Battlestar Galactica (TV Series)

Collaborators (2006)

Mary McDonnell: President Laura Roslin

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Quotes 

• Laura Roslin : [Scolding Zarek for his ordering secret trials/executions for collaborators]  If they're guilty, they'll be tried by a jury of their peers.

  Tom Zarek : They have a jury, but they don't get lawyers. They don't get to showboat for weeks and months on end. They don't get to blame the system. And the don't get lasting fame as martyrs or innocent people just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They just disappear. Now. In the great twilight between the long night of the occupation and the dawn of a new era, you come into office clean, without their blood on your hands.

  Laura Roslin : Well, thank you, that's-uh, that's very poetic, however you have a problem, Mr. President. Everyone, by law, is entitled to a trial with representation. Everyone. It is not an option to be discarded at the president's whim.

  Tom Zarek : You think by making the trials public that you'll find justice?

  Laura Roslin : Yes, I do.

  Tom Zarek : Come on, Laura. You're not that naive. Let me tell you what's gonna happen if those cases go to trial. It'll consume this fleet for months, maybe years. People will be lining up to testify against their neighbors. It'll be a circus, an entertainment for the mob, and you will be signing death warrents almost every day. Is that how you want to spend your next term, Laura? As Executioner-in-Chief?

• Laura Roslin : Thank you all for, once again, entrusting me with this higher office of civil service. Today is a new beginning for all of us. We share a unique destiny, but our future is ours to shape and our past cannot be forgotten. A new day requires new thinking, and while I had intended on using this occasion as an opportunity to announce the formation of a special prosecutor's office charged with investigating acts of collaboration with the enemy; I have decided instead that a different gesture is called for on this, the first day of my next term as your president. We all feel the need for justice, and we all feel the need for vengeance, and telling the difference between the two can be difficult at times. We are all victims of the Cylons, and none of us can be impartial. I certainly can't. So today I am forming a commission on truth and reconciliation to hear our stories and record them for posterity. There will be no prosecutions. I am issuing a general pardon for every human being in this fleet. This will not be a popular move today, but I truly believe that is the only way for us to move forward in strength in the spirit of healing and reconciliation. I thank you for your continued patience and courage. Good day.