The Siege (1998)

Annette Bening: Elise Kraft, Sharon Bridger

Photos 

Quotes 

• Elise Kraft : In this game, the most committed wins.

• Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : You will go to prison...

  Agent Frank Haddad : You know what happens to women in prison?

  Elise Kraft : Mmmmm... yummm!

• Elise Kraft : It's easy to tell the difference between right and wrong. What's hard is choosing the wrong that's more right.

• Sharon Bridger : We're the CIA, something always goes wrong.

• Elise Kraft : It's never the question that's indiscreet, just the answer.

• Elise Kraft : [to Hubbard]  I tend to be suspicious of all true believers. Present company included.

• Sharon Bridger : I ran the network in Iraq for two years. Samir recruited them from among the Sheik's followers and I trained them in the north. The Sheik was going to help us overthrow Saddam, I mean, he was our ally. We were financing him. Then there was a policy shift. It's not like we sold them out exactly, we just stopped helping them.

  [pause] 

  Sharon Bridger : They were slaughtered.

  [pause] 

  Sharon Bridger : So I uh, quit the operation. I took another assignment.

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : But you helped them first.

  Sharon Bridger : What do you mean?

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : You said they were being slaughtered, they needed to get out, they were on the terrorist watch list, so you got them visas, you and Samir.

  Sharon Bridger : I promised them we would take care of them, they were working for us!

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : Doing what, exactly?

  Sharon Bridger : I told you!

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : No you didn't. You told me that you trained them. Tradecrafts, subversion. That's what you said, wasn't it? You're leaving something out, aren't you, Sharon? You taught them how to make bombs. That's why you were looking for the wiring signatures on that blue bus. And now they're here, doing what you taught them how to do. Right?

  Sharon Bridger : You've got to let me... make this right! Please?

• Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : All right, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to take your boy Samir downtown, I'm going to strap his ass to a polygraph machine and I'm going to ask him questions about you. Then I'm going to take those transcripts, I'm going to take them to a friend of mine at the New York Times who just loves to write stories about the link between the CIA and political horror shows.

  Sharon Bridger : If you burn him, you'll lose any chance you've got.

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : So what? It's lose-lose, isn't that what you said?

  Sharon Bridger : I'm not fucking with you.

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : How could you possibly remember who you're fucking?

• [the team is listening in on the three suspected bus 87 bombers] 

  Elise Kraft : They're discussing how hard it is to find a decent cup of coffee over here.

  [hands headset to Frank] 

  Elise Kraft : I make out three voices. What do you have on the infrared?

  FBI Agent Mike Johanssen : Sounds like three.

  Agent Frank Haddad : If we had microwave we'd know for sure. The CIA's got microwave. How come we don't have microwave?

  [Hubbard is talking to the landlord] 

  Landlord : ...There are three of them. All day long they watch TV, and eat pizza. Nothing but pizza. Pizza, pizza, pizza...

  [cuts to Agent Danny Sussman, disguised as a pizza deliveryman, carrying a pizza box that contains a bomb up the stairs, followed by the FBI's HRT team members, who advance with their weapons ready. Danny knocks on the door] 

  Danny Sussman : Pizza!

  [knocks again, this time more urgently] 

  Danny Sussman : Pizza!

  [a young Arab opens the door and hands him a small wad of money] 

  Danny Sussman : You want change or not?

  Arab : No. Put it on the floor.

  [Danny complies] 

  Danny Sussman : [sighs]  Have you heard? Crime is down 7% in this city.

• [a big discussion is underway about the fight against terrorism in New York City] 

  Chief of Staff : General?

  General William Devereaux : The Army is a broadsword, not a scalpel. Trust me, senator, you do not want the Army in an American city.

  Chief of Staff : But hypothetically... how long would it take you to deploy?

  General William Devereaux : You know we can't go in until the President invokes the War Powers Act.

  Chief of Staff : I understand that, General. Let's assume, for a moment, that the order has been given.

  General William Devereaux : Twelve hours after the President gives the order we can be on the ground. One light infantry division of 10,700 men, elements of the Rapid Deployment Force, Special Forces, Delta, APCs, helicopters, tanks, and of course the ubiquitous M16A1 assault rifle. A humble enough weapon until you see it in the hands of a man outside your local bowling alley or 7-11. It will be noisy. It will be scary, and it will not be mistaken for a VFW parade.

  Army General : I wanna remind you, General Devereaux does not speak for official Army policy. A police function has become accepted as our role in Haiti and Somalia.

  General William Devereaux : Make no mistake. We will hunt down the enemy. We will find the enemy. And we will kill the enemy. No card-carrying member of the ACLU is more deadset against it than I am. Which is why I urge you - I *implore* you - do not consider this as an option.

  Chief of Staff : I know just what the President's going to say: that's exactly why your the only man for the job.

  [cut to a clip of unseen hands cleansing themselves] 

  FBI Director : I'd like to introduce Anthony Hubbard. He's my ASAC on the ground up in Brooklyn. His team was able to take out the first cell within 36 hours of the attack on the #87 Bus. He's also the man who took out the terrorist in that schoolhouse.

  [This last sentence overlays a clip of the hands assembling an explosive charge] 

  FBI Director : Hub?

  [Hubbard stands up] 

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : The job of the FBI is to - to respond.

  [the mystery hands turn the key in the ignition of a van] 

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : The job of the Army is to defend. With the presence of the Army, our ability to investigate will be seriously inhibited.

  [the van pulls out of a garage] 

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : It will push these criminals further underground. Most importantly, you can't fight a war against an enemy you can't see.

  [the van makes its way through the streets] 

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : I think if we exercise patience and restraint - allow our men and women up in New York to do their job, I think it'll be effective.

  [long pause; the van is seen coming off the Queensboro Bridge as it enters Manhattan] 

  Chief of Staff : Thank you, Agent Hubbard. I, too, think that we should proceed with caution. Some of you may not know Sharon Bridger. Sharon was posted in Iraq as part of our covert operations during the Gulf War. Sharon?

  [Elise Kraft/Sharon Bridger comes in with several folders] 

  Sharon Bridger : Sir, if I may?

  [She starts passing the folders around, intercut with clips of busy Manhattan streets, and the explosives packed into the back of the van] 

  Sharon Bridger : I'm sure everyone here knows the traditional model of the terrorist network: one cell controls all others. Cut off one head, the body will wither.

  [Cut to clips of One Federal Plaza; Sharon continues in voice-over] 

  Sharon Bridger : Unfortunately the old wisdom no longer applies.

  [We see the van make a right turn] 

  Sharon Bridger : The new paradigm is each cell operates independent of the other. Cut off one head, another rises up in its place.

  [the van cruises slowly down the street] 

  Sharon Bridger : Bus 87 was the work of the first cell, whose remaining elements, we believe, the FBI took down.

  [the camera pans down the side of One Federal Plaza] 

  Sharon Bridger : This then activated cell #2:

  [the camera closes in on the van] 

  Sharon Bridger : the theater gala.

  [Agents Frank Haddad and Danny Sussman leave the building and exchange some words with two agents in the plaza] 

  Sharon Bridger : At the most we believe there are three, possibly four cells.

  Chief of Staff : Well then how much longer until we can take out the last cell?

  [Long pause; the van speeds up, and jumps the concrete barriers in front of the plaza, on a collision course with the lobby] 

  Sharon Bridger : We don't know.

  [the van crashes through the windows of the lobby. Flash cut to an aerial view over Manhattan. The camera pans down on numerous emergency vehicles in front of the ruins of One Federal Plaza] 

• Sharon Bridger : Samir! The Koran preaches...

  Samir Nazhde : Do not lecture me on the Qur'an, woman! First you left me in Iraq... LIKE A PIECE OF SHIT... Then you took our leader... A HOLY MAN FOR PREACHING THE WORD OF GOD.

• [the agents observe and capture Samir] 

  Agent Frank Haddad : His name's Samir Nazhde. Teaches Arab Studies at Brooklyn College. He sponsored Ail Waziri's student visa. And dig this - his brother blew up a movie theatre in Tel Aviv.

  Elise Kraft : You might consider leaving him alone.

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : Why would I consider doing that?

  Elise Kraft : Play him like a cop and haul him in now and get your arrest, or tag him and let him lead you to the really big fish.

  Agent Frank Haddad : [curses in Arabic]  You're fishing and he's getting visas for bombers.

  Elise Kraft : You ever heard of catch and release?

  Agent Frank Haddad : Yes, and he's on the next plane for Tunis.

  [Samir is now leaving a cafe] 

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : Take him down.

  Agent Frank Haddad : [keys his radio]  Go.

  [Three agents take Samir, and lead them to Hub's car] 

  Agent Frank Haddad : Samir Nazhde, my name is Frank Haddad, I'm a Federal Agent. We have reason to believe you are an accessory to the bombing of Bus 87.

  Samir Nazhde : Are you crazy?

  Agent Frank Haddad : You are an associate of Ali Waziri.

  Samir Nazhde : Who? I know no one by that name.

  Agent Frank Haddad : You got him a student visa.

  Samir Nazhde : I sign these applications as a matter of course, hundreds of them. Everyone wants to come to the land of opportunity and Baywatch.

  Agent Frank Haddad : You spent two years in Israeli jails during the Intifada.

  Samir Nazhde : The only ones who didn't were women like you.

  [Frank backhands Samir across the mouth] 

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : Frank...

  Agent Frank Haddad : Sorry, personal matter.

  [to Samir] 

  Agent Frank Haddad : You're going downtown, my friend.

  Samir Nazhde : You cannot hold me. I know my rights! I watch American television!

  Agent Frank Haddad : Defrauding the INS is a federal offense.

  [hands him off to the agents] 

  Agent Frank Haddad : Reservation for one, please.

• [Hubbard approaches Elise at the warehouse where Bus 4199 is being stored] 

  Elise Kraft : Hi there.

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : I'm Anthony Hubbard. I'm the Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

  Elise Kraft : Oh, shit! I've been trying to liaise with you all day. I'm Elise Kraft, National Security Council.

  [shakes hands with Hubbard] 

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : Pleasure. You been trying to liaise with me all day? Have you checked the phone book? We've got fourteen lines, not including the unlisted ones.

  [pause] 

  Elise Kraft : Hi, I'm Elise Kraft, National Security Council.

  Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard : How ya doin'? I'm Colin Powell. Whaddaya people want with my bus?