Huffington Magazine Issue 35-36 | Page 22

THE OSCAR ISSUE / HUFFINGTON / 02.10-17.13 ©2012 ZERO DARK THIRTY, LLC. v o i c e s alex gibney while another agent, Maya (well-acted by Jessica Chastain) looks on. For me, along with the ending, this was one of the film’s best moments. The juxtaposition of the agony of 9/11 with the payback that followed — waterboarding detainees, walking them around in dog collars (recall Lyndie England) and stuffNavy Seals raid bin Laden’s compound in this ing them in small plywood still from Zero Dark Thirty. boxes — perfectly captured the morality or efficacy of a bitter poetic truth about torture. Every mention or how members of the Bush portrayal of torture butAdministration responded to tragedy. tresses the case for its necessity. We don’t CIA spokespeople have noted the actual see how corrupting it was, how many miswaterboarding done by the CIA was more takes were made. Instead, the narrative controlled and antiseptic than that porengine of Boal’s detective story is kicktrayed in the film. That may be so. But started by torture. the fact of the matter is the CIA appears When the full history of “Enhanced to have observed or supervised many Interrogation Techniques” is told we will “harsh” interrogations conducted either see that it was not only brutal and counby independent contractors or ruthterproductive, but ridiculous. The CIA less foreign allies. To compress time and waterboarded Abu Zubaydah 83 times space, I accept the way Boal and Bigelow and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times. created a “composite” harsh interrogation Considering the repetition, just how efcombining evidence from all of those. fective were those techniques? And how So give points to Boal and Bigelow for good does the CIA look for insisting on not pussyfooting around. They make it mindless repetition of useless tactics? clear the CIA (or CIA-supervised contrac(Note: Clues to understanding what really tors) tortured people as part of a “dehappened – the videotapes of CIA watertainee program.” But what’s distressing — boarding – were destroyed by the CIA’s given that tough-minded beginning — is Jose Rodriguez, an act that warranted a that the f