Green Zone (2010)

Scene 3

(Miller comes to Lawrie Dayne, he finds out that Magellan’s story is not true.)

M: I read your articles. You said an Iraqi WMD source named Magellan met with US officials prior to the war. I need to know about that meeting.
Lawrie Dayne (D): Oh, no. Come on, Miller. I can’t discuss my sources with you.
M: Well, did you ever meet the guy? Do you know who he is?
D: Of course I didn’t meet him. He’s an Iraqi internal, for Christ’s sake.
M: Then how do you know what he’s saying is true?
D: Because I made contact through a reliable intermediary.
M: Reliable?
D: Yes.
M: Have you ever even been to any of Magellan’s sites? You ever been to Diwaniya? Tikrit?
D: No.
M: There’s nothing there. Magellan’s intel is bullshit. Who’s the intermediary?
D: No. I’m not discussing sources, Miller.
M: Jesus Christ! This is the reason we went to war! All right, then at least tell me how it happened. How does this happen? How does somebody like you write something that’s not true? Tell me! What do you know?
D: Look, I got a phone call one day from a senior official in DC. He says, “I’ve got a story for you. The truth about Saddam’s WMD programs.” So I go to meet him. He puts the source report in my hands. Magellan’s product, the raw intel.
M: But when do you check the story?
D: He was a senior official, for Christ’s sake. He had access to Magellan’s debrief. All he asked was that I not disclose the location of the meeting.
M: The location.
D: Yes, in case I’d compromise the source.
M: It was Jordan, wasn’t it? The meeting was in Jordan.
D: Yes.

Vocabulary

1. add up: make sense
2. cupboard’s bare: from “the cupboard is bare,” a line taken from the Old Mother Hubbard nursery rhyme and used to describe absent resources
3. best bet: best choice
4. sell: here it means to convince people

(By Wang Yu)