The following takes place between 6 AM and 7 AM.
Washington D.C. is the center of the United States government. While state and local branches of the American political system oversee governmental affairs at a basic, local level, the epicenter of political activity is in the nation's capitol. All three branches of the government are centered in a relatively small geographical region. Both houses of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court all sit within a ten-mile radius of one another.
Nine years ago, a ship floating in Lincoln Harbor was found with the crew deceased, murdered. Federal investigative agencies were on scene relatively quickly. One such agency was the now-disbanded CTU, or Counter Terrorist Unit. Investigations yielded leads that indicated that the organization Ansar al-Islam was responsible for the attack on the vessel. The terrorist organization, relatively poorly funded and organized, agencies claimed, would be unable to plan and execute such an elaborate an sophisticated attack. The ship's cargo manifest indicated that a substantial shipment of the ingestable toxin Ricin was on board the vessel, but, at the conclusion of the preliminary investigation, the ricin could not be found. CTU and it's collaborating agencies deemed the ricin as the target of the attack. The lead CTU field agent, Agent Jack Bauer, spearheaded the investigation into the missing Ricin shipment. Preliminary intelligence suggested that, should the entire shipment find it's way into the water supply, natural gas supply, or general population, casualties could rank in the hundreds of thousands.
After tireless hours of work, Bauer and his teammates at CTU discovered a connection between the terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam and a prominent figure in then-President Harold F. Barnes administration. Barnes' Secretary of Defense, Bruce Newton, was found to be in possession of several recorded phone conversations with the leader of the American-based cell of Ansar al-Islam, plotting the retrival of the ricin. Staging a meeting between the President and Newton, Bauer was able to meet the two in private, in a seculded portion of the East Wing of the White House. Once locked in the room alone with the President and Newton, Bauer proceeded to knock the President unconscious with a direct blow to the back of the neck. It is believed that Bauer then began to interrogate and extract information from Newton. The secret service, unaware of the President's meeting with Newton and Bauer, were in a panic and soon made their way to the room, but, upon arrival, found Bauer missing. He presumably escaped from a window which seemed to have been smashed open with an ornament from the President's personal desk. He eluded capture and returned to CTU where he was debriefed, but not placed under arrest due to the legal defense of "necessity," which explains that if a person's lawfulness will cause more harm than his inaction, he may break the law.
After an extensive physical examination, Newton was found to be in severe condition. The tip of the middle finger on his right hand appeared to have been sliced off with a very fine razor blade or knife. There were lacerations along the backs of his ankles, calves, and the undersides of his thigh. Contusions around his throat indicated that he had been strangled with a wire from a lamp, a method Bauer would use later on his brother, Graem. Four bones in Newton's arm had been broken, along with two ribs. The nail on his right thumb had been heaved out of the flesh, causing maximum pain and minimal blood loss. Newton had been shot once through the leg, just above the kneecap, an inury which has confined him to walking with both a cane and a knee-brace. He later admitted to taking part in the ricin conspiracy, claiming that he was planning to use the weapon against the terrorists to incite a breach in the cell's command structure, resulting in the collapse of the organization from within.
The conclusion in the day's events resulted in Newton's resignation and he successful recovery of the ricin. Bauer and his team at CTU L.A. and the FBI are largely credited with recovering the information necessary to the locating of the ricin.
"Does that sound like an accurate recolection of the day in question, Mr. Bauer?"
Jack Bauer now sits across from a panel of Congressmen, the subject of a Senatorial hearing regarding interogation methods used by the former agency CTU. His responses to the questions asked of him could prove to save his freedom, or condemn him to life imprisonment.
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"Yes, sir."
"Do you have anything to add?"
"They tell you how easy it's going to be. They sit you down in a metal chair and they strap you to countless machines, polygraphs, and vital monitors and sit there and tell you not to worry, not to listen to your gut, to ignore every
modicum of humanity you have coursing through your veins. They tell you that once you take your first life, taking another one won't seem so bad. They veil their motives in good intentions. Hopes, dreams, promises of a better
America. They deny the fact that the
America they claim to so desperately protecting and creating died
decades ago. There's nothing left of it. The nation, the
government, is nothing more than a distorted echo of what it used to be... what it could be... what it damned well
ought to be. Bureaucrats and politicians thrust their fingers in my face. They shake their heads in disgust when they hear about the things that I've done. They want apologies, they want excuses, but what they refuse to admit to themselves is that, while they want to save the constitution and the government, they want
results more."
"I get those results. And if you expect me to apologize for it once, you're wrong. I've served my country with honor, sir. I've served it well, and I've served it with pride. The people of this nation don't owe me a single thing, but I'd like to think that I've at least
earned your respect. I've been shot, stabbed, tortured, and interrogated. All in the name of the flag that's sitting behind you, all in the name of what this country stands for and, more importantly, what it should stand for."
"Surely, sir, you don't mean to come after us."
"Oh, but I do. As years have passed, the government of this country has grown more and more compromised and, senator, what you seem to fail to realize is that the
people of the nation are paying the price. The people who I care about most have been alienated from me, some worse than
that, all because I've been loyal to the government agencies and task forces I've been asked to serve. I serve the people of the United States of America, not corrupt politicians who bring chemical weapons into my country under the guise of patriotism."
"You feel no remorse for your actions?"
"Senator, Mr. Newton actively attempted to subvert the President's authority in a matter of both foreign and domestic policy. That behavior is tantamount to a coup d'etat."
"Yes, Mr. Bauer, but who are you to balance Mr. Newton's intentions with the results they caused? What gives you the right to coerce information from him?"
"Senator, I've learned that sometimes intentions aren't
good enough. On that day, I was faced with a decision that could have cost thousands of people their lives if I failed to act. A man like you is probably too used to working behind a desk to
understand that. This hearing serves as little more than a means to your end of disgracing the CTU organization and my work. What you seem to have overlooked in your zeal to make an example of me,
Senator, is that thousands of Americans survived that day without even knowing how close to death they came. Frankly, sir, you owe me. The people of the country do not, but you, sir, do. You were serving a term in the House of Representatives when the attack occured. I would expect a senator of your
caliber to show some humility and deceny, instead of throwing my colleagues and the agency that saved your life to the wolves. With all due respect to Mr. Newton, he had the title of Secretary of Defense, a title which he failed to live up to. He put the lives of thousands of Americans in
peril and, with all due respect to his kneecap, and civil liberties, and the law itself, those lives needed to be saved. If you're looking for an apology, Senator, I'm afraid that you've come to the wrong place. Because, frankly, I'm
not sorry
."
"Very well, Mr. Bauer. You shall see your day in court and a jury will decide your fate. Bailiff, take Mr. Bauer into custody and take him to a holding cell where he can await him arraignment."
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