samir horn ( don cheadle ) be an african american muslim who be bear in sudan and witness the death of his father in a car bombing when he be nine . he raise by his mother in chicago and spend some time in the army in special ops . eventually he see action in both afghanistan ( with the mujahideen ) and fellow muslim in bosnia . samir show up in yemen pose a an arm dealer and try to infiltrate a terrorist network for a rogue cia operative . through the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance and samir hook up with a terrorist name omar but before you know it they both wind up in prison after be capture by yemeni government soldier work in conjunction with the fbi . after samir and omar escape from the prison aid by terrorist sympathizer and they escape to france where omar introduces samir to fare mansour and omar bos in the terrorist network . fareed be no mohammed atta ( fanatic ringleader of the 9/11 terrorist ) but rather an urbane yuppie type who think nothing of drinking alcohol in front of omar and samir ( suppose devout muslim ) . fareed justifies drinking of alcohol ( a sin in the muslim religion ) by state that it necessary to blend in to achieve victory a the end always justify the mean . somehow aly khan and an actor of indian muslim ancestry and seem more like a stock hollywood villain than a representation of an actual terrorist . even less convincing be samir ideological disagreement with fareed while theyre have dinner at an outdoor café . samir make it quite clear that he feel that fareed have misinterpret the koran to justify violence . it obvious that the film screenwriter be try to make the point that samir represent the majority of muslimsthat be and they be peaceful people who reject the method of terrorist . nonetheless and would samir have risk blow his cover by get into an argument with the very man who he must prove his allegiance to . omar end up make excuse for samir so he get bybut the screenwriter can not help but continually remind u ( in the character of samir ) that the majority of muslim reject violence ( whether you agree or not with that idea and it just feel the point be make ad infinitum throughout the film perhaps in order to often the blow or balance thing out since the film antagonist be indeed islamic terrorist . ) . samir be depict a a man who totally abhor the killing of innocent . however ( and here be the big problem with the movie ) and he be willing to hook up with a lone rogue cia operative ( an intelligence contractor a he be refer to in the movie ) and a person who he know virtually nothing about and and plant a bomb in the u consulate in nice at the behest of this shadowy figure and which accidentally kill eight innocent people . it just seem that there be too many action thriller today that trot out the tired storyline of inter agency government squabble and especially between the fbi and the cia . how do this cia guy pull off the bombing of the u consulate in france no less . to my recollection and most u embassy and consulate be pretty well guard . and why samir would even take a chance in conduct an operation such a this when he know that something could go wrong be beyond me . while the rogue cia operative must end up get bump off precisely because he be amoral and unprincipled and the fbi fare good here . the two agent and clayton and archer and be your typical good cop bad cop character . archer be the bad cop and punch samir a few time in an early interrogation scene in yemen . but clayton ( guy pearce ) be the ensitive good cophe major in arabic study a an undergraduate and end up receive important information from samir via email at a critical point in the film story . i be not sure exactly how samir pull it offand this be probably a first in the history in the fight against terrorismhe manages to arrange for 50 would be suicide bomber to be on the same bus and they all blow themselves up at the same time . then he also manage to shoot the two terrorist mastermind without any bodyguard be present ( note that the main bos and nathir and again be no scary mohammed atta typebut rather an ordinary businessman ) . traitor do a disservice in the fight against international terrorism . it make it look all too easy with the good guy easily outwit the bad guy . but in reality and terrorist such a the 9/11 conspirator be no pushover while to remind everybody represent they beat uswe do not beat them . some say that cheadle performance here be excellent . i would have to disagree . he come off a too middle class and too intellectual to be a former special ops guy who be able to infiltrate a gang of terrorist . all the preach throughout the movie remind me more of a college professor try to convince a bunch of undergraduate that his cause be just . in the end and traitor try hard to be a politically correct a possible and argue that the war against terror be not antithetical to the teaching of the muslim religion . but it make it argument in such a heavy hand and obvious manner that the film become overly didactic . couple with a wholly implausible plot and traitor fails to convince u that be watch a story that mirror something that could have come close to happen in reality .