Fitzwallace quotes from The West Wing

The eagle... on the seal in the carpet. In one talon he's holding arrows and in the other an olive branch. Most of the time, the eagle is facing the olive branch, but when congress declares war, the eagle faces the arrows... How do they do that? You think they've got a second carpet sitting around in the basement someplace?

Bartlet

What's the virtue of the proportional response?

I'm sorry?

Bartlet

What is the virtue of a proportional response? Why's it good? They hit an airplane, so we hit a transmitter, right? That's a proportional response.

Sir, in the case of Pericles 1 --

Bartlet

[talking over him] They hit a barracks, so we hit two transmitters.

That's roughly it, yes, sir.

Bartlet

This is what we do. I mean, this is what we do.

Leo

Yes, sir, it's what we do. It's what we've always done.

Bartlet

Well, if it's what we do, if it's what we've always done, don't they know we're going to do it?

Leo

Sir, if you'd turn your attention to Pericles 1 --

Bartlet

I have turned my attention to Pericles 1. It's two ammo dumps, an abandoned railroad bridge and a Syrian intelligence agency.

Those are four highly-rated targets, sir.

Bartlet

But they know we're gonna do that. They know we're gonna do that! Those areas have been abandoned for three days now. We know that from the satellite, right? We have the intelligence. [over Leo's attempt to speak up] They did that, so we did this. It's the cost of doing business. It's been factored in, right?

Leo

Mr. President --

Bartlet

Am I right, or am I missing something here?

No, sir. You're right, sir.

Bartlet

Then I ask again, what is the virtue of a proportional response?

It isn't virtuous, Mr. President. It's all there is, sir.

Bartlet

It is not all there is.

Leo

Sir, Admiral Fitzwallace --

Excuse me, Leo...pardon me, Mr. President, just what else is there?

Bartlet

The disproportional response. Let the word ring forth, from this time and this place, gentlemen, you kill an American, any American, we don't come back with a proportional response. We come back with total disaster! [He bangs the table]

Are you suggesting that we carpet-bomb Damascus?

Bartlet

I am suggesting, General, that you, and Admiral Fitzwallace, and Secretary Hutchinson, and the rest of the National Security Team take the next sixty minutes and put together an American response scenario that doesn't make me think we're just docking somebody's damn allowance!

Mr. President.

Bartlet

Fitz! Fitz, you old polecat, you old so-and-so.

Trying to be "one of the fellas," sir?

Bartlet

Yeah.

Well, well done, sir.

Wait a second, hang on. You're telling me that foreign policy of this magnitude is conducted through Sam, and I'm still alive?

Sam

We're pretty impressed ourselves, Mr. Chairman.

I don't know who the world's leading expert on warfare is, but any list of the top has got to include me and I can't tell when it's peacetime and wartime anymore.

Leo

Look, international law has always recognized certain protected persons who you couldn't attack. It's been this way since the Romans.

In peacetime.

Leo

Yes.

The Battle of Agincourt...this was the French fighting against the British archers. This was like a polo match. The battles were observed by heralds, and they picked the winners. And if a soldier laid down his arms, he was treated humanely...

Leo

Yeah.

And the international laws you're talking about...this is where a lot of them were written, at a time and in a place where a person could tell between peacetime and wartime. The idea of targeting one person was ridiculous. It wouldn't have occurred to the French to try to kill William Pitt. That all changed after Pearl Harbor–

Leo

I don't like where this conversation's going...

We killed Yamamoto. We shot down his plane.

Leo

We declared war...

If Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been successful...

Leo

...and the plot to kill Hitler was an internal rebellion.

...there would have been statues built of an assassin. We'd've had to explain that to our kids!

Leo

I'm going to get back to the office.

We measure the success of a mission by two things: was it successful and how few civilians did we hurt. They measure success by how many. Pregnant women are delivering bombs! You're talking to me about international laws? The laws of nature don't even apply here! I've been a soldier for thirty-eight years, and I've found an enemy I can kill. He can't cancel Shareef's trip, Leo. You've got to tell him, he can't cancel it.

McNally

Leo. Yeoman Fitzwallace.

Dr. McNally.

McNally

Let's attack.

Who?

McNally

Qumar. Let's recommend to the President that we attack.

Leo

Why?

McNally

'Cause I've had it.

I don't think the UN is going to let us do it for that reason.

McNally

That's 'cause you're a sissy. You want peace in the Middle East? Give me a pair of third generation ICBM's and a compass. You get B-2 Spirit stealth bombers over Qumar right now as if the Qumari Air Defense Sytem requires stealth capability. Just fly in at night, and while you're at it, could you order the USS Louisiana to fire off a D-5 Trident just to see if it works? What's the worst that could happen?

[to Leo, bewildered] Is she talking to me?

McNally

Yes!

Well, 98% of all living organisms within a seven mile radius would die instantly in a torrent of fire.

McNally

Admiral Sissymary... We're running out of options on the menu.