And they are happy to let Washington play bad cop.

"It was hard for me to believe I could even play a cop," he says.

But for eight days he has played good cop at the peace talks.

He looked like a movie star playing an Italian cop.

Sometimes, without his knowing it, he was like somebody playing a French cop.

I couldn't tell whether he was being ironic, playing cop.

He had no business playing cop and trying to find the girl.

"You played bad cop a little too hard this time, Sam."

Or maybe there is within us an intense fantasy to play cop.

I'm going to feel like a little boy playing cops and robbers.