Beirut

For 4,000 years...

...villains and heroes, we don't do that here.

Here you have Jews, Muslims, Christians,

all living shoulder to shoulder and it's messy.

And the challenge for the State Department, for all of us...

Sounds like I'm not gonna get a quick answer to my question.

MAN '2". Mason's just playing the diplomat, Congressman.

Yeah.

He's been here long enough to explain this place in a minute

if he has to.

If there's a shorter version, let's have at it, Mr. Skiles.

Just give me the snapshot.

Okay, I don't know if I'd call it a snapshot, but, um...

I like to tell people if you want to understand Lebanon,

think of a boarding house without a landlord.

Okay? And the only thing that the tenants have in common is their talent for betrayal.

So these people have been living together,

cheek-by-jowl, for 20 centuries.

Two thousand years of revenge, blood feuds, vendetta, murder.

One night there's a storm.

Raining like all hell. There's a knock at the door.

Who is it? It's the Palestinians.

They want in. They've been up and down the block, doors slammed in their face.

They're cold, they're tired. They want in and they want in now.

So the house is thrown into confusion.

Tenants arguing. Some of them violently opposed.

Some of them think, "Let 'em in, they'll be gone by tomorrow morning."

Some of 'em think, "lf I let them in tonight,

"then I'll have an ally against my enemy down the hall."

Some of them are terrified as to what happens if they keep the door shut.

So it isn't until after the Palestinians move in,

that the other people in the house realize the tragedy of the situation.

That the Palestinians want nothing more

than to just burn down the Israeli house next door.

Welcome to Beirut.

See, I told you he was good, huh?

- Sure is. - And so it goes.

Mr. Skiles.

Ca va? How are you?

Lovely. Ca va? Qa va bien?

You look beautiful. You guys look great.

Mason Ski/es. How do you do?

We have not met. How do you do? Nice to see you again.

We know who we don't wanna make deals with at this point.

And the lessons of Vietnam have been learned, and I think our president

got his own things on the domestic front to deal with as well.

But I think what we definitely don't want to do is establish any sort of,

uh, permanent presence.

Where are you from? I'm from Washington, DC.

Washington, DC? Well, good for you. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Here we are.

-The party is a delight. -Thank you!

We understand that Beirut specifically, Lebanon more generally,

has enough people coming in and trying to put fingerprints on it.

We don't wanna be another one of those people.

We just wanna make sure everybody has a fair playing ground

to contribute to a stable,

you know, regional economy. That's what I think.

The congressman, I think, can certainly speak more to that.

Karim, this is, uh, some friends of ours.

This is Angus and Joanna. They're from the United Kingdom.

Karim's been keeping everybody well fed.

- Good job. - Thank you.

How old is he? He looks very young.

He's about 13. He's from one of the Palestinian refugee camps in West Beirut.

Uh, he's kind of stuck around

and he's become a bit of... Part of the family, which is very nice.

This is my lovely wife, Nadia. Nice to meet you.

I think you know the congressman.

How are you enjoying life in Beirut?

Well, we've been having a very nice time in Beirut, in fact.

I happen to find it a beautiful place, full of beautiful people.

- Yes. - Yes.

One... One beautiful person in particular.

Well, look, as a diplomat in the Middle East right now,

you have to learn to think on your feet.

And the more you do it, the better you get at it.

Uh, when you talk about making deals with people,

the most important thing to do is to keep talking.

And as soon as the talking stops, then the fighting starts.

We need to come in, from a diplomatic standpoint,

and explain to everybody involved,

"This is what we have to work with.

"These are the pieces on the game board right now."

Thank you for being here. I'm gonna leave you in very oapable hands here, okay?

I've gotta say hi to somebody. Thanks so muoh. Good to see you.

Alice. Alice, all alone?

I heard you had congressmen.

You know how that drives me wild.

Where is Cal? I could use a hand here.

Oh, he's coming. Just something at the office.

Everyone behaving themselves?

It's early.

Come on, let's get you a drink.

Hungry? Famished.

Hurry up, girls!

It's dinner time!

Mmm-mmm-mmm.

How are we doing?

Good. We've got Christians in one corner, Muslims in the other corner,

and Jack Daniel's in between.

Dinner's close. Everyone here?

Cal's running late, but Alice said we should start without him.

How are you, sweetie?

My next life?

In your next life, you marry a carpenter. Mmm.

Where you been hiding?

The drivers out back, they took everything.

Who, the drivers? Clean you out?

They live to eat.

Bingo.

Let's get you reloaded and back out there.

Hello, hello.

Hey, sweetie. Hey, how are you?

Have you seen Mason? You look tense.

No, no, no, just want to talk to Mason for a second, that's all.

What's wrong? Nothing, I just, uh...

Oh, hello, Karim. Look at you.

Don't you look elegant. Don't you think so, Cal?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, very elegant.

I understand congratulations are in order.

Nadia told me you did really well on your exams.

She helped me a lot.

But she's not the one who took the test though, is she?

You heard about this, right? Cal?

Yeah, very impressive. Uh, excuse me, I'm just gonna...

Hey, there you are.

I was having a nightmare I was gonna have to babysit these yahoos by myself.

We need to talk. You need a drink.

Nothing like mingling with a bunch of congressmen

to make you lose faith in democracy.

Indeed. We need to talk.

Mace, we've been through a lot together, right?

And somehow, through all of it,

we've managed to steer around the icebergs.

No, thank you. Come on, Cal, spit it out.

I've got 25 people out there waiting for dinner.

Look, I've never come to you with anything operational.

We've always been clean.

What the fuck are we talking about?

Karim.

It's about Karim. They want him for questioning.

Who wants him? Everybody.

He's got a brother. Did you know that? What? No, he's got no one.

He...

Why do you think Nadia took him in? I mean...

Rafid Abu Rajal. They were separated in '68.

Karim came here to Beirut.

Rafid went to prison for two years in Jordan.

Hold on.

Where's this going?

Munich.

The brother left a rental car outside the Olympic Village.

They've got prints. They've got a witness.

They've got this, Mace.

That's Karim and his brother. Six months ago, here in Beirut.

They who?

There's an operations supervisor waiting for you at the bottom of the driveway.

They want him now. No. They who? Mossad?

Mason, I can help you. I can't make this go away.

Okay, so it is Mossad. So Israel just drops a dime and you guys justjump up?

Hey, come on. Your people are all over this. This is bullshit.

Hey, the State Department froze your security access two hours ago!

Okay? Someone talked, Hleaked.

It's... It's... It's... It's gotta be now. It's not safe.

Come on, Cal, it's Karim, for fuck's sake!

You've got the kid brother of global enemy number one

serving canapés to fucking congressmen! What are you...

What are you gonna do? You wanna drag him outta here?

You think Nadia's gonna go for that?

Jesus, she just filed papers for his sponsorship.

We just got him a student visa, for Christ's sakes!

He's part of the family, Cal!

Not my call.

Okay. You go tell your boss I'll be down to talk to him in five minutes.

Yeah.

Karim, I need you to be honest with me, okay?

If you lie to me, if you hang me up, I oannot help you.

Your brother.

Is he dead?

ls he dead? When is the last time you saw him?

Is he dead? Is Rafid dead?

He's not dead. He's not dead, okay?

Karim, I just need you to answer my question.

When did you see him last?

Months... Six months.

Six months where?

He comes to me.

He come... He comes to you where?

I turn around and he's there...

on the street.

On... On the street? He's here? He's here on the street in Beirut?

No! In Spain.

He lives in Spain now.

He cooks to make a restaurant.

Why would you lie to me about this? Why?

Why are you angry?

Okay, okay, okay. I'm... I'm not mad at you.

I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you, okay?

I just need you to tell me the truth. Okay?

His passport...