Torture Debate Surrounds New Bin Laden Film

This publicity film photo shows Jessica Chastain in”Zero Dark Thirty.” (Jonathan Olley/Columbia Pictures/AP)

“Zero Dark Thirty,” the film about the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, includes an unflinching depiction of CIA torture of terrorist suspects. And it comes as a new report from the Senate Intelligence Committee shows that so-called “enhanced interrogation” was not a central factor in finding bin Laden.

We’re also learning more about the CIA operative who really pushed the hunt for bin Laden, focusing on his couriers, one who led the CIA to the compound in Pakistan where U.S. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in May 2011.

Controversial Senate Report

A new 6,000-page report on CIA interrogations post-9/11 is scheduled to be reviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. Much of the report will stay classified for months, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein says the report concludes that brutal treatment was not a “central” part of finding bin Laden.

Republicans, who refused to participate in the classified report, are calling the final product flawed. They want the report made public or approved by the CIA before the committee votes for it.

Is Torture Effective?

The debate has raged since the 9/11 attacks. FBI agent Ali Souffan wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that “there was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn’t, or couldn’t have been, gained from regular tactics.”

But former Vice President Dick Cheney said in 2011 that President Obama was able to order the targeted killing of bin Laden because of information gathered by torture techniques — including waterboarding.

Washington Post intelligence reporter Greg Miller says that even among CIA agents involved with the bin Laden operation there is no clear answer.

“You will have some who will argue that it was effective and it was important,” says Miller. “Nobody comes forward to make any claim that it provided the breakthrough intelligence that lead to bin Laden. In fact most of these methods had been abandoned for years before the raid on bin Laden last year.”

Miller says while it’s clear that the CIA did use information gathered from detainees, finding bin Laden also took a lot of “detective work.” What’s less clear, he says, is whether brutal torture techniques like waterboarding were necessary to get this information from detainees.

New York Times: Portrayal of C.I.A. Torture in Bin Laden Film Reopens a Debate
YouTube: “Zero Dark Thirty” Trailer
Washington Post: In ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ she’s the hero; in real life, CIA agent’s career is more complicated

Guest:

Greg Miller, intelligence reporter for the Washington Post

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

Raoul

‘Torture Debate Surrounds New Bin Laden Film’I have not seen this film, but I did see the film Sky Fall, which I did not think was one of the better Bond films except for one part. The speech Judi Dench made to the British Parliment concerning terrorism was spell binding. Perhaps one has to view torture with a different head sink….. just a little. The bottom line is Osama is dead! With or without torture we have a long way to go in fighting terrorism world wide.
Vamonticello

First it was the republicans trying to give all the credit to Bush for getting Bin Laden. Then it was the navy seals claiming all the credit for themselves, now it is some CIA lady trying to claim the credit all for herself. The movie had the nerve not to even mention President Obamas role in actually deciding to send the seals in instead of green lighting a bombing raid. If this mission would’ve failed, they all would’ve blamed President Obama for its failure.

This movie is foolish, it’s like making a civil war movie without mentioning Lincoln or a WW2 movie without mentioning FDR.
Bhdiamond2

I will not see the film. The Bush administration’s use of torture was reprehensible, a stain on our nation. I have no desire to experience torture of detainees as entertainment. I am, however, glad that the film has raised this issue for public discussion and hopefully public shame in the absence of any accountability by officials responsible for the policy or conduct of torture.
Alex Ashlock, Here and Now

The Senate Intelligence Committee did approve the report on CIA interrogations yesterday.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003000884786 Navin R Johnson

The response to terrorism has been much worse than terrorism itself.