In the 1995 movie Crimson Tide, Gene Hackman plays an Ramsey, a salty old, Rickover-era U. S. Navy Submarine Captain who receives orders to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against Russian rebels who have captured a missile launch facility and the access codes for the nuclear warheads stored there. Denzel Washington plays Hunter, the Harvard educated, global thinking Executive Officer who refuses to second a launch command after a message is cut off and the radio damaged by an attack. The story is a formulaic battle between Ramsey and Hunter that features a scene where Ramsey screams “They’re fueling their missiles!” in an attempt to convince Hunter to concur with a launch order.
As I read this article: How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of ‘Curveball’ – Los Angeles Times [ archive.org ], the portrait painted of the inner circle of policy makers in Washington during the run up to the invasion of Iraq is one sadly similar to the pleading, plaintive but angry tone used by Hackman in that scene, as the Cold Warrior mind of Ramsey cannot comprehend the complexities of the new world he finds himself suddenly in, but realizes his one opportunity to grasp the greatness of his age is slipping away from him into the hands of men like Hunter.
Unfortunately for Iraq, complicated men like Hunter don’t appear to have a place in the Federal government still longing for an age of simple fights between nation states.