Why are "we fucked" "if Esperanza gets to a country with no extradition treaties"?
In "Die Hard 2" (1990), when John realizes that his newest terrorist friends are trying to rescue Gen. Esperanza, he says:
If Esperanza gets to a country with no extradition treaties, we're fucked.
Why is that?
It would certainly be a somewhat embarrassing for the USA, it might reinforce Esperanza's power,... but I don't see a problem large enough to be described as "we're so fucked that we'll risk lives of thousands of people in an effort to prevent this guy from getting to a non-extradition country".
I don't think that this reduces the quality of this great movie, but I want to know if I missed something, or is it really just a weak explanation needed to justify the hero's actions?
Best Answer
According to the Die Hard Wiki on Ramon Esperanza..
Esperanza was gained U.S. support by fighting communist insurgents in his country of Val Verde, a campaign fought with American money and military advisors. When the Congress stopped funding him, he entered the world of drug trade for funds.
Now, given the U.S. administration's 'enthusiasm' for the war on drugs, we might combine that with:
Won't someone think of the children?
And conclude (in American drug war/movie logic) that General Esperanza not only wanted to get a whole bunch of Americans hooked on drugs, but also American children.
Given the 'exchange rate' of one child being the equivalent of 4(?) adults, it doesn't take too many kiddies hooked on drugs to justify putting the thousands of people at risk in order to stop his evil plan.
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