US lawmakers slam Oscar-tipped OBL movie

US lawmakers slam Oscar-tipped OBL movie

 

WASHINGTON - Three United States senators have lambasted “Zero Dark Thirty”, a fictionalized film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, for its portrayal of brutal interrogations against al-Qaeda suspects, calling it “grossly inaccurate.”
In a letter to studio chief Michael Lynton, Senators Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, Carl Levin, also a Democrat, and John McCain, a Repoublican, wrote that the movie, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, a well-known Hollywood director, improperly establishes a connection between “enhanced interrogations” and key intelligence.
“We write to express our deep disappointment with the movie ‘Zero Dark Thirty.’ We believe the film is grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location of [Osama] bin Laden,” wrote the senators, all of whom are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which Feinstein heads. Though they stopped short of specifying what action they’d like from Sony, the senators suggested that they were hoping for a disclaimer of some sort. “Please consider correcting the impression that the CIA’s use of coercive interrogation techniques led to the operation against [Osama] bin Laden,” they wrote.
A spokesman for one of the senators confirmed that they were hoping the studio would respond but that the lawmakers were leaving it to the studio to determine what action to take.
The senators’ letter comes on the heels of other complaints in Washington that the filmmakers may have had improper access to government sources or information while researching the movie.
Credit:The Nation