Original subtitles

Coming home doesn't change much.

I'm supposed to focus on the next problem, North Korea.

But I'm still in Iraq.

Saddam's death sentence didn't calm Iraq.

It inflamed it.

Sunni militants blew up the al-Askari shrine,

one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam.

It tore the country apart.

The so-called unity government is nothing more than a bad joke.

The extremists are winning.

Back home, 2,500 American soldiers are dead,

and Bush is preparing to send more troops.

Rumsfeld's exit strategy just shows we never had

a long term plan in Iraq,

and that we totally misunderstood Saddam

and his role as an enemy of the radical elements

of the Islamic world.

He was an enemy of our enemy.

Keeping him alive might buy something

Iraq and the U.S. both desperately need-- time.

And maybe demonstrating the quality of mercy is something

that the new Iraqi regime needs to show its people.

I can't think of a more dramatic way

to show a break with the past.

Memorandum. Urgent.

Saddam Hussein is the first head of state

since Slobodan Milosevic to stand trial.

Amnesty International is already calling

the proceedings a show trial directed by American handlers.

When the Israelis tried Adolf Eichmann,

the trial lasted months and was televised for the world.

Eichmann was even granted an appeal.

The purpose was to re-establish justice and the rule of law.

This week marks Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice,

honoring Abraham offering his son at God's command.

Yet America now appears ready to deliver Saddam

to a Shiite government for execution

at precisely that moment.

The symbolism is unavoidable.

We risk turning him into a martyr

and igniting sectarian violence for generations.

I respectfully request an immediate audience.

Time is of the essence.

Every statement I make today

is backed up by sources, solid sources.

These are not assertions.

What we're giving you are facts and conclusions

based on solid intelligence.

♪ Sue... boy... Sue ♪

♪ Sue ♪

Cash.

♪ A boy named Sue ♪

- What's that? - Johnny Cash, "A Boy Named Sue."

- "A Boy Named Sue"? - Yeah.

♪ Life is rough, you got to be tough ♪

♪ Or you're going to die in the... ♪

In the... - Blood.

♪ In the blood and the mud and the beer ♪

♪ My name is Sue, how do you do? ♪

That's a good one.

Hey. - What?

You need to rest, all right?

You shouldn't be--

No, no, I-I-I think it's my time.

And I need to talk to you.

You should know the truth.

Okay.

Charlie was so handsome.

He was the light of my life.

I loved him so much. Ohh.

I know, Dad.

But I failed him.

I indulged him, I made him weak.

And you,

you're a stubborn, defiant son of a bitch.

And I needed you to be that way.

To make you tougher than Charlie.

I just...

Dad, what are you talking about?

Charlie died a hero.

No, he didn't die a hero.

He killed himself.

It was suicide.

Charlie sacrificed himself to save his platoon.

That's a lie that I told just to protect you and me.

He-- He laid down his weapon,

he got out of his hole,

and he walked right into a hell fire.

He-- He...

Remember the night that you called

when your friend Jerry died?

- Yeah. You hung up on me. - Yes.

Because I panicked.

I-I didn't want you to weaken.

I wanted you to be tough so you wouldn't end up like Charlie.

I just couldn't lose another son.

Hey, Johnny, you're the pride of my life.

I thought if I told you all that, it'd make you soft.

And I was wrong.

I was very wrong.

But, Rebecca, God bless her, she--

she's the family that we needed.

I was a terrible father.

I just hope you have one kind memory of me.

Dad.

Dad, hey. - What?

Listen.

I mean, I...

Whatever good I have inside of me,

I got from you.

Yeah?

You should know you were a terrible roller skater.

And I hated that song "Funkytown." It sucks.

It's a great song.

- No. - It's a great song.

No, no. It sucks.

I'm thirsty. Can you...

I gotta go downstairs.

Wait.

I'll never agree with you about Saddam,

because that would make Charlie's life a waste.

You understand?

But you stick to your convictions.

And I...

John,

I love you.

I love you.

- Shit. - John.

You stirred up a D.C. shitstorm.

Am I in trouble?

When are you not? Come with me.

Going to the principal's office.

Nixon, you live up to your reputation.

Well, I'm just doing my job.

Your job is North Korea.

Which I'm staying on top of.

None of this has anything to do with that.

Your correspondence

with every senior government official in Washington.

That's what I do in my off time.

It's more fun than bowling.

Want to be a wise ass or have a chance to get back in?

Sorry for being so tardy.

You know our newest member of the National Security Council.

- John. - Winthrop.

These past two years have been increasingly chaotic

and deadly in Iraq.

Nothing we do seems to be working.

Well, you know what I think.

All of D.C. Knows.

Your assessments and conclusions

are succinct and on point.

I've read your report. All six.

And we are personally prepared to kick them up.

- Up? - Up.

Finally.

- If you redact them. - How?

By removing all mention of saving Saddam.

That's the point of the reports.

After yesterday's Fallujah roadside massacre,

the president's got egg on his face.

It's all just a shit sandwich.

And every day we take another bite.

The White House has expressed frustration

that they cannot communicate more directly with analysts.

Okay. What do you expect from me?

John, your intel and intuition on al-Sadr is what they want.

Saddam is not what they want. Is that clear enough?

Saddam is our best chance to--

John, hear what we're saying.

Personally, your idea of saving Saddam is not such a nutty idea.

If you find yourself in the White House

and you bring up Saddam, that's on you.

But the NSC will not submit a report coming from this desk

suggesting that to this president.

You gonna play ball?

♪ Are you a hero ♪

Oh, sh--

You scared me.

Sorry.

- Hey, babe. - John?

Come home now, John. It's your dad.

What?

I'm sorry.

You fought in three wars.

You don't retire a full bird colonel without the story.

Talk.

Well, it was kind of a funny story.

We were into 'Nam.

Um, we were buggered with sleep deprivation.

All of a sudden, all hell breaks out.

It's the gooks with mountain artillery.

Everything.

And I'm just laying there sawing Z's.

This Marine and a corpsman, they see me,

they run out, they pick me up, they come running back,

throw me in a ditch, and hop into their bunker and...

I wake up for a second,

I look around, and I just fall right back to sleep.

I was just so tired.

So tired I didn't care if I died.

Well, the memories of it refuse to fade.

They call it PTSD today.

We called it shell shock. Battle fatigue.

You know, I fought in three wars with the hope

that my sons would never have to go to war.

But I was wrong.

You gonna be sitting or standing?

- What? - With the president.

Oh.

S-Sitting. - Well, then, sit.

Uh, um...

Mr. President, as you know...

...the fabric of Iraq is built around religious groups and--

If he knows that already,

you don't have to tell it to him.

No, no.

Which of them is the good guys and which are the bad guys?

What kind of question is that?

He knows that they're religious beliefs,

not Darth Vader and Han Solo.

Baby, what's your goal here?

I want this shit to end.

You know, killing al-Sadr is not an option.

It's just going to make things worse.

And they shouldn't kill Saddam.

What do you mean?

He'll just become a martyr.

You know, people are already saying

that it was better under his rule.

So what is it you want now?

I want the killing to end. Ours and theirs.

I want the president to stop it.

So that's what you need to tell them.

You buy a new suit for this?

I got it for my dad's funeral.

Three things to remember.

The president likes clear opinions.

Doesn't appreciate shades of gray.

Two, he's aware of his place in history.

Now he's thinking about legacy.

Three, don't forget we're a service.

We're here to give him what he needs...

...not tell him what to think.

Gentlemen.

Mr. President, this is John Nixon.

John is here to update us on Saddam Hussein's WMDs.

Shoot. Give me what you got.

Uh...

Sir, not so much an update, but, uh, more, uh, confirmation.

We're not going to find any weapons, Mr. President.

Well, if that's all you have to say,

this is going to be the shortest meeting of my presidency.

Well said, Mr. President.

Say, John, why don't you, uh--

why don't you sit where I can see you?

All right.

Sir, it's now the agency's analysis

that in the years leading up to the war,

Saddam had two competing objectives--

to convince the UN inspectors he had no such weapons,

while persuading his enemies that he did.

And this subterfuge was so effective,

it appears to have convinced elements

of the U.S. intelligence community, as well.

Is that right?

Yes, sir.

I like this guy.

Why would Saddam want anyone to think

he was flouting international law?

Deterrence, sir. Specifically against Iran.

This is General Major Qasem Soleimani.

Commander of Iran's Quds Force.

For a while now, he's been trying to turn Iraq

into a client state of Iran.

Like they're doing in Lebanon.

And Bahrain and Syria.

Saddam has been pushing back against Soleimani for years,

but now it appears he's got a foothold.

So would you say Iran is the reason

security is such a challenge in Iraq?

Madam Secretary, with all due respect,

that is not the scope of this briefing.

But it's true they have funded al-Sadr's Mahdi Army

and instigated opportunities for him to recruit,

train, and carry out attacks.

How in the hell did that happen, huh?

With all the resources we give you?

John?

We're here to give him what he needs,

not tell him what to think.

Well, sir,

that is the $64,000 question, isn't it?

Well, how about we make it the $75,000 question

or whatever the hell it is we pay you and answer it?

Well, sir,

the only reason Iran has such influence today is

because we removed Saddam Hussein from power.

Which was exactly what had to be done, Mr. President.

Saddam was a destabilizing element in the region.

No one of rank in intelligence

believes the invasion was a mistake.

Saddam Hussein was a tyrant.

- Yes, sir. - Mm-hmm. And a sadist.

Certainly my impression, sir.

And I defeated him.

Yes, sir, you did, but...

...Iran might have just won the war.

After 9/11, we should have engaged with Saddam,

just like he proposed,

and not disemboweled Iraq.

We shouldn't have dismantled the army,

and we shouldn't have dismantled the state.

We should have learned from history

like the Allies did in Germany after World War II.

But instead, we opened the door for Iran.

We invaded Iraq because we were afraid

that it was a breeding ground for Islamic terrorism.

But it wasn't.

But by removing Saddam without a plan for what comes next,

we've turned it into one.

So, what, you think we should take out this al-Sadr guy?

Sir, I can't advise you to break international law.

Consider it a hypothetical question.

Well, then, no, sir.

That's how Saddam handled the father

and united Shia against him.

So if we kill the son,

then it'll prove that the U.S. is no different.

Saddam killed his father, huh?

He tried to do the same to mine.

No, s-sir.

The agency has found no proof Saddam tried to kill Bush 41.

But it's certainly true to say that both of you

share the burden of having famous fathers.

So that's...

Do you think Sadr could ever be a constructive player

in Iraq, huh, or will he always oppose us?

Well, both. I think, um...

In the short term, Sadr will continue

to hold anti-U.S. views,

but as Iran continues to try to control him,

he could develop anti--

Cut the crap, son. Now, which is it, huh?

Friend or foe?

Sir, my experience in the Middle East

is that relationships are often contradictory.

They don't fit into simple categories

like friend and foe, ally, enemy.

They can be everything at once.

I suggest we adjourn the meeting.

- Agreed. - Sir.

If you want to improve the situation in Iraq,

there is one thing you should do.

- Should? - Just...

Sir, you could rescind the order to execute Saddam.

You don't think Saddam deserves to die?

I don't think that's the point.

We made Saddam Hussein what he is today.

When your father was head of the CIA, sir,

Saddam was our ally.

In the '80s, Reagan funded and supported Iraq.

After 9/11, Saddam thought that we would be standing

shoulder to shoulder against men like Muqtada al-Sadr,

who was cheering when the Twin Towers fell.

Sir, I'm not trying to defend him, but--

So what the hell are you doing?

Saddam once told me this story about Saladin

during the Third Crusade,

and how Saladin snuck in to King Richard's tent at night

and saved his life.

I never heard that.

That's because it never happened.

It's not true.

It came from a movie.

Saddam Hussein grew up loving Hollywood, loving America

because of the stories we told.

So why is he telling this one?

Well, he knows he's a beaten man,

and he's accepted his death.

He knows that sometimes adversaries can help each other

if they have-- have a common goal,

and that the right man making the right decision

can really make a difference even now, sir.

You're not the first, you know.

Colin, others,

they all said the same thing before the war.

Right in this room.

Leave Saddam alone.

Let him be."

But I proved them wrong.

We're done here, guys.

Yeah.

- Say, John. - Yes, sir.

In all those conversations you had with Saddam,

you sure he didn't mention just one little vial of anthrax?

Unfortunately for the thousands of men and women

who died in this war,

he didn't.

- Mr. President. - Mr. President.

Christ, what a fricking disaster.

You were supposed to read the room.

Give them what they want.

Yeah. I couldn't.

That's the job, John.

This is what he did.

Paint over everything with his ego

until you couldn't look anywhere without seeing his face.

Why are you here?

Why are you here, Samir?

I just needed to see him

as a man who's gonna hang,

not the stuff of my nightmares.

But I would say that there were serious failures

on the part of the Iraqi high tribunal to afford to

Saddam and the others...

...from setting up extraordinary courts,

and this is exactly what the Americans have done.

Saddam Hussein was put on trial without him

or his lawyers having even the indictment sheet

which sets out the charges,

the evidence, the documents and what have you

before the trial started.

Saddam's trial, he-- he was denied access,

proper access to lawyers.

Three of his defense team were murdered.

Five others outside the team who were advisers

have also been murdered.

Judges have been interfered with

with their affairs to the extent that even the judge...

Imagine the lives that would have been spared

had he remained a poet.

It's sordid. I think the word for this is "sordid".

The fact that as we speak, video...

- Last day, Mr. Nixon? - Yeah.

So, what's next?

...indicates that his death has been used...

I have to figure that out.

Hey, it's Daddy.

Hey.

How you doing? Hey.

Hey.

- Ready? - Yeah.

Come on, Zoe. Zoe, come here.

Come on. Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Let's get out of here.

Saddam's removal created a power vacuum

that turned religious differences in Iraq

into a sectarian bloodbath.

And his execution just made everything worse.

In some streets, it was celebration.

Iraqis shouting out decades of unspoken rage.

In others, his coffin was carried

through Baghdad in anger.

Saddam's grave became a pilgrimage for old loyalists

standing guard, with a new generation,

rewriting him as a martyr, not the tyrant,

but a relic of what they believed was a more stable time.

Then came the elections.

Nouri al-Maliki promising unity and strength,

reconciliation and force.

But Iraq is already broken.

George W. Bush announces a surge.

More troops, more time, more delusion.

We kill Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

Victory on paper.

Everyone feels great the next day.

High fives all around.

And then reality sets in.

What happens? Muqtada al-Sadr comes out stronger.

Chaos continues.

The rest of our troops in Iraq

will come home by the end of the year.

In 2011, Barack Obama signs off on withdrawal.

A broken Iraq is handed back to its people.

Then in 2014, with Sunni support,

ISIS sweeps through northern Iraq and declares a caliphate.

Questions don't go away.

What if we hadn't invaded Iraq? What if we hadn't killed Saddam?

See, nobody ever asks what comes after Caesar.

And Americans, we see the world through our own lens.

Our values, our history.

But that lens is barely 200 years old.

Once you become the policeman of one conflict,

you inherit them all.

History is supposed to teach us.

But if we ignore it, then in 10, 20,

or 30 years from now, another war is coming.

Only this time, the weapons are faster, deadlier,

and more final.