On January 11, eleven years to the day after George W. Bush sent the first detainees to Guantanamo, the Oscar-nominated film Zero Dark Thirty<\/i> is making its national debut. \u00a0Zero Dark Thirty<\/i> is disturbing for two reasons. First and foremost, it leaves the viewer with the erroneous impression that torture helped the CIA find bin Laden\u2019s hiding place in Pakistan. Secondarily, it ignores both the illegality and immorality of using torture as an interrogation tool.<\/p>\n
The thriller opens with the words \u201cbased on first-hand accounts of actual events.\u201d After showing footage of the horrific 9\/11 attacks, it moves into a graphic and lengthy depiction of torture. The detainee \u201cAmmar\u201d is subjected to waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and confined in a small box. Responding to the torture, he divulges the name of the courier who ultimately leads the CIA to bin Laden\u2019s location and assassination. It may be good theater, but it is inaccurate and misleading.<\/p>\n
The statement \u201cbased on first-hand accounts of actual events\u201d is deceptive because it causes the viewer think the story is accurate. All it really means, however, is that the CIA provided Hollywood with information about events depicted in the movie. Acting CIA Director Michael Morrell wrote a letter to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in which he admitted the CIA engaged extensively with the filmmakers.\u00a0 After receiving his letter, Senators John McCain, Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin requested information and documents related to the CIA\u2019s cooperation.<\/p>\n
The senators sent a letter to Morrell saying they were \u201cconcerned by the film\u2019s clear implication that information obtained during or after the use of the CIA\u2019s coercive interrogation techniques played a critical role in locating Usama Bin Laden (UBL).\u201d They noted, \u201cthe film depicts CIA officers repeatedly torturing detainees. The film then credits CIA detainees subjected to coercive interrogation techniques as providing critical lead information on the courier that led to the UBL compound.\u201d They state categorically: \u201cthis information is incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter explains that after a review of more than six million pages of CIA records, Feinstein and Levin made the following determination:<\/p>\n
The CIA did not first learn about the existence of the UBL courier from CIA detainees subjected to coercive interrogation techniques. Nor did the CIA discover the courier\u2019s identity from CIA detainees subjected to coercive <\/em>techniques. No CIA detainee reported on the courier\u2019s full name or specific whereabouts, and no detainee identified the compound in which UBL was hidden. Instead, the CIA learned of the existence of the courier, his true name, and location through means unrelated to the CIA detention and interrogation program.<\/em><\/p>\n In a speech on the Senate floor, McCain declared, \u201cIt was not torture, or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees that got us the major leads that ultimately enabled our intelligence community to find Osama bin Laden.\u201d McCain added: \u201cIn fact, not only did the use of \u2018enhanced interrogation techniques\u2019 on Khalid Sheik Mohammed not provide us with the key leads on bin Laden\u2019s courier, Abu Ahmed; it actually produced false and misleading information.\u201d<\/p>\n Many high-level interrogators, including Glenn L. Carle, Ali Soufan and Matthew Alexander, report that torture is actually ineffective and often interferes with the securing of actual intelligence. A 2006 study by the National Defense Intelligence College concluded that traditional, rapport-building interrogation techniques are very effective even with the most recalcitrant detainees, but coercive tactics create resistance.<\/p>\n Moreover, torture is counter-productive.\u00a0 An interrogator serving in Afghanistan told Forbes, \u201cI cannot even count the amount of times that I personally have come face to face with detainees, who told me they were primarily motivated to do what they did, because of hearing that we committed torture . . . Torture committed by Americans in the past continues to kill Americans today.\u201d<\/p>\n Torture is also illegal and immoral \u2013 important points that are ignored in Zero Dark Thirty<\/i>.\u00a0 After witnessing the savage beating of a detainee at the beginning of the film, the beautiful heroine \u201cMaya\u201d says \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d As he\u2019s leaving Pakistan, Maya\u2019s colleague Dan tells her, \u201cYou gotta be real careful with the detainees now. Politics are changing and you don\u2019t want to be the last one holding the dog collar when the oversight committee comes.\u201d<\/p>\n Torture is illegal in all circumstances. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, a treaty the United States ratified which makes it part of U.S. law, states unequivocally: \u201cNo exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.\u201d The prohibition of torture is absolute and unequivocal. Torture is never lawful.<\/p>\n Yet despite copious evidence of widespread torture and abuse during the Bush administration, and the Constitution\u2019s mandate that the President enforce the laws, Obama refuses to hold the Bush officials and lawyers accountable for their law breaking.<\/p>\n Granting impunity to the torturers combined with propaganda films like Zero Dark Thirty,<\/i> which may well win multiple Oscars, dilutes any meaningful public opposition to our government\u2019s cruel interrogation techniques. Armed with full and accurate information, we must engage in an honest discourse about torture and abuse, and hold those who commit those illegal acts fully accountable.<\/p>\n _______________________<\/p>\n Marjorie Cohn<\/i> is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and past president of the National Lawyers Guild. <\/i><\/p>\n