Object
14,000 Dollars U.S. Bounty
A declared monetary reward — fourteen thousand U.S. dollars — publicly offered by the Iraqi government as a bounty for any American plane shot down or soldier captured. Not a photographed prop but an announced incentive that functions like an operational order: characters cite it aloud, register alarm, and treat it as a hard political lever raising the risk and urgency of rescue decisions.
2 appearances
Purpose
A financial incentive intended to encourage Iraqi forces or allied actors to capture or shoot down American airmen or soldiers by offering a cash reward.
Significance
Serves as a concrete escalation indicator that personalizes and politicizes the crisis. Bartlet invokes the bounty to justify urgent, forceful action and to frame rescue as morally imperative; it converts a tactical downed-pilot incident into a broader casus‑belli and heightens interdepartmental tension.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used