Leo Reveals C-4 Link to Mujeeb, Bartlet Authorizes Aid Leverage Call
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo delivers critical intelligence that links the bomber to Abdul Mujeeb through tagged C-4 traces.
Bartlet and Leo strategize leveraging the evidence to force Arafat's hand, proposing to withhold $100 million in NGO aid as leverage.
Leo acknowledges this action will only temporarily de-escalate the situation, buying them 'a day' before tensions likely reignite.
Bartlet agrees to the plan and directs Leo to set up the call, signaling a decisive but weary acceptance of the temporary solution.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Anticipated pressure from U.S. demands
Invoked as 'the Chairman,' the designated recipient of Bartlet's impending phone call demanding Mujeeb's handover, with reminders of inevitable Israeli secret police execution underscoring the ultimatum's ruthlessness.
- • Preserve Palestinian aid flows amid terror backlash
- • Handover may satisfy U.S. without fracturing internal unity
Unknown; objectified as crisis leverage point
Directly referenced multiple times as the shadowy figure connected to the Jerusalem suicide bomber via traces of tagged C-4, positioned as the pivotal target whose handover to Israeli secret police forms the core of Leo's proposed diplomatic gambit.
- • Evade capture amid escalating international pressure
- • Ties to bombing remain deniably obscured without handover
Skeptical wariness transitioning to reluctant resolve amid moral gravity
Emerges through the Residence door onto the moonlit portico, engages Leo intently by questioning the C-4 intel and proposed strategy, sits on the windowsill to deliberate, probes the plan's efficacy skeptically, nods approval with 'All right. Set up the call,' stands, and retreats back inside the Residence.
- • Evaluate the strategy's potential to avert escalation
- • Authorize action only if it yields tangible, if limited, benefit
- • Bare intel requires amplified leverage like aid cuts to work
- • A single day's breathing room justifies the high-stakes bluff
Steadfast determination veiling the weight of cascading crises
Perched on the portico windowsill in the night chill, Leo stands to intercept Bartlet emerging from the Residence, delivers critical intel on C-4 traces linking the bomber to Mujeeb, pitches the Arafat call with aid leverage and Congress threat, sits beside him to close the deal pragmatically, thanks the President upon approval, and strides toward the Oval Office.
- • Obtain Bartlet's approval for the immediate call to Arafat
- • Leverage intel to secure a temporary halt in Israeli reprisals
- • Handover of Mujeeb, even briefly, de-escalates the immediate threat
- • Congressional aid threats compel Arafat's compliance
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Tagged traces of the C-4 explosive from the Jerusalem suicide bomber's remains serve as the linchpin intelligence, explicitly cited by Leo to irrefutably connect the attack to Abdul Mujeeb, propelling the high-stakes strategy of demanding his handover and transforming forensic evidence into diplomatic leverage amid de-escalation efforts.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Residence door swings open as Bartlet's entry and exit point, symbolizing a brief emergence from personal refuge into crisis command, framing his intercept by Leo and subsequent retreat post-approval, underscoring the intrusion of duty on private solace.
The shadowed White House portico, bathed in stark moonlight through arches, hosts this clandestine intercept and strategy huddle, its secluded intimacy enabling raw, unfiltered crisis counsel between Leo and Bartlet away from staff eyes, heightening the stakes of their pivotal approval amid Erev Yom Kippur's solemn hush.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Israeli Government looms as the ultimate recipient of Mujeeb's demanded handover, with their secret police explicitly cited as his inevitable executioners, framing the U.S. strategy as a deference to allied sovereignty while buying time against reprisals on Yom Kippur's brink.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"LEO: "We can connect the bomber to Abdul Mujeeb." BARTLET: "How?" LEO: "Traces of C-4 and other chemicals that are tagged.""
"LEO: "I think you get on the phone and I think you tell him to hand Abdul Mujeeb over to the Israelis. You remind him Israeli secret police are gonna kill him anyway.""
"BARTLET: "And you think handing him over puts the pin back in the grenade?" LEO: "For a day.""