A bit more decisive ...
Episode 3x20: We Killed Yamamoto
"… But it doesn't matter," the representative from the White House Counsel's office said.
"Why?" the President asked as he sat down.
"The entire chain of evidence leading us to Shariff originates from the Chechyan prisoner." He concluded.
"Yeah." Jed Bartlet didn't understand the problem.
The State Department rep took over. "His testimony was reached … after long physical abuse from Russian soldiers." The rep looked at the President, hoping he would understand.
"He was tortured."
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm no lawyer," the President admitted, "but I'm pretty sure that's inadmissible."
Everyone in the room watched as the President wrestled with his disappointment.
Jed Bartlet sat back and contemplated a whole host of things. Finally, he asked Admiral Fitzwallace, "How necessary is the base in Qumar to our regional security?"
The Admiral considered that for a moment. "It provides a forward base should we ever have conflict with Iraq or Iran. Most of its operations could be dispersed to other bases in the area – if it became necessary."
The President nodded. He looked over at the State Department representative and asked, "How necessary is the US base to the Sultanate of Qumar? What would happen if we left?"
The State Department representative thought about it for a minute. "It would last about a year – maybe two. Without US presence, many European allies would begin looking to other countries for the oil they currently get from Qumar. Their economic independence would suffer. Iran couldn't afford to have any other Middle-East power controlling an area so close to their major areas of authority. They would almost have to invade. Without US support, they would lose within a month."
Jed Bartlet nodded and then asked with some seriousness, "One more question: How fond of his brother-in-law is the Sultan of Qumar?"
The State Department spokesman put in quickly, "As part of the Royal Family, the Sultan would have to protect Shareef from anything which might threaten him. It's part of Qumari law."
Jed Bartlet was irritated. "That's not what I asked. I asked: How fond of his brother-in-law is the Sultan of Qumar?"
The State Department spokesman replied quietly, "It would take a few hours to get that answered."
Jed nodded. "Quietly. No one outside of this room is to know what exactly you are finding out. We meet back in 6 hours." The President stood up, and the rest of the room followed. "One way or another, Abdul Shareef will no longer threaten the United States of America. What happens from here is to be considered the closest held information currently in existence. I need legal opinions from each one of you as to the legality, and feasibility, of every possible course of action." He paused. "Every course," he repeated. "Does everyone understand?"
"Yes, Mr. President."
Once again, the same group of men was in the Situation Room. The President sat at the head of the table. There were no other people in the room except military techs in case they were needed.
Finally the President asked, "Okay. Let's go from easiest to hardest. What are my options?"
The White House Counsel lawyer volunteered, "Revoke Abdul Shareef's immunity and inform the Sultanate of Qumar that he will no longer be welcome in the United States. Inform the Sultanate through diplomatic channels and release the information to the public. Completely legal and feasible. We could ask the UN and Congress to consider sanctions."
Fitzwallace volunteered, "One sanction that is under your authority is to abandon the base in Qumar, withdrawing all personnel and resources to other bases in the region. It would cause a shift in the region. Our forces would have to protect themselves from immediate reprisal during the withdrawal. We would have to ask Congress to authorize closing the base. Otherwise, it could sit empty."
"That leaves Shareef still in a position to threaten US lives. Next option."
"We inform the Sultanate of what we have found and demand he be turned over to the Hague. Due to our laws, we cannot prosecute him, but the Hague has more latitude. It's legal. But not feasible. Qumari law prevents the Sultanate from extradition. If we arrested him under our laws here in the US, we would have to try him here. We cannot legally arrest him and turn him over to the Hague without authorization from Qumar."
"Yeah. And getting someone else to fight our battles would not be a popular move with the average US taxpayer. Next."
"We withdraw from Qumar, release the information, and demand Congress apprive withdrawing from the treaties we currently have with Qumar. Messy. Quite a few legal obstacles, but feasible. We would leave our troops more open to attack while the steps were being taken."
"Unacceptable."
"We ask the Sultanate to take care of Shareef. He might be dismissed as Defense Minister and put under house arrest. But that would be the limit of what the Sultanate could do to him. It wouldn't prevent Shareef from operating as command and control for terrorist activities. It would actually make it easier for him. The Sultan might end up replaced by Shareef within three years. And then we'd have major problems."
"Yeah. Not going to happen. Next."
There was a pause. "The final option is to take Shareef out." This came from Admiral Fitzwallace. "We go forward with the scheduled visit and take care of it after he leaves our airspace. As a Military man, it's the choice I would suggest."
Jed considered the head of the Joint Chiefs. Without any inflection he asked, "Why?"
Fitzwallace sat back and considered that. "Can anyone here say with certainty when it's peacetime or wartime anymore? I don't know who the world's leading experts on war is, but any list of the top ten would have to include me. And I can't tell if it's peacetime or wartime anymore. In peace, certain people are protected. In war, there are a whole lot of more options." He sighed.
"The Battle of Agincourt. This was the French, fighting against the British archers. This was like a Polo match. The battles were observed by heralds. And they picked the winners. And if a soldier lay down his arms? He was treated humanely. The international laws which protect certain persons, this is where a lot of them were written. At a time and place where a person could tell between peacetime and wartime. The idea of targeting one person? It was ridiculous. It would never have occurred to the French to try to kill William Pitt. That all changed after Pearl Harbor."
No one in the room was comfortable with what was being said, but all listened because the President gave no sign. "We killed Yamamoto! We shot down his place. It was wartime and it was the best chance of ending it as quickly as possible with the smallest amount of loss. If the assignation of Hitler had been successful, we'd have had to explain that to our kids."
His voice became more passionate as he finished. "We measure the success of the mission by two things: Was it successful and how few civilians did we hurt? They measure success by how many. Pregnant women delivering bombs! International laws? The laws of nature don't even apply here. I've been a soldier for 38 years. And I've found an enemy I can kill. The trip can't be cancelled. It gives us our only chance."
Jed considered Percy Fitzwallace for a long moment. Without turning his head he asked, "Legality?"
The State Department representative sighed. "There is a path through US law. If we ignore any International implications, it can be done. The International laws on this are murky."
Jed nodded slowly. He looked over at the State Department rep. "Did you get an answer to my question from earlier?"
The State Department rep nodded slowly. "All public indications are that the Sultanate's Ministers are all fully supportive of the Sultan's rule. Behind the scenes … there are issues. The Sultan himself is somewhat hamstrung by the conservative elements in his cabinet, the most effective member being Shareef. The marriage of Shareef to the Sultan's sister was engineered by factions wishing … more direct influence with the Sultan. The Sultan himself acts according to custom as regards his brother-in-law – but that's all. Truthfully, if nothing changes, with proper provocation the Sultan could be replaced in short order."
Jed nodded. "What's the feasibility of a direct video conversation between the Sultan and I without anyone else on his side knowing about it?"
Everyone was leery. Jed Bartlet said, "I want to have a private talk to prevent me, the President, from making an embarrassing mistake as regards Qumar. In Arabic culture, helping a friend or ally to save face is an acceptable reason for odd occurrences, as long as the rules of propriety are maintained. I wish my ambassador to set up a private, secure, video link between the Sultan and I to ask him to help me to save face – very hush, hush. It's too bad those listening learnt of my embarrassment. We won't saw WHAT I'm embarrassed about – just that I need his personal help. They can laugh about a weak president all they want. And if I have given the Sultan some blackmail? It can't be helped."
Leo was the only one who had the guts to say, "Why?"
"Cause, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to suggest that an investigation will find Bahi members who carried it out because we were too close to finding out something. He agrees – or he loses. It's this or, by God, the Sultanate of Qumar will be gone in two years at the most. I'm hoping he understands that. I'm tired of helping leaders appease people who are trying to kill us. If he disagrees, it's option two: Complete withdrawal and then releasing the information in full. He won't last out the year. I think I can agree to let us operate in his own best interest if he wants to stay in power."
The room considered that even as the State Department representative moved to call the US Ambassador to Qumar.
In the end, it went as Jed Bartlet had envisioned. Abdul Shareef's Lear jet disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico. Search and Rescue operations found nothing.
Two months later, the US and Qumar announced together the evidence that Bahi operatives had engineered the loss of the flight because Shareef had been secretly involved with the organization and evidence was about to be uncovered.
The evidence released by both governments was very convincing.
The US backed Qumar efforts to hinder the Bahi organization from operating within Qumar. Many madrasas were closed. Those that remained open were found to not be teaching Bahi operatives.
Qumar culture began to progress out of its formerly repressive rendition of Sharia Law.