Madam Secretary

Speaking Arabic...

Have we confirmed the type of bomb?

Preliminary forensics indicate a CBU-87

anti-personnel submunition dispenser.

Conventionally known as a cluster bomb.

Yeah, and the U.S. houses the only company in the world

that manufactures it.

A weapon we provide only to Israel.

Which means our closest Mideast ally just implicated us

in a massacre that took the lives of 29 innocent children,

and if we provided the weapon, we're on the hook.

Call the Israeli Embassy. Get Ambassador Dworsky in here.

Ma'am, we've been trying. He's incommunicado.

Well, then we're gonna have to

get him on the fly because, Jay, I got to brief POTUS.

Will you bring our congressional allies into the loop?

- Yes, Madam Secretary. - Okay.

- Kat? - Yes. Yes.

And Blake. Want you to reach out to the families

of those children. I mean,

burial logistics, humanitarian relief,

whatever we can do to show our solidarity.

- Yes, ma'am. - Yes, ma'am.

Stay on point.

Acknowledge the tragedy,

but no acceptance of responsibility

until it has been thoroughly investigated, okay?

Statement for your review to that very effect.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Th-That's g-good. Get that out.

- Okay? - Okay?

Before you send it out...

Hey, listen, this is a priority, okay?

Everything else takes a back seat.

- Yes, ma'am. - Yes, ma'am. - Yes, ma'am. - Yes, ma'am.

American imperialism has to stop!

We are the world's bully. Wait!

Hey! Hey, you work with the White House, right?

I'm just a guy trying to meet

- his step quota. - Ladies and gentlemen,

one of the architects

of our immoral foreign policy.

If you'll excuse me...

No, I will not excuse you.

Neither will the children you bombed.

Oh, my God, you have no idea what you're talking about.

I have a right to my opinion.

I'm not saying you don't, but while you're out here

smearing us, I'm in there 16 hours a day

actually trying to fix some of the things you're raving about.

An American-made cluster bomb!

This is your issue du jour, right?

Yesterday it was Social Security.

Last week, what, the vaccine conspiracy.

I'm holding government accountable.

Who's holding you accountable?

Well, certainly not a government lackey.

Let me tell you a thing or two about this lackey.

Syria is a dumpster fire, Mr. President.

You got the oppressive Nussir regime

locked in a brutal civil war with rebel forces.

Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah

supporting the government. The opposition forces

are backed by a U.S.-led Western coalition.

Meanwhile, Iran's smuggling arms to Israel's enemies

through the country and Israel's bombing the convoys

as fast as it can.

Syria and Israel are still technically

in a state of war.

Russia is trying to expand its role in the region.

You got Shiites and Sunnis

and a rising tide of Islamic terrorism.

I'd need a weekend retreat to talk about

the human rights violations and...

Basically,

U.S. and Russia are using client states

to control an unstable region.

Danger is that the proxies drag us

into a conflict with Russia.

Concise.

Here to help.

Russia's already using this incident

as a pretext

to expand military support to Syria.

If Russia gets more involved with Syria...

We have to back Israel, which increases the risk

of an American conflict with Russia.

Which it's bedrock U.S. policy to avoid.

Dozens of dead children? There has to be accountability.

Bess, what do we hear from the Israelis?

I've summoned Ambassador Dworsky. I'll get his side.

Well, get it fast.

Henry, you familiar with the Convention on Cluster Munitions

banning the use of this type of weapon?

Yes, sir. 120 signatories around the world,

excluding the United States and Russia.

Well, I'd like you to red team this,

get with DNI. I want to know how this happened.

Tragedy of this dimension means that we need

to re-evaluate our stance here.

Mr. President,

not to minimize the human toll here,

but this question has been asked and answered.

Resoundingly. U.S. policy is not to limit

the weapons at our disposal.

Folks, I value your input,

but let's save it for your roundtable.

- Thank you so mch. - Yes, sir.

I'll be rolling calls on this cluster bomb debacle, Adele,

so no interruptions. If it ain't DEFCON 1,

- not a peep. - Yes, sir.

That goes for all birds.

I have to show him, don't I?

What did I just say?

I know. I'm sorry.

Nothing but crackpot notions.

Excuse me.

No, I'm not calling you a crackpot.

There's plenty of well-adjusted, sane individuals

who set up tents around the White House.

- I have a right to be here. - Yes, you do,

where criticizing is easy.

Governing is hard.

Put that on your next sign and smoke it.

That...

that is taken completely out of context.

She accosted me.

Oh, my God, I look like

I'm berating a homeless woman

for having the nerve to talk to me.

You know what? I will handle this.

Please. I don't have time for this nonsense.

Carol.

This is all over the Internet, isn't it?

Hi, sweetheart. What?

No, I was drinking decaf.

Yes. Of course I know that-that getting into shouting matches

with strangers is bad for my blood pressure.

I do not have an anger management problem!

The United States would like to extend our condolences

for this tragedy.

Thank you.

Um, we would also like to connect the families

who have lost children with NGOs

who can provide support.

Yes. They can defray funeral costs.

They can assist with asylum claims.

What about our children?

We're expressing our deepest sympathies.

Sympathies.

For an American-made bomb that murdered our sons,

that took the flowers from our garden,

the light from our lives.

We don't want NGOs. We want justice.

We want our children back. Can you give us these things?

Uh, ma'am, I have Alison for you.

Hey, kiddo, little busy here.

Mom, the Internet is slow, like Stone Age slow.

Well, call our provider.

They keep you on the phone forever,

and my paper on Givenchy is due tomorrow.

Try the library.

They have Internet and helpful,

smiling people who aren't trying to save the world order

from crumbling.

Bye, Ali.

Jason, do you know how to fix the Internet?

Well, the open-source culture generally doesn't mesh well

with WPA supplicant configuration files.

So...

I'm not accusing you of anything, Ambassador Dworsky.

I'm asking for an explanation.

And I'm giving you one.

The IDF is not in the habit of bombing children.

I never said habit.

I'm hoping it was an accident.

The world will see it as a war crime.

Precipitated by a weapon we only provide

to Israel.

Meaning the burden of proof is on your country to establish

that it had no involvement in this bombing.

And if we can't prove a negative?

First things first.

Syria is now an Israeli no-fly zone.

And all shipments

of the CBU-87 will be suspended pending our investigation.

So now the U.S. is doing Iran's bidding.

Ambassador Dworsky... If America handcuffs us,

Iran will have carte blanche to expand its military presence

in Syria and continue arming our enemies.

United States won't let that happen,

- Mr. Ambassador. - Let it happen?

You're facilitating it by helping Iran scapegoat us.

We're simply asking

for you to put a moratorium on IDF sorties

until we can get to the bottom of this.

And will there be a moratorium on Iranian arms convoys?

On the build-out of Iranian infrastructure

just miles from Tel Aviv?

If America's not willing