FBI Special Agent Anthony Hubbard and his Lebanese American partner Frank Haddad intervene at the hijacking of a bus fully loaded with passengers, which contains an explosive device.

The FBI receives demands to release Sheikh Ahmed Bin Talal, a suspect in an earlier bombing.

Later, another terrorist threat is made and a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus is suicide bombed, killing 25 people.

However, the terrorist incidents escalate with the bombing of a crowded theater and hostage-situation at an elementary school, and culminate in the destruction of One Federal Plaza, the location of the FBI's New York City field office, with over 600 casualties.

Subsequently, all young men of Arab descent, including Haddad's son Frank Jr., are rounded up and detained in Downing Stadium.

Hubbard and Kraft, now revealed to be an intelligence operative named Sharon Bridger, continue their investigation and capture a suspect, Tariq Husseini.

After the U.S. cut their funding and left the group exposed, she took pity on the few of the victims who had not yet been slaughtered by Hussein's forces, and arranged for them to escape to the United States, ultimately leading to the present situation as they turn their bomb making and covert skills on the country that now holds their leader.

Hubbard and Haddad arrive in time to prevent him from leaving a bath house, but Samir shoots Bridger in the stomach as she struggles to stop him.

Hubbard and Haddad kill Samir but despite their best efforts the pair can only watch as Bridger succumbs to her wound after managing to recite certain lines of the second half of the Lord's Prayer and concluding with "Inshallah" – the Arabic phrase "God Willing".

Devereaux insists that under the War Powers Resolution the authority vested in himself by the President supersedes that of the court which issued the arrest warrant.

Hubbard reminds Devereaux that the civil liberties and human rights which he took from Husseini are what all of his predecessors have fought and died for.

[4] Roger Ebert gave the film 21⁄2 stars out of four, writing that director Edward Zwick does a good job with crowd scenes, but criticizing it as clumsy.

[5] Bruce Willis won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performances in this film, Armageddon, and Mercury Rising.

[7] In the film's second week, The Siege showed the teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

Echoing such criticism, the Council on American–Islamic Relations protested the insinuation that "Muslims have total disregard for human life."

[In the movie] the CIA and FBI were not successful in finding that terrorist group and the United States Army interfered and gathered all the people of Arabic descent and put them in a land cage or camp just like it happened in Kandahar.