

Exactly.

Morning.

Good morning.

You have name tags.

Haven't been to the White
House much, these five years.

Thought it'd help.

Right, "Karl."

I recommend the scones.

They're, um...

Out of this world?

RUSSELL:
Leo?

Mr. Vice President.

Please.

Thank you.

What's up?

Sir, this is
to be kept

in the strictest
confidence.

At approximately
2:17 a.m. eastern time,

an atmospheric nuclear
detonation was detected

by a DSP satellite
over the Indian Ocean.

Pakistan's attacked India.

No, sir, this was a test.

Pakistan being provocative.

Shot-across-the-bow
sort of thing.

It wasn't Pakistan.
If you'll just let me finish.

No nation has claimed credit.

We're trying to ascertain
who was responsible,

but it appears
there's a new player
on the nuclear stage.

Is India mobilizing?

It was 1,200 miles from India.

India has no idea

that it happened.

Well, I don't...
Let me
start again.

It's him again.

Him who?

Ben. Take a message.

He gets any more persistent,

they're going to open
a case file.

Can I just tell him
you're not worth it?

We used to date.

He knows better.

Feeling frisky?

Remembrance of things past.

The briefing,
two things to
deflect.

New Israeli settlement
activity in the West Bank.

You can do it.

"We discourage
new settlements,
deplore Palestinian terror."

Balance but not
too much balance.

No moral equivalence...
The greatest hits.

Golden oldies.
Second thing?

RINOs.

Endangered species,

powdered horn
considered an
aphrodisiac.

That where the word
"horny" comes from?

Not precisely. It's...
these aren't the animals.

It's "Republicans
In Name Only."

"RINOs." Adorable.
!
Right-wing's new name

for GOP members
who've voted with us.

They're being targeted
in the primaries, uh...

"We're happy to stay out
of that particular slap-
fight in the school yard."

Make it "sandbox."

Thanks, Leo.

Don't hesitate to call
on me if I can be
useful in any way.

Be sure
to let you know, sir.

Leo, anything I need
to be aware of?

Uh-uh.

I've been thinking...

to build the V.P.'s
issue profile,

I'm wondering if there's
some policy area

the administration
could give him.

Such as?

Well, I have some
notions, certainly.

Take it up with Toby.

Yeah, thing is,
he and I, ever since...

Take it up with him.
That's what he does.

If you two have problems,
work them out.

I'm not
a couples therapist.

Yeah.

KARL:
...a probe must launch by then

to use Jupiter's
gravitational field
as a slingshot.

The data gathered about
Kuiper Belt objects
would be invaluable.

Listen, I... appreciate
your coming in,

but you may be meeting
with the wrong guy.

My knowledge about space
is like the old joke

about the official
announcing a new program.

He says, "We're going to go
where no one's ever been.

We're going to land...
on the sun!"

Reporter says,
"But, sir,

the sun's
a burning mass of fire."

The official replies,
"Ah! Thought of that.

That's why we're going to go
at night."

What I know is politics,
public perception.

And the image of NASA
is not good.

Telescopes launched
that can't focus.

Planetary probes that crash
because engineers mixed up

meters and feet.

The only time NASA makes
the front page anymore

is when something goes wrong.

You need to get off
the front page.

This administration
has only one space priority.

That you guys stop screwing up.

Thanks for your time.

LEO:
Will's going to come to you

about a policy brief
for the vice president.

Unfortunately, everything we
have, we actually care about.

We gotta give him
something.

What could he handle?

Potholes.
!
Infrastructure?

No, I mean actual
potholes

on-- I don't know--

the interstate.

Come up with something
low-profile and easy.

Keep him out
from underfoot.

( whispers ):
There's another thing.

We got trouble, Toby.

Uh-huh?

...satellite...

( continues speaking softly )

You go see

the vice president?

When I briefed him,

he kind of tilted his head.

I'll update him after.

NANCY:
Sir, everyone's here.

You can come in.

Where are we?

The Chinese have no indication
North Korea did this.

MCNALLY:
Beijing feels
comfortable

ruling out North Korea.

What do we think?

SLIGER:
It's good
news and bad.

We think North Korea's got
two bombs, probably more.

Please let that be the bad news.

'Cause we also believe their
technology's so advanced

they don't need
to perform tests.

Why does the good news
make me feel worse?

Iran.

HUTCHINSON:
Moscow doesn't
think so.

LEO:
They might just be
covering their own ass.

from Kazakhstan
that supposedly

wound up in Iran.

Rumors.

Persistent ones...

that I get from
your people.

LEO:
The IAEA report said

Iran's had a secret nuclear
program for the past 18 years.

HUTCHINSON:
It makes more
geographic sense.

The Korean
peninsula's

4,000 miles from the blast site.

What it's near is Iran.

MCNALLY:
Sir, given

the volatility
of the region,

a secret test would be

how Iran would
certainly proceed.

PRESIDENT:
All right, let's put
our cards on the table.

What helped keep
the Cold War cold

was a sense of moral restraint

that these weapons
were too terrible to use.

That restraint won't exist
in jihadists

who strap bombs
to their chests

and enter
nightclubs.

There are moderate elements
on the ascendancy in Iran.

TOBY:
"In the Koran,
God commanded

"to kill the wicked and
those who do not see the
rights of the oppressed

"and to murder them.

"If we abide
by the Koran,

all of us should mobilize
to kill."

Televised address
by President Alijani.

Moderate.

Mr. Slattery,

have the Iranian Ambassador
to the U.N.

fly down to meet with you

at the Swiss Embassy
immediately.

Thank you,
Mr. President.

Thank you all.

Thank you, sir.
Thank you, sir.

MCNALLY:
Thank you, sir.

to the announcement
of new Israeli settlements

in the West Bank?
Our position
remains

that we discourage
such activities.

Well, is
the administration

contemplating
a more forceful

expression
of disapproval?

We continue to urge all
parties in the region

to take every step to
reduce tensions. Steve?

Do you have a response
to Taylor Reid?

That's hard to say,
never having heard of...

Is it him or her?

On his new
cable show
last night,

you were named
"Chicken of the Week."

Sorry?
His designation

for the newsperson
who he says

is refusing
to appear
on his show.

Well, it's hard
to refuse

to appear on something
you've never heard of.

So, you'd
be willing

to go on?
I have
no idea.

Though, truly,
what girl can resist

being referred to
as poultry? Gail...

What about going
to the U.N?

It'll be discussed.

Isn't that what
it's there for?

Yeah, but this
isn't the room

where you talk
about that.

Follow-up confirms
it was a nuclear blast?

HUTCHINSON:
Yes, sir.

We're still gathering data
on precise yield and type.

Options, General?

ALEXANDER:
North Korea's

nuclear facilities
and weapons

are stored in tunnels
a half a mile underground.

Unreachable
by air power.

And they've threatened
nuclear retaliation

in the event
of attack,

presumably against the South,

but also conceivably
against Australia or Japan.

MCNALLY:
Or us. They've
tested a missile

that could possibly
reach the U.S.

And Iran?

ALEXANDER:
There are

available nuclear targets
for air strikes.

HUTCHINSON:
The downside
is a potential

retaliatory nuclear strike
at Israel.

( knocking )

Alex Moreau, Assistant
Administrator, NASA.

I was at the breakfast.

I mention it because
you were hardly there

long enough to
take any of us in.

You're wrong
about us

only getting on the front page
when we screw up.

Hubble images make page one

all the time.

You're sending up
a new telescope.

The Webb, yes.
Out past the moon.

Every news story
noted

it'll be too far out
for the Shuttle to fix

if it's all screwed up,

like the Hubble was.

I prepare
even for meetings

I don't want to go to.

I wasn't improvising.

You guys are lost in space.

Well, I agree with you.
NASA's lost purpose.

But the problem
isn't getting off
the front page.

It's getting back on.
The New York Times

has never published
a larger headline

than when Neil Armstrong walked
on the moon.

Only, you don't do that anymore.

Now, it's launches
to service the pointless

International Space Station--
which should be re-christened

the SS Good Money After Bad.

It's all
low-earth orbits.

It's like if,
30 years after Columbus,

Spain expected people
to get hot and bothered
over a trip to Mallorca.

Why we need to do this.

What's this?

"Mars or Bust."
We want the government

to commit to
a manned mission to Mars.

There aren't 20 votes for it

in Congress.
( button clanging )

You couldn't get funding
for the buttons.

The Republican Congress
isn't the problem.

It's liberals who killed
the space program.

Yeah, 'cause we like
to use government money

to, I don't know,
help people.

Space travel's
inspirational.

You think
that doesn't help people?

Not like feeding them
or getting them jobs.

Well, you have to
feed the soul, too.

Ever look through
a telescope?

In school.

Uh, a guy on my floor

liked to aim one
at the women's dorm.

What're you doing tonight?

Uh...
Until you get

a good look at
what's up there,

you only think you're prepared.

Pick you up at 8:00.

Donna, cancel my dinner
with Bregstone tonight.

Stargazing?

You were listening?

I'm right outside.

Would you be going if
she weren't attractive?

We'll never know.

( clears throat )

Did you...?

I spoke to Leo.

I got the vice president
a policy focus.

Great.

Good government.

Not that chestnut.

"Reducing bureaucracy,

rewriting regulations
into plain English."

Extremely important.
And incredibly boring.

As is the Vice President.
A match made in heaven.

I don't think many theologians

would stipulate Toby Ziegler's
office as heaven.

You asked, and ye hath received.

And yet my joy
is less than full.

"Revoking
the franking privilege"?

I have work to do.

Close the door.

Lovely room.

The Swiss like
nice things.

You can afford them

when you don't have to pay
for a national defense.

Mr. Ambassador.

Mr. McGarry.

Do you require
anything else?

No, thank you, ma'am.

National Security
Adviser McNally,

Assistant Secretary
of State Slattery.

I hope the trip down
wasn't too inconvenient.

The summons was
a bit abrupt.

Please.

We'd like to discuss
your nuclear program.

We have agreed to
IAEA inspections,

suspended production
on enriched uranium.

Temporarily.

MCNALLY:
Your 40-megawatt heavy
water reactor at Arak.

It's a size too small
for electricity generation,

and larger
than for
research.

The type
that provides fuel

for nuclear weapons
in India and Pakistan.

And Israel. I understand.

SLATTERY:
The Iranian exile organization
NCR has identified

other secret
enrichment
facilities:

the Lashkar-Abad site
near Hashtgerd,

a site near
Ramandeh village...

Why are you
enriching uranium?

For reactor fuel,
for power generation...

as our European friends
acknowledge

is our sovereign right.

Power you don't need,

with your oil
and gas reserves.

It is necessary,

because of rising
domestic consumption rates,

and our desire
to preserve oil and gas

to generate
foreign currency.

MCNALLY:
You displayed the
Shahab 3 missile.

The only
logical
purpose

for such a long-range weapon
is to carry a nuclear payload.

And we enjoy and anticipate
stable relations

with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,
Turkey, Afghanistan.

These are
the nations

within range
of this missile.

And Israel.
I understand.

Sir, we believe your country
has been engaged

in developing nuclear weapons.

The Ayatollah
has decreed

their production
to be haram--

prohibited on
religious grounds.

We consider
the development

and use of such
weapons to be
immoral, inhumane,

and against our basic
Islamic beliefs.

In contrast
to the United States,

which is not merely
the only nation

to ever employ
such weapons--

twice--

but also brought the world

to the brink
of nuclear holocaust

with the Cuban
missile crisis.

The United States
will not tolerate

these weapons'
further proliferation.

It is disconcerting
to be dictated to

by the only transgressor
in human history.

Let me make myself plain,
Mr. Ambassador.

Evidence that Iran possesses
or has tested a nuclear weapon

will be greeted
by the United States

as a matter
of gravest consequence.

Are we finished?

( sighs )

I know what terrifies you.

An Islamic bomb.

And I know what concerns Iran.

A Jewish bomb.

Einstein, Oppenheimer, Teller...

they're all Jewish bombs.

You all right?
You look tired.

I've been tired five years.

Tired... er.

One of those days.

So I had this meeting
with NASA this morning.

What a waste, since the Moon.

My generation never got
the future it was promised.

What do you mean?

35 years later, cars, air
travel's exactly the same.

We don't even have
the Concorde anymore.

Technology stopped.

The personal computer.

A more efficient
delivery system
for gossip and pornography.

Where's my jet pack,
my colonies on the Moon?

Just a waste.

Chris Aldrich of the Sun
wants ten minutes,

and Danny Concanon

left a message.

And it is...?

I'm not sure

I can do it justice.

Carol...

Okay, it's...

"Bawk...

"bawk-bawk-

bawk."

Chicken noises.

This Taylor Reid show thing.

Chicken of the Week.

Get me a copy of the show.

Latest intel.

Combing through spy satellite
data going back a week,

analyzing for any suspicious
presence in the blast zone.

U-2s are over Iran
and North Korea,

monitoring for
unusual activity.

Any conclusions?

No smoking gun.

Recommendations.
If it's North Korea.

It's not.

The Chinese don't
think so, the CIA.

We can't say
definitively,

but no, it doesn't appear
likely it was the Koreans.

PRESIDENT:
Iran then.

General?
Surgical air strikes

on enrichment sites.

Which ones?

All five.

In for a penny.

And if they retaliate?

They'll regret it.

Get the B-2s
in the air, General.

Yes, sir.

We go the minute--

and I mean the minute
we're certain.

Thank you all.

ALL:
Thank you, Mr. President.

RUSSELL:
Good government.

WILL:
Curtailing Congressional
junkets,

shuttering archaic agricultural
field offices...

You don't think I should do it.

It buries you in minutiae.

The public's all for it,
but they'd rather chug sewage

than have to hear
anyone discuss it.

You know, it's easy to
characterize junkets

as vacations
at taxpayer expense,

but they serve a purpose.

Contacts get made,
frank exchanges take place

that would never happen
in the glare of Washington.

Reason enough
to beg off.

You don't fully agree with
the administration's stance.

Sir?

Will you excuse me?

Of course, sir.

...and when you work for a man
like the President,

who's got, what I think you
could generously characterize

as a casual relationship
with the truth...

When your job is to go out
and be his spokesperson,

the question that naturally
arises is how you can justify

lying for your boss the way
C.J. Cregg has to.

And if Ms. Cregg isn't a liar

then the only obvious
conclusion to draw

is that she's either gullible,
an idiot, or so completely

out of the loop she shouldn't be
drawing a salary.

I want to see where
he calls you a chicken.

But can wait.

I want a piece of that twerp.

You can't win.

I'd mop the floor with him--
smirk first.

You'd just keep it alive.

Old newspaper adage:

"never pick a fight with someone

who buys ink by the barrel."

( beeping )

I've got to go.

Something going on?

I'll see you in the morning.

( knocking )

Excuse me, sir.

I know. I've got
to get dressed

for the HHS thing.

Mr. President,
you should cancel.

It's been a long day, sir.

I'll be fine.

You should get some rest.

I'm not sure I could sleep.

I'm going to get dressed.

Yes, Mr. President.

( knocking )

Yeah.

Shut the door.

B-2s have taken off.

Their targets are five uranium
enrichment sites in Iran.

We've confirmed it was them?

It's not a go till we're sure.

Is this the room?

What?

Where we talk about the U.N.

So far, I'm the only one

bringing it up.

The U.N. doesn't want this.

They want to wring their hands
and censure us after,

but they expect us to take care
of things like this.

And after they've
exhausted themselves

calling us warmongers
and imperialists

they'll go home

and quietly drink toasts
to their relief.

Unilateral air strikes.

Have a statement ready.

ALEX:
I have a political question.

If the theory of democracy is
that people have

the most direct connection
to officials

through the local level,

how come everyone
can name the president,

but no one knows who their
assemblyman is?

Complacency-- who knows.

It's like asking
why the sky's blue.

The colors that make up light
have different wavelengths.

The shortest wavelength, blue,
is the most easily dispersed.

So when sunlight hits
the Earth's atmosphere,

blue's what gets
scattered most.

Why the sky's blue.

( phone ringing )

Yeah.

Can this wait till tomorrow?

Put him on.

Yes, Mr. Vice President...

ALEX:
This is good.

Here, could you...?

You want me
to carry that?

Yes, please.

Okay.

When you said...

I thought we were going
to some big observatory.

You're not ready for that.

You need to have the same
experience nine-year-olds

are having all across
the country tonight.

Are they ruining
their shoes, too?

Amazing once you get away
from the city lights.

There's one named after
me up there.

The Josh and Linda star.

The International
Star Registry.

Romantic.

Yeah.

Name something that's
going to be there

for billions of years
after two people

who won't be speaking
in six months.

Alex and Guillermo.

Guillermo?

Yeah. Chilean. Long story.

Sexy. Player. Dumped you.

Okay, not such a long story.

Go ahead.

ALEX:
Jupiter.

The dots on either side
are the four Galilean moons.

You're seeing what Galileo saw
400 years ago.

I remember studying Jupiter.
It has 13 moons.

Yeah, it has 61.

( mechanical whirring )

Go ahead.

Wow. What is that?

The Orion Nebula.

Gas and dust.
Stars are born in that.

Well, born and die
actually.

Everything, every atom
in our bodies

comes from exploding stars.

I guess Joni Mitchell was right.
We are stardust.

Or put another way,
nuclear waste.

Is that...?

Mars.

Because it's near
its closest point,

you're getting the best look
anyone's had

at it in 60,000 years.

Everyone.

( all murmur subdued greetings)

One thing about this job--

it's hard to unobtrusively
slip out of a party.

Mr. Vice President, would you
tell everyone what you told me.

I was on a Congressional junket
to the Mideast last year.

Wound up at a party
on a boat

cruising
the Mediterranean.

The combination of jet lag,
booze, and choppy seas

made some guests sick.

And as they leaned
over the rail,

one of our high-level

government hosts
came up to me

and drunkenly mused
he hoped they
weren't puking

on one of their nuclear subs.

He winked and lurched off.

And the official's country...
was Israel.

MCNALLY:
He was talking about
a nuclear-powered subs.

ALEXANDER:
Israeli subs are
diesel-powered.

HUTCHINSON:
Guy was drunk.

SLIGER:
Israel's nuclear capability

has been an open secret
for years.

Why would they perform
a test now?

Getting nuclear warheads on
submarine-based missiles

requires miniaturization
technology

that could need to be tested.

Could...

I know-- that's not a word
you're fond of at Langley.

Let the man talk.

RUSSELL:
Israel's been
developing advanced

fusion-boosted weapons.

This technology is extremely
difficult

and requires testing

to produce warheads

that are capable
of being shrunk

to the size needed to be placed

on submarine-based
cruise missiles.

Where are the bombers, General?

Three hours out
of Missouri, sir.

They'll be over their targets
in Iran in 14 hours.

Tell the Israeli ambassador

to get his prime minister
on a plane.

I want him in
the Oval Office by noon.

Yes, sir.

General, put a hold
on the bombers.
Yes, sir.

Leo, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you all.

ALL:
Thank you, Mr. President.

We'll need
a cover story
for the visit.

Brief Toby.

Have him get with
C.J. right away.

Thank you, Bob.

I'm, uh, I'm sure Leo's
wondering how it is

I know so much
about all this.

You know all his jokes

The Colorado Plateau

is this country's leading
source of uranium.

Goodnight,
Mr. President.

Leo.

Okay, it's not
gonna happen, but...

tell me about going to Mars.

Right here?

The plan is called
Mars Direct.

What'll it cost?

$30, $40 billion.

( scoffs )

Over ten years.

It's the cost of
one weapons system.

Go on.

We launch a crew
directly there,

like we went to the Moon,

and use the resources
found on Mars

to make the fuel
to get back.

Is that doable?

It's 19th century chemistry.

It's all doable now.

All we lack is the ambition
and political will.

The Israeli Prime Minister
is flying in today

to discuss their new
settlement activity.

You mean the thing you had
me shrug off yesterday

as a non-story?

That was yesterday.

I'm trying to decide
if I'm gullible, an idiot,

or just being completely
kept out of the loop.

Yeah.

Mr. Vice President.

You should speak directly
to the President

about your reasons
for not going along.

No, I'm gonna do
their bidding on this.

Due respect, it's not
a serious policy brief.

You have to get the West Wing
to start treating you

with more respect.

I'm a team player.
I do what's asked.

And, Will, for the record,

I'm not worried about having
the President's respect.

Thanks for your
concern yesterday.

Did you get some sleep, sir?

Not much.

Some terrible choices have
had to be made in this room,

none more agonizing than
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I can't imagine.

When you sit here,
you have to.

Would you have made

the same decision
Truman made?

( sighs )

On Okinawa, the Japanese
knew they couldn't win,

so they just tried to kill
as many Americans as possible.

There were 110,000
Japanese troops

and nearly a quarter of
a million people died there,

including Japanese civilians.

To defend Japan itself,

they'd mobilized
two and a half million...

with a civilian militia
of 30 million more

pressed into service
just to die for the Emperor.

So you could claim the bombings
actually saved lives.

That's one argument.

Another is that
after Potsdam

Truman wanted Stalin to know
we had the bomb

and we were willing to use it.

But would you have done it, sir?

Donna!

Yes.

How long have you
been there?

Long enough.

Uh...

I need a breakdown
of NASA funding

as a percentage of
discretionary spending

in five year increments
starting in 1969.

Hey, you want to hear
something cool?

Voyager 1 just crossed
the termination shock

eight billion miles away.

First human-made object
to leave the solar system.

Funny, I'm going through a
little termination shock myself.

What?

Suddenly this
consuming interest

in space just because

some NASA administrator
batted eyes at you?

You hate that
I'm interested in this.

What was your first hint?

That's perfect. Sit down.

Sit. I need to play out
an argument.

Everyone hates us.

Inspiring start.

We're the most dominant
nation on earth.

But too often the face
of our economic superiority

is a corporate imperialism,

our technological dominance

shown by smart bombs
and Predator drones.

We could do something else.

Something generous and
uplifting for all humankind.

We could send the first
representatives from Earth

to walk on another planet.

We could land people on Mars.

Needs work.

Needs something.

Yeah, that inspiration thing.

Voyager, in case
it's ever encountered

by extra-terrestrials,

is carrying photos
of life on Earth,

greetings in 55 languages...

Prime Minister,
thank you for coming.

...and a collection of music,

from Gregorian chants
to Chuck Berry.

Including...

"Dark Was the Night,
Cold Was the Ground"

by '20s bluesman
Blind Willie Johnson,

whose stepmother
blinded him at seven

by throwing lye in his eyes
after his father beat her

for being with another man.

He died, penniless, of pneumonia

after sleeping bundled
in wet newspapers

in the ruins of his house
that burned down.

But his music just left
the solar system.

Okay, that got me.

Thank you for coming,
Mr. Prime Minister.

You've had a long flight

and I've had a long
last day and a half.

Let's not waste any time

with veiled questions
and coy answers.

Your government conducted
an atmospheric nuclear test

over the Indian Ocean
36 hours ago.

This action poses
enormous problems

for the region, for the world.

And for the U.S.

Yes.

It undercuts our
counter-proliferation policy

and makes us look,
at best, biased

and at worst,
like outright hypocrites.

You do not look hypocritical
espousing nonproliferation

while funding research
on a new generation

of tactical nuclear bombs?

This is not my view.

The U.S. is merely looking
after its national interest.

As Israel has the right to do.

Proliferation breeds
proliferation.

China's bomb produced India's,
India's begat Pakistan's.

The United State''

ideal number of nuclear weapons
states is one.

No matter if it's
merited or arrogant,

it's irrelevant.

Our chief of Military
Intelligence asserts

that if Iran completes
its enrichment program

it will be able to produce

nuclear weapons
within one year.

No one disputes Israel
lives under threat.

Threat?

We are six million
surrounded by 200 million

who wish us obliterated.

For Israel,

deterrence is
not an option,

but an imperative.

There's a fine line between
deterrence and provocation.

We model our approach
on America's

during the Cold War:

Mutual Assured
Destruction.

There's a reason
its acronym was MAD.

It succeeded entirely
in keeping the world safe.

Iran will become
a nuclear state.

I mean, what difference if it
takes one year or five or ten?

What difference?

We can stop them.

By force, if it comes to that.

But should this fail,

all that would stand
in the way of an
Iranian first strike

is an assured
second-strike capability.

Submarines armed
with nuclear missiles.

Mr. President,

this is essential
for Israel's survival.

Your argument

boils down to asking
that the world trust you.

As does America's.

It's telling that the physicists

involved with the creation
of these weapons

became the most fervid opponents
of their use.

Einstein, Oppenheimer,
Szilard.

Hans Bethe wrote:

"If we fight a war
and win it with H-bombs,

"what history will remember

"is not the ideals
we were fighting for,

"but the methods
used to accomplish them.

"These methods
will be compared

"to the warfare
of Genghis Khan,

who brutally killed every last
inhabitant of Persia."

Hey.

It's over.

It was the Israelis.

The bombers
have turned back.

It's a hell of
a dress rehearsal.

This is our plan.

This is our nuanced

reasoned... we bomb,
then they nuke,

then we nuke.

This is best
we've gamed this out?

The fate of the world just hung
on a Bingo Bob brainstorm.

You want to live by those odds?

As opposed to sanctions,
inspections

and never-ending talks

while a Hezbollah martyr

leads a donkey cart
packed with plutonium

smack into downtown Tel Aviv.

It's not over.

And we need a better plan.

( doorbell rings )

( "Dark Was the Night,
Cold Was the Ground" plays )

( bottleneck guitar plays )

( music continues )

( humming ):
* Hmm... hmm...

( music and humming continues)

( spirited humming continues)