Body of Lies (2008) - Quotes

Caution Against Trusting Others

Taglines: Trust no one.

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Trust and Deception in Espionage

Taglines: Trust no one. Deceive everyone.

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A Desperate Plea for Survival

Bassam: Hey, hey. Listen to me. I am not getting my head cut off on the Internet. If something happens, shoot me. Will you shoot me?

Ferris: Fuck that shit. I will shoot you right now.

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Desire for Life Amidst Conflict and Misunderstanding

Nazir: I don't want to die. I want to go to America. I have a Ph.D., you know? And they want me... They want me to blow myself up.

Ferris: Ph.D. in what, chemistry?

Nazir: NO!

Ferris: What do you know about radiological materials?

Nazir: Linguistic. I speak five languages. Five, you know?

Ferris: You are a rare and a delicate flower.

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Confrontation Over Deception and Responsibility

Ferris: I invented Omar Sadiki. It was my operation. He is not a jihadist, all right? I moved him around, I moved money around, and then I lost him.

Hani: That is impossible.

Ferris: Why?

Hani: Because it will mean that you sat in my office and you lied to my face.

Ferris: Hani, I promise I will share all the information with you, all right? But they have kidnapped a friend of mine in order to get to me. Now, you know exactly who I'm talking about, Hani. Please, they're gonna execute her, all right? Please, help me broker a deal, her for me.

Hani: You lied to me. I will not help you. The answer is no.

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Consequences of Choices in War

Ed: You did what you had to do, If you hadn't, he would be describing you down to your eyebrows to them right now.

Ferris: I did it, all right? It's done. I killed him.

Ed: He was always gonna get killed no matter what he did. Besides, you'd milked him and he was dry. Excuse me. Ferris? Is your silence supposed to say something? Because you do know we're at war, right? Your friend, who you must have had some intense cross-cultural eye contact with was a terrorist a-hole, who, at his apex, turned out to be a coward who wanted to go to Disneyland.

Ferris: Listen, Ed, we're going north now.

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The Difference Between Punishment and Torture

Roger Ferris: I thought you didn't believe in torture, Hani Pasha.

Hani: This is punishment, my dear. It's a very different thing.

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Cultural References in Conversation

Roger Ferris: Hani Pasha

Hani: Pasha? That is an Ottoman term.

Roger Ferris: I hear you like it sir.

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The Abundance of Martyrs in Society

Al-Saleem: In this world there's enough poverty and frustration and anger and passion. There will never be a shortage of martyrs.

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Defining Identity Beyond Occupation

Aisha: A man is not his job.

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Perception of Vulnerability in Modern Conflict

Ed Hoffman: So, what's changed is that our allegedly unsophisticated enemy has caught on to the factually unsophisticated truth...we're an easy target. We are an easy target and our world as we know it is a lot simpler to put to an end than you might think.

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Understanding the Modern Enemy's Tactics

Ed Hoffman: Our enemy has realized that they are fighting guys from the future. Now, ahem, it is as brilliant as it is infuriating. If you live like it's the past, and you behave like it's the past then guys from the future find it very hard to see you. If you throw away your cell phone, shut down your e-mail pass all your instructions face-to-face, hand-to-hand turn your back on technology and just disappear into the crowd No flags. No uniforms. You got your basic grunts on the ground there. They're looking going, "Who is it we're fighting?" In a situation like this, your friends dress just like your enemies and your enemies dress like your friends. What I need you to fully understand is that these people, they do not wanna negotiate. Not at all. They want the universal caliphate established across the face of the Earth and they want every infidel converted or dead.

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Challenges of Increased Operational Intensity

Ed Hoffman: Despite the fact we have markedly increased our operational intensity, we're not seeing any progress. What we're dealing with here is potentially a global conflagration that requires constant diligence in order to suppress.

The Burden of Prolonged Conflict

Ed Hoffman: Do we belong there or do we not? It doesn't matter how you would answer that because we are there. We're tired, and we can't see the end. We can't even console ourselves that our enemy is just as tired as we are. Because they're not. It is a fallacy that prolonged war will weaken an occupied enemy. It most likely will make your enemy stronger. They get used to the deprivation, and they adapt and respond accordingly. While here at home with every death reported we have to deal with a public-opinion trajectory that slides rapidly from supportive to negative to downright hostile. People just get sick and tired of a moment's silence at a ball game. They just wanna be told that it's over.

Diplomatic Tensions and Financial Responsibilities

Ed Hoffman: Now who pays the bills around here? I would hate to have to have my president call your king, because it's just gonna be embarrassing for all of us.

The Ineffectiveness of Torture on Truth

Hani (Pasha): People are stupid. Torture doesn't work. Under torture, a man will say almost anything to make the pain stop. You have experience with this, I am sure.

Urgency Shouldn’t Compromise Effective Methods

Hani (Pasha): Urgency does not call for changing methods that work, for methods that do not work.

Observation and Learning in Action

Hani (Pasha): Watch and learn, my dear. Watch and learn.

Hoffman's Information Strategy Raises Concerns

Hani (Pasha): This is unusual. Your Ed Hoffman would rather have less information than share what he has with me.

True Care Revealed in Times of Need

Hani (Pasha): You know you can always tell who cares about you the most, by who comes first to visit you in the hospital.

Corruption and Dependency in Global Politics

Roger Ferris: [To Al-Saleem:] But are you pure or are you just as corrupt as the capitalist Westerners that you despise? To me, you are fucking slaves. You're slaves to the Saudi oil sheiks and the Wahabi oil money that funds you. And when that oil money runs out, my friends you will all fucking disappear into the ashes of history.